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.

Rock and Roll

Melinda asked for 'Guitar' themed blocks in Ringo Pie back in October.  I am a little behind with my Ringo Pie blocks but I am working my way through the months slowly but surely.  I was challenged by Guitars. They are a tricky shape for paper piecing.  There is an excellent free pattern at Paper Panache which many other Ringo Pie members did wonderful versions of.  But no one had done an electric guitar.  Initially I wanted to do a Flying V but my heart and my rock and roll past took me back to a Gibson Les Paul Cherry sunburst (memories of Slash at Wembley many years ago, part of my rock chick past).

 I used the paper panache block as my base, blown up to a 12" block.  I tried CT publishings Simple Foundations Transluscent Vellum Paper for the first time and found it is great for tracing.  CT send me this and some Carol Doak foundation piecing paper to try.  I have bought Carol Doak's paper before- it is great stuff- lightweigt, good for printing on and strong but easy to tear and remove.  I couldn't really imagine piecing with the vellum but actually it is great stuff and would be my paper of preference of the ones I have tried.  It is strong and so easy to see through which makes fussy cutting much easier.  It removed easily- I use small stitches to make this easier- 1.6 on my machine.  For those outside USA, I've bought CT papers from Amazon and ebay before.

You can see the Les Paul shape over laid in the top of the original guitar pattern.  APigma pen writes very smoothly over the vellum.

It was a pleasure to finish this for Melinda.  She has made lovely blocks for me in Ringo Pie and Cocorico.  Her young son wants a guitar quilt and it looks well on the way.  Next, flowers for Marit...

Eight-point snowflake

I have a lot of catching up to do, starting with a Ringo Pie block for Anna.  She wanted snowflake blocks with linen background and lots of white.  I used Eight Point Snowflake from 163 Patterns, I also found a free pattern here  which is constructed in the same way.

 The centre star is pieced first and then the border pieces are added with Y seams.  It is a precision piecing exercise.

 I had another block due for a friend and I fancied seeing the same block in other colours and this is what I came up with.

 More of a Spring snowflake and as we have been forecast chilly weather here until the end of April it feels most apt!

Generosity

There are times where I can't believe the friendship and generosity that comes from blogging and the online community.  I have been blogging for a while now and I am still humbled by the kindness of my sewing friends and words are hard to find.  Chase sent me a little post birthday goodness of feed sacks and chocolate and the cutest little drawings on the packaging.  If you haven't visited her blog go now for the prettiest photos and slice of her life. Thankyou Chase xxx

Anna made me a house block bursting with eye spy moments and fabric goodness for my Ringo Pie house block theme.   It arrived yesterday with the most beautiful assortment of scraps, lace and goodies. She really brought tears to my eyes with her little card.  Thankyou so much Anna xxx

I cannot express how much I value my sewing friendships, they really help some tricky moments in life in the way that nothing else can.  Sewing is my salve and my sewing friends are part of that.  

Further thankyous for the Liberty scrap challenge ideas, I have handed the baton to Amy (During Quiet Time) and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with.

And if I haven't stirred sufficient emotion, take a read of this.  It was a very special moment to be a part of through the wonder of Skype.  This is a special photo.  I know it is a blurry screenshot but Penny and Tara are smiling the biggest smiles and I am there at home in the bottom corner sharing it with them!

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!

Belated Blocks

I got  behind with Bee Blocks over the summer so I am trying to do a little catch up.  First for Leila, her theme in Cocorico was 'A woman's Work'.  I had a lovely pattern by Kumiko Fujita that came from a Japanese magazine- possibly Patchwork Tsuchin.  The stove and the casserole seemed a good fit for her theme.

Leila asked for either blocks 6 1/2" square or any size- this is a bit of both, 6 1/2 x 7 1/2".  I slightly misjudged the right side of the black strip but by the time I realised it was already cut and sewn. 

In Ringo Pie, many months ago, Tamiko asked for blocks on a Magnum PI theme, an imaginative idea and one that is producing some great work and a strong sense of humour.

