Amy Butler Jelly roll quilt

It's a lovely bank holiday day today, the sky is blue but there's quite a breeze. This afternoon we have friends coming around for afternoon tea. I'll bake a sponge and scones this afternoon so they're really fresh. Parkin has already been made and Lizzie is baking something. First she's reorganising her baking drawer.

 

Before heading to the gym I trimmed this Amy Butler jelly roll quilt ready for a client to collect this week. I used the Japanese clouds pantograph again in a white Aurifil thread.

 

I would have passed by this fabric in the shop as it doesn't seem initially to go with the quilt top. however I soon realised that it picks up all of the yellows, tans and browns in the quilt top. As well as finishing this quilt top on the long arm yesterday, I was teaching my daughter to use the machine and we finished my May Schnibble. Now I need to find some fabric for binding and inspired by Janet's choice of backing, I'm going to look for remnants of a peach fabric I used for another quilt. If I have none left, I'll have to reconsider.

FQS wishes quilt - log cabin

 

May is a log cabin block, which took a little longer than other months as there are twelve separate steps. However I combined sewing the log cabin block with also sewing my Schnibble for May.

 



 

All of my blocks are sewn using Scrumptious by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. However I have Fat Eighths so need to be careful how I cut my fabrics as the fabric is only 9" by 22".

 



 

Here are all five so far together. June's block needs to incorporate some pink as I seem to have used less than orange and green. The PDFs for all of the blocks are on the website and it's tempting to sew ahead. Not that I don't have lots of UFOs to finish. Today I will be working on quilting Janet's quilt and serving afternoon tea to WI holiday makers.

FNwF X rated

&

Friday Night with friends was hosted last night by Cheryll. The A Lovely Year of Schnibbles project for May was announced on Thursday called X rated and I had the book with the pattern, a suitable pair of charm packs and some background fabric. On Friday morning I cut most of the fabric ready for the evening whilst supervising Janet's quilt on the long arm.

 

 

Last night after a pleasant lunch with Jane and some browsing at our local quilt shop - Treadles, I managed to sew almost half of the little quilt. I am very pleased with my progress and it is a lovely simple but striking pattern. Some of the border strips are also sewn together. The fabric is by Fig Tree for Moda.

 

 

 

we have a three day bank holiday weekend here, so I'm hoping to be productive. Today I plan to sew the May Wishes Quilt block as well as piece some more of the Schnibble.

Brit Thursday Sewing Linky - Jersey Eisteddfod

well it seems like I've done nothing this week apart from cutting and sewing my Aviatrix sew along. So I'll share a couple of photos from March!! The first is a group shot of our group's entries into the Jersey Eisteddfod. I forgot to take my camera so this photo is very low resolution.

 

 

 

The second photo is of my completed Sugar is Sweet Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin. The glass is too reflective to get a good photo, so I may take it back to the framers when I have something else to frame.

 



 

Today, I'll be quilting Jane's second quilt for her Mum and sorting fabrics for the Wishes quilt along and Hive 5 Stash Bee. I'm the bee mama for the Siblings Together 2 bee so don't have any blocks to sew yet.

 

What have you been working on? Link up below:

 

 

 

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Aviatrix Quilt Along week 2 - cutting fabric

 

This week on the Aviatrix QAL, we are cutting the fabric. I don't know why but I thought we were sewing block 1. A lot is going on this week with son returning to school in England yesterday - flight delayed again and daughter still suffering from headaches as a result of concussion. We had a meeting with her school's headmaster this morning as she starts a month of GCSEs next Thursday and we wanted to ensure that the school do the best to provide any assistance she needs.

 

 

I cut most of my fabrics last week, but had been dithering about the grey. Fabric 5 in the greys is a Kona colour called Seafoam. It looked like a green grey in the instructions, but when it arrived it was definitely green, so I had been scratching my head over what to substitute. Decision made, and the fabric is cut. I have stuck a sample of each fabric to a reference chart which I have laminated with my new laminator. I was unbelievably excited about laminating something. The machine and two packs of laminating pouches came to about £20 so I didn't have high expectations, but it worked and I'm delighted.



 

 

All of the strips and pieces have been bagged up into numbered pouches. Where the pieces have a bias edge, they will be cut in the relevant week. I will start the centre block at our group all day session tomorrow.

 

 

And because the piecing is my favourite part, I may have sewn a few blocks to break up the marathon cutting sessions.

Retro Bake by The Henley Studios

This lovely collection of fabric arrived from Fat Quarterly magazine yesterday for me to participate in their Designer Challenge. You will have to wait until June to see what I make with it.

Brit Sewing Thursday - New York Beauty

The last Thursday of April. Where did the month go? I've had a fairly productive month as I've stayed at home to encourage my eldest to study and I've had a nasty cough for a month too. I won't say it has gone as I did that yesterday and promptly had a coughing fit.

Much to Jane's disgust I have finished my New York beauty cushion. This was a Craftsy pattern and a bargain at $3. If you haven't yet discovered Craftsy, I have an affiliate link in my side bar if you'd like to sign up. Do try some of the many free classes too.

