November 2013 - Butterfly Spring Quilt from Alissa

 

 

Here is the awesome little quilt I received from Alissa in the Spring Doll Quilt Swap. I love it!

 

Alissa made me a fantastic tree quilt a few years ago and they are keeping each other company and adding some bright colour to my sewing room wall.

 



November 2013 - Spring Chickens

 The annual Doll Quilt swap nearly didn't happen this year. Thankfully someone suggest a stress-free option: no partners, no requests, a theme, a minimum and maximum size, a four-month time frame and a due date. If you send one in, you get one back.

The theme was 'Spring' and there was some major Pinterest action going on. My favourite pin was a quilt depicting 'springs' - of the bouncy kind - in a lovely garden setting.

As usual, I dithered, trying to make a decision about what to make. I was leaning towards a star in 30s fabrics but I had already done that. Finally I remembered a Margaret Rolfe quilt book that I had always wanted to make something from.

 
I flicked through and found the chook blocks and decided on a design - Spring Chickens. I wasn't too worried about the design not being everyone's cup of tea as this group of girls have an ongoing in-joke about chooks, with an ever-growing and somewhat quirky collection that circulates the country. Someone would appreciate a chook quilt.
 I drafted out the blocks during one of my quilt group meetings then traced them onto freezer paper that I picked up at the last craft fair - very handy!

The freezer paper is awesome for this type of quilt. You cut the templates apart along the lines, iron them to the fabric, draw seam allowances directly on the fabric, cut the fabric apart and then sew the templates together using the edge of the freezer paper template as your seam line.

As long as you mark everything and refer to your diagram as you go it works (almost) perfectly.

The final layout wasn't decided until I had finished all the blocks. It was originally going to be a more traditional doll quilt layout with hen and two chicks at the top and the rooster and two chicks below, but playing around I though this layout could do double duty as a table runner and wall hanging. At this point I was worried about not finishing it on time, and decided if I ended up keeping it then it would fit perfectly on the dresser inside our front door.

 

This was made totally from stash. The black and white fabrics were from a birthday swap years ago and that 'barcode stripe' was exactly perfect for the binding which used up most of a fat quarter. The green was a fat quarter from one of my earliest quilting fabric orders and there was just enough of it to border around the blocks with only tiny scraps left from a full fat quarter. The red, yellow and browns were from a 'scrap pack' I purchased long ago - really handy for this type of project. The backing was another fat quarter that had been floating around forever.

All up I used just under a meter of fabric for the whole quilt.

 

I quilted about 1/8 to 1/4 in around each of the chooks and then quilted straight diagonal lines in the background. I was planning to quilt back the other way to make a diamond pattern but got this far and thought any more would be too much.

 

As usual I cut it pretty fine to get it finished - I was hand stitching the binding down and tying off quilting threads at my quilt group meeting on the day it was due to be assigned to its recipient, racing against the clock as I had a plane to catch!

 

Thankfully it was finished with minutes to spare and was sent off to Catherine, who lives on a farm surrounded by hundreds of chooks - perfect quilt for her!

 

 

Angelina Ballerina

The doll quilt has been delivered - and stashed for a certain little girl's birthday in a few weeks.
Perfect timing.

So here it is...

The lovely little ballerina mouse is adapted from a very cute quilt I saw on Flikr some time ago.

I drew my own version of her mouse, and used backstitch rather than running stitch, and appliqued the bodice-part of the tutu in place. A scrap of favourite lace was used to make the 3D skirt.

I used a photo of the completed top as the label, edited in Publisher to add the details, and printed on Matilda's Own printable fabric.

The quilt has hanging corners on the back in case the new owner wants to put it on the wall, but I also made a little pillow out of scraps so it can make a bed for a special doll. (I do hope it gets cuddled and snuggled and well-worn).

The whole thing is a stash-busting project...I didn't have to buy a thing! I need a few more of these projects to clear out the stash.

February Finish - but only a sneak peek

Finally finished - a little past the due date - and in the mail is this little doll quilt.

It should have arrived so I'm just waiting for the recipient to let me know it has been recieved so I can post the final pics.

