Guesting

Today I am a guest at Sew we Quilt, sharing my thoughts on tools. I would appreciate anyone dropping by and having a read!
I went for the little inexpensive gadgets that make my life a little easier and a few unsung heroes

Making this traditional basket block was a good tester for all of them- the bias strip handle hand sewn on especially!  This block is a Kumiko Fujita design from a magazine she contributes to but the Farmer's Wife sampler quilt has the same basket on point.

The background is Denyse Schmidt, the basket is Japanese linen print  and a little Suzuko Koseki print and the headscarf girl in the corner is a Kei fabric.  The gingham is vintage.  

It is a chilly week, considering the headscarf as an option to keep me warm :)

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

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!

Progress

Little squares- 2.5 inches

Pieced together in rows of 15...

Pressing all the seams open and placing a pin either side of the meeting point where the rows join takes time but gives me the best result.  

Working a little on my swap for Amy, don't want to show too much.

And Lula has finished her champagne truffle for Dessert of the Month Club.  This is the perfect project for her, it comes in bite size pieces, the designs are cute but achievable and there are always new designs to look forward too.  I love seeing her so pleased at what she has made! 

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. 

Lady Luck

I struck lucky in December, I won a couple of giveaways.  Firstly, I won Mia's seasonal giveaway with the first entry that wasn't really an entry!  Mia was giving away a custom pair of hand felted and decorated mittens.   Wool next to the skin makes me itch  so I couldn't have mittens, I always admire Mia's creations especially her wall hangings so she offered to make me one of these instead.

I have known Mia a while now, she is the most lovely and generous person with a wonderful creative talent. Her felted creations have such happiness and humour.  One of the reasons I wanted a wall hanging was so we could all see it, and now we do; every time we go up the stairs, the silly fox and the little birdies look down on us.  I love the lily of the valley in the right corner.  

The fox reminds me of Lottie, our very silly dog with her eternal optimism

I love the different colours intermingled in the branches and the lining matches perfectly.  Mia has an Etsy shop and will do custom orders too, I had the most wonderful bag last Christmas!

And then in the Sew Mama Sew December giveaways, I won a Denyse Schmidt Daisy Mae charm pack and scraps from Chase.  I knew Chase's Etsy shop because she sells Yuwa prints including Suzuko Koseki  and other delights.  I didn't know she had a blog, I only found that in the Giveaway and followed her straightaway.  She takes beautiful photographs of fabric, quilting and the things that surround her and her writing is from the heart.  She included a drawstring bag and with the scraps you can see the sort of fabrics she sells.   I didn't have any of the fabrics she included so I was mightily pleased with everything!  I have already cut the charm squares,  it is the first time I have seen all these prints and boy are they good.   I am compelled to make a mini quilt inspired by this.  There are other things to be sewn but hopefully I can fit them all in this weekend.

Thankyou Mia and Chase, lovely gifts from lovely people xx

Comfort and Joy

I start the year with trying to get as many Bee blocks done as possible.  Tomorrow, back to the day job.  I ma lucky, I love my job and realistically I am unlikely to earn my living through stitching bits of fabric together, but it is with a little reluctance.   I was invited to join the Cocorico bee (very similar to Ringo Pie) and I needed to get Melinda's block done first.  Her theme was Vintage/Cute Christmas, I wanted to get it finished before Christmas completely disappeared.

I had to drag this block kicking and screaming from deep inside my creative internals.  I had a vague idea, the jar shape was already in my head but it wasn't till I free pieced the string tied around the rim of the glass that I felt it was working. Only then did it make me smile and I could see it all working.

My usual letter stamps and red Versacraft on linen.

The tag shape came about from a lovely set of 'Kodomo Margaret' Japanese stationery stamps that Damian bought me for Christmas.   I stamped onto Kona stone and used needle turn applique to stitch it on with a little perle thread to link it to the jar.

And then I went on a little stamping marathon, address stickers

 cards, the Eiffel towel postal stamp was a little gift from Ayumi x

labels- love them!

These stamps are not the easiest thing to find, but this shop sells the brand.