The Foxtrot Quilt

This year’s summer’s quilt project was, as per uje, English Paper Piecing.  

 
I love EPP. It is the salve to my soul. I love the non-frantic repetitive nerdy geometric vibe.  I also love that my seam ripper can take a holiday too … I don't love that up until now I have never got to the finishing line with any summer EPP project!

I’ll get a better picture of the quilt top when it isn’t so bloomin daydark or pouring with rain, but you get the idea!

Deciding on something larger than a cushion, yet realistically finishable before the next millenium, this year I went with applique blocks. It made the whole process so much more satisfying and undaunting for me. 

This project has been through many incarnations … it started as a random gingham project, mutated into Katy@ ImAGingerMonkey’s Spring Carnival, swerved sharp left at Lynne@ Lily'sQuilts Georgetown Carnival ...

...  But then, after a freak eureka snack moment involving a piece of watermelon and a Poole pottery plate, it finally found its own rhythm … 


SLOW …

SLOW …


 QUICK ...





QUICK ... 

so far this has been an utterly delicious process ...… and now all that remains is basting, cosy evening hand-quilting and binding …


SLOW...



The Watermelon Foxtrot will be backed with the same plain grey linen to let the (possilby nerdy) hand quilting do the talking. 

Isn’t that just the perfect binding fabric? It’s Calypso - Leaf - by Maude Asbury from my LQS - Brighton Sewing Centre


Lap Quilt: roughly 55" square
Blocks: 14" unfinished
Sashing: 4" unfinished  
EPP: centre hexies, triangles & squares 1.5" -  small hexies: 1" - (side length)
Binding:Calypso Leaf in Grey - Maude Asbury
Kona & Klona solids, Heavy charcoal grey Irish linen, Cotton & Polycotton gingham, FussyCut scraps.


Yay!

Triangle Tilt Quilt Ta-Da!

Huzzah!  It's finished - just over a week late, but I hope my partner on the For The Love of Solids swap on flickr won't have minded waiting so long.  Life got in the way.  Bits of horrid life and frantic work but all is calmer now.

I'm so pleased with how this came out.   I wasn't originally intending to do such intense running stitching, but I quite like how the original calmness of the triangles pre-quilting ...



... becomes quite agitated with the flow of the stitches …



I also really like the back.  I like to make the back of my swap quilts interesting in some way … and having some form of standalone pattern without any piecing seems to suit the way I sew …

You can see that this is not immensely talented hand quilting - it is just running stitch, hence the short stubby stitches on the back.  The backing is a beautiful deep turquoise linen, which I used to self bind round the front* …
*no sniggering Hadley …



and all from a bit of a doodle when I was sick in bed with the mutant virus ...



I just want to say sorry to my partner for being so late with this.  It's all wrapped up now, along with a few surprises, all ready to go in tomorrow's post …

… hope you like it!

Swoon-Along-a-Weekend - updated

OK - this was a foolish endeavour in anyone's book.  Try a Swoon block with no pattern - and try to make it gigantic and in a weekend!  But I wanted to be one of the gals and join the (over) 800 swooners that Katy @ Monkey Do gathered together for the Swoon-Along on Flickr.

I originally wanted this to be made with 9" finished blocks, but I simply didn't have the stash for it, and I'm on a strict fabric budget as I'm trying to save pennies for the FQ Sewing Retreat in London this summer ..

This was my original sketch …

and this was my original stack

… Along with Sketch crosshatches from Timeless Treasures, and the Dahlia and Aster prints from Kate Spain's Terrain, I had wanted to use the Pezzy Prints that I got just before Christmas, but once I cut the mahusive squares they just got lost … so I had to swap them out pdq and find something else … 

Luckily I received some FQs of the Half Moon Modern leaf print for my birthday last month … so I went with them instead …




So, after much measuring and measuring again and finally cutting …. This weekend I got started on the HSTs … I also veered from the-pattern-I-don't-have and used jumbo squares for the Half Moon Modern leaf print, so as not to break it up (although it was a right royal pain working out the 7/8ths of an inch-ness for the flying geese!)


The best thing about this big block is that as I played with sizes so much before ending up here, I know the construction of the block INSIDE OUT!!  I can even count in 7/8ths of an inch now …  I also took plenty of advice from the discussions on Flickr.


I plumped for a lovely but infinitely slippery turquoise/white crossweave linen for the background … and threw in some Michael Miller Ta-Dots to bring in the Aster and Dahlia prints a bit ...





Have any of you used these Pilot Frixion pens for fabric yet?  A totally brilliant thing for marking the centres of HSTs for stitching …




The ink disappears when you rub it out with the rubber end (not like a traditional eraser, just literally a rubber end).   They're a boon for a teacher - means I can erase my marking and crap maths when converting to percentages! Also blurry brill for typing on my tablet!



… And for us stitchers, it also means that the line disappears when you press or iron (and doesn't return)!  Miraculous!!  I can't wait to have some fun with these pens …

stitched but not pressed on top … stitched and pressed underneath!

So …. this was where I was up to this afternoon  … after a LOT of trimming!

