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!

Sew Kind of Wonderful

I have been working on this lovely quilt off and on for quite a while now.  It was supposed to be a wedding gift but will now be a First Anniversary gift and should be quilted and bound by August, hopefully.  I just finished the top today!  With the sun shining through the window you can see the seam allowance is creating a stained-glass-window effect.

About the Quilt

I was generously gifted the specialist ruler called the "Quick Curve Ruler" by a sewing-bee friend named Raquel in America, which was especially nice as I had tried to get one sent to me here in Scotland and just couldn't source one at all.
The ruler as well as the pattern are from Helen and Jenny at Sew Kind of Wonderful.  The pattern I have used looks a lot like a traditional wedding ring quilt and is called Metro Rings.
I chose to use a fat quarter (FQ) bundle of fabrics called Terra Australis designed by Emma Jean Jansen and purchased from the only UK stockist The Crafty Quilter.

About the Process

I am leaving out any specific measurements and amounts as the pattern has very specific details and instructions, is a good price, is well written and extremely easy to follow.  I highly recommend it!
First I set aside two pink and two green FQs for the corner squares, the rest I cut into strips and stitched together in rows of 5.

The pattern is full of excellent cutting instructions and diagrams, but as I am left handed I do need to concentrate on the diagrams and reverse them in my head so that I can cut with my left hand and hold the ruler with my right.  Next was cutting the arch shapes.

Cutting all of the background fabric into squares, rectangles and triangles and then using the curved ruler on one edge of those shapes took a very long time, but finally, all my pretty piles were ready for assembling.

First job was to sew each colourful arch together with a triangular arch above and a rectangular arch below to get the new pointy blocks you see here on the right of the photo.  Then lots of trimming!

Next job was to pair them up and sew them together along the straight edge of the small blue arch piece.  I laid them out to try and make sure I had them randomly paired up.  This is not even half of them!

Here they all are, paired and ready to be sewn!

Once they are paired up and pressed open it was time to add on the triangle corners.  

Then at last I had a great collection of square blocks!  -  my eye blocks.  And of course lots more trimming to be done too.

Then sewing these eye blocks into pairs, then into sets of fours was fairly straight forward.  I concentrated on getting the triangles to match up and didn't worry about the blue background fabric matching up in the middle.

And finally today they are now in rows!

Next step will be to prepare the backing and then quilt it ready for gifting in August!

Conclusion

I am really pleased with how this has come together.  Fortunately I quite enjoy the cutting and trimming process, as there is a LOT of cutting and trimming in this pattern.  Though it is very helpful that after sewing each step you can relax a little about your accuracy as there is always pressing and trimming to make it all measure up correctly.
I would recommend this pattern to people only if you enjoy/don't mind cutting and trimming and are happy to spend an entire 'crafty session' not even touching your sewing machine.  Also just loving the idea of this pattern really motivated me to keep going with the process as I really wanted to see how it would all turn out.  I love the idea of this looking like the traditional wedding ring quilt, with lots of interlocking rings made up of many small pieces.
The curved sewing is no trouble at all.  It is a very gentle curve and can easily be maneuvered by holding the top piece in your left hand and the bottom piece in your right hand.  Just help the two edges to line up with one another just before they head under your sewing foot, and stitch at a medium pace.  Jenny has a video to help right handed people (it's practically the same, but actually easier for left handed people, as the dominant hand needs to be holding the top fabric which is on the left! easy for lefties)  Don't worry too much about accuracy at either end, as they get trimmed anyway!
Let me know if you have been tempted by this pattern, and feel free to ask any questions, I'd love to help if I can.