curvy log cabin & bebé quilts
Log cabin blocks have to be one of the greatest classics. Not only are they beautiful in their most basic form but there is so much you can do with them when you play with fabric placement and layout. This quilt is made of wide and narrow strips to create "curves", I used the Creative Grids Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool to make 8" blocks. Honestly this makes it so easy and the result is perfectly precise blocks. A beautiful selection of Liberty prints and a variety of greens makes for a quilt with a gentle spring vibe.
While sewing the blocks I went for a completely random look, choosing fabric strips as I went. I love this scrappy style even when cutting from metres of fabric. It also makes sewing easier as I didn't have to concentrate on fabric placement, beyond whether it was a narrow or wide strip. I arranged the blocks into groups of four to make the illusion of six circles. After all that piecing, pressing and trimming I kept the quilting very simple, letting the pattern of the blocks remain the focus, by just stitching in the ditch.
Vintage Home BOM
Last year Jo Avery of myBearpaw invited me to join in with her Vintage Home BOM Quilt Along. Each month in Today's Quilter a new block is released and features items from around the home, with a bit of a vintage or retro twist. I chose May's block, with the theme of light and decided to make the candlestick block. This one spoke to me as my name, Lucy, comes from Latin origin and means "light" - I even have it tattooed on my wrist!
The blocks are machine sewn, a few have a small amount of foundation paper piecing but this one is made with regular machine piecing and a little bit of hand appliqué. I decided to challenge myself a bit by mixing different weights of fabric in the block. The background is the beautiful woven Illuminated Graph in Rust, Loominous by Anna Maria Horner and the candlestick holder is a Japanese geometric lines linen. This print is one of my favourites, I see it often because I used it for the basket that holds my everyday make up!
I like how these fabrics play together, both have a different vibe and yet the lines create a relationship. The orange toned rust colour of the background gives that warm glow you get from a candle too. For the flame itself I cut into my precious Liberty, the Farhad print is perfect and I thought the black grid on it looked good as a representation of the wick.
The hand appliqué was quick to do, just the flame and the circular candlestick holder. I didn't clip the outer part of the circle, as it's linen I didn't want it to fray too much and it was large enough that I didn't need to. I did clip the inner circle though and it behaved relatively well!
Clearly I love candles! This block was a joy to sew and it was nice to have some hand sewn elements included. Jo's patterns are so easy to follow and the other blocks in the BOM are all so sweet, the theme is charming! You can find the candlestick, along with a lampshade block in issue 36 of Today's Quilter.
shopping small
This is a haul post, full of fabric & sewing goodies (and shoes) from small independent shops/sellers - all of whom I know and love!! They are all places I've bought from before too so they may be familiar names if you're a regular round here. It's a testament to the quality and wonderfulness of the products. There's also a fun Stitch-Along announcement that I encourage you to join!
First this pile of beautiful panels from Karen Lewis Textiles, the May bundle from her fabric club. The stripy triangles design is so beautiful, with a beachy vibe, on lovely Kona colours. I seem to be collecting Karen's prints, they find their way into lots of my projects because they so good but I would still love to make something with just her fabric.
And other screen printed fabric added to my stash recently was from the second edition of The Bees by Lucy Engels - I got some in the first run and HAD to have these ones too. I adore them (bees!!!) and they are so brilliant for fussy cutting. The colours are also fabulous - I bought Shitake, Oyster and Mac and Cheese - Kona colours again! The Mac and Cheese is truly such a great yellow/orange.
friday night quilt and cathedral cushion
Liberty is one of my favourites and I use quite a bit of tana lawn in my own projects. I also have some of the lifestyle cotton prints they did a few years ago for quilters. The new Cottage Garden Collection prints from Liberty are quilting weight cotton and lovely to sew with. I cut them up into lots of pieces to make the Friday Night Quilt from Three Patterns by Pam & Nicky Lintott.
The book has patterns to use with the Creative Grids Double-Strip Kaleidoscope Ruler, which makes cutting much quicker! It's a pretty design, with a nice sized scrappy border. I went back to basics for quilting, using a plate and my hera marker to mark a curve across the corner.
After stitching a few lines, with my walking foot and guide, I realised it needed something more, so I went back and marked another curve on the corner diagonally opposite. It gives lovely movement to the quilt and I like seeing the lines intersect.
Thanks to my little helper for holding the quilt - she had the most horrible allergic reaction that day and was covered in hives :( We still don't know what she reacted to!
There was also fabric folding fun, making up a Cathedral Windows cushion using a pattern by Jo Avery. Despite there being a fair bit of preparation in making up these squares, which seems daunting, I actually enjoy it because it's meditative and can be done while watching tv.
The windows feature Bees, All Stars by Tula Pink and Blackbird, Hello Love by Heather Bailey. Rather than place the squares in an alternating pattern I played about and settled on this arrangement:
Then the pinning begins!! My least favourite part, and probably why I would prefer to hand sew (I would just fold the edges over as I went), it is important to pin if sewing the edges down by machine and helps keep them more even.
The past week has been a bit of a blur, I have had big deadlines so non stop making as I get ahead with projects. You will see them here soon! I knew that I would be pushed and would need to force myself to take a day off. I actually scheduled it in my planner!! So today I've done nothing, no sewing (so far, I might end up doing some epp tonight) and just been lazy really. I wore the most appropriate t-shirt too! haha!
I'm off to binge on that :) Happy weekend everyone!
linking up to finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts
🦋 Liberty butterfly quilt
It's been gloriously sunny in Manchester and spring is in the air. The blue skies were a nice backdrop for this dancing Liberty butterflies quilt, even though it was a little bright to perfectly show off the pretty prints. Classic floral prints are quite delicate but look bold and modern framing the butterfly blocks.
