Play time

We were meant to be on a little holiday this weekend but the weather conspired against us and we realise on Friday there would be little chance in going.  As it turned out there were floods on the route we were going on and it has been bad in Devon- though not where we live- so a staycation has been in order.  Yesterday I spent a bit of time just playing with ideas, not something I do very often but I should, it leads me to new places! 

These are Secret Garden blocks, similar to Cathedral Windows, I followed a tutorial here.  They are not especially hard, all hand sewing and easy to cut out.  Mine are 2.5 inches square.  It was a test run for my Brit Mini Quilt swap partner so I am waiting to see if s/he comments.  I also got a chance to make an ice lolly from Ayumi's new popsicle pattern for Superbuzzy.  It is the first of a series of Block of the Month patterns!  If you haven't done much paper piecing, this is an idea pattern as it is very straightforward.  This will be for my daughter, an ice lolly pillow, a surprise for her birthday.

And as I wasn't away I got a chance to go the car boot sale.  I saw all the fabric ladies- Mary + daughter, Wendy and Barbra and they had fun rummaging in some scraps from my car boot that I brought along for them.  It was actually sunny so a lovely morning and I could not resist this little beauty!

It will make the most perfect pattern weight and you can get an idea of size from the buttons!  Not going on holiday is a bit rubbish but I always love being at home.  An afternoon of Wimbledon, strawberries and Carcosonne calls  x

Summer Clothes

Summer always brings out dress making thoughts. Floaty tunics, strappy dresses, bare legs in the sun.  All wonderful apart from the wettest June in the UK for 100 years.  I am trying to stay optimistic.  Make 1 was a vintage 1970s pattern that I have had stashed away for years, Mccalls 4473, tunic/dress in a size 12- vintage 12 is just right for me- in todays sizes I am a small 10 or sometimes an 8, shows howbody shapes have changed over the years.

 The fabric is Liberty lawn from their seasonal Art range.  This print is desgined by Grayson Perry and called Phillipa after his wife.  I am a big Grayson Perry fan, his pots combine subversion  and tradition and his recent tapestries on class ( i beg you to click and look at the imagery) have been stunning to see develop.

These photos are slightly low resolution, I was playing with self timer apps on my ipad and this was a free one- until I realised it was worth spending £0.69 to get a better quality pic- I opted for Self Timer which was a big improvement on these pics.  The tunic is similar to the Tova  top but the shaping is created with pleats which are sewn down like tucks.

See that glimpse of blue sky?  That was on Monday, hasn't been seen since!

 I added a couple of rouleau loops and vintage buttons otherwise my ribby chest would be out for all to see!  I found the next dress in a box of fabric at the car boot sale last weekend. It is a homemade delight and its generous seam allowances gave me a chance to make it a comfortable fit rather than a snug non eating one!

It gathers under the bust with a tantalising but unnecessary slit feature which is quite fun.  It reminds me of a lot of pics from my childhood and makes me very happy.  A great find.

And lastly the Theresa dress from Burda patterns.  A great pattern with a twirly pocketed skirt.  I wore this at the Fat Quarterly retreat and it was comfortable to stay in all day long

Liberty Grayson Perry again, a design called Cissy, a mix of dollies, hand grenades, prams and guns- love it!  Come back summer, I want to wear my dresses!

Bloggers Quilt Festival 2012

It is that time again, when Amy at Amy's Creative Side hosts and organises the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

 If you haven't been here before, welcome, I am Kerry, I love vintage, scrappy and paper piecing and that leads me nicely to my entry; 'Vintage Notions'.

This mini quilt is pieced in a variety of ways.  The centre sewing box is a combination of foundation paper piecing and freezer paper template pieced.  All the spools are freezer paper pieced.  There are a zillion Y seams- practice, practice, practice  these to get them licked!  I made it to showcase the sewing box block that I designed for the brillian Sew Out Loud quilt a long and as a teaching aid for Fat Quarterly retreat where I am running a couple of sessions on Y seams.  It feels like there is a bit of everything in this quilt...

