prairie points
Showing posts with label prairie points. Show all posts
circles quilt ⦁ pomegranate mini ⦁ handmade decorations ⦁ read books cushion
Are you sitting comfortably? Because I'm ready for a catch up! I hope you've all been enjoying a nice holiday over the festive season. I went back to work yesterday and Christmas already feels like it was ages ago. Before I get all excited about the new year I want to round up some of the projects I have made in the past couple of weeks (you can tell from the title it's quite a few) and tell you what I've been up to...
The first is this Circles Quilt I made for Sewing Quarter, with improvised curves and appliqué. I love this green/natural palette with the pop of teal, these are all Spectrum solids by Makower.
The curves were cut freehand using a rotary cutter, pieced and then the blocks were squared up. I made a 3 x 4 layout of the blocks and quilted it with a simple cross hatch. The teal circles were attached with fusible web, using a blanket stitch to appliqué them - also quilting through all the layers.
The finished quilt is 48 x 64". Loved by producer Hannah and my cat. You can see the demo here.
The next project I'm sharing involved some different techniques, a fair bit of cutting and some folding.
I made a smaller mini quilt using one block from the Pomegranate quilt pattern from The Versatile Nine Patch by Joan Ford. I enjoyed cutting up nine patch blocks in different ways to create this pretty design, making blocks like this sparks ideas for me and shows how many possibilities there are with patchwork.
The two quilt borders sandwich prairie points, which are folded outwards to create kite shapes held down with little buttons. I have recently fallen in love with prairie points and like this different take on them! To watch the demo click here.
I had an exciting delivery, the December box from Modern Quilter's Box. Filled with beautiful fabric and patterns, it is such a treat! This month my Crossed Orange Peel was included in the box (which is now sold out but stay tuned for the pattern release). I adore this sweet embroidery kit that was in the box, Noel by Cotton Clara. It was really quick to make and this is now hanging in our hallway!
I didn't make any other festive decorations for our house this year, just broke out the box of mostly handmade Christmas decorations. I did, however, make a couple for my friends Samantha and Naomi using this great video tutorial by Art Gallery Fabrics.
I really like how these combinations worked out! The fussy cut Tula peeking out through the festive red, the lovely Essex metallic texture with the black Gramercy print and I used different colours of Aurifil Brillo metallic thread to add sparkly stitches to both.
On a personal note we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day spent with my Dad. The kids got to decorate a little tree while we made lunch.
Oh and that was after they had helped dig up veggies for lunch! Fresh carrots and sprouts!
It was a special day, full of good food, laughter and gratitude. My favourite gift was a cardboard box full of stationery that my husband had collected from various shops - so thoughtful! And as I use notebooks, pens, washi tape etc every day I know that it will be fun to get creative with all the things he picked out for me. This weekend we plan on having a few games of Pictionary, given to us by my best friend. I grew up playing lots of board games and beyond Monopoly (which my husband hates) and tiddly winks (which, it transpires, none of us can actually do), we don't really play games like that. I'm looking for to it!
Yesterday I was back to work and one of the projects I created was this book cushion. I used alphabet templates and Sublime Stitching embroidery floss to stitch 'read' with back stitch.
The lined pocket was made very simply, using fusible fleece and just a couple of lines of stitching across the top. Fusible fleece is my favourite thing to use when making cushions, it does the job of interfacing/wadding, is so easy to iron on and gives a nice soft structure. If you'd like to see the demo, which includes the measurements I used, click here.
Finally I had to laugh when I got a coffee on my way home today and noticed this is how they had spelt Lucy!!
half circle scallop trim ✽ a mini tutorial
I was given a beautiful low volume nine patch block that I wanted to turn into a cushion. After spending a long time thinking about it, I was inspired by the Glam Clam quilts on social media. This is made from circles rather than clamshells and they are so tactile, like rounded prairie points.
They are really easy to make!
Decide on the size of scallops you want to fit your project, find something circular with a diameter of that size (like tape or a cup or plate). Cut fabric squares large enough to draw circles and leave a 1/4" seam all the way round. For each scallop you need two pieces of fabric. You could use muslin or something plain for the back if you prefer.
Draw a circle on the back of one of the fabric squares and place on top of another square so that the right sides are together. Pin in the centre.
Sew around the drawn line. For larger circles this is quite easy, just gently turn the fabric as you sew. Smaller circles will require more stopping and starting to make sure you are sewing on the line.
Trim around the circle using pinking shears. This helps you have nice curves :)
You now have two scallops. Turn right side out and give it a good press with an iron.
My scallops were 4.5", to stop them from folding in on themselves or getting lumpy, I top stitched around the edges for stability.
Decide on your placement and then layer scallops right sides down, so the outer edges line up with the edge of the block. The floral scallops you see peeking out below will actually be at the front after sewing:
Place a border strip right side down over the top, lining up the bottom edges:
Pin it all in place and sew using a 1/4" seam. You might want to use a quilting needle (rather than a piecing one) in your machine because there are a few layers of fabric there.
Now I have to admit to a mistake you may have already spotted. By sewing on the borders I cut off some of my scallop edges! To avoid this you could just move the scallops 1/4" away from the edges on the first two rows you sew on the cushion. It doesn't bother me enough to redo it. I actually think it might work to stop the scallops sticking out from the cushion so much when it's stuffed!
I'm going to enjoy ruffling these!
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