Glam Clam Quilt

At the beginning of 2017 I made a very definite plan to complete the Glam Clam Quilt within the year. It is designed by Latifah Saafir. At the time I downloaded the pattern it was free, but now it is a paid for pattern, with the addition of plastic rulers to help cut out all those pieces! The fabric is by Anna Maria Horner and the collection of prints is called Pretty Potent, all plants that have healing or medicinal properties.

However, I didn't buy the rulers, I did it the old-fashioned way, individually cutting out each piece by hand with scissors, one at a time.  I used and reused and reused freezer paper.  By tracing the shapes onto freezer paper I was able to cut the paper out, place it on the fat quarters, press with an iron to temporarily stick the paper to the fabric, cut out the shapes, then peel of the paper ready to be used again and again and again.

Then the pattern came with cut out labels so that you could lay them out in the order you want them and then stack them into bundles - each row from left to right.

Sewing them together was tricky but I soon got into the swing of it. This video tutorial helped to begin with.

I then had it professionally quilted by Trudi Wood.

Bonnie's Quilt

I feel this sewing project has been my nemesis these past few years but at last I have defeated it and completed it. May I introduce "Bonnie's Quilt."

I began thinking about this quilt in 2013 and then started working on it in 2014.  At last it is finished and gifted in 2016!

I wrote about my original plans for this quilt in March 2014 here.  That post includes her answers to my questions that provided the inspiration and direction for this quilt. It is mostly done using a fabric line called "Color Me Happy" by V&Co.

The hardest part for me was to keep the work random.  I struggled a lot with fitting blocks together and there was A LOT of unpicking involved!  I took lots of photos during the process, thinking that I would want to write a "how to" blog post, but now that it is finally finished I would rather just leave it as it is.  An entire random quilt.

AND NOW my brother has requested a quilt !!!!

Metro Rings Quilt

I have finished my nephew's wedding ring quilt, just in time for their first year anniversary!

I have written about the construction details of this quilt in a previous post if you are interested.  For today's post I am just sharing photos and close up details, as I am very proud of this make - can you tell?

The backing I chose for this quilt is the same Terra Australis design and is in coordinating colours.

I chose a trailing love heart design for the quilting, and had it done for me by a long arm quilter.  I know there are so many other intricate designs that compliment the wedding ring quilt that are so much better, but they do take more time and therefore cost more money.  Quilts are already very expensive to create, so I chose something romantic and swirly and I am very pleased with it as it is.

sorry about the poor, yellow lighting in these two photos,
but they do allow a close up of the quilting

Ta Da!

Now off to write a card and wrap it up!

It's all over - the Little Bloggers Quilting Bee

Last April eleven other UK blog writers and I decided to make one another patchwork blocks.  I have already shared the first seven here, and today I want to share with you the final 4 blocks as well as the ones that I received in October when I was the Queen Bee.


In November we made a pair of feathers for Rosanne using this free tutorial by Anna Maria Horner.

In December we made a block called "trip around the world" using blues and purples for Gina.

In January we made a scrappy 5x5 block for Sheila who is planning on making a few Irish Chain quilts for charity.

And our final block was for the ever-patient Alison, who asked us to sign up to a newsletter that sent out free block instructions for a country style choice of blocks.  This is the one I chose to make for her:

Conclusion

I have enjoyed making these patchwork blocks in colours and styles that I may never have tried if left to my own choices and preferences.  I have had to purchase new fabrics and colours that I may never have been drawn towards previously and I have learnt about contrasting fabrics that will sit next to each other.  I've even mastered a new skill - foundation paper piecing!  And committing to only one block per month has been fairly easy to manage too.  But best of all, I was the recipient of eleven lovely parcels full of beautiful blocks all for me during the month of October!  Here are the lovely blocks I received:

I am planning to combine these 12 blocks with another block-swap that I am participating in, and will sew them altogether to make one big garden quilt.
So that's the end of the quilting bee swap!  If you ever get a chance to join one I would highly recommend it!

A First for Me and for my Friend Rachel

I have a friend named Rachel who said she would never have children, and now she has gone and made a gorgeous little baby girl named Poppy.  So for such a momentous and surprising First, I decided to make a baby quilt for her that would also be a First.  I attempted my first ever Dresden!

Here it is, folded and ready to go in the post for an adventurous journey all the way to Australia.

Here is the lovely young girl doing some gardening in the centre of my dresden.  I had appliqued this to the centre, which was easier than I thought it would be.

