Home Retreat: 5/36 and 6/36

It looks like I have the day to myself. 

I'm listening to radio 4 and sewing, practising my piecing skills on wibbly 'made' blue fabric.

Large blocks are giving me a feeling of speedy progress. 

I have seen rainbow potential in this block: flushing diagonally over the quilt, large blocks from orange, green and purple, small ones in blue, red and yellow to link the rainbow. 

Oh no!! Another idea!  It will use up all the pre-cut squares I have.  I guess I should add it to the list.

So, with THIS one, that's.....



32!

3/36 and 4/36

This one looks better in the photo with the white highlighted by the flash, it's a bit 'busy".

1/36 and 2/36

The first two 12" blocks: large pieces so I can gauge how well the made fabric handles, before I make up too many pieced blue blanks.

This one was a 'deliberate mistake', I cut it for a 10" block so it has cornerstones added.

The white fabric is quite firm and seems to be a wise choice.  So far it seems to be coming out at the correct size.

Some of the seams are very thick on the finished blocks and have had to be clipped.

Indulgence

I played some more, there are about a dozen of these done now.  I have had to order more oranges to play with the other blue blocks and explore curves. 

I decided against black and white to go with this as I found this busy blue fabric for the smaller block pieces in the stash. Perfect. 

At the weekend I hope to be able to piece a couple of 12" blocks in blue and white, with the larger components cut from the blocks above and the smaller components cut from the blue fabric opposite, all on the white background.

Juicy

I kept sewing and sewing and slashing and sewing: I have made about 20 pieces of 'fabric'  of various sizes by pulling blue out of the bin and stitching whatever came out next.  There weren't as many border traffic lights as I though there were.

Last night I chose my accent fabric. Tonight I will be slashing and stitching some more with the orange, experimenting with thickness and lines.

I have been looking at blocks to make with the made fabric that don't need too many small pieces.  I can't make up my mind if I should use black and white for the smaller pieces, or just white. More thinking needed, whist I squeeze in the oranges.

Serendipity

Of course, I always intended to put a sundae border on the backing................

I didn't get to do my mindless string piecing on Friday, as I began to machine quilt this one.  I was trying to do 'in the ditch' with gold thread, but it kept breaking!  I need to unpick, then try another brand.

***************************************** 

I looked at the rain this morning, then went for the green and blue string bin...............

and the too big to cut for 1/2 inch diamond bin.......................

 and started making 'fabric' as I had read this brilliant blog.

No more feeling of time wasting if I just need to machine without thinking too much.

I'm doing my best to include all the fabric borders.  I may call the project   "Timeless Treasure".  At the moment its just a relaxation tool.

Back to it!
And back to work tomorrow (:~[

Dealing with two dead boring things at once

If I'm going to make myself suffer psychologically because I really have to do the ironing, I may as well go all the way and cause physical discomfort as well!

Mozart is a comfort.  Of course it is actually making me more intelligent the more I listen.

~{;@?

My reward, later: to watch a film and finish the mini stacks of strips for the rainbow hexie that are lined up on the overflow bookshelf, before they get too dusty!

Fuzzy

Stitches are getting more even, I can risk them showing now.

I'm sure I could do better on a floor frame rather than wrestling a hoop and a double quilt on my lap!

I have to see if I really enjoy this before I splash out.

Lazy day

Going to hand quilt this evening.

Even though I am off work, I haven't felt that relaxed and can't sleep well.  I have stayed up until 1am most nights and still had trouble sleeping.  I caught up this morning, I didn't wake up until 10.30 am!  I have a desk job and don't get enough exercise, so after four days out and about I think my body was protesting!   I've had a lazy day today reviewing Alex Anderson's hand quilting lessons on TQS and watching some free shows (register for free and you get more free shows).  I was a member for a while and learnt a lot.