Machine quilting, hand quilting, rouleau loop, vintage button and  many favourite fabrics, all with a faded, old sewing box feel.  'Vintage Notions' is all about how the old can inspire the new.

I have this rolled up and in my case for the retreat.  You can find the free sewing box pattern here - I am off to see more quilts!

Multi tasking

I seem to work best with multiple projects on the go.  Some things are waiting, Swoon for instance, but will return, some are completed quickly...

a drop waist skirt in linen and old bits of Liberty, pattern from Simple Modern Sewing.  A lovely relaxed pattern which is anticpating summer and makes me look like a Little House on the Prairie style hippy- not hard for me, I think it is my default look.

and others are ongoing...

and I have just added one more, I blame KJ.

You can be drawn in too.  There is a little quilt a long with Aylin just starting up if you want a little Ferris Wheel hand sewn english paper piecing action.  If you want inspiration, check this beauty out.  I am pushed for time at the moment, hence the Instagram pics,  so this is the perfect mini on the go project.  I see this coming to Fat Quarterly Retreat so I can sit and sew and chat.  More details, templates etc in the Flickr group and Katy has some acrylic templates available too if that is your preference.

 I am dipping into vintage scraps interspersed with Dick and Jane, loving the mix!

Happy House, Happy Two Years

So tomorrow is the official date for my second blog birthday, I am jumping a gun the little today but hey, who is going to stop me?  Blogging has bought me such great friendships and opportunities, I could not love it more!  So to celebrate, as many of you guessed, a little house block for anyone who wants to make one!

I made mine as little gifts to a couple of kind people.   The block is 4.5" unfinished, 4"finished, perfect size for lavender bags (as below) or pincushions or a for sewing on a bigger scale to make quilt block houses.

All the pieces are a perfect size for scraps so I went for a mix of vintage and modern and used some of my tiniest pieces.  The tiniest of all was the little ducky- it was an umbrella rather than a noose, no ducks were harmed in the making of this lavender bag.

For both houses  I used the freezer paper template method for piecing and Y seams for the roof chimney area.  The square blocks were rounded off and I added a light woven interfacing to make the blocks suitable for lavender bags.  

Now I know some of you fear the Yseams or prefer to foundation rather than freezer paper piece, so I have a multi option pattern for you.  If you want more details on how to paper piece, check out my paper piecing page for lots of online resources, and if you want to learn the very basics of foundation paper piecing where you stitch through a paper pattern, visit Katy's Foundation Paper Piecing for the Terrified Quilt-a-long

 Click on your choice below for your piecing preference! Both freezer paper pattens could be hand sewn- a great way to learn a Y seam- as well as machine sewn.  And when you have made your creation, please add to my Flickr group so I can see it!  I fancy nine little happy houses sewn together to make the centre of a cushion!

 *******************
Freezer Paper {no Y seams} PDF
Freezer Paper {with Y seams} PDF
Foundation Paper PDF

 

Around the World- a short journey

I have just finished a very little Around the World quilt, perhaps it should be called Down the Road to suit its scale, about 30 inches square.

225 squares, each 2.5 inches.  Mix of Denyse Schmidt prints from Chase's giveaway, plus other DS prints and a bit of vintage. I love the mix.  

I quilted diagonally eyeballing the corners and 50/2 Aurifil for piecing and quilting.

The walking foot on my new Janome has been fantastic.  I had a walking foot before but this one is better and the power of the machine made quilting a much better experience than it used to be and has boosted my confidence for trying a bigger quilt.  I used 80/20 warm bond batting which I bought in error but has actually worked out rather well.  It doesn't feel quite  as nice as the 100% cotton warm and natural but it does adhere to the fabric easily especially with basting spray and it easy to quilt.  I have been using it for cushions and it would be perfect for a baby quilt as it is a little lighter than the standard batting.

There are some fun vintage novelty prints in there with sea horses, drums and rabbits being pulled from hats.  I machined the binding following Rita's method closely.  I have done this before and struggled but a bit more experience must have helped as I did it all the way round without any resewing.  I did go very slowly and each side is worked separately.  You can see below stitching in the ditch on the right side to catch the binding in on the back.  Quilting gloves; I use Machingers, help a lot

as does a lot of pins on the back.

