Single boy quilt - finished-

I am not sure when and why I started to call this quilt 'Single Boy Quilt' - it just sort of happened. Maybe because it is the smaller brother to the large 'Single Girl Quilt'....although that doesn't make much sense at all....anyway it is finished and another one I very much love.

I spend rather a few hours quilting this beauty with quilting lines barely a half inch apart. I wanted to make the continuous circle more organic and tried to vary the distance between the quilting lines but somehow most seem to be the same distance apart.

And I adore the quilt back! I used up all my Klona solids I had for this quilt and because I didn't have quite enough I added a strip of patterned fabric which is 'Long Live Vintage' by Carolee McMullin for Adornit to make up for the shortage. And you know what ? The colors in the strip just fit perfectly to the rest. What a stroke of luck. I do love a quilt that is truly reversible and I think this one just fits the bill.

The quilt is 46" square and bound with a stripy number in a yellow/orange which might be from Sevenberry but I am not sure.

I quilted in Güterman Sulky 30 w and used a variegated thread for the top in colour 4036 which is a beige/brown tone and for the back an ice grey from Aurifil also in 30w in colour 2600. I do prefer a 30 w to the lighter weights for quilting as it brings out the quilting more distinct.

The bright solids in this quilt are Klona and are available here in the UK at Backstitch. The background colour is Kona in taupe which is widely available in the UK and amongst other at Village Haberdashery.

Previous posts regarding this quilt and its bigger sister can be found here and here.

The quilt is available at my Etsy Shop for purchase. 

Single boy quilt - continuous circular quilting - a quick tutorial

I finished piecing my 'Single boy' quilt the other day and basted it in preparation for some intensive circular quilting.

The way I do circular quilting is as follows:

• Take a round object about 3" in diameter and draw with tailor's chalk a circle around it at the point where you wish to start quilting (this does not have to be the middle of the quilt, see here and here for off-center examples)
• Then draw from anywhere on the circle a quarter circle toward the center
• Then draw another quarter circle towards the outside. This acts as your guide for the continuation. You now have instead of a circle a spiral and that is exactly what a continues circle is

• Start sewing at the point where you drew the quarter circle towards the inside  (see red arrow) and NOT at the start of the drawn circle. This smaller piece is difficult to sew with the machine and inevitably always ends up looking somewhat square as you have to stop and readjust your quilt every tow stitches or so. To avoid this I simply stitch this little tale by hand. And I do this separately for the top and bottom as decorative stitch that only catches two layers rather than quilting through the three layers. This way it almost looks machine stitched. I make sure I have enough length of thread when I start machine quilting to finish the tale by hand after I have ran out of bobbin thread the first time (because that is the first time you can actually take the quilt of the machine)

• From the start of your machine quilting process ensure you frequently adjust your quilt so you are actually going around smoothly. It helps if you keep your needle in the down position so the quilt doesn't move. Don't force the quilt around, instead sew 10 stiches or so, stop, adjust quilt, sew again 10 stitches and so forth. This will go on like this for a few rounds and soon you realize that you can stitch longer without having to adjust the quilt quite as often as the circle has grown larger. 
• At the point where the chalk circle has finished (the outer tale so to say) use either the edges of your walking foot as a guide or the guide tool that comes usually with it. It depends on how far apart you want your circle stitch lines. For this quilt I am choosing the edges of my walking foot as I want dense quilting.

• The first 10 rounds of circular quilting are still awkward even if you do the tale by hand. I generally don't worry about this. None oft the circular quilting I have done is 100 % circular at first. There are always a few jagged lines. This is after all a handmade object and not quilted by a programmed machine. 
• Circular quilting requires a VERY well basted quilt as the constant movement through the machine puts a lot of strain on the quilt.

Alternative start:

• You can also start the quilting by using a darning foot or free motion foot if you don't wish to do the hand stitching. But I only recommend this for quilters who are actually familiar with free-motion quilting as this will otherwise go horribly wrong. Once you have done the first few rounds you an switch to the straight stitch walking foot. 

