Sunday Selection: A Catch-up & Some Stitchy Things to Discover

There's been too much stuff going on for my liking.  I like a quiet life, no drama and lately, we've had a family member's newly diagnosed health issues to deal with and my work commitments have been intense during the same period so a usually calm little house has been hectic.  It's settled down now, said family member is doing well.  In between events,  I've recently found some wonderful sewing links, reads and listens that I wanted to share and I thought this could be a regular thing every other Sunday?

Podcast

So starting with the links, Love to Sew is a sewing community podcast run by Helen Wilkinson of Helen's Closet clothing Patterns and Caroline Somos of Blackbird Fabrics which usually focuses on garment making, but a recent episode featured Alexa Abegg of Ruby Star Society and formerly Cotton+Steel fabrics and creative collaborations.  It is a fascinating listen, especially for quilters who are so familiar with Alexa's work.  She shares her journey as a fabric designer, how she became a part of Cotton+Steel at RJR fabrics and how she and the other designers moved into being Ruby Star Societ, her artistic work as a collaborator both long distance and closer to home, plus a lot more- Listen here.

Blog Read

I've been following Lizzie Bramlett (Fuzzylizzie) At Vintage Traveller blog for years.  She's a dedicated vintage clothing collector and former teacher who shares her finds and nuggets of fashion history information.  This post on the Dress and Home Workbook is a gem.

Instagram

Jeana Kimball is a quilt maker and teacher.  I first came across her work through her amazing needles when I was piecing the Jen Kingwell Bring Me Flowers quilt.  I use her Straw needles for hand piecing and applique sizes 10 and 11.  She has an Instagram account @jeanakimball where as well as her amazing work, she often shares wonderful hand piecing tips, well worth a follow, especially if you like to sew by hand.  I'm enjoying her current posts on back basting applique. 

The block pics are my latest Sarah Fielke 2018 BOM, Simple Folk.  I'm slowly working my way through the outer border blocks...

Block Appreciation

Another successful meet up on Saturday for Southwest Stitchers, the informal local sewing group that meets up every 4 months or so.  We hire a large, warm, well lit space with a kettle and tea cups so a bunch of stitchers can talk fabric, patterns, clothing is so great and the more we do it the more it is like meeting up with old friends.  Helen and I got out our blocks and compared quilts-to-be:

I am four blocks off the total for my Bring Me Flowers quilt.  This was the block of the month and I mixed in a few of my own too.  Mostly hand sewn although I'll join the blocks on the machine.  I've enjoyed it so much, part of me doesn't want it to end- although I am pretty keen to see it in quilt form.

These are Helen's from her Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt.   Again, her's is mainly hand pieced and many of these blocks were made as a travelling projects whilst Helen is on the road in her camper van.  A beautiful range of colours, lots of fabrics from friends and a clever use of cheater prints which are perfect for projects like this where more is more.  Like me, Helen is a fan of the intricate and also slow sewing.  These Jen Kingwell quilt designs are perfect if that is your preference.  You are only ever working on one block at a time- no need to cut fabric far in advance.  Perfect for a long term project on the go.

Whilst I was at the meet up, this arrived,  Jen Kingwell's book, Quilt Lovely.  I collected it from the sorting office yesterday and every spare moment has been spent reading and planning.  It was sent from USA as I am reviewing this book in a couple of weeks time and it isn't due to arrive in the UK until late April, but I am sure you won't mind me saying that is you plan on ordering Quilt Lovely, it won't disappoint.  It mixes hand sewn projects with machine sewn, long term slow sewing with some quicker quilts and pillows.  I already have my project planned for a life post Bring Me Flowers.

Flowers

Are you still there?  You haven't been blown away/drowned by rain/disappeared into 3 foot of snow?  A week of crazy weather here in the UK and elsewhere in the rain.  Some prettiness and fabrics to distract from the rain.  I received month 9 of Amitie Bring Me Flowers BOM recently and despite having at least 3 months worth of packages unmade, I dived straight in to make this block and get the ball rolling again.

This may remind you of the economy block .  A versatile little block that can be rotary cut or foundation pieced. I did the latter and it came together quickly.  I did change a lot of the fabrics.  I have found this block of the month an up and down experience. On the plus side, I receive fabrics that I love that I never see anywhere else and this includes Japanese cottons and Liberty lawn.  I learn techniques that I don't usually go in for and become a better sewer.  The down side is some of the fabric choices leave me a little cold: these are my current rejects, and the hand sewing is hard going at times.

Lisa wrote about this aspect of BOMs recently, although I loved the print that she couldn't bring herself to use: one quilter's trash is another quilter's treasure.  I find a lot of hand sewing brings on a bit of RSI so I can only do it in small bursts which means putting everything away and then not quite knowing where I am when I get it out again.  Each block has the stalks to be sewn on and sometimes there are multiple layers to each flower head and six of them to make (2 blocks worth).  I machine sew when I can but this BOM was designed with hand sewing in mind and machining is not always an option.

