My Small World Quilt Along: Conclusion

 As the My Small World quilt along posts come to an end, I've basted my version and started quilting.

I'm not a planner when it comes to quilting.  I had thought that I would just grid quilt it to make it robust for family use- it will go on our sofa.  I am grid quilting the sky but have other plans for the other sections.

As you can see in this pic, I am added hand quilting.  I don't know how much, but I did know that I didn't want to machine quilt the curves so I started with a few hand stitches and kept going. 

Hand quilting does not come easy to me.  I find it a strain on the hands so I'll be doing little and often rather than long stretches.  I am using Coats Cotton 20wt hand quilting thread bought from Amazon which is similar to Gutterman hand quilted thread- Chase recommended this and I greatly enjoy using it.  It has a coating like the Gutterman but is a little thicker.  Lovely to sew with.  Wynn sent me the Fujix Quilt Farm which is very similar and although it's polyester it feels just like cotton.   I have a pretty basic rocking technique and I don't use a hoop as I find they annoy me!  I do use leather thimbles, one to push the needle through and the other to meet the needle on the reverse side.  Here's hoping that more practice will improve my skill.

For those still looking for the My Small World quilt pattern, Jen Kingwell is releasing it as a pattern soon, I believe it is currently at the printers. Thank you Jen for a design that has inspired so many quilters to make their own small world.  It is definitely a quilt for learning!  I know I've certainly improved my small piecing skills and accuracy along with appliqué and hand piecing.  I'd like to say a big thank you to my co-hosts and their tips and tricks, John, Megan,  Lisa, Danielle and Cindy.    Cindy has finished quilt to show you which is stunning!  And another big thank you to all of you who have taken part and shared your work, it has been a pleasure to see so many! All the quilt-along posts will stay up if you are still working on earlier sections.  I'd love to see and finished tops and quilts, you can tag my on any pics on Instagram, I am @verykerryberry.  It has been a wonderful experience quilting along with so many people.

My Small World: Part 6

The final part- woohoo!  Much of this section is familiar territory with pin wheels, flying geese and orange peel, all of which have featured in earlier sections.  Cindy is hosting the post on this section and although she hasn't quite got to part six she has a stunning interpretation of this quilt under construction to show you.

Meanwhile, this is my completed part six.  I raided my scrap bags for most of these blocks up using up last snippets of  many different fabrics.

For most of the blocks I used the techniques from previous sections but for the chimney building (top right) I departed from the instructions and simplified the block using fewer pieces of fabric .  Instead of half-square triangles at the roof gable, I used a large square for the building (equivalent to four of the small squares) and corner square triangles to make the gable point.  It's the same technique used for flying geese made with rectangles and squares.  It made a quicker building with less seams and the same finished shape!

You can find all the previous quilt along posts here including links to the other hosts and covering all the construction techniques. 

Here is the finished quilt top.  It's a lively mix of colours and prints and as I had the sections on a design curtain, it made it easier to ensure that I repeated prints across the different sections to give continuity points amongst the scrappiness.  I'm starting to consider the quilting.  This quilt is going on our sofa so I will be very boring and just cross hatch quilt it so it's hard wearing.  In a fantasy world I would love to hand quilt it with perle cotton but my hands can't take the strain so machine sewn it is. 

The last quilt along post will be 28th September and I hope to have mine quilted and bound by then.  Other hosts will be sharing their progress too and you can see more on the Instagram hashtag #mysmallworldqal.  For those who are still looking for a copy of Quiltmania Spring Special, do watch out for people selling copies as they complete their quilts, again I think the IG hashtag is the most likely place for this.  I hope you are progressing well and remember that the quilt along posts will still be here when the quilt-along is finished.

My Small World QAL: Part ii of Part 5

Welcome to the second part of #mysmallworldqal part five.  You can find part one here.  Danielle has been leading the way on this section and has two great posts featuring lots of hand piecing techniques - part one here, part two here. 