The binding is another Denyse Schmidt print

An Urban Chik print on the back from the 1974 range, this is a 'second' so the print is rather light but I liked it for the back with the squares echoing the front.

And tonight it will rest on my knee with a small dog sitting on top- that is what I made it for-and I will watch the final episode of Sherlock, cosy style

Catch Ups and Shout Outs

 A bit of blog house keeping.  I have been meaning to mention this UK website- a great idea for selling fabric small scale- a little destash perhaps, and bigger scale if you have lots to sell!  The brain child of Emma Thomsen from Its All About the Fabric a great blog full of handy links.  The Fabric Market Place works a bit like Etsy, you register to buy and you can use the same details to register as a seller too if you have sewing related goodies to sell.  It is a great idea, I love Etsy but there is so much on it that you can drown in the results when you are buying or selling, this is so specific, I hope it catches on,  I have put a few bits on to see how it goes.  

I've just had a quick look at the categories- sewing machines, handmade makes, vintage- it just needs a few more people to go over and visit and add it to their bookmarks!  Emma is really helpful with any lisiting queries so if you want to dip your toe in the online selling or buying water, give her a try.  Her email is on her blog.

I have done a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks.  I tend to do these inbetween other projects as a bit of sewing rest and recuperation.  I am still quite new to traditional blocks so I am interested to see how more experienced sewing hands approach these.  Ayumi told me about Lori's blog- Bee in My Bonnet, what a great place to visit and Lori has some great tutorials for some of the Farmer's wife blocks.

80 Single Wedding Star

54 Kitchen Toolbox

couldn't resist the woodgrain (Joel Dewberry)  fabric here!

Errant behaviour

Damian and Lula are away visiting relatives  so only 36 hours after they have left I am practically feral, having to remind myself to eat at regular intervals, returning to the house because I  am wearing odd flip flops- definitely not a matching pair.  My hands can't take the strain if I sew non stop- which is what I really want to so- so I have to break it up with dog walks, phone calls, paperwork, faffing around, but I have made good progress on my Portfolio Dress.

The main fabric is from some curtains I found at the car boot sale a few months back.  They are cotton with cotton lining so I cut the fabric as if it was two layers to make a lined dress the easy way!

The contrast fabric is Sweetwater Sunkissed- nice to have a bit of text fabric in clothing.  I have completed one arm- the left in this picture but I am going to make the sleeve detail the Sweetwater print too- it doesn't quite balance without the contrast.  It is a well behaved pattern with interesting construction, especially the front pockets.  It did come up quite large and I have taken the sides in.  I also put tucks rather than gathers down the front, I find it a more flattering effect!

I have recently had some great deliveries.  This was a large parcel from the states of a few Etsy vintage lots.

This was not an easy venture.  The seller hadn't sold overseas before, I gave her links to USPS website and the fixed price mailing system, she then agreed to sell and a few days later cancelled the purchase.  In the end I had to use my friend Kathy's mother's USA address and then have it mailed from there to UK, so I have Kathy to thank for its arrival.  It was worth it, there is fabric treasure within!  The fabric had come from an estate sale and had belonged to an elderly and life long quilter looking at the age of some of the pieces.  The sorting and washing of these has taken ages.  There is a large pile of scraps and also some bigger bits- mainly in red.   The print on the bottom is especially good- large sketchy grey apples and little red apples dotted on top.

These are solo scraps, bits that are just too precious to discard despite their marks and stains- I have soaked them so they are clean.  The designs are so reminiscent of different eras, I can't tell you how much I love them.

These are some of my favourite florals from the scraps- again these are mainly solo bits but I do have some multiples here.  

I have already started using them in my Pay it forward pincushions for Rachael, Suzanne and Leila

And these pretty Aurifil threads arrived today plus some testers for me.  I have already started my stringent testing procedure- lets just say these threads do not disappoint.  I'll add more details soon and I'll be giving these packs away so you can try them too.  Now the bath is probably overflowing as I am doing my usual trick of trying to push as much into the time as possible and over running.

Back soon x