A touch of denim - a finished quilt-

My super soft double gauze quilt is finally finished and I am so pleased with the result. With all of it really and in particular my decision to add the border via QAYG.

So let's have a look at some images, shall we ?



The quilt is big at about 76" (194 cm) square which is exactlty what I wanted and fits very nicely onto a large double bed. It certainly is not a sofa quilt. I love the way the HSTs play with the different shades of denim blue, light and dark greys and the couple of black triangles give the whole ensemble a little more interest and focus.


 


I quilted densely in a 1 inch diagonal grid which supports the diagonals from the HSTs. Because the double gauze is much thicker than normal quilting cotton, the intersections have quite a lot of bulk although I ironed the seams open. Therefore quilting was a little more laborious than I would have liked it to be.



I quilted with a variegated Guetermann thread on the top and with my favorite ice grey Aurifill on the back of the quilt.





Both threads blend in well and the variegated thread adds to the denim and grey shades of the quilt top.



I used a text print from Carrie Bloomstone 'Paint' collection for the back; it is such versatile print and works well with many quilts. But sadly I am out, having used it on a few others already.

 

And finally the binding. For this quilt I wanted the binding to blend in rather than contrast. So I used some more of the Essex yarn dyed linen/cotton. It's a fairly thick fabric which makes binding a little more tricky but it worked well; just a bit more attention while sewing was required.



And that's it. One more quilt done. Sadly I am so busy right now with non-quilt related activities that I won't be able to start a new one for several months I fear. Instead I am knitting a lot as it is easier to pick up when I have a few minutes here and there. It's quite possibly therefore that this blog may turn into a knitting blog for a while.

A touch of denim - part three -

My new quilt is almost finished, just the binding to do. But I thought I give a quick update on the QAYG process.


The quilt itself is quilted in a 1 inch diagonal crosshatch pattern which supports the HST lines and the borders are quilted in straight lines 1/2 inch apart.




























Having never done QAYG, I read through quite a few tutorials on the web (in particular this from BubzRubz and those from Marianne of Quilting Edge.

There are several methods to choose from which did surprise me. There are those that include strips of wadding which generally have wider joining strips and those that use narrow joining strips and a number of variations of both methods. After I understood the techniques I decided on a narrow strip technique which you might think is a little risky as a first time QAYGer but I felt confident.

The strip for the top was 1 1/2 inch wide and the one for the quilt back 1 inch. This leaves very little room for mistakes and you need to sew the strips on with a very precise and scant 1/4 seam allowance.

Although I did not plan QAYG for this quilt, I was lucky in that I chose a quilt back that basically hides the fact that I stitched the borders on. If I had chosen a fabric with a more directional pattern, that would have looked a little unfortunate and I think I would have not gone for the QAYG but instead would have had to content myself with the smaller quilt.

Another plus of this quilt is that it really hides the additional quilting lines that are necessary for the QAYG to work pretty well as they are not necessary in sync with the overall quilting pattern.

I really enjoyed the experience of learnign a new technique and will defintly make use of this again.

A touch of denim - first part of a new quilt

But before I get into sharing the beginning of my first quilt oh the year, I would like to wish every body a happy 2016 filled with much wonderful crafting and quilting.

Usually on New Year's day I go very early for a long run. I love the solitude of this particular morning run and if I do meet a fellow runner both of us know right away we are running on that day for the same reason. Sadly I could not run this year as I was still in throws of a nasty cold virus. So I did the next best thing, I started a new quilt in between naps and watching way to much television.

In June 2014 I bought several shades of denim/grey fabric in double cloth from Purl Bee.  It was featured on their blog crafted into attractive shoe bags which I really loved. The fabric is double sided and I hadn't realised that what Purl Bee called 'double cloth' was in fact double gauze as I attributed the 'double cloth' name to the fact that it was double sided. When the fabric arrived I was surprised but not disappointed but thought immediately that this fabric was much to precious for shoe bags (although I do love each pair of my shoes of course and they deserve great bags....) and should be made into the softest of quilts.

So fast forward 18 months (why does time fly so dam fast) and here is the start of a my denim quilt. My original thought was to simply cut the half meter pieces I had into large squares and randomly piece these together. But then that was a little to simple for me and decided on large HSTs instead. This also serves the propose of being a sample quilt for my new advanced quilting class at the Village Haberdashery in February/March next year (it is fully booked already but I would be happy to schedule with Annie a new class if there is interest).

I have sewn frequently with double gauze over the recent years but only ever for shirts (see here, here and here) but never used it for a quilt. The fabric is fairly stretchy and as HSTs there is a danger that is stretches to much so I was at pains to sew these together as quickly and carefully as possible.