For those of you who are machining most of your My Small World quilt, I've some tips based on my experience of piecing it.  Starting with the dresden.  I wanted to machine piece this together and to use a machine based quick technique for turning the points on each fan blade.  For this, I took the original template piece (far left in the pic below) and drew round it on paper.  I added a horizontal line across the top of the piece and  a ¼" seam allowance all round the new shape- these lines are  shown in orange.  I then traced this onto template plastic so my new template included the ¼" seam allowance.  Then, cut out your fabric pieces without adding any more seam allowance.  When the top horizontal edge of the blade is folded in half with right sides together and sewn along (like the chain pieced examples at the bottom of the picture, it opens out to form a point the same as produced by the original template but a lot faster!  I then sewed my fan pieces together at the sides and all the pointy raw edges are already neatly turned under!  I pieced my centre semi circle into place as the pattern recommends but you could also appliqué it on top.

 For the piecing of the triangle arc and hexagons see here.  Before I trimmed the hexagons to fit the BF semi-circle  I sewed around the edges using a short stitch length about ⅛" away from the freezer paper pattern piece.   This was to hold the edges together as the hexagons were hand stitched.  

To turn the raw edges on both arcs including the mini inner arc, I sewed a generous ¼" away from the raw edge using a 3.5mm stitch length. This makes a memory line in the fabric which makes it easier to turn with an iron.  I also painted a little starch on to the edges.  Once the arcs are pinned in place and appliquéd on, the stitches can be carefully removed.  This technique is used a lot in dressmaking, especially for hems and I find it really useful in quilting too!

I used appliqué pins to hold everything in place and I did tweak my placing quite a lot.  I cut away excess fabric at the back so the layers aren't too thick.  It didn't quite fit exactly as the picture despite everything being to size and my finished section is a little out of shape but once it is part of the quilt and also quilted, it will all be fine!

My Small World Quilt-Along: Part i of Part 5

Part 5 of My Small World Quilt-Along is a detailed and time consuming section and the very talented Danielle of Mes Petit Elefants will be talking you through all the techniques and skills she has employed to fit this section together!  She is an experienced hand piecer and this section has a lot of piecing that you may find easier to do by hand.

 I've tried to spread the hand sewing out over the last few weeks so I'm not doing it all in one go.  For the hexagon semi circle, I didn't English Paper Piece as I find it rather fiddly and hard on the fingers.  Instead I hand-pieced sewing along the seam lines only.

• Draw round the hexagon template in soft pencil. Cut out with ¼" seam allowance.  Arrange layout in rows. To join the rows of hexagons, place two right sides together.  Using a knotted thread, sew small running stitches along the pencil line.  At the end of the line, secure the seam by looping through the final stitch.  I usually sew another stitch on top of this and loop again to make sure.  Repeat until all rows of hexagons are sewn.  I don't press at this point but all the seam allowances are floating so they can flatten in any direction.

• To join the rows together, start at the end of a row, place a pin perpendicular where the first joining seam will finish.  Sew seam as before, secure at the end but do not cut thread.  Instead, pivot the fabrics to join on to a new hexagon and sew the next seam as before.

• Continue until all the rows are joined.  Press seams as desired, I pressed to one side.

For the arcs, I followed the same technique as Danielle with freezer paper piecing: she describes the process here.  I reused the outer arc template to turn the raw edge inwards for appliqué with a mix of starch painted on and running stitch- I did the same thing with the circles in part 2, method described here.  

This is this area from the back with the green fabrics behind the appliqué cut away.  You can just see the little snips I made in the concave part of the arches as the convex curves were added, especially in the lemon yellow fabric. 

For the triangle 'New York Beauty' style arcs, I drew round the plastic templates on very thin paper to create a foundation paper piecing pattern.  I used a fine pencil and overlapped the templates slightly over the previous pencil line to keep it accurate.

  I added 1/4" seam allowance all round and pre-creased the seam lines with a Hera marker.  I find this makes it easier to flip the paper back and forth whilst piecing.

