All posts for the month February, 2012

Feeling patriotic?

I’ve been a bit busy for the past couple of weeks so I didn’t get a lot of sewing done. However, I have now managed to finish this quilt top which has been in progress for a couple of years

The white fabric is a very pretty white on white Makower Ivy Leaf design. The others are all Makower Spraytime. They are all lovely quality and really nice to work with. I didn’t set out to make a sampler style quilt. It just happened! I made a few practice blocks and quite liked the colours together. I picked it up and put it away again several times. The sashes were also a bit of an after thought but I wanted to make the blocks stand out and it seems to work.

Now I need some help from my blogging friends! I plan to back this one with white cotton fabric but I’m struggling to decide on the colour of the thread for quilting. Should I play safe and go with white or choose one of the other colours in the quilt top? I think I should probably go with white because of the crispness of the design and the colour contrasts but I’m happy to consider all of your thoughts if you would be kind enough to share them. I can easily be persuaded to do something different Any ideas?

11 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 29, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Latest projects, Quilting and Patchwork

Tagged fabric, patchwork, patriotic, quilt, quilting, red white blue, sampler, sewing

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 29, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/feeling-patriotic/

Finished!

Here it is! I chose the pink gingham for the binding to match some of the patches. This is a really easy pattern to make up. Just search for “Tube method” on Youtube.com if you want to try it. I suppose you could adapt it for as many strips as you want to. I really enjoyed making it. I hope you like it

One day I might try to sell some of the quilts I make. Has anyone tried and made a success of it? Any advice or comments appreciated!

25 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 16, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Latest projects, Quilting and Patchwork

Tagged baby, craft, fabric, machine quilting, patchwork, pink, quilt, quilting, sewing

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 16, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/finished/

All’s well that ends well…..

I suppose my birthday started yesterday….with a visit from my big sister She brought me fab prezzies!! There was a gorgeous calendar full of photos of her beautiful new baby Grand Daughter, the book of The Great British Bake Off which has the recipes from the TV programme, Belgian chocs mmm AND the icing on the cake, a lovely new quilting book She really does spoil me!!

So, today is my real birthday. DH presented me with the Moda charm packs which I chose a couple of weeks ago and ordered from a lovely Etsy seller in America. Who could want for more…..quilting heaven

Well, I can’t wait to get sewing with those charm packs but I still have quilt tops ready to quilt and finish so I decided to be disciplined and attempt something I’ve wanted to do for ages…..make my own pantograph and use it on a quilt. I have never used pantographs. In fact, I’ve only ever quilted three tops. So this is either brave or stupid or both. I do enjoy a challenge, especially when I have all day to do it.

I started by getting out the quilt top and checking the block size. I’d had an idea about what type of design I wanted to do for a while. The blocks are 8 inches square.

It took a lot of drawing and redrawing to get to this final spiral for the size I wanted which was within a 4 inch square. I drew around the outside square so the repeats were easy to position later.

Then I traced the design onto some baking paper and went over the line on both sides with pencil.

As long as the line starts and ends in the same position on the outer square, the pattern will continue.

And so on…..repeating the pattern to fill the page.

This was fun! I got quite carried away Reflecting and off-setting the original design to create more.

And another…..

And finally…..

So, all I needed to do was photocopy a few of these, overlap and tape together in a long pattern piece. WRONG!!! My graph paper was in centimetres not inches!!! Aaarghh!! My design was inside an 8 cm square not a 4 inch one. I’d so enjoyed this morning, drawing out the patterns

Luckily my printer/copier enlarges images PHEW! but I needed to calculate the scale of enlargement. Well, 25 mm is more or less 1 inch so I enlarged by scale factor 1.25. When I measured the print, it was fine. All’s well that ends well

As you can see, the enlargement meant I could only get part of the design on one A4 sheet. So I printed two, chopped off the bits I needed and made a new A4 size one.