I posted some peeks here and admitted to insanity.

See those pinwheels below?

Each of them is about 2 inches square. I thought sewing them together was bad enough, but the quilting took insanity to a new level. Lots and lots of seam intersections...lots and lots of unpicking! I gave up on the free-motion attempts and stuck to the tried-and-true walking foot and straight lines.

I love the final quilt but I'm not in a hurry to attempt tiny pinwheels again any time soon.

This quilt is also my first finish for 2012. Makes me a late starter, but lets me join in with the rest of the girls doing AJ's '12 in 2012' WIP challenge.

(Full details here )

Being totally realistic, there is no way I'm going to finish 12 quilting WIPs by the end of this year. I'll be happy just to get a few crossed off the list and clear some space in the sewing cupboard.

Speaking of lists - here is mine:

I wrote it out quite a while ago and have added a few things to it over the last year.

But look - those crossed out ones have been finished!

It isn't all quilting. There are all sorts of projects on there. Some are started, some are kits ready to go, some are just wishes.

It would be nice to get a few more crossed off.

Snakes and ladders - EB doll quilt swap

We opened our parcel this morning and were very excited to find an amazing snakes and ladders game made by the very talented Carmel - and I'm sure her boys were very sad to see it go.

Jack wanted to play straight away (big snakes and ladders fan), and this is so much better than the cheap dodgy cardboard game we have been using.

 Carmel even included a little drawstring bag with dice (die?), buttons for counters and some lollies that Jack decided were prizes for the winner. Photo credit to Jack who took about six variations of the shot above.

There are clever curved bits at the end of each row to show you where to go, and arrows scattered around to remind you as well. And look how cute these snakes are...

The back shows the quilting, and there are hanging corners so we can display it when it isn't being used. Somehow I think it will be a permanent fixture on the coffee table and may never make it to the wall.

The label on the back has a matching snake - perfect!

This is one very lovely, very clever quilt and I am feeling rather pleased and special that someone put so much time, care and effort into something for us.

Thankyou Carmel, it will be loved, used and well looked after.

Doll quilt sneak peek - or why quilters are insane

The doll quilt swap is on again and here is a little sneak peek for my partner.

It has been a drama filled few months trying to get this quilt created.

Plan A would have been easy, there was plenty of fabrics in the stash that would have worked. But Plan A got pushed aside by Plan B when I uncovered a special fabric in the stash.

Plan B required a few more special fabrics. I found the border and background fabrics at a local quilt store, and the perfect backing and 'extra' fabrics on Ebay. The design was all worked out.

Then the fabric went missing in the post.

There was no way I could go back to Plan A after spending weeks thinking of Plan B, and I couldn't get substitute fabric in time to complete Plan B, so it was time to come up with Plan C.

Plan C required another search through the sewing cupboards and led me in a totally different direction.

Out came the 1930's fabrics I used for last year's swap and I unearthed some perfect neutral co-ordinates as well, so this will be totally made from the stash (yay me).

Plan C became Plan D and then has probably moved on to Plan E or even F, but I've given up trying to keep track. So much for a quick and simple doll quilt!

(As a post-script, the fabric for Plan B has been replaced by the seller and will probably turn up here before I finish this one. It will be hard to remain focused.)

And this is why quilters are insane - see those big squares in the top left corner?

They are 4 inch squares. Take two of those, sew them together, cut them apart, sew them together, cut them apart, sew them together and cut them apart again (give or take a few repetitions) and you (hopefully) end up with two 2-ish inch squares like those purple pin-wheels on the centre-left.

And see those tiny triangle off-cuts in the bottom right corner? I'm finding it hard to throw them out!

Insane.

Morning Star details

Some one just pointed out that I hadn't blogged pics of the quilt I made for Ingrid...not sure how I forgot! Put it down to overtime at work, uni assignment due and a short holiday - something had to get missed.

(There are some great photos over at Ingrid's blog - http://lottielulu.blogspot.com/2010/11/eb-doll-quilt-swap-2010.html )

So here it is - Morning Star.

I used fabrics from the latest Storybook Village range, purchased from Fabric Shack with a whit-on-white floral print for the background. I used sixteen diferent fabrics for the diamonds.