I found multiple colours a little overwhelming for these sections so I plumped for some favourite contrasting colour pairings for each arc. These were sewn on the machine but I hand pieced the arcs together, Danielle shows how here. 

As there is rather a lot to fit into one blog post and I have still got to appliqué all my sections down, I will add a second part to this later this week and Danielle is doing the same.  As ever, if you are on Instagram, check out the #mysmallworldqal hashtag. I read some great tips on there including using English paper piecing coupled with a little glue basting as a way of sewing both the curved arcs and the triangle arcs- thanks @elletaylor7 for that tip!  

See you later in the week, I hope your Small World is progressing well, my thoughts are already turning to quilting, now that's a conundrum, I have no idea!

My Small World QAL: Part 4

Lisa from Vintage Modern Quilts is your host for constructing part 4 of My Small World.  She has some very handy tips on templates, seam allowances, appliqué and a whole host of general tips that will improve accuracy and the overall look of your quilt.  She's also being posting on Instagram as @vintagemodernquilts and the hashtag #mysmallworld will show you everyone's progress

I found this quite a straightforward section and whizzed through it quite quickly.  I am trying to repeat some of the fabrics from earlier sections and as ever I try just to concentrate on the block I am doing at any one time whilst keeping an eye on the bigger picture from time to time.  

For the clam shells, I used a mix of freezer paper/starch and tip of an iron to turn over the raw edges- double layer freezer is even better- just iron another layer on top of the paper so that there is still a waxy side underneath and paper side facing you - and Mary Dugan's method of layering and hand sewing the clam shells to a base. I did stubble a little keeping them aligned.  Having pencil lines on the back of the base of the actual size of the finished section helped. 

 I am now prepping for parts 5 and 6 and the finish line is in sight.  Katy Cameron has some excellent ideas on how to deal with the green section in part 5 and save a bit of fabric!

My Small World Quilt-Along: Part Three

How is everyone getting along with their My Small World quilt?  I see lots of progress on Instagram and a great tips and tricks for the various construction techniques involved in the blocks.   Megan of @lucyandnorman is hosting part three of the quilt-along.  She'll be posting on Instagram and I hope to share the pictures here for anyone not on IG in a summary post.  Here's my section all finished- it is a tricky thing to photograph especially on a dull day!

The buildings block at the base of this section took a while and some careful planning to work around two Y seams.  I have a tutorial here if you are new to these.

Otherwise, I work on finding interesting fabric and colour combinations and making sure each block is the correct size when finished- many need a tiny bit of trimming!  I bought a design wall which I've hung on hooks stuck on a picture rail and it helps give me a sense of pattern and perspective over the whole quilt as well as keeping everything in one place.  Remember to check the #mysmallworldqal and tag me so I can see your progress or leave a comment here with a link and I'll pop on to your blog and admire your handiwork!

My Small World Quilt-Along: Constructing Part Two

Welcome to part two on the construction of the My Small World quilt-along and if you've been busy working away you should now have a good idea of the challenges that you will come up against making this quilt.  You can read John's post for part one and he mentions a few cheat ideas that may appeal to some of you.  From what I've read from magazine stockists, the Spring Special edition of Quiltmania was the last of these kind of Spring Specials, it is sold out at Quiltmania and this magazine is being replaced by other specials like Simply Moderne which comes out at the end of June.  It is still available at some UK stockists, including Contented Cat.  Quiltmania have removed the errata section from their website but the PDF link is still live and another here and you can refer to Katy's extensive list here. 

So far, I am loving it but I like small piecing, templates and scrappiness so it is all happy happy in my quilty world!  I have been using my vintage Bernina with a generic Bernina quarter inch foot to piece and it really helps with accuracy.  I am going to work through some of the features of part two in the order they appear in the instructions.   I made all my sky sections in advance so I am working below that point.