That was good! Four designs fitted my 8 inch square perfectly. I copied more, then overlapped and taped them together, then laid them along the table.

With a bit of repositioning of the quilt on the frame and making sure the quilting would be correctly positioned when I started, I was ready to go. I was so nervous about spoiling the quilt top BUT it worked

The last photo shows the back. It isn’t perfect but I’m pleased with it. Over the next few days, I should get the binding done. I’ll let you see the finished result. Watch this space

22 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Latest projects, Quilting and Patchwork

Tagged birthday, craft, machine quilting, moda, pantograph, patchwork, quilt, quilting, sewing

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 14, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/alls-well-that-ends-well/

Fabric Archeology

The scrap bag was just about to split or overflow, so today was the day when I felt the need to sort it out before the bag bio-degrades. This is my pale collection of bits and pieces that are too small for current projects or larger leftovers from previous ones.

I don’t have storage boxes for different coloured scraps like other quilters seem to find so useful because I would probably find the odd dead or alive house spider in there and wouldn’t like that very much! I prefer to put my pieces in large freezer bags, the ones which have a grip seal strip and the only criteria used for this big bag is that the fabric must be pale coloured.

It has been quite an interesting and very relaxing day. Now I know why some people are fascinated by archeology. Looking back through this bag of goodies has reminded me of projects past. I remember where I bought the fabrics and who I went to the fabric shop or quilt show with. Some designs were bought on the internet and I’d saved details of the sellers for future reference. All in all, today has served up a potted history of my last year or so of quilting.

So these pieces are all freshly pressed and chopped but most still have selvedge edges, so although it looks like a tidy pile, there is still much preparation needed before they can be turned into something nice.

How the darker bits managed to find their way into the “pale bag” I’ll never know!

I do love those Michael Miller hedgehogs! but they don’t scream “pale” to me. Nor do the red polka dots.

So, quite a bit of work has been done but there is still plenty left on this lot. There’s some quite big bits in here!

These ones on the right are a much thicker cotton, a bit like canvas. I can feel a pencil case or two coming on here

Did this really all come out of one bag?? Yes!

Well, it may seem to some readers like a waste of a day and, at this stage, I agree because it hasn’t been too creative. However, it is the preparation that is the most important step for any project. I’ve had lots of time to be creative in my head and now have numerous ideas for using up this goody bag AND it was like rummaging through my own personal treasure chest!

There are several projects to keep me busy for quite some time in one bag of scraps and I didn’t have to spend one penny. Also, I wouldn’t dare go and buy more fabric today as I know DH has squirrelled away some Moda charm packs for my birthday. Roll on Tuesday

35 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 12, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Latest projects, Quilting and Patchwork

Tagged archeology, craft, fabric, patchwork, quilt, quilting, scraps, sewing

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 12, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/fabric-archeology/

To fix or not to fix….that is the question.

Here is a picture of my loyal servant. It is a bottom of the range Toyota, bought from Argos for about £60 in 1982. It is a very basic machine and has needed only the odd drop of oil and a clean now and again to keep it happily purring (OK be honest! sometimes vvrrrumming) away. It only does straight and zig-zag stitches.

This machine has never moaned, groaned or broken down. It has had no parts replaced, doesn’t break needles or cause knots and tangles and has no tension issues. It is a complete all rounder. I’ve sewn everything from prom dresses to car seats on this machine All the pieces on my blog were created on this Toyota.

The new machine on the block (that was a patchwork pun in case you missed it) is my Juki, bought especially for quilting on a frame. This one only does straight stitch but has a larger throat and goes lightning fast. Yes, it was expensive and I saved hard working overtime for a couple of years to get it, but it is also turning out to be just right for the purpose. I have tried to piece patchwork with it but I prefer my old Toyota tractor as that goes much slower.

However, the Juki has a knee lift for the presser foot which I love!! and don’t get me started on the thread cutter which is amazing No loose ends to grab hold of.

