Happy New Year

 I thought I'd sneak back to the blog to wish you all a happy new year!  I've been busy catching up with family, working (extra commission work that fell over late December) and creating presents for the festive period.  I thought I'd share my makes now they've been gifted- click on any photo to see larger:

Firstly a quilt-as-you-go gentle crazy cat lady cushion for my sister.  All the prints were chosen for sentiment as well as colours and it elicited a shared understanding of why they were selected as it was opened which gave me an inner glow of happiness.  This is a large cushion, 22" square with soft and squishy cushion form. This method takes a long time but the texture and end effect are worth it.  There's an invisible zip across the top seam.

Next, a requested cushion for my nephew.  He likes one each year so has quite the collection and my design task is to include his name/initials otherwise, I have free rein. He is adventurous with colour which is tremendously helpful.  This cushion started with the Cotton+Steel pop bottles and flowed from there using stash fabrics.  The letters are from a fabulous Japanese alphabet patchwork book, 'Moji Patchwork' by Kumiko Fujita and Kazue Nakaima.  Amazon Japan, Yesasia or Etsy are the most likely places to find this title.

Finally, my brother requested a denim apron.  I've made quite a few aprons like Japanese cross-back designs and children's aprons so I really enjoyed this challenge. It's good quality denim in blue/black. The tape is cotton webbing traditionally used for finishing carpets.  I found a series of apron designs that I liked online and fused my favourite elements to make a one-of-a-kind design. The top pocket is large enough for a phone and pen, the lower pockets can fit hands or a tea towel and the cross back ties threaded through bronze grommets give an adjustable fit. 

When it's been dry we've headed to the beach for breezy walks which is always my happy place.  It's been a hard year, saying goodbye to our sweet dog Lottie, welcoming gorgeous Joni but also finding she had many complex needs- I am so grateful to our vet who is amazing.  There have been other challenges as ever to deal with but ultimately I am grateful we are here with each other to start a new year. 

Favourite things

Leila chose 'Favourite Things' for her 'Ringo Pie' queen bee month.  There was a lot of freedom in this theme, the block needed to reflect something about us.  I recently bought this inspirational book, 163 Patchwork Blocks and Quilts.  There is a Flickr group about this book and you can find out more about it there.  You just know looking at the cover that this book is fantastic- sorry to be such a temptress.  It is hard to find- The Workroom stock it when they can and are great at mail order.  Pomadour24 on ebay and etsy sometimes has copies.  Warning: it is expensive!   You need to be prepared to draft with this book, it is all in diagrams in the usual Japanese style and many of the blocks use intersecting Y seams- just saying...

 As soon as I saw this spools block I just knew this was the one.   I love spools block, conquering the Y intersection seams in my first Ringo Pie block was part of my quilting journey and my love of paper piecing.

I knew I wanted my favourite Kumiko Fujita ruler print, ( you can find some here).  I have it in 4 colour ways- one for each spool and I wanted vintage prints for the spool centres- many of these came from swaps with the lovely Chase.

Leila wanted 6" finished blocks for a sampler quilt she is planning so this block is small but it was intricate with 16 Y seams!  I drew the block on freezer paper- you can see the book diagram which gives block proportions and also a picture of the assembled block reverse side which is most helpful.

I am using the same book to inspire me for Pillow talk 9 swap.  I have an amazing partner, and I am hoping that this block will do the trick.  I plan for 9 of these and you can see, Y seams again so I need to get on with it!

318 Bee Table Runner

I have had a little mini stack of bee blocks waiting patiently to become a table runner,  I was in 318 Patchwork Bee a little while back and my theme was "Afternoon Tea".  I always had these blocks in mind for this purpose and now it is sitting on my table it makes me smile and think about all the people who made a block or two- Ayumi, Tamiko, Charise and Leila.  Simple construction, sashed with Kokka teapot print linen and mini fussy cut squares, I quilted it without backing...

Then added the backing to make a combined backing/binding blanket style edge.  It is an easy finish so her is a quick tutorial if it is new to you!   After the quilting, attache to a backing at least 1 inch bigger all round.  I use 505 spray and a few safety pins.  For a finished 1/4 inch bound edge, trim backing over hang to just over 1/2 inch from the edge of the runner all round.  At the corners, pencil a 1/4 border from edge of runner and then draw a  45 degree diagonal across the corner- just like the pic!  Trim this off with scissors.  

