mini quilt
Showing posts with label mini quilt. Show all posts
✦ crossed orange peel cushion ✦
Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Even better when you finish a project you have been meaning to work on for some time, when the initial plan you had changes and turns out better as a result. This version of my Crossed Orange Peel pattern was a challenge to myself, using slightly more difficult seam construction and it's my project for the April Aurifil Artisan challenge, which is to create a project using my favourite Aurifil thread. That is like a trick question though because I genuinely love and use all the different types of Aurifil thread for different projects. I've opted to focus on 50 weight thread because it is the one I use the most and for a variety of sewing methods.
The pattern is hand pieced and my original Crossed Orange Peel, see above, is different in that it has five pieces making up the central X of the blocks. I wanted to see if it was possible for me to piece that central section using one fabric. The Ladies Night print by Sarah Watts from the Black and White collection was absolutely perfect for this, by sheer coincidence five faces/dots fit beautifully in my pattern template.
Sewing ✖ Orange Peel
This is the stack of quilts I took to Leicestershire and Rutland Guild, where I was invited to give a talk and teach a workshop. It's always exciting and slightly nerve wracking for me to visit somewhere new. All the ladies that weekend were so welcoming and it was great to arrive on their Area Day at the end of last month. It began with everyone working on their own projects and there was a wonderful show and tell. I really enjoy seeing peoples creations and hearing stories of how it was made. Sadly I didn't take pictures but it was a lovely mix of quilts, bags and more. All quite different and all beautiful! Later I did manage to snap this gorgeous pincushion, I would like to try the technique used on the top here as it's so pretty (sorry the lady's name who made this escapes me, please leave a comment if you know or if it was you and I will add credit).
There was a delicious shared lunch and in the afternoon I gave a talk about my journey and experience as a quilter. I have had nice feedback, it was fun for me looking back over some early makes!
On the Sunday it was time to teach my Crossed Orange Peel pattern and it was so awesome to see everyone creating beautiful blocks sewn by hand. It's lovely to teach a class where people can sit and chat without noise from the machines, there's a certain calm that washes over as people hand stitch.
It's hard not to admire all the fab notions, storage and bits that everyone has with them, not to mention the fabric! I like seeing what things people find useful and the handmade items they use while sewing. this clever thumb pincushion is one, with the bonus of a bobbin of thread and a cutter!
There was never going to be a complete quilt in a day, though the progress was really impressive and all the blocks looked fabulous and very neat. Classic William Morris, Japanese woven fabric and an array of modern prints, they are all unique and wonderful.
You can really get a sense of how fabric placement can change the design. Fussy cuts work beautifully and using bright, dark or tonal shades can easily make different parts of the block stand out.
Imagine these blocks repeated, mixed with similar variations or contrasting joining blocks to make the quilt pattern. Beautiful!
If you'd like to make your own Crossed Orange Peel blocks or quilt, you can find the pattern - with a free hand piecing guide - HERE.
It was a scorching hot weekend (similar to the current heatwave) so thank you to everyone that attended! Thank you all for being so welcoming, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend. Special thanks to Sarah for organising my visit and for being such fun company.
making and choosing
Ready for another catch up! I've been sew busy, it seems round up posts are becoming habit. This space is where I record my makes, share progress and any tips I learn along the way... it's my makers diary if you will. And like a hand written diary it can be days between entries. It's enjoyable keeping up and documenting as much as I can and you get to find out a little more about the projects!
Most recently I finished a commission, I had made a personalised cushion for her elder brother so it was only right she have one too. It was really nice to do a little embroidery, simple back stitch with #8 WonderFil perle thread. Perle is great for embroidery on quilted items because it's nice and strong so will hold up with washing and the chunky look of the thread works nicely on prints.
The requested red and aqua combination works so well and I had fun choosing the fabrics. For the back I picked a seaside style red and white stripe, in nod to the one I made for her brother and embroidered it with her middle name. I'm pleased that the cushion has been happily received and hope they both use them for years to come!
◇ TRENTON BLOCK pattern ◇
This is really exciting for me! I have taught patchwork and quilting, been published in quilt magazines and written more patterns than I can remember... and yet here I am releasing my first quilt pattern for sale!
The Trenton Block mini quilt pattern is so special. It's a traditional quilt block (which I love) and the quilt is hand pieced. The pattern comes with a bonus free guide to hand piecing - if you haven't used the technique before it has all you need to know!
I actually made the quilt a couple of years ago, it was in Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine.