So, I have a machine for piecing and another for quilting.Who could want for more? Not me. As long as I can sew, embroider, knit or crochet, I’m happy enough. However, I do have a dilemma…………….

A couple of years ago, my lovely Mother-in-Law Alice passed away. I inherited her beautiful (I think 1950′s) Husqvarna, complete with a box of feet I’ve never seen the likes of before. Apparently, according to the little booklet that came with it, they are for piping, hemming, blind hemming, zips etc.

The only problem is, it blows the electrics when I switch it on. The sewing machine dealer that I bought the Juki from said there was definitely something wrong with the presser foot which is made from Bakelite and has rattly bits inside

He also explained that if he brought a new foot, he could try it but that the motor may also have packed up. Sure enough, the motor is a also bust.

All in all, he says it is easy to replace the motor and have a new presser foot for about £60 all in and he would collect and return the machine to my house.

So…….do I get it fixed or not? Do I need another machine? No. Would I use it if it was fixed? Certainly yes. Then what would happen to the Toyota? I can’t sell the Husqvarna, nor do I want to, and I would love to use it to make lovely things that would remind me of Alice. The dealer says it is worthless and he has had lots of old machines in the past that nobody wants. But this one is different. I’m definitely considering having the motor and presser foot replaced, even if it is just to play with all of the special feet it has. Is it worth the £60 (the same price as my Toyota)? What do you think?

22 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 11, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Latest projects, Quilting and Patchwork

Tagged craft, husqvarna, machine quilting, patchwork, quilt, quilting, sewing, sewing machine

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 11, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/to-fix-or-not-to-fix-that-is-the-question/

Just rip it!

Well, I’m not the most confident artist in the land but I had a go. What’s more, I had lots of fun at the workshop for this project. It is supposed to be a machine embroidered seascape but my machine only does straight and zig-zag stitches! I wish I’d taken photos of some of the others made with more modern machines.

The teacher kept saying “Just rip it!” when she found me carefully rotary cutting pieces of fabric . I’m so used to precision, that I wanted a neat and tidy picture which wasn’t her idea at all. I can fully understand what she meant but I couldn’t bear to tear the fabric (and I don’t like frayed edges but she insisted, that I included some).

My sister came along too . She made an African style sunset (again very neat and tidy) with lots of lovely orange, red and gold batiks. Some of her embroidery was done with gold and copper tone metallic threads.

Anyway, we enjoyed the day, met lots of clever artistic people and were secretly pleased with what we had acheived for a first try. I just need to buy a frame now. I think it will have a wide cream mount and pale wood, as if it was washed in the sea.

19 Comments

by Oh Sew Tempting on February 3, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Applique, Quilting and Patchwork, Things I've made before

Tagged craft, embroidery, fabric, machine, patchwork, quilt, quilting, sewing

Posted by Oh Sew Tempting on February 3, 2012

http://ohsewtempting.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/just-rip-it/

How long will it be before this one is quilted?

This quilt top is the second one I ever made. I’ve used another photo for my blog header (in case you hadn’t noticed). I love purple!

Anyway, it has been made for about two years now and I still haven’t got around to quilting it.

It is not that I don’t want to do it. It is because I am afraid I might mess it up. I need more experience and then I will go for it.

I think the blocks are called Ohio Star.

I decided to put a dark frame around to set off the stars, followed by a wide border. The thin lilac border will fall over the edge of the bed.

All of the fabrics are by Makower. The white is Essential Scrolls and the lilac and dark purple are Spraytime. I love working with Makower fabrics! Unfortunately, the photos don’t do the fabrics justice. The white one is particularly gorgeous .

I will definitely make other quilts with stars as I really enjoyed making these blocks. They are all 12 inches square.

Maybe next time, I’ll use batik fabrics. Who knows. Don’t watch this space for the quilted version for too long. It is definitely going to be a while before it gets done .