The neighbours came to visit earlier (to be truthful they visit ALL the time).  Blackie was asleep in my herb basket (I've had to forget the herbs!) and Belly-up comes for a play/purr/belly scratch whenever hes called. He is going to make someone the most darling cat, most kittens aren't interested is fusses but he loves it.  Someone in the house is allergic so they have to get rid of all six cats, they will be missed. (:@[

I must be a 'real' quilter now

No shirt shopping today, my son came over with Archie and we went for a rainy, muddy walk in the woods.  Archie loved it and so did we.  This is him after he went out in the garden a few weeks ago and rolled in foxy mess, straight in the bath before he gets anywhere near anything.  Now he looks like a proper dog not a puppy, you can't tell what his ancestry is.  The ears and short legs are his daschound father, everything else is from his Labrador x Staffordshire terrier mum.  He has the Staffy madness and is happy with EVERYTHING and everybody. 

I cut up all the shirts this evening, saving every bit including the collars for the strip bins. All that's left are the seams and bits with iron on interfacing, but look at the waste.  I really can't use any of this, except maybe for a rag rug-agh!!-stop it!! It's going in the compost bin!  I'm going to iron before bed so it will be all tidy in the morning.

After around 15 hours of hand quilting in the last 10 days, not much really, I have developed my first quilters callus!  I am SO proud!

More Deliberate Wonkiness

More dubious photos!

Finding the new glasses difficult, my first time with varifocals.  One focal length for reading, another for the computer. More practice all round.

Two Towns Tuesday

 Horsham

Dorking

It's about 10 years since I charity shopped for shirts for quilting-the last time was for the blue borders on the recycled hexagon quilt.  They were about 50p each then. You can see them top left here.......

Even in a recession, some shops were offering 'designer' second hand shirts for fifteen pounds!   I set my limit at five pounds but that had to be for a pattern I really wanted and it had to be an extra large shirt!  I looked at dresses as well: many of them were gored, making the usable solid pieces rather narrow.

I'm not sure if this will be a sampler quilt with each block different, or something more regular. More collecting to do yet,  this is one of next years projects. A potter round some boot sales is in order, if it ever stops raining this summer long enough for one to go ahead!

I'm hoping to have a self styled 'retreat' at home on Friday to do some string piecing.  I have the urge.

I've been bad. Again. Project Number 30...........

It was only a bit of charity shop browsing in Tunbrige Wells. Honest. I got an idea from looking at the mens shirts. So, I guess this will be project number 30!  I will ask the guys at work to donate too, but they seemed reluctant last time.   Only one of them brings me the shirt off his back when they are worn out, but he doesn't tell his wife!

When I'm eyeing up a man, it's only because I want to cut up his shirt!

Joy of joys, I found a gluten free sandwich shop for lunch!  I had a smoked salmon sandwich and a berry/ice smoothie.  Unexpected bliss.  Even the double shot late I had  in the morning to keep me going was good, no bitterness and plenty of froth.

And some bargain books too. I am not a hoarder, I am a collector-when I have read a book it gets Bookcrossed (;~?

Week off

I am on holiday this week, rain is forecast all week!  Ho Hum. I'm off to Tunbridge Wells today after I pick up my new glasses. Hopefully that will make hand quilting a little less awkward! There is a big quilting store there ~(;@} 

My reading for the week.......I picked this one off the shelf as it's lighweight and I'll be out and about.

I will also finish a Phillip K Dick anthology.

Wonky hearts

I'm quilting in an 18'' frame, its a litte too big to manage on my lap, so I will be buying another one this week. 

Each cream section has two wonky hearts; the brown and blue quilting is influenced by the fabric. Some bad pictures.......!

 I have only ever hand quilted small samplers without a frame before, by anchoring the fabric to the table with the needle hand and using the tension created in the fabric with the other hand to sew, like the Jinny Beyer handsewing technique. This is harder work, needs a lot of practice and is HOT in midsummer with a double quilt on my lap!  I'm going to review Alex Andersons lessons this week-free lessons, you don't have to join TQS.

A chance encounter

A pile of scraps from the new cutting machine

at work gives me more pictures

for the pattern archive

Tagged in a post

Number three attacked with the tagging gun!  (Did I say I love my tagging gun???)  This one is about 110 x 110 inches, too big to fit in the centre of the tables and still stick to the edges of the table.

Unorthodox method, I folded 2 sides under and stuck, now I'm ready to move it to the other side and continue.  Only way to do it.