I love this cute Buddha ant. I don't know who gave me this fabric. I always love other people scraps, they are so much more interesting than my own scraps. The franked background fabric is from The Running Chicken which I bought at Knit & Stitch last month.

 I quilted from point to point in the middle circles which joined up to make a star. I didn't have a long enough ruler for my long arm so I quilted it on my Bernina with Aurifil thread. I need to add a long arm straight ruler to my shopping list.

I am really pleased with the back of the cushion which was made up from bits from my black scrap bag. I tipped the bag onto the table and pieced bits together, chopping and straightening as I went along. Strange though how the scrap bag seems to be as full as when I started. I then quilted the back in straight lines spaced 1/2" apart with a few random smaller spaced lines. Then I bound it with another black fat quarter from my stash.

What have you been up to this week? Do link up below so we can visit your blog and see.

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One of two

 

Jane has patiently (most of time) waited for me to quilt my Eisteddfod entries (February) then get my long arm fixed. This is one of a pair of quilts for her mother's spare room.

The pattern of Japanese Clouds really stands out on the reverse of the quilt which is quilted with Aurifil white thread.

Tuesday mail

We haven't had any mail since Thursday due to no deliveries on Saturdays and a bank holiday on Good Friday and Easter Monday. Annie told me to expect my fabric order today (yes I was being impatient) and it did arrive.

  

 

These are all fabrics for my Aviatrix quilt. The timing is perfect as this week we are to cut out our fabrics. Last week I also received a laminator that I'd ordered from Amazon. My plan is to laminate my fabric reference page from the instructions with all the 1" squares of each fabric I've cut out and carefully stuck on as reference. with over 30 fabrics to play with this chart is going to be essential.

 





 

Annie has labelled all of the Kona solids for me which is also a very useful reference. I have a Kona chart but it's already out of date and many of the greys used in this quilt were not on the chart.

 

 

 

I also ordered a bottle of Flatter to try - it's starch without the starch. This is the yuzu scented version. We first came across the fruit yuzu when selecting macarons in St Malo. I fancy a day trip to St Malo soon.

 

Today I'm quilting one of a pair of quilts for Jane. We loaded it up ready to quilt and then found one of the leads to the motors wasn't connected. I go into panic mode with anything technical, but fortunately Jane reminded me that it wasn't a lead in the wrong place as I'd quilted another quilt since the machine came back from being serviced. It took me a while to find the right lead, of course it was the one you can't see!!  I also want to finish binding my New York beauty cushion today to include in Show & tell at our guild tonight.

Happy Easter

 

I hand stitched the binding of my Hugs & Kisses quilt last night whilst watching rubbish on television. I don't like the current trend of Britains's Got Talent to bring overseas professionals to compete.

 

I used more of the Ikea Bitten fabric on the back which I hand dyed. I'm using the last piece to quilt the New York Beauty today. I also used the same fabric for the binding. I hope the weather is better where you live than it is here. It's wet and horrid so a perfect day to quilt (me) or study (Matthew). 

Back in business

Hooray, my long arm arrived back on Thursday. Yesterday Matthew helped me put it on the frame. Ten minutes later, I had connected all the cables and it was ready to go.
 

 

 

It didn't take too long to quilt my Hugs & Kisses quilt. It was already loaded onto the leaders so I just had to Velcro the leaders back onto the rails. I used a pantograph called Cusco with a tropical theme to reflect the fabrics I'd used.

 

 

When I'd finished that quilt, there was enough wadding and backing for my New York Beauty block. However my rulers weren't long enough to do what I wanted, so I've basted it ready to quilt on my Bernina.

 

Today's job is to sew on the binding on the Hugs & Kisses. I may put another of my quilts on the machine tomorrow, ready to quilt tomorrow and then Jane is coming around on either Monday or Tuesday to help me load her two quilts. She has been very patient for these and finished another whilst waiting.

New York Beauty - Brit Sewing Thursday linky

Another week has flown by. The good news is my cough seems to be going after a month of discomfort, drugs, nebulizer and Vitamin C. Also my long arm should have come in on last night's boat. I am now stalking the UPS tracking so that I can swoop down and pick it up once it has been logged as arrived. Customs did a quick job of clearing it yesterday so there should be no delays today. Still waiting for my aviatrix fabric to be delivered.

Jane sent me a link to Flickr on Sunday, asking where she might get the pattern for it. Fortunately I identified the block as New York beauty with flying geese and in two clicks of my mouse I'd found it on Craftsy. So what is a girl to do. :)

 

This morning I inset the centre circle, which won't dominate quite as much once I've appliqued the centre smaller circle. I changed the pattern, and have joined the pieces into a circle so as to eliminate the seams in the centre circles and the background.

 

So just the circle to be inset into the background and the centre circle to be appliqued

 

Sometimes when you live in a place like Jersey, you forget how lucky you are. yesterday morning I went geocaching in the Portelet area and I sat down to write a log, looking at this view. Just one dog and owner on the beach. It is a four hundred feet hike back up and my breathing was wheezy to say the least.

 

 

What have you been doing? Do link up to the Brit Sewing Thursday linky.