This block started off with a free paper piecing Hawaiian Shirt pattern by Linda Worland at Paper Panache.  I did a little tweaking- added the back collar, added a Y seam and used freezer paper template method rather than sewing through paper.  I made the pocket as I would a real one and the same with the collar pieces. The trunks owe a debt to Penny and the pants/undies she made for Monica in the Travelling Quilts bee.   I drew out the shape, the stripes were pieced first, then the shape was cut out and the strips are bias pieces of white fabric.  After extensive research of Tom Selleck in trunks, these seemed to be the most distinctive for Magnum PI.  This block cracks me up.  If I could have pieced a tiny moustache and sunnies, I would have! 

New Pattern Set: Back to School

It is new pattern tine at Sew-Ichigo, welcome to 'Back to School', a multi pattern set including a basic pencil block, a pencil wheel and a hi- lighter pen with two variations.

This pattern started with the hi lighters.  Penny designed them as a block for Elizabeth Hartman for her 'Traveling Quilts' Bee which is full of uber quilty brilliant people.

The hi lighters lead to pencils, I had done this block a while back for Ayumi in Ringo Pie

I never drew it up into a proper pattern and now felt like the time.  I tightened it up from my slovenly improv ways of winging it and turned it into a Dresden style wheel with an appliqué style centre.

It is foundation paper pieced, 12" finished size and made up of 10 single sections so the paper piecing is very straightforward- the only seams to join are when you join the wedges together.  I used Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury fabrics for the pencils and it shows how a little print can go a long way! 

For the more timid paper pieces who want a genuine beginner block, the solo pencil is perfect.  This has a single pattern piece and detailed instructions including what size of fabrics to rotary cut ready to piece and a cheats way to so pencil tips.    Penny and I put a lot of details into our patterns and share tips and construction details wherever possible.  The  pencil case pattern is available for free at A Spoonful of Sugar Designs  and I just pieced a single solo pencil block into the main fabric.  I will share more details on Sew-Ichigo in case anyone wanted to make one just the same.  The lace zip makes adding a zipper the easiest thing.  It is sewn on top of the finished seams which is such a simple way to add a zip and the metal zipper pull is perfect for a pencil case.  I bought mine at Eternal Maker  here.

Penny combined both of the easiest blocks- the solo pencil and the capped hi-liter pen and used the same pencil case pattern but jazzed it around moving the zipper placement.  You can use text or stamp your fabric for the pen centre or just leave it solid as a block.  There is an uncapped pen too with a chiseled tip like you can see in her travelling quilts block.  All these patterns are available  complete set in our Sew-Ichigo shop and our Craftsy store too!

The Camera Never Lies

I am normally up to date with my bee blocks but Amy's Ocotober Ringo Pie block slipped by the wayside.  Her theme was 'The Camera Shop'.   I have been saving images for a while, I was all ready to do a vintage Super Color Polaroid Land camera with a solid green polaroid coming out of it.  I drafted it, bought rainbow ribbon and kept trying to put time aside to work it through.  It never really appeared in my head, I had the concept but I couldn't visualise it and no fabric was talking to me.  Last week, a new idea crept in, fully formed, fabrics, details- I could see them all.

A vintage film canister, Kodak inspired.  I am lucky.  I have a great memory for colour.  The biggest swatch board is in my head. Unfortunately, once I think of a fabric or a colour, I then have to find it,  search round the zillions of different places where I store fabric.  Most of my stash is small pieces, half yards, fat quarters, scraps.  With this block, I pulled the fabric in minutes and unusually the vintage fabric is the background.

This could only be Amy's block.  She is an intensely creative person, her work has great colour and imagination.  Her personality comes through it as I think it does for us all.  You may not have met your blogging friends in person but you have seen their inner imagination and personality through their work.  

Fabrics- Vintage floral print, vintage green solid, Kona school bus with versacraft ink stamp, Sweetwater Authentic Newsprint, Suzuko Koseki text/number fabrics, Kona Brown, tiny squares of Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jumps Rope.  

 

Christmas- not yet

Just finished, ready for Christmas in Hawaii, my Christmas Ringo Pie bee block-an advent tree for Amber.  I found this wooden tree on Flickr and that was my starting point.