The design is based on the 'Starlight Express' pattern from the book 'Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott, but altered to use 1.5in strips and to add an extra row of diamonds.

The binding is made from the strips left-over after cutting the diamonds.

The quilt ended up at around 22 inches square.

I quilted about 1/4in nside the seam lines to define the star and then echo quilted the white background at 1 inch intervals. I used pastel embroidery thread for the quilting to add a bit of interest to the white.

The backing is pieced from fabrics from the same range.

As usual, I have a matching one half-made in the pile of works-in-progress.

Opening day

This is the front of the lovely little doll quilt made for me by Denni. Isn't it sweet.

This pic doesn't quite pick up the colours but it was the best I could do.

Look at the fantastic free-motion applique.

This shot was taken outside to try and pick up the texture of the applique and quilting.

This is the back and you can clearly see all the tiny stitches in the hand quilting.

The label is made using a photo of the front of the quilt.
I feel very lucky to be given something that has been made with such care.
Thanks Denni!

Dani has her quilt - so now I can show it off!

This is the quilt I made for Dani. She recieved it this week and now I can show you some pictures.

She has a great pic that shows the texture of the quilt on her blog at http://danil14c.blogspot.com/

To see the other lovely quilts made for swap go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/376653@N25/pool/

'Frogitopia'
A playground for little green frogs

It measures about 50cm wide by 45cm high or 19.5in by 18.5in.

My original inspirition was the lovely 'Inchie' quilts that I discovered through Emma's blog. http://sampaguitaquilts.blogspot.com/

My first thought was to make an abstract quilt with removable 'Inchies' that could be worn or used as brooches, but then after doing some Flikr searches of doll quilts I came across some lovely bird designs. I decided to do a tree quilt with removable birds.
However, when it came to sketching out some designs I hit a bit of a brick wall.


As all good crafters do, I gave up and decided to do some 'tidying' of my sewing room (moving stuff from one pile to another). I discovered a frog applique design from an American quilt magazine (Quiltmaker's Favorites - Winter 08) that I had put away to use 'one day'. This sent the plan off on another tanget.
Half an hour with the work photocopier, several hours of fabric window-shopping on-line, some enjoyable time trawling through the stash, a week or two of thinking and a bit of time with a paper and pencil and 'Frogitopia was designed.


I wish it was that easy to go from design to finished product, but it morphed and changed as I went.
I have some basic piecing for the sky and water, with wonky seams to create the effect of waves/ripples/reflections in the water. The grasses, rock and lilly pads are all raw-edge applique but only the lilly pads are appliqued through all layers of the quilt sandwich. Next time I'll do all the applique this way.



The reeds are hand embroidered using backstitch in embroidery floss and some short lengths of wool stitched on and fluffed up to make the flowers.

The lilly pads are felt. They were going to be needle-felted artistic creations but I ruined the first one I tried so I used plain felt instead - and think it worked perfectly.




The grasses at the bottom extend out past the edge of the binding to create some depth. I like the way they turned out.



The two butterflies are purchased iron-on patches that have been backed with felt and brooch pins. These were again going to be needle-felted but I ran out of time but am really happy with how these work.

The frogs are layered with pellon to give them a bit of firmness and fullness, and each have a brooch pin sewn to the back so that they are free to jump around the pond (with a bit of assistance).

The other embellishments include gold dragonfly buttons, glass lady-bird beads and some little caterpiller buttons. I spent hours looking in shops and searching on-line for these. I really had no idea how hard it was going to be to find the right sort of button!


The actual quilting is pretty simple. I quilted in the ditch of the different strips of the water, and created some wavy lines about 1.5in apart in the sky and about 0.5in apart on the rock. This was all done with a walking foot. I attempted some free-motion but it was a bit of a disaster. As it was, most of the quilting was unpicked and re-done (Note to self: quilt in the same direction next time and save yourself some grief!!!)
The backing fabric has been in my stash for years and although I didn't pull it out until after I was half-way through the top it was obviously a sub-concious influence on the design. I added a hanging sleeve to the top of the backing when attaching the binding.