 

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Aviatrix

You know I just can't resist a good quilt along and another took my fancy at the weekend. - Aviatrix by Elizabeth Hartman. Elizabeth's solids version is pictured above. The schedule starts today with selecting fabrics. I bought the pattern on Saturday and impatiently waited to hear what the background fabric was, whilst digging out my Kona shade card to match up some prints and plain fabrics from my stash.

I even had an attempt at being organised. I printed out the pattern twice. The first time the printer didn't have enough coloured ink so I attached the black and white copy of the fabric chart to the second copy of the pattern and stuck in a 1" square of each fabric that I chose. You can see that I was pretty successful and have all of the fabrics chosen from my stash cut up. I have then ordered the remainder from The Village Haberdashery and I hope they'll be here by Wednesday. Each colour family will have three printed fabrics and two plains. This was more by chance than design.

With Matthew's help I put together my Ikea trolley which Jenny was kind enough to buy for me in France. I have bagged up each border of Aviatrix in its own labelled bag ready to sew each week. The scraps are also in a separate bag just in case I need them.

And because I find just cutting for hours on end, very boring, I've put together a few blocks. These are for borders 2 and 5. I will finish these once the other fabrics arrive and I will finish the preparation before starting the centre block. 

Stash Bee quilt

The blocks received from the Stash Bee ladies have now been put into a quilt top with five additional blocks that I made last week. I have tried to go from yellow in the top left to red bottom right. I have enough of the Ikea pink and red spot to use for backing, so I just need to wait for my long arm to be shipped back to me.

THIS WEEKEND ONLY: Craftsy's Surprise Spring Flash Sale!

Surprise! Craftsy has just announced a Spring Flash Sale for this weekend only! Discover huge savings on select online Craftsy classes, but for a very limited time. Visit Craftsy to reveal what classes are on sale, but hurry, this offer expires at 11:59 MT on Sunday, April 13, 2014!

Craftsy Spring Flash Sale

Spell it with Moda

I've had the directions for the monogram B from the Spell it with Moda blog hop printed since the blog hop. This block was designed not surprisingly by Bunny Hill designs. As I've made good progress with several UFO projects, I decided to treat myself to a quick new project. Having tidied my desk, I even knew where the pattern was and I pulled out some of the leftover fabrics from the Fat Quarter Shop Designer BOM for 2012 which used Bonnie & Camille's Vintage Modern range.
 

The mini was soon put together so today's job was to put on the binding. I cut the binding last night and stitched it to the front ready for some hand sewing. I chose this lovely Tim Holtz grunge butterfly fabric for the backing as it's too pretty to cut up. I also glued down the binding before hand sewing and used the wonder clips to keep the binding in place until the glue dried.

Binding done, I located my rhinestones and tried to choose the bunny's eye colour, pink and red didn't look right so I went for black. I used Aurifil Mako for the piecing, quilting and hand sewing of the binding as I didn't want the quilting to overwhelm the piecing. This is the first time I've used Aurifil threads and so far I'm impressed. The quilting is simple quarter inch spaced lines in the background and also I stitched in the ditch around the letter B and the bunny.
 

 

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky - Patchwork Please

 

 

Where has the week gone, I'm still coughing away, with no sign of improvement, but at least my long arm is back with the supplier and should be looked at today.  Another UFO has been dug out of the cupboard and its storage bag thrown away and the leftover fabrics sorted into my scrap bags. It's finished and ready for use.

 

 

Here's my finished embroidery pouch from Patchwork Please by Ayumi Takahasi. I started this during the sew along and had the front quilted and the pocket flap sewn for months. The vinyl I had was a little thick so I purchased a lighter vinyl last week which enabled me to move forward with this project.

 

 

All of my supplies were stored in a brown paper bag ready to go apart from the instructions on how to add an extra vinyl fronted pocket. I thought it was on Very Kerry Berry's blog, no, on the Flickr group, no. Then I gave up and made it up for myself. and I'm pleased with how it went. Vinyl is new to me, so that was challenging. One technique I used successfully was to glue the vinyl to the fabric in the seam allowance.

 

 

So as to avoid having to stitch tape around the whole of the pocket, I set it into the bottom seam. I also used a folded piece of ribbon to bind the pocket. This was selected from Janine's Mum's boxes of haberdashery that I was given. So as to secure the vinyl down well I did four rows of stitching and deliberately didn't do straight lines. The pocket flap is made from some fabric from our screen printing workshop with Lu Summers. A reminder of a very pleasant day.

I added a layer of heavy iron on interfacing to the back cover before adding the binding to give the whole piece a bit more body. Also the binding was first glue basted and then stitched from the front and then two rows of zig zag stitching was added to the centre of the binding to firm up the binding. The whole was then finished with a vintage button and a hair elastic pinched from Lizzie. I might add some press studs to the pocket lid, but that might tempt fate now that it's all finished. I think it's probably best to call it finished and enjoy using it.

 

And of course, after finishing the pouch, I did some blog hopping and found the vinyl pocket adaptation over at Hadley's blog.

 

What have you been up to this week? Please do link up below:

 

 

 

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