Applique

For the appliqué circles I like to use Karen Buckely's perfect circles.  The largest circle from her small circle pack was the right size for the template.   Her method can be seen here.  I used the brass 'Wonder Wheel' guide to create the seam allowance.  For the background fabric on any of the appliqué blocks and sections, I like to cut larger and trim down afterwards.   You can see in the picture bottom left, I traced the actual size of the finished square on the reverse and which helped me position the circle.  I also like Clover appliqué pins and Jeanna Kimball's Foxglove cottage straw needles are my favourites for appliqué. 

Alternatives Methods

• Use raw edge appliqué and fusible web
• Silver foil and card (good for other curved shapes
• Freezer paper can be used for the perfect circle method.  Freezer paper can be used as a double layer if you want it thicker.  Place two layers together, the second layer goes waxy side against paper side of the first layer so there a paper side remains on top and a waxy side underneath when they are joined together.
• Interfaced applique

Sewing Applique
Matching your thread to the fabric you are appliquéing on to the background.    With a knotted thread, I push my needle from the back so the needle point comes out in the folded edge of the circle.  Then, the needle point is positioned immediately just outside the place it has come through and into the background fabric so the stitch is tiny.  The needle travels underneath by just over ⅛" and less than ¼" before it comes up again in the circle's folded edge.  The needle goes down as before and the stitching continues.  The front has tiny stitches that you pull tight as you go and the back has long stitches where the needle travels on the back.  Once the circle has finished, trim the square to the required size keeping the circle central.

Triangles

I used the templates for the triangles.  The pencil line provides precise points to pin when you join the pieces.  I pin using this method.  You could also foundation paper piece if you prefer by using the templates to draw a foundation.  Sarah of Pixelsandstitches has done this and is offering a free template which could easily be traced and adapted to create the strip of triangles in one template.  With all the blocks, I check the size as I sew and trim down if needed.  Some of the pinwheels from part one came out slightly big so I trimmed down to size.

The Arched Shape

Back Basting

I thought I'd try a couple of methods for this shape to see how they worked.  I tried back basting which I haven't done before so this is a beginner's explanation of the method.  I drew the actual size of the squares on the reverse as a guide and then around the template where I wanted the final arch to be but again on the reverse. 

Then, the fabric to be appliqués is pinned on so that the wrong side is lying against the right side of the background.  Stitch a line of running stitches on the pencil line.  Mine are in lime green.  On the right side, trim the appliqué fabric ¼" away from the stitches to provide the seam allowance.  It helps to run chalk over the top of the stitches and stitch line too, use something that will easily brush out.  Then the tricky bit!   Undo a few stitches at the bottom right corner- around an inch, and using the needle tip, push the fabric underneath.  With your appliqué thread matching the fabric, sew the beginning of the arch shape to the background stitching as with the circles. 

That is the basics of the method.  The curve is tight so it does help to snip into the seam allowance to allow the fabric to turn in more easily- the clip just stops short of where the fabric will fold.  I found this method a little fiddly and it made my hands ache.  The reverse side will have long stitches on as with the circle.

 

I also tried the freezer paper method.  I iron the freezer paper replica of the template on to the reverse of the fabric and using my fingers to press the fabric around the edges of the shape.  Then I squirt some non aerosol starch into a container and paint this onto the seam allowance and use the tip of an iron the fold it over being very careful of my finger tops.  I then press from the front and allow to cool before removing the freezer paper and pressing again.  Then I pin in place and sew on as before.  I prefer this method.

Orange Peel Shapes

I use the freezer paper method for the orange peel shapes but you could use the alternatives suggested for the circle.  Other tips:

• Trim the corners to a slightly smaller seam allowance.  These are hard to turn neatly and without bulk.
• Use a larger square for the background and mark the actual square size on the reverse, as with the circle.

• Press the diagonal lines on the square to help alignment- see diagram.

• It seems to work better in the centre if there is a light gap between the orange peel pieces rather than actually touching.   
• I sew starting near the start of the centre point, sewing up to the point, tucking the excess fabric under the point and stitching round.  More stitches are needed at the tip of the points.