Fold the freshly cut edge in so it fits behind the corner of the runner.  Press the long unfinished backing edges  firstly towards the runner, and then turn the folded edge so it forms the binding around the runner.

Pin the binding on the front at each corner.  Hand stitch the mitred corners using ladder stitch- (Search on youtube if you are not sure what this is! It is a very useful stitch).  You can then stitch the rest of the binding down, by hand or machine- up to you!  I chose a small zig zag to add a bit of zing!

We have a smallish table so this is a narrow runner- it now lives along the back edge by the wall with my radio and cup of tea permanently on it!

And it constantly lifts my heart, thankyou to the block makers...loving your work! Left to right, tea pot- Tamiko, Cherry cup-Ayumi; Teapot/cup- Leila; Milk/Sugar- Tamiko; Tea/cup- Charise; Kettle-Ayumi.

If you like a bit of paper piecing, Leila's new house pattern can be found here, and Charise's Spool Starburst is here.

Basket

Charise has the last month in 318 Patchwork Bee and she chose baskets.  I restrained myself from making the sewing basket, I am designing a sewing basket block for Sew Out Loud quilt-a long so I went for knitting, just in case Charise feels she wishes to take up a new hobby.

This is 6.5" with tricksy Y seams to make the handle at the top.  I used my new favourite tiny ruler to add a generous 1/4 inch to my freezer paper pieces, the block is template style piecing rather than foundation.  

I do love the designs in this book, the simplicity and boldness of them is a constant reminder to me to keep it simple, less is more.  The basket is made with Kumiko Fujita fabric, possibly my favourite all time text fabric as there are so many great words and motifs to fussy cut.

The blue yarn is Suzuko Koseki fabric- currently available at Kit's shop The Happy Elephant on Etsy, an excellent source of text, Japanese fabrics and general loveliness.  The needles were bias strips and the tops are buttons cut from a Kaufman print 'Vintage Couturier' all sewn on with needle turn applique.  I used to be a ferocious knitter.  When Lula was born I made her cardigans, hats, jumpers all from beautiful yarns.  Moderation is not in my vocabulary, all or nothing and I did way too much!  My hands and wrists can't take that any more and I sold all my knitting supplies a few years ago but I do love seeing yarn projects pop up over Flickr and Twitter and a small part of me aches just a little to be able to knit again.

Now, back to completing a quilt, I am trying a quilt-as-you-go technique and will share next week.   At the moment it is proving to be tedious but effective.

 Meanwhile the Sew Out Loud QAL starts tomorrow at Julianna's blog!  Details of the final block competition can be found here- start preparing now, the judge is Suzuko Koseki, yes I know, I can't believe it either!

Yuwa in the UK

I had a very exciting last night looking at The Eternal Maker, Suzuko Koseki, Kumiko Fujita, Yo and other Japanese designer prints on sale in a UK shop.   Search under the themes section, in Japanese Imports and there are other designers including Yoshiko Jinzenji and Keiko Goke.   

Anna at Eternal Maker says more Yuwa is coming soon!

I should add, I first got a hint of these on Ali's blog, which reminds me that her Resolved to Sew Giveaway starts tomorrow, you can see a few hints at what is to come but more will be revealed tomorrow!

New Year, new projects

In 318 Patchwork Bee, Tamiko asked for Gardening blocks, a nice theme for this dark time of year, it made me think of spring this made.  This block is from the out of print book, 318 Patchwork by Kumiko Fujita.

The background print was such a good match from my vintage stash, I had to use it!  The greys are Sweetwater, the wood print is Joel Dewberry's  Aviary range and the green is a Kumiko print that I've had a while.

Maybe the gardening theme influenced me into making this little fabric pull for a private swap between Amy and myself.  The top and bottom prints are soft, washed Japanese linens and the middle two are Japanese cottons.  I am not bound to this stack although they do look rather inviting with their soft colours, I'll see what Amy's reaction is like, I am quite prepared to pull something else.  I have an interesting piecing idea for whatever I end up using, sneaky peeks coming soon...

I twisted Lula's arm just a little to spend approx £7/$10 for membership to The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Dessert of the Month club.  That single payment delivers 12 cross stitch PDFs to your email account and features Kawaii cute desserts that make a sampler like this lovely January truffle by Smoochee

The low price is a limited offer, ending 10th January.  I dusted off my old DMC threads, tea dyed some 14 count aida canvas and stitched a grid to get her going.