The bordered squares are 1.5 inches.  I stamped the words- a line from White Christmas using Versacraft ink as it sets permanently onto the fabric.

The background fabric and stamped squares are Kona Snow.  I have very little Christmas fabric so I dived into the red and green in my vintage and new fabrics so it is an eclectic mix.

You can see the other Christmas blocks which have rolled in so far here as well as the first blocks from Amy's camera theme too here and here.

It might be a while till Christmas but it is the start of stitching time- I am hoping to get some paper pieced patterns ready for sale in the next 2 weeks with Christmas designs ready for stockings, cushions etc.  Keeps me busy x  

September

Thankyou for the birthday wishes!  Giveaway is here and I am finding the comments incredibly helpful.  

September makes...

1. Courthouse Steps Pillow/cushion- started, 2. Cracker Scraps Block for Angela, 3. Mug Rug- how to paper piece tutorial, 4. Girl Bonjour block, 5. Back to school, 6. B for Bonjour!, 7. Quilts on a line for Corey, 8. Sewing Machine Block for Amisha, 9. Ringo Pie preview for Amber

Not so much this month, back to work, Lula starting high school and all the support that entails, a bit of a sore arms flare up situation- better now, it has been a month of blocks and it finished with me working on Amber's Christmas block for Ringo Pie so a little preview for her at the bottom of the mosaic.  There are a couple of Kumiko Fujita blocks from a Japanese magazine  that I hadn't got round to posting about, part of a mystery quilt-a-long in the magazine Patchwork Tsushin.  There is a wonderful piecing video showing Kumiko at work.

Check out the lovely makes of the others taking part at Lynne's Fresh Sewing first of the month meetup.  The weather is beautiful Autumn sun and temperatures that we should have had in August, and I am thinking Christmas sewing whilst wearing a summer voile tunic...

Washing Line

August was Corey's month in Ringo Pie so I am playing catch up.  Her theme was Quilts on a Line, and I struggled for a long time to come up with anything that really gripped me.  When I buy vintage and thrifted fabrics from the carboot, there is nothing I like more than the line of freshly washed fabrics and tea towels flapping in the breeze later the same morning, 

that  is what I wanted to capture.
Pinterest is useful for finding and storing ideas as I get my head around a project and you can see my board for Corey here.   I sketched my idea onto grid paper, traced on to freezer paper and set to work.

Soem of the work was done for me by the fabric- the crazy hexagon cheater print (which you can also see it in the top pic) was perfect.  I imagine this as a throw that might go on a sofa.  A quilt comes next, made of strips of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Voiles, perfect for mini items as the fabric is lightweight and doesn't bulk the seams up.  The tricky bit was where the hexagon quilt flaps over, don't even ask about that bit- it was a long night gettting that to work.  The next quilt is a vintage bed quilt, I thought I wuld show how I worked this one out.  I started with 1.5 inch squares framed with half square triangles cut from 2 inch squares.  I made up enough mini blocks to cover the length of the freezer paper template plus a half block.

I then arranged the squares to follow the lines of the template...

I had to allow for the quarter inch seam allowance at the top and I pinned  on o the ironing board as I worked my way down joining the seams at angles with pins.  Once these were sewn together, I placed the mini quilt  on the template and cut the edges with scissors to follow the lines of the finished shape.

I used wide strips of ditzy flowery fabrics for the mini quilt borders- they needed to be wide to be trimmed down to the wavy shape.  By laying the mini quilt on the fabric- both right side facing and rotary cutting following the wavy edge of the mini quilt, it creates an border that will fit on perfectly.  I then trim the whole shape so is the shape of the freezer paper plus seam allowance.

The washing line is some perle cotton attached by couching stitch.

This is the back, just long stitches of the fine thread which can't be seen on the right side.

The final fabric is meant to be a tablecloth with its kitchen themed print.  I added some clothes pegs and a bird for a little extra hand stitching detail, Corey is the queen of embroidered blocks after all.   Click on the pic to see more details.

I do wish I had shaped the Little Folks Quilt more at the bottom but too late now.  I am pleased at the flappiness of the line, they do feel like they are blowing in the breeze.  Next I need to think about Christmas for Amber's block...