Hurray a finished quilt

I got my beloved beast back and it runs again smoothly. My suspicion was correct and they had to re-set the casing where the bobbin holder rests in. I suspect that the problems were caused when I was sewing a zipper back with leather (can't show I'm afraid as it is for LP&Q issue 8) the other day which resulted in some jamming of the needle.

And although the weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend I managed to finished my first wall hanging 'Dreams of Summer' and it is already hanging on the wall in my front room.

As already mentioned in my earlier post about it, this piece is most definitely inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts. It is cut and pieced without the use of rulers or rotary cutters expect when it came to squaring up the quilt. The solids are an assortment of Kona and Freespirit Designer solids and some remnants whose origin I can't really place.

After much deliberation and a failed attempt at half circular quilting I decided on random fairly narrow straight lines and I believe this was the right decision in the end as the circular quilting may have been distracting from the actual colours.

One of the things I particularly love about the quilt is that it has no visible binding. The binding is folded and hand stitched to the back for which I used Victoria Gertenbach's excellent tutorial.

To hang the quilt I made a sleeve as it is about 32 inches long. For smaller pieces I would have used triangles in the corner.

And it is hung with a dowel and some eye screws pretty much in the same way as explained by simplyrobin.

You know for somebody who has never been fond of quilt wall hangings, I am actually really pleased with this. It turned out really lovely and makes for a great piece of decorative "art".

A broken beast

My lovely Horizon is at the doctors and that makes me very sad. The casing where the bobbin holder sits in, seems to be worn out resulting in tension issues (both with the machine and me !). At first I thought I just need a new bobbin holder but unfortunately that didn't solve the problem so I took the beast to my trusted repair man Chris who I'm sure will sort her out.
 
I guess after some years of heavy usage a repair was on the cards at some point and hopefully I'll have the beast back by the end of the week.

I am halfway through quilting 'Snowy Days' and half way through quilting' Dreams of Summer'.
This picture here is just before I basted it.  It was a real joy of piecing this quilt and I only used a ruler to square up right at the very end.

How near is Christmas ?

The answer is VERY.  Yes I know this is not what anybody wants to hear but we are almost in November and I think the Christmas lights are already up on Oxford Street (though thankfully not switched on).

So how about some x-mas sewing then ? Don't panic, there is still plenty of time and whats more, inspiration and help is on its way. Next week the Christmas edition of the fantastic Fat Quarterly magazine will come out and... insert drum role here please.... I have a quilt in there !

I was so very excited when I was asked if I wanted to contribute to the Christmas edition. Excited for two reasons, one because it is just so wonderful to be able to contribute to this fabulous magazine and two that also meant that I got my Christmas sewing out of the way early. If I have to sew something for the festive period then I like to start early. Last year you may remember I started sewing my nephew's Advent calender even earlier in August (though I still got in a pickle in November). 

The marvelous FQ team have given me permission to give you sneak peak of my contribution.

I made this Christmas tree quilt with the Dear Mr. Claus Christmas fabric by Cosmo Cricket for Moda and I absolutely love it. This is a very versatile quilt because it can be used as a wall hanging or laid out in front of  the Christmas tree or you could just use it as a quilt for the holidays (what a novel idea !). The collection is modern while retaining the warm and traditional Christmas colors. If you want to know how to make this then you need to buy the FQ x-mas edition where you will find detailed instruction including templates for the star.

Have a lovely weekend full of sewing.