And I couldn't resist Katy's Swoon quilt a long on Flickr.   I don't need more projects, no siree but my long awaiting voile collection has finally found a pattern big enough to show its print and not needing to much cutting and stitching.  The Camille Roskelley's pattern is available as a PDF, and is a clever and economical use of fabric.  Playing with dark and light fabrics makes this pattern twist and turn. 

What really appealed is that the block looks straightforward, I can just cut the fabric needed for one block at a time and the pattern is perfect for quilt as you go as there is sashing between blocks.  I will be going slow, but there are only 9 blocks and it makes a whopping 8o inch square quilt.  I'll share my quilt as you go methods here if any of you want to do the same.  Meanwhile I am cutting my voiles and Kona snow ready for the first block. 

To build a house you need good tools

This little house block is from the Kumiko Fujita Bonjour quilt- you can see her videos for it here.  The images come from a Japanese magazine, Patchwork Tsushin (sorry not easily available though I have seen copies on ebay) but you can get the idea from the youtube clip.

I wanted to try the hand piecing that Kumiko shows in one of the blocks.  I bought a few tools to test- a clover finger presser and clover black gold needles.  Do you notice the big reel of Aurifil?  Sometimes you need to splash out on the apparently humdrum- good thread is worth the spend- ask any sewing engineer and Alice at  Eternal Maker is stocking a huge range of colours in the mako 50wt.  I bought 2310 neutral cream and 2615 grey- each have 1300 metres on so they will keep me going.  I might have talked my local machine and sewing shop into stocking it.  As they service and mend machines they are interested in its non lint making properties.  Mr Aurifil has sent them some testers, I hope they buy it in.

Do those things make a difference- boy yes!  The needles are very fine and sharp, they are going to make the next binding I finish a lot easier.  The finger presser is fantastic, there are many times when I piece when a little marker of where the seam is would just help and this gives the perfect line without burning my fingers handling a tiny piece of fabric and an iron.  It also means you can hand piece without an iron so piecing work could be portable, nice to know for the future.  The reverse shows the inset seam where the background joins the roof, all hand sewn.  I am not up to Kumiko's standard but it was an interesting exercise.

It does take ages though so I machined the rest of the house

This is a slow burn project which I return to once a month or so and it is always a pleasure.  I have a loose red, white and blue theme going on but otherwise I just go where the fabric mood takes me.

It has been a messy weekend- we have no cooker due to problems connecting a new one (my new kitchen is nearly all done), so toast based meals and a camping gas ring have featured heavily this weekend.  I have a heavy cold, being self employed I am grateful for this coming at the weekend but it does make me feel crappy and Damian is going under too so we have been taking it in turns to go back to bed.  Better now then in the Christmas holiday but achey heads, bodies and sore noses are never good.  Cooker comes Tuesday so I hope to show you my revitalised kitchen- you know how I love kitchens.  Back tommorow witha little giveaway courtesy of Nova

Once upon a time...

...there was a little house block, built for Leila as part of her Home Sweet Home month in 318 Patchwork Bee.  A house of sewing and Dutch decor, but it didn't look quite right. There was a tear in the side of the grass path- I blame the rotary cutter-and it just didn't make me smile as much as it should.

So I set to work with a seam ripper and some vintage feedsack, kindy sent by Charise and did a little DIY.  As usual this doesn't always go according to plan.  The plus side was the little lady waving goodbye from the door way, the minus was a little damage to a tiny bit of fabric patched up with a door plate number.   The grass was relaid...

And now I am smiling.  Marginally too small- only by 1/4 inch, sorry Leila, I am sure it'll stretch with a bit of steam!   The measuring fabric and the washing instructions are Kumiko Fujita, the roof is Alexander Henry Heath, the Sky is Lecien from Mrs March collection and the chimneys are Suzuko Koseki.  The other prints are vintage and the house is Kona stone.

Wishing an early happy thanksgiving to all of you stateside peeps. We all have much to be thankful for,  it is just hard to remember to take a little time out to think of it but when you do, it is worth it (that's my lecture finished for today)oh and special thanks to Aneela and scrappy loveliness of this yet to be released fabric line she sent me and many other UK bloggers- now there is a generous spirit!