Right now I have a quilt top that is about 60" square but I want to add borders with smaller HSTs and some yarn dyed essex linen in denim to make it a little bigger and it will break up the "monotony" of the HSTs a bit.

Drunken Harlequin

...is the new name I have given  the formerly known 'Summertime' quilt after several people pointed out that the pattern looked a bit like a harlequin pattern. But because it is a slightly wonky harlequin I am going to call it drunken harlequin !

So here it is and what a joy it was to make, although rather a lot of work. This quilt is 60" x 60" in size and has a staggering 400 HSTs which mean a lot cutting, pressing of open seams and squaring of blocks. It kept me busy on several early mornings before work and late nights too but it was well worth it.

For the back I used a well horded print from my stash from the 'Pretty Bird' collection by Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller. I have used this print for a quilt backing before in the red colour way which really added vavavoom to this quilt. The blue colourway worked perfectly with this quilt and I made up the remaining space with Kona in Peapot (one of the new colours) and Michael Miller couture in Malibu.

I quilted as per usual with Gueterman Sulky in 1082 along the HST stitch lines to make the pattern also visible through the quilting lines on the quilt back.

The binding was a difficult choice and I was for a while convinced it would be orange or red but then went with oval elements in  mustard/green to compliment to back and the front rather than to contrast.

I love the little splashes of patterned fabric I added in a few rows. I think it adds a bit of interest and lets the eye rest for a while on this rather lively quilt.

Drunken Harlequin is listed in my shop and and now I am of to the next quilting adventure. Stay tuned.

Summertime - progress -

It's not quite Summertime anymore and we are moving with great strides towards autumn. I started this quilt back in July and had every intention of finishing it quickly but then the craft fair lodged itself firmly in between and this gorgeous colorful work in progress had to be halted.

Last weekend then I took it out and I spend some quality time with it, finished piecing it on Saturday and started quilting on Sunday until a nasty cold got hold of me. Hot lemon with ginger is the order of the day since.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed quilting again, I almost felt deprived of it, which of course is ridiculous but shows me really how much I love quilting and prefer it over making other crafty things.

I played around with the HSTs until I ended up with this pattern that sort of looks like wonky diamonds. I love the strict graphical nature of the pattern but have no idea if it actually has a name. Does anybody know this pattern, does it have a name or did I accidentally create something new ?

Summertime

Now we finally have some Summer I decided to play with summary colours and pulled out this lovely fabric bundle I featured in this stash note. I am most likely also inspired by the colours of the Olympics (no I don't mean the rings but all the great and colourful sports gear the athletes are wearing).

Any of you watching the Olympics ? I already went to the Beach Volley Ball at Horseguards Parade just outside Downing Street which was so much fun. I bet you the PM will have much interrupted sleep over the next weeks. 


This is the Quiltcon colour selection of the cotton couture collection from Michael Miller. I had a look at it the other day and then a feel and then thought that I needed to do something with this luxurious little pack.

So I started cutting and cutting and some more of the same....

 

.... and then sewing and soon had this wonderful colour bunch of HSTs that are glamoring to be made into something outrageously stunning ! (no pressure there....)

Sugar and Spice - a finished quilt -

Yesterday I finished my Sugar and Spice quilt and I couldn't wait to share the pictures with you but by the time I had the last threads tied and buried in the quilt it was to dark. Luckily I have another week holiday this week so I took some photos this morning.
Prepare yourselves for an flood of photos.

First the top and back. The front you have already seen when I was constructing it but to recap this is made of half square triangles from the Sugar and Spice fabric collection from the Quilted Fish. The white halfs of the triangles are made from Kona white.

The colours of the collection I particularly loved where the green, aqua and red. I wasn't that fond of the softer pink parts and kept these to a minimum in the quilt.

For the back I used Kona Ash for the first time and am rather pleased how it offsets the two pieced strips I incorprated in the back. I quilted in straight lines along the squares thereby emphasising the pattern. I love how this shows most visible on the back of the quilt.

I infact was so fond of the squeeky fresh green that I decided to make that a feature of the binding and luckily my local quilt shop Tiki had just what the doctor prescribed. Look at that wonderful stripy green. Doesn't it remind you granny apples ? (Mind, I am more a breaburn kind of apple girl than a granny one come to think of it....).

The binding offsets the front and back perfect in my opinion and works so well with the Kona Ash.
I also changed my binding technique a bit. If you are a regular reader you probably know that I mostly machine stitch my bindings rather than machine stitch the binding onto the front and than handstitch it onto the back. I do this for several reasons. It saves time, doesn't kill my wrist and I think it looks really good. Normally I sew the binding onto the front and then fold it over to the back and then stitch it onto the back ensuring that the stitch line on the front is close to the binding. Recently I saw on a blog (sorry can't remember who) that it was done the other way around. So I tried it and must say I rather like the look of it and I find it easier on the whole.