On my travels II - the train back to London

Last week I shared with you my EPP result from my trip to Cornwall and this week I I'd like to share the output from my way back. This giant hexagon includes a bit of 'Vintage Ladies' topped with some 'Oh Deer' from Moda and seasoned with a good smattering of chevron.

Apart from the Vintage Lady, the chevron was also fussy cut.

Isn't it delicious.
The first post to this traveling project can be found here.

On my travels II - on the train to Cornwall -

So this is the start of my second ‘On my travels’ quilt following the 13 month long previous project. Again I will only or let’s say mostly work on this whilst on my frequent travels.

I so much loved the EPP process that I will stick to it but this time I am going for something more complex and will create giant hexagons from 3 different shapes.

I got the idea from Clare from selfsewn. Clare frequently makes the most gorgeous quilts from EPE shapes and one of them is a quilt called ‘Summer of Love’ that is absolutely stunning. I saw the shape I have chosen for my new project on one of her tutorials for fussy cutting. I followed her clear  instructions to make templates for the 3 individual shapes but omitted the slim border around the giant hexi. 

Then I dived into my fabric scraps and stash to look for something suitable. This little assembly above is made using K. Fassett fabrics and I think some J. Dewberry and was sewn together on a relaxing train ride 2 weeks ago to visit friends in Cornwall.

I love fussy cutting and will attempt to use in each and every giant hexi at least a fussy cut shape for the the inner hexagon if not for the diamonds too. 

Happy sewing....the weekend is not far....

Visiting an old friend of mine

Remember this quilt ?  I finished my Single girl quilt in April 2011 but whilst doing it had decided that I wasn't going for a king sized one and kept some of the pieces aside for a smaller baby sized quilt.

So the other day I got the urge to revisit the single girl pattern by Denyse Schmidt and started stitching. I so love this pattern and the quilt I originally made is a much loved sofa companion of mine. The solids I am using in this quilt are Klona and were in fact the first fabric giveaway I had ever won ! Klona (not Kona) is available here in the UK at Backstitch. They have a wonderful array of colours and whilst the fabric is at first a little tougher to the touch than Kona it becomes after a few washes very soft and smooth.

Happy weekend stitching is coming up.

On my travels I - a finished quilt

Apologize if you have seen this quilt in the making once to often but I promise these here are the last photos. Why ? Well because it is now finished.

I started this beauty about 13 month ago at the first Fat Quarterly retreat where Tacha and Brioni taught me EPE with hexagons. The plan in the class was to make a cushion but I when I had finished my first set of hexies I  had already changed my plan to make a baby sized quilt because I was so taken by what grew in front of my eyes.

They do say EPE is addictive and I can attest to that. There is something very satisfying about making hexagons.

I quilted it by hand along the edges of each hexagon which was a bit painful to be honest. The quilt back is a gorgeous print from Windham Fabrics called 'Presents Books and Letters' that was gifted to me but is or was available at Tikki. I kept the binding simple and used one of the Muslin Mate prints I had in my stash as I don't want anything to distract from the beauty of the quilt top.

My plan was to only work on this quilt while traveling, hence the final name for it: On my travels I (you noticed the I, yep there will be more additions to the series). I stitched on the Eurostar on my way to see my parents in Germany. I stitched even more hours when staying at my parents. Then I stichted on airplanes to far flung countries, on holidays, on other train journeys through the UK and also a little bit at home in my Garden (full disclosure, short journey from indoors to outdoors, might that be a little bit of traveling ?).

So I put the last stitches on the other day and added the binding this week and when I saw the finished piece I was even more in love with it than I was at the beginning. So much so that I already have started work on a large king size version of this but with 5" squares and NOT hexagons. I know Brioni would do that with Hexies in about 6 weeks but alas I can't and won't. I am however convinced that a large  quilt in squares will look just as good.

I have cut all the remaining fabric I had from this quilt and the collection of Moda Muslin Made I had (by the way the Fat Quatershop has a bundle of the newer editions available here) and already went to the Cloth House and bought a few pieces of rough linen to add to this. It will be glorious, I am sure of it.

This quilt will be earmarked for a yet to be announced niece of nephew.......(so glad my brother does not read this blog).

Previous posts regarding this quilt can be found:
here, here, and here.