Thursday, January 30, 2014

1st customer quilt finish for 2014






Fleur made this Toile quilt for her 2 year old granddaughter, who has a king single bed, Fleur thought 86" x 86" would hang down the sides of the bed nicely as well as take her granddaughter through later in life. It is a classic, timeless quilt. That's why we went for simple quilting over cotton/bamboo batting.
With 484   3" squares this was a rather lengthy job. See my high tech demo of how I marked the centre of each block. I was reluctant to use any marking pens for registration points, as I was worried the water used to remove my blue marker might cause bleeding of the red dye.


A ruler & pin.......measure to find the middle of each square, once found, quilt!

Working on a secret BOM I have piles of fabric ready to be bagged into special treat bags, along with a pattern & of course fabrics.


Somewhere in the days are the trips to the dump with piles of old 'stuff' eg; old fences, dead trees etc etc.

Somehow all this sorting & organizing helps to feel ready to take on the year, but when our cat Brian has decided to try the  life of a gypsy & walk back to our old house, hang out there for 2 weeks, then be happy to hop in our car & come home for a week, then walk back to the old house again, you do get to thinking! Still we know where he is & we know the people, so maybe we will share him?



 The heart is the tender thingxxx

 

Friday, January 24, 2014

sharing Friday


Hi there readers!

Just sharing a few odd bits & pieces to fill a space while I put the finishing touches on my first customer quilt of 2014. In some ways I have had a slower pace over the holiday break, in other ways I haven't.
We have been busy on the home front painting, so this meant a wee break from quilting, but I am back into work full steam ahead!
My head held a list of 'Leeanne projects' for the holiday period, but painting took over! I find the hours in the days are never what we think. Still I did manage to finish few  things between family visiting etc..........don't tell anyone, but I still haven't taken my Christmas tree down!


Seven Hand towels got a make over, from plain towels to towels perfect to give as a gift.
Adding a strip of fabric & in some cases RicRac or lace. These now rest in my gift box awaiting a birthday or 'thinking of you' gift.


some lace & Ricrac

These guys I LOVE!!!! This is the second one I have made, I loved the first one, then decided to make another to gift a friend. Although I am not big at on line shopping ( I like to support local) I did fall in love with this pattern, I could only buy the pattern (PDF file) from Craftsy...................

see the rusty safety pin?

The white fabric I had was too 'white' so I got out the Parisian Essence to create the prim look.............maybe they look like they were starting to melt & spilt their coffee on themselves!
 You can see I didn't quilt stars on their tummies, as shown on the pattern, instead I stitched old buttons & domes, even a rusty safety pin instead of the quilting..........makes them look more primitive.

As most of you know, as well as running my quilting business, I work part time at The Country Yard, sometimes I make samples for the shop, some of these samples are Block of the Months, remember last years BOM?
'Janet's Quilt' By Buggy Barn
Well I have another one to make, it is just as lovely, but like all good things they have to remain a secret for the time being. I will share more snippets as I progress. Here is some of the fabrics I will be using.................................

Teehee.....see the Christmas stitchery still hanging!
With fabric names like: Pine Tree Lodge, Double Chocolate, heritage Prints, Forever Spring, Audra's Iris Garden, Cinnamon Spice & Floral Gatherings (to name just a few) you just know it's going to be yummy!
So with quilting, work , & a new BOM to work on, my Chateau  Hexagon might have to go into resting. But here is where I'm at so far.


Still plenty of stitching to do on month 8, you can bet the last month will be banging on my door any day now! There is no harm in this project having a wee rest, is there?

To finish off my post I will leave with a sweet little mouse, my friend Julie  gifted me. I just haven't had the heart to put him away yet as he is just so darn cute! I guess when I finally put my tree away, he will get put away until this years Christmas.





Thursday, January 16, 2014

Apliquick Tutorial



Hi there bloggers & 'Quiltme' readers! I hope the New Year is off to a fantastic start for you.
Today I am keen to show you some lovely new tools available for applique, called Apliquick tools. How fortunate I was to be gifted a lovely set from Lynette Anderson to try.
For those of you who love the needle turn look, but struggle with this technique, this post may well be worth be hanging around for.......................pop off & make yourself a coffee & read on.


This lovely set arrived in mail before Christmas.
 Hugs & Kisses Applique paper, (this is water soluble paper)  apliquick micro serrated  scissors, tweezers & apliquick rods. Team this set up with Roxanne's baste it glue, a glue stick & a bit of know how, then you are one your way to lovely looking applique!

Remembering to reverse those shapes that aren't a mirror image of each other, trace your shapes out as stated on the paper instructions. If you have a multiple of the same shapes you can put this paper through your printer.


Cut your shapes out on the line. Please click on the photo's for close ups.



One side of the Applique paper is fusible, iron this to the wrong side of your fabric, then cut out the shapes with a 1/8th- scant 1/4" seam allowance. Clip curved seams.
 Gather your tools & glues.


Using the fork tool hold the shape down on your work surface, with the edge of your glue stick, run a small amount of glue on your seam, or on the edge of the applique paper. Use the tool with the beveled edge to fold over your seam allowance, work your way around your shape. Using Roxannes baste it glue put small dots of glue on the wrong side. Then you can use the tweezers to place your shape on the background fabric.


Using an applique stitch, stitch in place.


Now looking at this post, I realize my little tutorial would have been more helpful to you, if I had videoed the steps, but I really needed both hands.............Maybe I should have got my cat Simon to help.........but he was busy!!


I found the tools a wonderful help. The are a speedy way to get needle turn done, without too many fiddly steps. Lynette has a put a couple of video's on her blog, obliviously her cat wasn't playing on the stairs, like mine & was able to help her!
My favourite shop, The Country Yard will be stocking these tools very soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014.......hello!



Hi all! I hope your holiday period is going peacefully & you have been enjoying the company of friends, family & your needle & thread!
Just wanted to share a couple of things I have made & some photo's of my spare room, this is for you Julia.
There is a couple of secret things I have been working on too, but I will have to wait to show you those.
First is some new oven mitts, that I have procrastinated about making for some time.
A couple of fat quarters, some Insul-bright & a couple of hours. ( btw.....this project can be started while you wait for the plumber to fix a burst pipe in your toilet wall!! :-/)
When I opened these fat quarters up to iron them I noticed they were both Debbie Mumm fabrics, but of two different lines.

Next are two cushions made from left over 2.5" squares from my Angel Story quilt. I think they look nice in my spare room. I still have 2.5" squares left...................:-)


The doll on the bed is "Kathleen-Rose' my doll from childhood, now wearing my sons Peter Rabbit jumpsuit.
My Heirloom Romance quilt hanging here next to my grandmothers 1934 singer treadle sewing machine.
 A cross stitch I made for my youngest daughter back in 2001. I remember the task not being a quick one as this particular design is stitched over linen rather than the Adia cloth I was use to.
I have a few Cross stitches in this room, ones I have stitched for my kids. I guess when they are settled in their own homes they will want them back.


Have you met Beth? I blogged about her 'birth' back here. She hangs to keep watch.

While we are talking all things pretty, I will leave you with the flowers I picked this morning & wish you all a magical 2014, with peace, happiness & thanks for your sweet comments & support.

can you smell the Tiny white Gardenia? & my friend Julie's lovely potpourri?