I even enjoyed doing the quilting on this one!  Using the free motion quilting foot on my sewing machine made the job quick and easy.

Ta Daaa!  Poppy's Quilt  34" x 34"

I made the centre dresden first, using matching colours, then made four more 90 degree circle pieces for the four corners.  I invented the background pattern pieces myself by measuring with a string and a pencil, and a good bit of fudging.

Sorry, I can't recall where I got the fabric for the binding or the background from, but the fabric I used for the dresdens, lovely girl and the backing are called The Sweet Life by Cori Dantini for blend fabrics.  I bought a bundle of eighth's of a yard pieces from Avery Homestore in Edinburgh last year and had been saving them for something special.

Speaking of the backing, it is gorgeous!  Lots of lovely panels, with girls doing all sorts of fun things!

The back of Poppy's quilt

I really hope she loves this as much as I do.  Now for the nitty gritty details...  I won't mind a bit if you just skip over these.  I've recorded the process for both my own records and for anybody else who might like to have their first try at making one of these out of some strips of fabric.  It really is a lot of fun and quite easy and satisfying sewing!

The Process

I started with a bundle of 10 coordinating fabrics from a 1/8th bundle and cut them into 1.5" strips along the longest side.

For the central dresden, I chose 7 strips and arranged them in a pleasing manner, then sewed them together, pressing all the seams in the same direction.  All seams are 1/4".

 

Then using the 10 degree ruler, and keeping it horizontal with the edge of the fabric, I cut the entire thing into as many wedges as possible.

  

Flip every second wedge and arrange them side by side and you will see the final pattern emerging.  Each of the wedges made by this ruler will end up being 10 degrees, so to make a 90 degree wedge I only need 9.

  

When stitching the wedges together, because you pressed the strip seams all in the one direction, the seams will now nestle together easily as you put them through your sewing machine.  I stitched the wedges into pairs, pressed, then into a set of four and a set of 5, pressed again then sewed all nine together.  All this pressing was done in the one direction too.


Repeat this process until you have four 'fans.'

Then I made another four, but this time I used a variety of the strips.  To create the background space, I simply put one of the fans into the centre of a large piece of paper and traced the edge.  Then I put a fan into an adjacent corner and traced the large curve.  I used a pencil tied with string and pulled taught to the corner of the fan and paper, to make sure the line was circular.  I then added 1/2" to this piece of paper to allow for the seam allowance.  Putting this paper pattern piece on top of my fabric, I cut four pieces then sewed my fans to them.

Then I sewed the four squares together.

Next I cut out one of the young girls from the backing fabric and carefully hand appliqued her to the centre.
I did a similar pattern making thing with the four outside curved corners.  I used the corner of a piece of paper, placed the corner of the fan on top and traced the curve.  I fudged a guess of 1/2" seam allowance to make the pattern piece bigger, then used it to trace some of the fabric from the quilt backing to create corner pieces.  After that, I simply used some of the left over 1.5" strips to create a border around the entire square.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comment box below, if you were thinking of trying a strippy dresden!
So that's it! - One of my 2014 first quarter of the year goals completed!
This will be linked up to Katy's Finish-A-Long.

Trellis Quilt is Finished

Introducing my sixth ever finished quilt: I am calling it the Garden Trellis!  The sun was shining for one morning this week and I was lucky enough to be at home with the Mister, so we dashed up the hill behind our house and took some photos of it, at long last.

I have written a post about the construction of this patchwork top in November, over here.
I took it to Beechwood Quilting in Stirling, Scotland to get it quilted with a swirling stitch in some orange/green/purple variegated thread.  They had it done within two weeks and only cost £83, (that included the wadding) which is much cheaper than the cost to my sanity if I had tackled the job myself.

Brian, who quilted this for me, praised my piecing too.  He said that with so many small pieces he would have expected some stretched kinks and bumps, but my work was very flat and easy to work with.  Yay for me and all that pressing!

 So here are a few more photos of me and my lovely quilt.

I was so pleased to finally see some sunlight that I just put my coat and wellies over my PJs and we raced up the hill to take some shots.  You can at least see some of the backing fabric I chose in this shot though.

In too much of a rush to wait for hair styling or make-up.

I love this shot with the sheep on the hill below us.

One last photo, before the sun is completely covered again.

Back inside, OK, just one more: The obligatory photo of "Cats on Quilt".

Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley, our two Ragdoll cats.
Their names perfectly match their personalities too.

This has been a goal of mine to finish before the end of 2013.

Linking up with Finish-A-Long