To create a modern aesthetic I chose ombre fabric, paired with a couple of favourite prints; Wild Goose with Black Spots, Just A Speck by Jen Kingwell and Ladder Lines in Sage, Doe by Carolyn Friedlander. I just love how these fabrics look together, the gentler pastel colours with the black of the spots and stripes. The quilt is hand quilted with perle thread.
While this pattern isn't suited to complete sewing/quilting beginners, the free guide has lots of pointers and the pattern has step by step instructions with clear photos so you can achieve lovely curves and perfect points.
Hand piecing is my favourite way to piece and so encourage you to try hand sewing in the hopes that you'll enjoy it as much as me! For those of you that already love hand piecing you can also have fun choosing fabric for this quilt, creating interesting repeats and secondary patterns. There is a lot of scope for playing about with light/dark, prints/solids and the 'background' pieces to create very different almost 3D effects.
The Trenton Block mini quilt is made up of four blocks and is 19" square. Though it is of course possible to make more blocks and create quilts of any size. Wouldn't this pattern be amazing in a huge quilt?! I also think it would be perfect as part of a medallion quilt... mmm I'm now thinking about starting another!
To get the Trenton Block mini quilt 10 page PDF pattern - with extra bonus 8 page PDF guide to hand piecing - visit my shop, click here!
Psst! You get sent a 10% off code for all patterns when you sign up for my Sewing Desk newsletter.
I have been thinking about putting my patterns on Craftsy. Do you tend to browse and buy patterns from there? Or for those of you that design quilt patterns would you recommend it? Let me know below...
Crossed Orange Peel Mini Quilt
Happy December everybody! It definitely has started to feel like winter here but I'm trying to stay toasty, wearing my log cabin slippers and (handmade by mum) knitted jumpers. I have some exciting things coming up this month, starting with this new pattern!
Triangles
It is always good to challenge yourself with different techniques. This table runner has y-seams, angled edges and a few points to keep pointy. Funnily the thing that I struggled with the most was the self cover button, turns out I had the back piece the wrong way round!
folding rolling quilting
It seems I have been too busy sewing to properly document my finishes and I am determined to remedy that! Here are some projects made for the Sewing Quarter, all from different craft books and incorporating fun techniques. I enjoyed using the decorative stitches on my Elna 680EX, which definitely made quick work for a couple of these makes!
First is the Starburst Pillow Cover from Fat Quarters by Amanda Carestio. This design is by Ruth Singer, it is really tactile and a joy to create. Making the folded stars was quite meditative and I love the effect.
The instructions are for hand sewing the stars but with a deadline I couldn't spend the time doing that, instead I used a cross stitch on my machine to hold the folds in place.
I used another stitch (one that looked like a star) to hold the centres in place. The cover came together quickly and all that texture looks so lovely!
I used some pretty Amy Butler fabrics to make this jewellery roll, pattern by Valerie Shrader from 100 Pretty Little Projects by Lark Crafts.
It has two pockets, one zip pocket and a ring holder. I adapted the pattern slightly and used toy stuffing for the ring holder. The flat piping, which creates the decorative edging, was a new technique for me and adds detail - I really like the striped effect of the print too.
My Little Pony ring courtesy of my youngest.
It rolls up really neatly and can also be folded like a book. A practical and pretty gift!
I made a mini quilt, using my Butterfly block tutorial and I enjoyed quilting this one with simple quilting using a curved stitch (Mode 2 #19 on the Elna - because I will forget if I don't make a note of it!).
The cute cloud cushions were made by the talented Samantha Claridge of Live It. Love It. Make It.
And I made a quilt! This is the Baby Life Quilt by Vanessa Christenson from Modern Baby Quilts by Fons & Porter. A simple and sweet pattern.
I used a neutral palette, which is lovely and soothing.
Again I used a decorative machine stitch and quilted rows of wavy lines. I made the lines closer together to stitch over the raw edge appliqué and gradually widened them towards the edges of the quilt.
This is easily my new favourite quick machine quilting stitch! (Mode 2 #1 on the Elna - again for my reference!)
Thanks for making it this far! I have one more project to share tomorrow and then I should be caught up :) Hopefully I can get my sewing - blogging back in to balance and stay tuned because I have some fun giveaways coming up!
linking up: finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts
Marti Mitchell Mini Quiltmania Link Up!
I'm excited to share with you all the details for entering the Marti Michell Mini Quiltmania competition organised by Gnome Angel and to tell you about all the fabulous prizes on offer! You have two weeks to
enter and create your own mini using one of these amazing mini quilt tutorials. There's
13 quilts to choose from with varying degrees of skill required for each. The thing they all
have in common is that they use Marti Michell Templates to make. The tutorials for all the mini quilts are ready and waiting, so you can just enjoy making!