The label was made using ink-jet printable fabric (Matilda's own), Microsoft Publisher and a clip-art frame I found online. This is the first time I've done a label this way and I'm hooked!
Most of this quilt is created from my stash. I bought the blue sky/water pack from Creative Sewing Online. http://www.creativesewingonline.com/ I also bought the beads, buttons, iron-on patches and brooch pins.
The backing, batting, binding and scraps for all the applique were all in the stash, as was the vliesoflix, felt and ink-jet fabric for the label. If you are into applique or just looking for some handy packs to pad out the stash then I recommend the scrap packs from Patchwork Products in Sydney http://www.patchworkproducts.com.au/
There is another version of this quilt underway - 'Frogitopia 2' - that is destined for my wall. They were intended to be completed and photographed together but sadly the flu curtailed my plans. I used the same design but in an aqua colourway rather than the royal blue. Funny enought, I had the same backing fabric print in an aqua-ish colour! The quilt is lying on the table beside me with binding almost finished (forgot the hanging sleeve on this one). One of the frogs needs to be sewn together, they all need eyes and brooch pins and lilly pads to sit on and bugs and dragonflies to drool over. I've already printed the label. I just need some spare time and I'll have some more pics to show.

EBDQS - my new quilt

This is the lovely doll quilt that was made for me by the very talented Alissa.

The background is all pieced and the tree, leaves and hearts are all free-motion, raw-edge appliquied on.

The bright blue backing contrasts wonderfully with the threads used so it looks just as great from the back.

It will go straight on the wall in my sewing room to inspire me. One day I hope to be able to produce something similar!

The photos are a bit dodgy but I'm running late this morning and will be back to put better ones in tonight.

DQS Posted - final sneek peek...

After struggling to get this done due to a never-ending dose of awful, horrible, energy-sapping flu, my doll quilt finally got posted this week.

Here it is wrapped and ready to go!

As my partner won't be able to open it until Monday, here is a final sneek peek to tease her until then.

Version number two, my keeper-quilt has gone on the back-burner as I simply haven't had the energy to finish two. Also, I had sewed down most of the binding before remembering that I needed to add the hanging sleeve. At least it made the decision on which to keep and which to give a bit easier.

I learned a lot making these, and had a few minor disasters. I'm happy with the finished one and hope my partner and her family have some fun with it.

EBDQ more sneakys....

I've been working hard at this but it keeps wanting a little bit more here and a little bit more there - did I mention it has a life of its own?!!

Two sneak peaks - one from each of the quilts. Still not sure which one is the keeper and which is the giver but either way I'm having fun and so glad I get one for me.

Still need to layer and quilt, embellish (just about collected all the bits) bind and label. So far I've completed fabric selection, some basic but slightly tricky piecing, lots of vliesofixing, lots of raw edge applique, lots of tying off threads and slightly more hand embroidery than I'd originally intended.

Quilting should get done today if my machine agrees with me. I've changed my mind on backing fabric for both at least three times and still undecided on the binding.

Doll quilt swap - sneaky peaks

I've made a start on my quilt for the EB doll quilt swap - after toying with several different ideas I remembered an applique pattern I'd copied about a year ago. Half an our playing with the size on the photocopier at work and several hours of sketching and scribbling and picking through the fabric stash and I've come up with something I think my partner will enjoy.

I'm making two - similar design in slightly different colourways. As most of this will be experimental for me, I'm hoping that by making two I will be able to work out any problems on the first one, and perfect the techniques somewhat on the second.

And this means I'll have one to keep - which is great because I'm a bit in love with the the design so far. Just crossing my fingers that it looks as good in fabric as it does in my head!

Here are the fabrics I'll be using for the backgrounds - aqua-toned blues for one, royal-toned blues for the other.

It doesn't look like much at the moment - but maybe you can make out the little peeks of the bits I like best, hiding at the side of the photo.....
I'm picking up my sewing machine from a service tomorrow and want to get as much of these done over the weekend as I can. Quilting on my star quilt will have to go into the too-hard basket for a week or two, but as I have to unpick all the dodgy quilting I've already done on it before I can do any more, it's not such an issue.