Quilts for Christmas 02

This and the following two from Judi

Judi's

Judi's

All squares from me

In the Pink from me

DNP variation from me

One for a little boy from Mary I., the centre sewn by her son
when was younger.

Sold

At the Fair: NFS Christmas quilt in the background

I was very pleased at our local Arts and Crafts day  to sell two quilts, one to a neighbour and one to a friend. Both of them had a set purpose of buying a quilt if there was one suitable. Apart from that it was a day of chatting, cake eating and people watching.

To Jenny

To Elena

In the making

Quilts for Christmas 01

Maggie's daughter has worked with the residents of a mother and baby shelter and asked her mother to make quilts for the little ones in time for Christmas. Maggie made loads but more were needed so friends and the Dragonflies quit group stepped up to the plate.

 A Dragonflies quilter donated a large quilt which Maggie cut into four smaller ones.

MaGGie has pinned the binding ready to sew.

Two more

This one had   an unusual ruched border

Blue and white positive negative

Multiple borders

All at Sea

It was Queen Beez Day on the 23rd and I nearly finished sewing the binding down on my All at Sea DNP Variation quilt, completing it in front of the TV that evening. I took a photo on Maggie's floor including the back. It was a good job I did as I noticed I'd missed a quilting seam in the centre. I remedied that when I got home too. The backing is seersucker.

49" SQUARE

U3A diamonds

I was so impressed when so many in the U3A class brought in their diamonds ready for the next step.

Leader Enders Quilt

I followed Bonnie Hunter's tip of using patchwork shapes as threadsavers so that apparently effortlessly you end up well on the way to a finished to[. The snag is, I find, is that the "thread savers", or leader enders as Bonnie calls them, become more alluring than the main project.
Anyway here are squares sewn into pairs then four patches - I undid the stitches in the seam allowance so that my seams went all the same way as described here. Then I could join the four patches into bigger four patches the same way again. 
The quilt is going to a friend who has gathered quite a number for a specific charity project.

All squares 36x45"

Log Cabin Star 08

Now inset seams have been mastered join the units in the same way unstitching as you go. Note the centre star points will be unstitched too and you will circle your seams in the same direction.

Join two tumbling block units and press to one side.
Unpick any stitches in the centre seam allowances.

As before place third unit on the unpressed unit, pin and sew. Unpick.

Wrong side up and the final open seam away from you, bring
seams two and three towards you so that the centre TB unit is
folded up between the side units.

Pin, sew and unstitch.

Now you have three gaps and three obtuse units to insert.

Place obtuse diamond on the unpressed side . . .

Pin and sew past the edge, then unpick and turn wrong side up with unsewn seam away from you
and fold, pin and stitch as before.

All done

Log Cabin Star 07

Three diamonds

Cut in half evenly
from the side;
using two rulers helps.

Two pieces with
acute centre diamond
points; two with obtuse.

Sharp acute point units
 in the centre

Obtuse units ranged in the gaps to form a hexagon shape.

A tumbling block unit - you will make three

First join the acute units using thread you can see (seam 1).
press gently to one side. Place an obtuse unit on the unpressed piece so that it covers it exactly. sew from the outside edge
all the way crossing the raw edge slightly (seam 2).

Turn over and unpick the stitches in the seam allowance.
Use the back of your unpicker so you don't cut the stitches.

Like this

Now with the unit wrong side up and the unsewn seam 3 away
from you, pull seams 1 and 2 together so the first diamond folds up inside and piece 1 and 3 are on top of each  other .
Sew the seam and again unpick the stitches in the seam allowance.
You should now have a lovely tumbling block unit as above
and minimal bulk where seams meet.


This is an extension of the way four patches are sometimes sewn which also involves unpicking stitches in the seam as described
here. I had never seen it applied to diamonds and hexagons till I saw the wonderful Gyleen Fitzgerald introduce her invention of it on The Quilt Show no. 1403. I took a class with her and was so impressed with the accuracy of this method. Check out her pdf here and her website here.

I'll post more pictures as I sew.

Log Cabin Star 05

Patchworkers cut up fabric, sew it together and often cut it and sew yet again as here. Once you have sewn your three diamonds (see here  - posts on 7th November) you are going to cut them up and resew them back together in a different arrangement.
1. Cut each diamond into quarters through the centre segmenting the central diamond. Using two rulers helps wih making an even division.
2.  In two quarters the centre diamond will have an obtuse angle on the outer edge and in two an acute, sharp angle.
3. Arrange with the six sharp angles meeting in the centre and the six others in the spaces created on the outer edge.

Three diamonds

Each diamond is quartered through the sides.

The top two have acute angles the bottom two, obtuse.

Rearrange as shown

Making strides

Stepping Stones

Border Quilting

I finished a second card trick block for my Siblings Together November stint and I received two for my October collection from Colette but my major news is finishing our Bonnies quilt from last year, a major project and a delight. It is a Jackie Taylor pattern which I redrafted so we could use templates and I alo added a flying geese border. Maggie Breakspear longarm quilted it with a different design on the border which I love. I have always wanted to make a quilt with a courthouse steps setting and  these continue the background fabric of each of the four adjacent pieced blocks.

Block 2

Block 1

Block 1

Lovely blocks from Colette