 There are twenty five flower blocks in all and each is surrounded by these spacer blocks (above).  These are paced in the BOM so there are 1-3 to finish each month and they are rather tedious.  They come with photos so you can match the fabrics to what has been sent.  I am in round two so sometimes the pics don't match the fabrics and I have made some substitutions which you can see taped to the pic; there was a lot of olive green which is not my favourite and I didn't want it to dominate.  I keep each stage of the BOM in zip locks to help keep tracks.  The preparation for each block does seem to be quite long, especially when I make fabric changes- I am my own worst enemy.

I do like these flowers (month 6) despite the lengthy process that will go into making them.  These are multi-layered so the central diamonds are english paper pieced, then the circle is hand appliquéd to the background (leaving space for the stem) and the diamond then appliquéd on top.  The whole quilt is going to be a labour of love.  I think it might end up as a door curtain but really I am undecided and the finishing it is some time off.  Would I do another Amitie BOM?  I am undecided about that too.  It is expensive.  I could only afford it when I came into some money, but the packages are fun to receive, Jen Kingwell's designs are truly beautiful and unlike anything else so never say never.  I just need to pull my finger out and get more of this done before I think ahead.

Meanwhile colour from my window sill.  I know many folks are looking forward to sun tomorrow in the UK and it is half term too.  A week of sewing, cooking and family activities beckons and that sounds good.

Bring Me Flowers and Needles

I have pined after Amities BOM when i first saw Lynne's blocks from the Circle Game BOM a couple of years ago.  Then Gypsy Wife BOM last year tempted me sooo much but I just couldn't afford it.  This time, Bring Me Flowers tipped me over the edge and I signed up.  I am in round 2 which means the fabrics are slightly different from the first set that has gone out but they are just as good.   

This BOM is a real skills builder.  It is designed to be hand sewn but I am combining hand sewing with machine wherever possible.  Jen Kingswell, (designer of the BOM and Amitie owner) mentioned a specific needle on an Instagram post, Jeana Kimball's Foxglove Cottage Straw Needles, size 11.  I am a total sewing geek and I love good needles and pins- they make such a difference, the unsung heroes of sewing.  I couldn't find a UK supplier so I bought mine from ebay and they were worth it.  Very fine and strong.  There will be a fair amount of needle turn appliqué in this BOM and these needles make life a lot easier. 

I have used Clover straw needles and Black/Gold needles for EPP but they are heavier than this and whilst they are excellent for the catching  the folds of fabric in EPP these are better for piecing and applique.  They have the added bonus that they don't seem to go through the end of my finger like Clover Black/Gold- if you have used those you may well know what I mean!

These are slow and steady block, not to be rushed.   I mixed a few of my own fabrics in to these too- a little red vintage cotton and some Liberty Lifestyle brown.   To reduce bulk at the centre of the pinwheels, I finished all the seams 1/4" before the end to allow the centres to swirl.  So satisfying when it works and the appliqué circles hide the ones that don't go quite so well.

I scan the patterns for these blocks and then I print them onto freezer paper to act as templates.  I hace a lazer printer so I cut a piece of freezer paper slightly smaller than printer paper and I iron the top inch of freezer paper onto the printer paper so there is a double layer.   This allows you to print on without melting the paper!  I then iron the templates onto the fabric and draw round with a Sewline pencil- my absolute favourite marking tool- I cannot recommend this more highly, I use it all the time.    The pencil lines are needed for accurate piecing especially when doing it by hand.  You can see a great demo of the method in this Kumiko Fujita video. 

These are the fabrics for month two and I think I will be cutting these ready for Fat Quarterly Retreat to hand sew whilst I am there.

You can email Lucy at Amitie to join the Bring Me Flowers BOM and I believe there might still a very limited number of places on Gypsy Wife BOM.

Ringo Pie Butterfly

I am almost caught up with my due Ringo Pie blocks.  Marit asked for 'butterflies' to go with her summer blocks from the first round.  I found a beautiful adaptation of a vintage quilt block on Martha's Q is for Quilting blog which I have been following for a while.  You can read her post on it here and the pattern is in her sidebar downloads.  It is a challenging pattern and relatively small so it can be printed out on standard paper.   

 I combined foundation piecing for the fan/wings with hand piecing for curves and short Y seams and the rest was machined.  I used a mix of thin paper for foundation and freezer paper for the other pieces. I draw round the hand and machine pieced sections with a Sewline pencil which has a ceramic lead and is much smoother than a standard pencil so doesn't pull or tug the fabric.  This is my go to mark maker for quilting and clothes.

The background fabric is Sevenberry.  I have used their dotty fabric before and they are a lovely fine cotton and cut and handle very nicely.  The butterfly fabrics are a mix of vintage (many from Chase) and a little modern- Kei and Lakehouse flower text. 

I have sent off for Amities newest Block of the Month club, 'Bring Me Flowers'- you can see inspiration on these blocks here, here and here.  I plan to use a mix of hand and machine piecing and am really looking forward to a year long project.  Only one more block to go in Ringo Pie...I am drawing it out right now.