And one can't go without a couple of lovely rolls.....

 And here the stats for anybody who is interested:

Size: 61 x 61 inches (1.55 m x 1.55 m)
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom 100% cotton
Quilting thread: Gutermann Sulky 30 in offwhite colour no 1071
HST: cut 72, 6 inch squares of patterned fabric and the same number of contrasting solid fabric
Binding: Sis Boom basics by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit bought at Tikki Ltd. in Kew (but I bought it all ...sorry)

Previous listings can be found here, here, here and here.

The quilt can be found in my ETSY store. Sold

Sugar and Spice - part three -

Wasn't it a most marvellous weekend here in the UK and I actually think it was like that on the continent too. The weird thing with this balmy summer weather is that one actually thinks a lovely long evening sitting in the garden is in order  only to see the sun drop down before 7pm to painfully realise we are actually in October. Well it has cooled down considerably already since Tuesday and it feels now more like Autumn.

I was all set to work on my Christmas quilt but I just could not face it when we had close to 30 degrees outside. It just wasn't right. So in between nipping out for little lie downs on the sun longer and picnics with friends I worked hard on the Sugar and Spice quilt. I normally finish one quilt before I start the next. This hasn't quite worked lately which is probably because my job keeps me so busy at the moment that I quite often feel rather frazzled and start projects randomly. Generally not a good thing at all but for once this was actually a blessing because 'Sugar and Spice' was just the right quilt to get stuck into this past weekend.

I do love this fabric and the HSTs are looking great. Hopefully this will be quilted soon but first I am off to Italy for some much needed relaxation.

Oh and I have already found the perfect fabric for the binding but I'm not going to show you just yet.. This quilt is so fresh and bright it just makes you smile. 

But before I say Arrivederci I leave you a few shots of the work in progress.


                                     

Basting this was a breeze as it is only 62 inches square. Piece of cake as they say.

Sugar and Spice - part 1 -

Well I did say at the beginning of the months that I had an HST urge. And if one has an urge one should do something about it, shouldn't one ? Thankfully this particular urge is fairly easily satisfied.

So, I have been turning this gorgeous little tower of fabric

first into this

and 

then

 into this

and that













before making it into
 
this wonderful little tower of neatly cut and stacked half square triangle....

Urge not quite gone but phew.....I am getting there

Don't forget the giveaway which is still open until Sunday !!!!

'Hey Ho Sailor' ready to sail

I love long bank holiday weekends. The weather wasn't great though. The sun came out a bit yesterday afternoon and is actually trying again this morning but on the plus side I was able to guilt free sew and sew and sew. If the sun is out then I need to be out, if the sun is "in" then I like to be in too.

I used the unsteady meteorological situation to finish my 'Hey Ho Sailor' quilt that I started a couple of weeks ago with the Westfalenfabric. It has turned out beautifully and I love everything about it but I think most of all the fantastic back.
The front is made of squares with a border of half square triangles to continue with the nautical theme.

For the back I chose a rather indulgent story line print by 'Fred and Poppy'. This is a 100 % cotton fabric that does look and feel like a soft linen and tells a wonderful seaside story on the selvedge and has lots of shells, kits, fish all manner of seaside "things" printed on the pastel blue . This fabric is printed in England and available at my local quilt shop Tikki. I chose pastel blue and cream to stay within my colour palette. The print is extra wide and happened to actually fit perfectly in the width. I just had to add a little bit of a cream border to fit the length but that is almost invisible as the cream matches perfectly. I am so glad I found the fabric.

I chose a binding from Moda's 'Rural Jardin' range that matches the seaside theme and colours and  has lovely stripes that frame the quilt. I wanted something with red in the binding so it would "pop" a bit. ( I do love binding that pops !).

I quilted just outside the stitch lines following the squares to keep it simple. The quilt isn't heavily quilted but I still used four and a bit bobbin wheels of Gueterman Sulky No 1071 thread.

And here the rundown on size and pattern:

• Quilt size 62.5 inches square (159 cm square)

• Squares for the inside are 5 inches (finished size 4.5). You need 122 squares
• Sashing around the squares is 2.5 inches (finished size 2 inches)
• 72 squares of 4.0 inches (finished size 3.0 inches)  for the HST (half square triangles); 36 each of patterned and solid fabric
• Outer sashing around the HST border is 1.5 inches (finished size 1 inch)

This is a fairly easy pattern but really effective through the HST border.

I am selling this quilt in my ETSY shop.  Sold

Links to previous posts regarding the quilt and fabric can be found here, here and here.