Friday 12 August 2011

Ribbet, ribbet

It's been a long day.  I've been busy trying to get a quilt top done with fabric from the Nicey Jane line.  I decided to do a zig zag with no triangles.  I've been roughly following this tutorial from Crazy Mum Quilts.  It's been quick and easy so far.  The only downside was I took a break.

When I went back I started happily sewing my basic blocks together in pairs to make the V shape.  Somehow i seem to have inverted my V's after the break.  Not sure how, but now it's time to get the stitch ripper out.  I can hear my teachers now "must pay more attention" whoops! Well, that's my evening planned.  A nice glass of Montbazillac to remind me of my last holiday, and unpicking...Maybe even some chocolate if I finish.

Progress photos over the weekend!  That should kick me into action.











Monday 8 August 2011

My greatest skill

So I started making quilts a few months ago, since then I have discovered I have a real talent!  For many this may be piecing with a perfect 1/4 inch seam, quilting with beautiful free motion stipples or doing all the binding by machine.

Not me though, my skill is buying fabric.  Well it's something.  I don't have a huge space to store it all, so I'm on a fabric embargo. It won't last long I'm sure.  The plan is to make several quilts, gain some space and then look at "Little Apples" and "Happy Mochi Yum Yum."  Of course as soon as I made this decision I bought a bolt of fabric.  In my defence it was very cheap, Ikea Ditte in white.

Ok, it's not Kona or Bella solids, but I've had a swatch for a while and washed it plenty of times and it' holding up very well.  In fact I've chased this fabric all over the country.  Ikea kept showing it in stock on their website so I went to various stores (Bristol, Birmingham, Wembley!) only to find it wasn't there.  Apparently lots of other quilters are buying it as well. So what do you do when this happens, firstly a whinging email to Ikea made me feel better.  Then I went to Stockholm, to the original Ikea, found it and bought a bolt.  Ok that sounds a little extreme but I was going to Stockholm anyway.

I have so many fabrics that don't mix very well as they were bought as presents by different people. I'm hoping to try a pattern called "You Plus Me"  it's bought and waiting. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend, best laid plans and all that...


Jumping on the bandwagon

Well, here goes!

I seem to spend so much time reading others that I should probably start my own.  I could do with somewhere to keep a record of my makes.  It might even encourage me to finish a few more things.

I started learning to quilt at the beginning of this year from bloggers and youtube.  I'm going to be learning for a long time yet!  I love precuts and anything that make things move along quicker.  I have a toddler so time is limited.

I also occasionally make baby clothes and simple bags, sewing is what I like to do. It doesn't matter if it's a quilt or a jewellery bag, I'll give it a go.