I haven't included the churn dash, triangle and arrow blocks as they are more basic quilt blocks and piecing methods are easy to find via Google.   It is worth noting that the centre square in the churn dash blocks is a B square not an A and this is not mentioned in the cutting instructions.   The only other thing I took care on was getting each block to the desired size.  I haven't stitched my first two sections together yet but you can see how they look.  It is a bit of a scrappy mish-mash but a very happy one!

Before I start part three which looks pretty straightforward, I am prepping the various hand sewing sections from parts four, five and six for some forthcoming trips away.  How is progress for you?  You can post your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #mysmallworldqal or add to the Flickr group.

My Small World QAL: Part One

I know many of you have made a start on your 'My Small World' quilts by now and some of you are still waiting for the magazine or supplies to arrive.  Remember the pace is steady on this quilt-along, there are three week gaps between each of the six construction part posts for this quilt.  John is hosting part one and his post is here.   There are also some more errata to note- see later in this post.  In the meantime, here's my completed part one:

I worked on each mini block one at a time, only getting the fabrics out for each part so that chaos was contained.  I have made all the sky sections in advance for each part as it was easier to do that when I had the low volume fabric out.   I am not over analysing my choices.  I go with my instinct, create mini narratives within blocks and sew them all together.  The only thing I am mindful of is maintaining a medium level of contrast.  I am using the templates throughout and piecing on my vintage Bernina.  She sews a very accurate scant ¼" seam and for such small pieces, that really helps!

Katy of The Littlest Thistle is super-sizing her My Small World quilt.  I recommend  you read a detailed account of how she's doing it here, plus her thorough reading of the pattern  has uncovered more errata and Quiltmania have posted all correction details here.  **Edited to add, in Part 1 diagram 5- the instructions and diagrams do not match for Q rectangles and R strips- change the diagram labels- Q becomes R and R becomes Q then they match the written cutting instructions**.

I've had a few questions about templates so here is a blog version of some quick guidelines I posted on Instagram and some helpful links.  All the templates in the magazine are finished size and do not include seam allowances.   Do also refer to Quiltmania's corrections which include some template labels. 

1.  Trace the templates onto template plastic and cut out.  I use a Sewline ceramic pencil as it draw easily on the plastic. If you prefer  you can scan or photocopy the templates on to paper, back with card and cut out but these will not be as resilient as template plastic and can distort as they get drawn around.  

In the picture below, you can see a mini quilter's ruler, Sewline pencil, 28mm rotary cutter, quilter's wheel and a template cut out of template plastic.

2.  To use the template, place on the reverse of fabric and draw carefully around with a pencil- I use the Sewline pencil again.  This line will be your seam line. 

3.  You can either add the seam allowance with ruler and pencil as a ¼" border around the shape, or use a rotary cutter and a quilt ruler or an add-a-quarter ruler  and cut out the shape adding the ¼" border all round the shape.  Justine at Simply Solids just sent me one of these and I really wonder what I have been doing without one- I'll review it in detail later in the week but I've already heard how many people have one of these on Instagram and everyone loves them.  Now I can see why!

For curves or circles, a quilter's wheel is a great little tool and it works on straight lines too.  It is a little brass disc with a hole large enough to insert a pencil lead.  The disc edge rotates rests agains the template edge and with your pencil lead in the hole, the disc rotates around the shape creating the ¼" border.  You can then cut out with scissors.

There are lots of different approaches to templates, this is how I do mine.  Helen of Archie the Wonder Dog sent me a link to a great and highly detailed post at Linda Franz's blog on templates and freezer paper.  It is well worth a read as there are a plethora of excellent tips and these are some of the best I have read on the subject. 

If you can, visit the hashtag on Instagram #mysmallqal.  I love the different approaches coming through the picture feed and the help and advice being offered by other quilt-along sewers.   It is a truly inspiring community.  Jen has designed an amazing and at times challenging  pattern with skills that may take you out of your comfort zone but what a quilt to learn on!