I mixed the two print fabrics, swapping the borders in the four outer blocks and changing the butterfly wings. It's nice to play about with the wings, as they look different depending on the fabric combinations. You can also create another version of the block by swapping the larger wing pieces, which changes the top angle of the wing so they are pointing straight out from the body (see one I made here).
For the butterfly antennae I used a decorative stitch on my machine - mode 2, #07 note to future self. I used the memory function to stitch four star chains and I think they add a nice detail. In the past I have also used a zig zag stitch and hand sewn the antennae but I think it would be fun to play about with other stitches and make them all different!
I kept up with the decorative stitches for the quilting too, with a stitch I've used before - for waves on the Sailing Sailing quilt and a little on the Butterfly mini quilt - mode 2, #19, stitch width 9.
I love the pattern it creates, like fluffy clouds. The only problem is because the stitch is directional you can't turn the quilt around during quilting without making clouds into waves! After quilting through the centre diagonally I stitched the next lines to the left so the bulk of the quilt was going in to the throat of the machine - toughest part first! And then went back to the centre and quilted lines to the right. Technically I should have worked the other way, so the quilted section would be going in the throat (just to keep the quilt nice and flat and well basted) but I wanted to make sure I remembered not to turn it round. The quilt is 36" x 48" so it wasn't really a struggle to quilt.
You can see the demonstration in the video below and then 2 hours in to the show John and I have a 'sew off' making wonky star blocks, which is quite hilarious if you want a laugh!
Wishing you all a joyful weekend and to friends in the UK a lovely bank holiday too!
linking up to finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts
rose gold epp folder
This little folder / organiser fulfils the need I have to store basted English Paper Piecing shapes. When I am working on a project I tend to baste a few blocks so they are ready to sew. It was getting a bit much having pieces in lots of plastic bags and I prefer to have things in one place. I bought this gorgeous rose gold fabric paper recently and decided to use it.
Rather than make something overly complicated, I kept the construction really simple. With four different pocket sections, that are staggered for easy access, the folder keeps the pieces separated and is large enough to store the blocks once they are complete. I'm currently working on 6" blocks that I designed but it also fits ice cream soda quilt blocks and mischief blocks so I can use it hold those pieces and blocks too!
Teaching at The Stitch Gathering 2018!
Just a quick post to let you know that I will be teaching at The Stitch Gathering in Edinburgh, on Sunday 7th October this year! Alongside an incredible line up of teachers, including organiser Jo Avery herself, this year promises to be as good as the last. Hurry, the modern retreat has only a few tickets left! Get your ticket HERE!
forest mountain quilt & more...
Time for a catch up... I have been busy making and it would be wrong not to document everything here. This is a round up of some of the recent projects I've demonstrated on Sewing Quarter, I'm starting small and working up to the big quilts!
This block was made using Jo Avery's fabulous Compass Spin pattern, a combination of foundation paper piecing and sewing curves. It's a great project for playing with fabric value.
Happy hump day everyone! I hope you're having a great week and your projects are going well!
This block was made using Jo Avery's fabulous Compass Spin pattern, a combination of foundation paper piecing and sewing curves. It's a great project for playing with fabric value.
Spider Web blocks are quickly becoming a favourite of mine and I created this simple cushion using the Creative Grids Spider Web & Kaleidoscope Ruler - which makes it so easy and accurate. The pink and red combination is lovely for spring!
Another cushion, this one from the book Quilt Petite by Sedef Imer. This is such a sweet design and I really loved making this, with so many different techniques in one cushion it was a fun sew.
All the little details are so cute and it was nice to do a bit of hand stitching. I did forget to trace the text before backing with fusible fleece though, so had to freehand 'Bonjour!' but it turned out ok!
I used a couple of strands of different coloured threads for the bow, I've never thought to embellish a project with bows like this but it looks adorable. I used a surgeon's knot to keep it secure. Now I want to add bows to everything! Click below to watch me demonstrate making the cushion:
Then I had some fun making a block keeper from quilt as you go pre-printed wadding. This is am easy project and would make a lovely quilters gift. I loved cutting the Anna Maria Horner fabric, it looked especially cool on the 'spine'. Totally forgot to take photos of the finished project though, so you'll have to make do with some stills of it on the show!
On to the quilts...
First I made a smaller version of the Seventh Heaven pattern from the book Dessert Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. A lovely one to sit and chain piece, then rearrange the blocks to create that random look!
A reminder to be mindful when adding borders, I was so 'in the zone' I completely missed noticing my upside border until I was already half way through quilting it! Thankfully it still sort of worked so I decided not to unpick.
Finally my Forest Mountain quilt, I designed this one to make with the Creative Grids 60° ruler. It's pretty large at 74" and it was fun to just use solids and one simple shape. It was a fairly dull day when we took these pictures, right before all that hot weather, the colours are far more vibrant in real life and the greys at the top are actually a little more subtle. I think this has a nice whimsical feel, a sense of the great outdoors in a modern quilt interpretation!
I wanted to do some free motion quilting but kept it fairly simple (in part due to the size but also deadlines!). I quilted a rough tree / branch shape on the background triangles to give some texture and organic lines and curves in the sky to represent clouds. The back gives off a sort of Blair Witch vibe, glad I used yellow or it would be creepy.
From the front I think the texture looks good and my son was completely in love with this design. He wants it for his room, which is a huge compliment. I still have a work in progress bee quilt for him that I know he'll love too and that's also a tree / triangle theme so he knows what he likes!
Happy hump day everyone! I hope you're having a great week and your projects are going well!
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