I find it really useful to draw a little sketch of the block I'm piecing on a post-it, so I don't go all upsideydownsidey at the machine …

(AHEM! of course it should say Top RIGHT! - lucky I noticed before I started stitching!!)

So, we're nearly there …  I used a tremendous amount of starch on this baby - I make my own - a good dollop of extra strong cornflour to about a pint of water ... This linen really really really needed it, as it is incredibly fine and terrifically slippery ...

Each square is 6" unfinished … so not as giant as I wanted but I have another plan …

 


I have some amazing pink linen from my linen man which I might use to complement the turquoise linen  background …  I may do some sashing and postage stamp /pinwheel stuff with the remaining prints, and maybe even bring in the Pezzy again … who knows ... I may just fold it all up and get on with something else!


I have to say that once I started using my Aurifil 50wt for the final block piecing, things went a lot more smoothly.  To say that my Brother Innovis has no oomph is a wild understatement.  Even with all seams pressed open, it struggles over any seam junction and just makes fur balls while marking time ...


It's amazing how accurately you can sew when you have TOTALLY LOST all three of your seam rippers!! I blame a certain four legged member of the Pings household ...  

who me?

So here she is ... in all her Swooniness ...  I'm sorry about the gloomy pic, but it's dark dark dark outside now, so no chance of a washing line shot!  *edited to add some washing line shots at the end of this post!!

That's me done with the Swoon Block for now.

I like it a lot.  I'll like it even more when I've sashed it and added some more business to it ... But I won't be making another one for a while ... I still think the block looks best with only two or three fabrics ... but then I'd have had to make at least four!!  If you haven't had a gander, some of the blocks on the Flickr Group are stunning!

I always imagine that making blocks on a large scale will be easier but, now I remember from making my giant Lynne Bob Square Pants block from Lynne@LilysQuilts ...  mistakes are even easier to see when it's big like this ... Let's not look too close, eh? ... some of those seams are a bit mismatchy, and the Ta Dots went a bit grrrr ... but all in all, not bad for that much linen.

Finished size of block: 46" square.  Huzzah!

Off to have a bath and to warm up ... Oh, it's nearly bedtime.  Goodbye weekend!

... and thank you to Jess, Linda and Nina for being the first three to comment on my last post ... I shall be PIFing something for you in the next few months ....

*edited to add ... here are some washing line shots!

The new shopping …

I wanted to share this fantastic time lapse/tilt shift video made by a 13yr old boy in Brighton - It is a piece of beauty and soul. He's had to disable comments on his vimeo page!  Go yoof! 


Go full screen! and enjoy the 45,000 still shots that created this amazing 'day in Brighton'.

This is Brighton from Caleb Yule on Vimeo.

Sometimes I feel like I'm falling out of love with Brighton and then I actually go and wander around or see something like this and realise how very much I still love it ...

My 365 meme today was 'favourite' so I thought I'd feature the fleamarket I love. which is tucked away in a Upper Gardner Street in Brighton.






I also decided to flesh out the post here at Pings, as it's got gratuitous pictures of thread and fabric in it, and only a few brave people are looking at my 365 project ... not a whinge .. just sayin ... 









I love this place … It is absolutely choccabloc with dusty, touchable stuff.
It smells wonderful!




I buy my bags of 'vintage' {= old} cottons there … On a Saturday, Upper Gardner Street also has a fantastic bric-a-brac, local produce, bits and bobs market …




This is where my wonderful linen man sometimes hangs out … not today though …




His pitch 'neighbour' … is it his brother? I don't know, really not sure, I always mistake one for the other they are so alike but that might just be my fabric association neurons gone wild! … has wonderful vintage French linens, trimmings, ribbons, bolt ends of savile row pinstripes, bakelite stag and boar buttons … oh bsmbh …

… such fun to look (but not buy - photos are the new shopping this year … )




Look at that yummy bishop's-purple grosgrain ribbon … he had wide blanket binding satin in the same colour too … *sigh

What is your favourite thing to do on a Saturday? 

… keep it clean now …

… or not …

The Gentleman's Relish Quilt

At last … some sewing ... I'm really taking advantage of my days off, I can tell you!

I'm calling this the Gentleman's Relish Quilt because it's for a Gentleman and because the monochrome and the scratchy Heath fabric reminds me of the packaging for Patum Peperium (anchovy relish) yum ... my absolute fave thing ever ...

... just typing that makes me want to go and make toast ...

The pattern is Briana's Modern Houndstooth Quilt - from Issue 4 of Fat Quarterly, but I'm going to sash it differently I think ...

 It's really easy to piece and the blocks should come together quite quickly ... you can see more of the process in my flickr set here
 


Here’s a mock up of what it would look like if I did a gazillion blocks …
 


Fabric: Grey medium weight Irish Linen, Alexander Henry Heath in Black & White .... Now, off to make some more blocks .... woohoo!


!! Don't forget to vote for your favourite Scrap Baggers here !!

Ruby Star Spring Quilt - Finish!