This flimsy was English paper pieced from recycled fabrics and family clothing. There are some polycottons in here and it's sewn together with cream thread-I started it over 15 years ago when the boys were small and I had no money, even for matching thread!  I was very pleased to see an antique quilt at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year that was hand pieced in natural coloured cotton from scraps, it made me feel better about some of the stitching being visible!

I chose wool wadding for this as I will sew round each hexie, when it is washed and the wool shrinks by 4% they will all puff up.  Not sure when I will start this, or even finish.  Its already very grubby and covered in cat hair as its been sitting around for so long!  I'm going to wash it before I bind it, so when I put the binding on it will be smooth, not wavy. Hopefully.

Long awaited sequel

I read the other five books in this series years ago.  This, the sixth and final episode, was published last year, I found it in a charity shop in Seaford last week.

I think my reading tastes have moved on!!  It's well researched and detailed, but completely lacks plot!  I'm at 300 of 800 pages so far and only sticking with it out of sheer doggedness! Nothing much is happening apart from descriptions of cave paintings.

It has been a while since I picked up a book and was gripped by page 3.  The next one will have to be carefully chosen from Mount TBR (to be read).

The Uncanny Knack

Evening work this week-sewing up the prepared piles  of hexagons for rainbow hexie. It's satisfying doing it this way: they grow quickly-this is just one evenings worth whilst I watched recorded episodes of  Lie To Me.  Love Tim Roth. 

The black blob is the cat, by the way. Never photographs well. Even when she is looking directly at the camera, it's with the evil eye. On the warmest days, she has to perch on something fluffy. And most often white.   I have given up turfing her off the blankie, if she's there all the time at least the black fur deposits are contained and she's not contaminating my quilts!

Ice Cream Sunday

My second layering of the week-I stayed late every night to do these in the conference room.  I work for a sign company: one of our manufacturing units makes vitreous enamel signage, like the maps you see on the underground, that's the assemblage of samples behind.

Three tables pushed together was the perfect size, so much easier than groveling around on the floor at home.  I'd give my boss a hug for letting me use the room but it would frighten him!! I have secured the use for the next week at least, I have four more to layer. 

The effect I was trying to achieve with colour on this single isn't really visible: I took all the blocks from my stash to make it, so it was really quick to create as there was no cutting. If you think you can see what I have done with the colour, please comment! I think the effect would have been apparent if the blocks had been smaller.  I'm going to machine quilt this, quite heavily, this will bring out the effect (hopefully). The backing is scrummy, so that side will be OK!  I like the fact that it looks like clam shell patchwork. This was another sale bargain at five pounds per metre, I have about 15 metres altogether, every time I logged onto the website to it was still in the sale so I bought more! 

I like quirky backing fabrics with lots of colour to hide dubious hand quilting-I bought 6 metres of this one last week from a new site I have found, real bargain fabrics from top ranges-I wish they were closer so I could visit the shop!  If you live in the UK and have hoarding issues, look at the site (not helping, am I??!)

Kiss in the Corner

This is a long overdue gift. Shhh...........This design is one I stole from my Greenestede Quilters group project.  I needed something quick to sew up as I knew I wouldn't have much time. It is a twisted nine patch. 

Chain piecing the 6" cut squares........

........into a nine patch, then cutting into four.  Twist them and sew up again. I laid the pieces out on a bed as it was the biggest space I had. I have not really used enough browns, it was a tricky job to make sure that the same browns were not too close together- the creams and blues are not so important in the overall effect.  I am surprised how 'busy' it looked at this stage.

This isn't my usual scrappy style, but my son advised me the colours to use as its for a gift and I had to raid the stash for what was there. My usual technique is throw EVERY colour in but I do have a preference for 'earthy' colours, so I was quite happy working on this.  I have enough patches left over for half of another quilt. 

My not very helpful helper-rather annoying when she wants to play with the border and crumb catcher strips I'm cutting..........when she's not furring up the backing fabric that's just ironed and warm and seems like a nice sleeping spot.

 This is the only fabric I had for the backing that toned with the front-hope they're fond of cows!

I started this post some time ago-this week I borrowed the conference room at work, put the tables together, stuck the backing down and off I went with my new microstitch-it's AMAZING!!! I used about 1200 tags in this double.  I have more time than I thought to quilt this now, so I am going to do it by hand.  This will be my first attempt at large format hand quilting.