QD 1 and 2, DJ and NI

In case your wondering what that all means, it means I have started to make "Quilted Diamonds" books 1 and 2, "Dear Jane" and "Nearly Insane" which I think might be very close to the truth.
I am doing all of these as hand piecing projects so they are not going to be quick finished projects by any means.

I find that when working with such small pieces it it a lot easier to do these by hand but of course the preparation all takes time. I trace the block onto freezer paper, then I number all the shapes on the freezer paper as well as the original pattern so that they correspond, then I cut all the tiny little shapes out so that I then have my templates. On the original pattern I will use coloring pencils to just lightly shade in the colored fabrics I am going to use and where. This is important I feel as it helps to keep track of where to place those pieces of your block.

OK after cutting out all the shapes, pile shapes of same size and shape together and then remembering a 1/4" seam allowance needs to be added on measure the width of the shape add a 1/2" onto that (this will be the seam allowance) then cut a strip of fabric out that will be long enough to place same sized shapes onto. Lay a shape onto fabric then place a 1/2" ruler beside it then lay another shape. Iron the shapes onto the fabric with a very hot iron but NO STEAM. It helps to pre-wash fabric, the freezer paper will stick better.

Using 100% cotton, do a running stitch to hold all those small pieces together. Hand stitching makes it easier to fit odd shaped pieces in place. Use top quality fabric's and threads because if your going to put all this work into a quilt you want it to last a long time, hopefully longer than you will. It's always nice to leave a little bit of yourself behind.

Happy Hand Sewing, enjoy the process.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

Hello all, I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog but I have had health issues to deal with and haven't been up to the task of putting words into print but I'm here now so look out.

In October, 2009 I start the journey of making "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" and I am extremely happy to say that my journey came to an end in September, 2010. I have enjoyed making this quilt so much that it has made me realize that I love making sampler quilts. So I guess it has sent me down a different pathway with my quilting.

With my illness that I referred to in the beginning, I have trouble with remembering, concentration and along with that I have Chronic Fatigue so I need to have something that is going to challenge my brain and that is exactly what sampler quilts do for me. The way I look at it is that every time I start a new block it's like starting a new quilt because it is not repetitive. If i have to make the same block over and over I become very tired and bored and needless to say it just gets put to the side and then you have another WIP. I call it a WIP and not a UFO because I do go back to these projects every now and then and work on them a bit more, it just takes me a long time. I'm sure you can all identify with that.

Anyway I'm off on another journey now or may I should say a few journey's. I have just start with Dear Jane, Dear Hannah, Quilted Diamonds 1 and 2 and maybe also Nearly Insane (which I think I am anyway) no you don't have to agree with me just support me.

I have posted a picture of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, please leave me any comments on it, whether it be good or bad because that's how we all learn with the honest truth.

I hope you all have a great day, and take care all.

Mothers Day

With Mothers Day approaching I was wondering what am I going to do for My Mum. She is 83 and lives in a small unit so she doesn't have the room for very much so I always try to think of something that she is going to some use out of but not going to take up space if possible. Mum has always had a facination for shopping bags there is always a better one than the last one she brought but having said that there is one bag she has that she has always been consistently using for many years, so I thought OK I'll create a bag along the same line ( the other one is looking a little bit old looking), so I created a black, red and white one. She loves red and she likes (how do I say this tactfully) She likes old things, like scenes from the good old days. So I machine embroidered 4 outback scenes from "Glenn Harris .... Outback Embroidery Designs" onto it 2 on each side.

Also Mum has a very large European Pillow and because it is so large it is very hard to buy a pillow slip that will fit it. She has recently made herself one but Mum isn't very creative, well not anymore. She has always been a very hard worker and just never seems to stop although she is slowing down a little bit now due to age and she had 2 knee replacements about 10 years ago and 1 of them is starting to play up. Anyway, she is a special Mum and I really hope she enjoys what I made for her for Mothers Day 2009.

These are just some of the quilts and projects that have kept me busy over the last couple of months. I love the sunbonnets, they were made out of a 1930's range of fabric, I really enjoyed make this quilt. The sunbonnets were hand appliqued so they took a little while, but worth it.

The green and purple quilt actually came up not too bad. I think it maybe a good one for teenagers maybe (as far as colours go, I mean). It is a very easy design.

The placemats are what I made for a swap in an online group I'm in. I had a lot of fun designing and making them. I had so many different ideas and in the end had to settle for one and this is what I came up with. I think the receiver of these placemats was happy.

This is another quilt that I designed and I absolutely love it. i think this is my favourite so far.

Hopefully, in the near future I will have patterns out. I'm working on it.

I hope you have enjoyed what I have made so far.

Now that the summer is over I might actually get in and get some real projects done.

Well it is the end of March and I have been so busy creating new quilts I haven't had the time to post, but I hope you like what I have produced in that time.

This is a block of the month quilt I have finished. It's a single bed size. Zoe from the Blanket Box designed this. It was a pleasure to make and turned out very pretty.

I still have to quilt it at this stage.

Kristies Birthday

Hip, Hip Horray it's Kristies Birthday today.

And these are what I made for her. A set of Betty Boop placemats and I put them inside a Betty Boop Bag. I think she was pretty happy with them. I hope she was.

She is a big fan of Betty Boop so it makes it a bit easier to know what to make her.

Kristie is the mother of out 3 beautiful

grandchildren (Chloe, Claudia and cyclone Jackson)

Now what to make? I'm going to do some teaching this year so I need to prepare a few things for classes which will be good fun. I enjoy playing and designing my own designs so we will see how we go.

So till next time "Happy Sewing"

Kristies Birthday