A final reveal of my first ever real quilt for me. This baby is hand quilted, randomly tied with 1mm satin ribbon and self bound with the orange linen backing.

Quilt Top: Ruby Star Spring by Melody Miller for Kokka, Kona & Klona cotton solids; Orange, lilac, beige & acid limey lemon linen in varying weights. I dyed the acid limey lemon linen myself as I was desperate for a colour I just couldn't find elsewhere. Result!

The Ruby Star Spring is an absolute joy to work with, it is soft and forgiving and a lighter weight cotton linen blend compared to Melody's last line, Ruby Star Rising. I love both, and there's a teeny bit of Rising in this quilt to pay homage to my favourite line of 2010! This, of course, is my favourite line of 2011!

Batting/Wadding: bamboo (it's scrummy!)

Backing: orange linen.

I'll tell you something ... All that linen means one heavy quilt! It needed 10 clothes pegs, and I snapped four in the process when they pinged off ... so I've decided that as duvets have tog ratings, my quilts will have peg ratings!



Ruby Star Spring Quilt - Finish!, a photo by Sarah @ pingsandneedles on Flickr.

Most importantly of all, it's on my bed!

I absolutely adore it and it makes me smile when I give it a final smooth down before lights out! I have to confess that I finished this on Sunday night, but we needed some time together before I introduced you all ...

n'night

Ruby Star Spring Quilt Top Finish - Yay!

Ruby Star Spring Quilt Top Finish - Yay!, a photo by Sarah @ pingsandneedles on Flickr.

*phew*

- hot off the machine, untrimmed, unpressed ... just ... well, bright!

This was a massive task for me!  A whole improv quilt?

Towards the end of play yesterday (which was actually 4:00 am!) I was really enjoying the rhythm of piecing these blocks.  I liked the fact that I was totally random with what I picked out of my giant bowl of strips and bits.

I also pieced the whole quilt standing up! I know, sounds mad, but I put my machine on my bookshelves, which are the perfect height.  With so much getting up and down to press (which you've really got to do when you're improv piecing) my back was absolutely killing me.

I loved loved loved sewing standing up and I'll continue to do it for most things other than chain piecing or actual quilting.

Today my feet are killing me!  I also trapped my thumb in the presser lever yesterday ... lots of blood (what quilt of mine doesn't end up with battle bloodspots, eh?) but ultimately not that much damage.

After 12 hours non-stop sewing I noticed I'd sewn two blocks wrong side facing, so I decided it was time to go to bed!  I got up early and to be honest struggled through the last block or two.  I just want to get on with quilting it now!

I'm backing it in the paler bright orange (a 100% linen) with no fancy schmancy piecing.   I'm going to perle cotton hand quilt it, I think ...  I fancy doing some cross-stitch on those bees ... I have got the perfect variegated thread though ... so I'm tempted to do something radically simple on the machine ...  But ... This baby is heavy! ...

Now to lock the cat out and get grappling on the floor for some basting.  I don't actually know if I've got enough batting ... d'oh!

*Edited to add - Bwahaha!  Enough batting you say ? Pshaw!  Seriously considering just missing out the batting altogether ... I'm going to sleep on it ... the idea, not the quilt top ... that's folded up nicely for me to purr over ...

DQS10 - Mini Quilt? Tick!

 Yay!  My first mini quilt is officially ready to go to its new owner (whoever she/he may be … heh heh heh)

I really hope my partner likes it. 

 front

 back

There were lots of firsts in this quilt, other than it being my first mini quilt!  I took my inspiration from Gee’s Bend quilts and worked back from there.

inspiration mosaic

I’ve never tried improv piecing and it was a tad scary being liberated from measuring and any sort of clear plan, but as soon as I sewed that first centre block, I was hooked.





From there it just sort of made itself.  I didn’t have to unpick anything (another first!) and just trusted it would find its way …

When it came to the quilting I couldn’t rely on Mrs Singer being able to cope, and with Damiel having his tune up I decided to go with big stitch sashiko style quilting with embroidery thread. 



There were other considerations too; I wanted the front to hold its own and didn’t feel that the wonky block would work so well with straight line quilting, which is why I turned to the trusty hexagon! I wanted the randomness of the stitching to not detract too much from the block piecing.




Then I had to think of how to do the label.  Luckily one of the echino scraps and a Sharpie did the trick perfectly!




Towards the end of last year I played with some laser printing onto transfer paper (more of that another time) so, I just happened to have some little pingsandneedles waiting to be used!
 




I’ve never put a label on a quilt before - I know it’s something I should have done with my big quilts but they were for friends and family, so I didn’t think it was important.  I know better now.  It finishes it off well, don’t you think? 





My last first (!) was that I made my own binding - I remember posting here that I could never see myself doing this - boy was I wrong!  What an addictive thing this is going to be!





I made a very narrow binding - 1.5” - and used Kerry’s single binding tutorial over at verykerryberry- it’s fantastic!  I had a little trouble with one of the corners, but I think that was much more to do with my not squaring off perfectly!  


So there you have it - my first mini quilt - tick!  

What firsts have you got in mind for this year?