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!

FQ Retreat Supplies

I have had a funny week- feeling a lot brighter now but have been off work for 3 days with a viral thing and no voice which is no good for working with young children- so that may explain where the downer was coming from.  I have had my head/neck injections today so everything is a bit sore but they help so much it is worth it.  So I have been using the extra time to get supplies ready for Fat Quarterly Retreat.

 We will be conquering the Y seam with freezer paper piecing- these are the blocks that will be available...

There are 4 spool blocks which vary in difficutly- the easiest are 1st and 3rd working left to right.  And when you have beaten the Y seam into submission, there is a house block, plus I'll bring my Happy House block too.  The spools and house, plus full tutorial details will also be in the FQ Retreat Issue too.  So on to supplies.  I thought a picture might help!

Much is self explanatory but I may as well go through it all with a little explanation.

• Polyester stuffing- I will bring some but if you all go crazy there may not be enough.  I also use rice to give mine a bit of weight but I won't be bringing that to the retreat!
• Pigment ink fine liner, water and fadeproof, around 2mm.  this is a Unipin, Pigma Micron are lovely too.  Amazon/ebay/WHSmiths/Art shops all good for these.  Permanent markers like Sharpies are not good!  I have had the ink from these go throught the freezer paper.
• Reynolds freezer paper.  You won't need a roll.  A couple of A4 size pieces will be enough to do 4 blocks, and that would be working pretty fast!
• Piecing thread- Aurifil 50wt is my recommendation.  Fine cotton thread basically.
• Sharp fine pins. I like Clover Patchwork.
• Small rotary cutter.  This one is 28mm, you could use 45mm but it is harder.
• Scalpel or paper knife.  I will be bringing 6 or so of these, they are very sharp lightweight knives ideal for paper.  I find them easier than traditional Stanley style craft knives.  If you want one of your own, try ebay-'disposable scalpel'
• Washi or masking tape (not sellotape).  I forgot to add this to the supplies list that you all received so I will be bringing a couple of rolls along, but if you have some, bring it!  
• Thread snips or embroidery scissors.
• Small quilt ruler.  My favourite is a Creative Grids 6.5" Turn around.  you can bring larger but smaller is easier to handle for these 4" blocks
• Hand sewing needles if you are not bringing a machine.  Clover Black Gold Quilting Betweens are amazing, unlike any other hand sewing needle I have ever tried.  Their only downside is the eye is tiny and I go blind threading them!
• Fabric scraps- you may need bigger ones than you think!  Think about colours for spools.
• Seam ripper- naturally!
• Finger press- useful if you haven't got an iron.  I will bring a travel iron- which my usual sewing iron!

And to show you that hand sewing works I made two samples, the left is machined the right is hand sewn.  If you haven't done Y seams before, hand sewing at least one block is a great way to understand how everything fits together. 

And the same blocks from the front.  

If you want to stick with one block and make a pincushion, you can bring some ric rac, trim, lace or fabric to bind for a fancy edge- around 60cm or 24 inches will be plenty to go round the edge, and don't forget fabric for the back of your pin cushion.   I have lots of samples and can explain any techniques. Or you could make a few blocks to really master the technique and make your pinnies at home.  The choice is yours!  Any questions, please ask me!

Bits and Bobs

I have been a bit blue- no reason, just one of those inexplicable things- this week.   I have a lot of work on in my day job so that must be contributing.   It has lifted a bit towards the end of the week but it has been hard to get stuff done.  I have too many bee blocks outstanding but not the head for doing them.  Apologies to those waiting for them, they will appear soon!    For a quick fix I turned to Zakka Style and decided to make the little sewing case for the FQ retreat

 It stitches up really quickly and would be easy to adapt to make a book cover instead.  I made bias ties and placed them on either sides- slightly different from the pattern but more logical in my head but they work either way.

 Katy wrote instructions on her blog for ties like these if you wanted to make them.  I squeezed a tiny pinnie and needle case in side the big pocket.

Fabrics:  Suzuko Koseki sewing print on linen, Kei Dots for binding and Kaufman Vintage Couturier for the lining.  And I am a glutton for punishment, I thought I would sew a dress for the retreat too.  I am part way and have made a irreversible mistake that I am hoping to get away with.  Apart from that it is coming together pretty well.  The instructions are not the best I have ever read but there are some lovely details.  The handy thing with online sewing is that there is always someone else which has made something the same or similar so I turned to Amy and Carmen for their experiences with the Theresa dress, very helpful!  The fabric is a Liberty print I bought a couple of years ago, the print is by Grayson Perry, one of my favourite artists.  

Work beckons, even today- an extra event to do but the sun is shining :)

Storage

I can never have enough storage, it gives me the deluded impression that I will not lose anything and that the surfaces will stay clear and available to work on!  Nova recently designed a new storage solutions pattern, Nesting Bowls and I have been itching to try it.  Sometimes it is a relief to buy a pattern and hand the hard work over to someone else, and Nova has managed that beautifully, from the 'Formula Sheet' where you can quickly work out your cutting requirements for any size of bowl or pocket.

to the detailed instructions, variations and measurements for producing any style of bowl/pocket including a nesting set.  I had some old money bags that have been waiting for a use.  The colours aren't dye fast so I needed a simple project that wouldn't need washing, and a hanging pocket for my rotary cutters seemed perfect.

I made this in about 30 minutes, just before we were due to go out and meet friends over the May bank holiday.  That time included cutting something else out too!  I used the wonderous Vilene 640 fusible fleece bough from Julia at Gone to Earth and I also tried out the large eyelets which she sells.  A pack isn't cheap but I think they are worth it.  They are easy to add with a hefty bang of the hammer.  You can buy Nova's pattern here.  I think I will be making more from this, it is a very adaptable pattern.   By the way I edited these pics using the iPhoto iPad/iPhone app- well worth the money although I needed this tutorial to understand how it works, but now I do, I love it!

Thread Winners

I loved reading all about regional food, it was a real eye opener to some very strange combinations- I am still not convinced on the curds and gravy- but there was a lot to make my mouth water!  I discounted any duplicates and replies so Random number chose:

71 Kathyfrom Oregon, 

1 Janet from Canada

55 Ali-veryberryhandmade from UK

92 Indianna from UK

63 Susan from UK

These packs are ready to be popped into mail bags, emails have been sent, I await your addresses!  

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!

Vintage Grocery Scales

I have had more deadlines than usual recently, most of them are behind me now but now I have a stack of late bee blocks.  So I made a start on the latest, Ayumi's Ringo Pie block.  Her them was 'vintage grocery store' and my first thought was grocery scales.  I have been wanting to do a scales block for ages.  I plan my blocks on 12" quilter's graph paper, you can just make out the sketch below.

I have to go with the flow on blocks like this.  It was a mix of freezer paper, foundation paper piecing, seam ripper and crossing my fingers but I did manage to make it work.

The Suzuko Koseki clock print helped me out on this block, there were some numbers with just the right curve for the scale display and I stamped a little pen nib as the arrow to show the weight. 

And on the scales, a tiny bar of chocolate!  The fabrics were all from my stash, the background is Lecien, a Mrs March print, the clocks are Suzuko Koseki available at Eternal Maker, the grey text was from Ayumi, the chocolate bar was from Chase- Yuwa print I think.  The grey check was a Sweetwater print, the addition print is an old Windham American vintage print, the turquoise solid is a vintage textured cotton that I seem to have had forever and the wood grain is Joel Dewberry's Aviary line.

Only three more blocks to go until I am up to date...I'll get there in the end.