Here's the complete list of all 13 quilts and where to find their tutorials:
- A Tree Quilt Mini Quilt by Rachel at Wooden Spoon Quilts: Click here for tutorial
- There's a Bear in There Mini Quilt by Cat at Cat + Vee: Click here for tutorial
- Rainbow Triangles by Tonya at The Crafty Mummy: Click here for tutorial
- Coral Mini Quilt by Kristy at Bonjour Quilts: Click here for tutorial
- Beach Boxes Mini Quilt by Peta at She Quilts A Lot: Click here for tutorial
- I Left My Heart in Colorado Mini Quilt by Lucy at Charm About You: Click here for tutorial
- Thanks a Bunch Mini Quilt by Angie at GnomeAngel: Click here for tutorial
- Bear Paw in the Bee Hive Mini Quilt by Marti at Marti Michell: Click here for tutorial
- Nebula Mini Quilt by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts: Click here for tutorial
- Whirlwind Mini Quilt by Nat at Ouvrages de Nat: Click here for tutorial
- Fall Pumpkin Mini Quilt by Lisa at In The Boon Docks: Click here for tutorial
- Pineapple Slice Mini Quilt by Lisa at Sweet Little Pretties: Click here for tutorial
- Butterfly Mini Quilt by Raylee at Sunflower Quilting: Click here for tutorial
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
The lovely lady herself, Marti Michell, is sponsoring a fabulous prize for one lucky winner.
You can win a $50 gift voucher to spend online at the Marti Michell shop. This is such a
great prize for adding to your template collection and taking advantage of some of the great
template pattern books Marti has written. Go window shopping by clicking here.
Simply Soilds who
are simply awesome are offering one lucky reader a mystery FQ Bundle. If you haven't heard
of Simply Solids you need to remedy that quick smart. Here's a little history on Simply Solids
for you.
Established in 2010 Simply Solids has been providing the UK sewing and quilting community with designer cotton solids in a vast rainbow of colours! We remain as one of the UKs premier destinations for Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton Solids and our rapidly expanding blenders division is allowing us to introduce many more designer fabrics to our mix. Here you will currently find manufacturers such as Michael Miller, Art Gallery Fabrics, Makower and Riley Blake to name but a few!
Still not convinced, check out their Fat Quarter Bundles section and start dreaming about
what's coming your way! Click here to drool.
Make Modern is an
Australian-based modern quilt magazine written by quilters, for quilters. Make Modern is
published digitally which means you can get your copy anywhere. One lucky entrant will win
a 6 month subscription to Make Modern. Want to see what you could be reading, click here to see the Make
Modern Pattern Gallery.
HOW DO YOU ENTER?
Enter by submitting your photo of your finished mini
quilt made via one of the 13 tutorials to the link up below. Alternatively you can submit
your photo to the specific album in the Farmer’s Wife
1930’s Sampler Quilt Facebook Group or you can post it on Instagram with the hashtag
#MartiMichellMiniQuiltmania and tag @gnomeangel and @MartiMichell in the photo. So
many ways to enter there should be no excuse for you not to be in the running!
Entries will be open from Wednesday 30 November 2016 @ 7:30am AEST (Sydney Time)
and close Wednesday 14 December 2016 @ Midnight AEST. (That's two weeks to make a
mini quilt, you can totally do it!)
Enter Here!
HOW DO I WIN?
We have a secret panel of judges that will choose their favourite entries which will go in the
running to win a prize. It’s open internationally and winners will be announced on Friday
16 December at 7:30am AEST. (Judges decision is final and discussion will not be entered
into.)
Pickle Dish mini quilt
I am smitten with this mini quilt! It is a class sample for my Pickle Dish blocks class on 5th November 2016 at Patchfinders (as of writing I believe this class is full but you can always call to check or add your name to the waiting list, I will try to run it again next year if there is interest!).
The blocks are entirely machine pieced and I chose to hand quilt the mini. I used foundation paper piecing to construct the arcs and I have tips and tricks for piecing those curved pieces.
I enjoyed playing with the colours and using up fabric scraps from my stash. There are so many possibilities for colour variations!
There is one little fussy cut in my mini but I also think it would look great with more.
The mini was pieced with Aurifil 50wt and then hand quilting using perle thread. I love how the white blends in nicely but creates bold texture.
I finished putting the binding on this afternoon and I even like it from the back!
It will be displayed in the classroom and after teaching I definitely want to find a place to hang this in my home! The finished mini quilt is 16" square.
This is the final make from my Q3 FAL list ☑ (it was originally going to be a cushion but I hope it still counts that I made it a mini!)
Happy Friday everyone!
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