Showtime

It seems like an age ago, even although it is only just over 6 weeks since the Scottish Quilting Show was held in Glasgow. How times have changed as the venue is now kitted out as one of the Nightingale Hospitals to deal with the expected surge in hospital patients requiring ICU beds as a result of COVID-19.

In March though not only was it my first visit to the Scottish Quilting Show in this venue, but it was also my first time exhibiting a quilt and stewarding at a show too!

My And Sew On quilt from Quiet Play's 2013 SAL was entered in the Contemporary Category with the title "A Quilters Cupboard". It didn't win any prizes and I certainly wasn't expecting it to, but I now have that first foray into entering a Quilt Show under my belt!

I had volunteered to steward at the exhibition too, which meant that I had plenty of time to admire the stunning quilts that were on view. One that was much admired by many of the visitors had taken 15 years to complete, a fact that was quite reassuring to the majority of the visitors when told, who claimed never to be able to create anything like it :)

This denim quilt was one of my favourites.

It was my first time visting the venue so I wasn't prepared for all of the questions about the location of toilets, particular stalls or products, having assumed that all I would be asked about as a steward was the quilts :)

Next time I volunteer to steward I will make sure that I have worked out in advance where all the facilities are in relation to the stand!

Stepping out of that comfort zone

It is a new decade so time for some changes to this blog. Over the last year the New to Me posts were, for me, less about the link party and more about a nudge to post at least once a month. So I am still going to write posts about anything I have tried out because you know I love to experiment, but won't be hosting the link party as well. I rarely link up to parties these days so it is not very fair to expect other bloggers to do something I am not doing myself!


I have as the post title tells you tried something very New to Me this month and I may live to regret it:) At our weekly quilting group recently we have been encouraged/cajoled/exhorted to enter a quilt in the upcoming Scottish Quilters Show. The deadline for entry was originally January 24th, but was then extended to January 31st to give those of us who were procrastinating less excuse to chicken out, I suspect!

Well, as you can see I finally took the plunge and put in an entry.

I entered the only quilt that I have that has a hanging sleeve, my BOM quilt from Quiet Play's And Sew On BOM back in 2013! I have no great expectations of the quilt as far as the competition goes, as I used the blocks for FMQ practise and I am fairly sure that my paper-piecing was less than stellar in places :) However, I thought it would be a fun entry to the competition in general.

There are several categories for entries and I wasn't sure whether this was Contemporary
(Quilts based on the traditions of quilt making, but have an original approach. Makers may use non-traditional fabrics, fabric painting, printing, dying and embellishments. These quilts should have an original design and can be hand or machine pieced, or a combination of both) or Modern
(Quilts with a modern design, can be based on traditional design with a modern twist. Quilts may include the presence of the following features: minimal and simple good design with bold graphic colours and high contrast; varying sized blocks, exaggerated scale, asymmetry and simple graphic quilting).  In the end after some discussion with fellow quilters and show veterans I went for Contemporary. 

I opted not to have the Judge's comments sent to me as I have also volunteered to steward at the Show so will see the harsh truth soon enough :)

Would love to hear if you have used the advent of a new decade to accompany me in that strange place outside the comfort zone!



 

And Sew Finished!

Finally, the And Sew On BOM wallhanging is finished.

I chose to make 8 of the 9 blocks so that I could have a tall, thin wallhanging and it has definitely worked.

As this was very much a sampler quilt I took the opportunity to use it to practise my free-motion quilting, using a different pattern in each block. I have already subjected you to most of the quilting patterns I used so won't bore you again other than to show off one pattern that hasn't been posted before.

I got very carried away with myself at one stage and decided to have a go at quilting some flowers! As this is my first attempt please don't look too closely :) It is, however, recognisably a flower, which is more than can be said for some of the other attempts it is fair to say. Still that definitely counts as progress in my book!

The quilt is sashed with Sew Retro Pattern fabric and just in case anyone misses the sewing connection it is bound with Sew Retro Cotton Reels, both by Makower. I added a hanging sleeve at the back when attaching the binding, so now have something else waiting for my other half to put up!

I am thrilled to bits to have this finally finished and must thank Kristy for such a great BOM, and apologise to her too for taking so long to finish!

This is also another finish for Q1 of the FAL, so even more reason to celebrate


And because it is for me I'm posting it to Moira's

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And Quilting On!

Having completed the HST BOM this month already, I am all enthused to tick another one of the list!

So this week's sewing has all been about my And Sew On BOM wallhanging. Having decided not to make the final block to have instead a 2 x 4 arrangement of the blocks, I dug out some appropriately themed fabric for the sashing  and some calico for the backing. The back will rarely see the light of day, so it made sense to use a plain, basic fabric for the back.

Apologies for the odd angle of the photo, the quilt is presently draped across the top of the sofa bed in my sewing room, and no I haven't taken to sleeping with my sewing machine!

I have quilted in the ditch around the blocks and straight line quilted the sashing blocks and borders, but now I am a bit stuck. I am not really sure how to quilt the blocks. Whilst quilting the sashing I was watching Leah Day's  Free Motion Quilting Class on Craftsy, so was feeling all ambitious about tackling different Free Motion Quilting patterns in the various blocks, but I am not 100% convinced that that is the way to go, so suggestions would be very welcome :)

Recently, Catherine at Knotted Cotton was looking for someone to go halves with her on a purchase of Oakshott Cottons. Having never bought any Oakshott before, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to experience the loveliness of these fabrics without breaking the bank! This bundle of loveliness arrived in the post this week, and I have been admiring them ever since. Now I know what all the fuss is about, they are just beautiful!

Post of a different kind, but no less welcome, has been pinging into my email all week too. The list of giveaway sponsors for the Ho,Ho,Ho and on We Sew Link party just gets longer and longer!

This month's giveaway is the wonderful Ornamental and Sew Seasonal Pattern Bundle from Quiet Play's Craftsy store

The Link Party is open over at Mud, Pies and Pins until the end of the month so there is still plenty of time to get started on your Christmas and Holiday projects and link them up to be in with a chance of winning.

If you are looking to add some Christmas Fabric to your stash check out the Christmas Sale at the Fat Quarter Shop. Check out too the generous sponsors we have lined up for you in the coming months!



That's enough WIP's to be going on with for now I think :)

Linking up to

 

2014 FAL - Q1 Starting out again!

It is the start of a new FAL so time for optimism and wishful thinking :)



This year's FAL is being hosted by the multi-talented Katy otherwise known as The Littlest Thistle. Check out her post if you want to join in the fun.

Having only managed to finish 2 out of the 6 finishes I was hoping for in the last quarter of 2013, there are plenty of UFO's hanging around my sewing room patiently waiting for their turn on the sewing table. One of the 2 finishes I did achieve was a long-standing BOM so in an effort to continue that momentum I am putting the remaining 2 outstanding BOM's in my cupboard top of my list for finishing this quarter.

First up,the wallhanging I have been paper-piecing monthly with Quiet Play's BOM



I had the last block of 9 left to paper piece (the photo below only shows 7 blocks as I haven't taken any photos of them altogether since I made the 8th block), but have decided that an 8 block wallhanging will fit better in the space available. So instead of paper-piecing the last block all that I need to do is add the sashing, baste and quilt it. Doesn't sound too difficult does it?

Second, another carry forward from last years FAL, the Craftsy BOM quilt top.

All the blocks are made (and have been made for months), the sashing fabric is purchased and waiting to be cut up so I just need to knuckle down and do it! It would be great to have this finished in time for my son and daughter-in-laws house move in the Spring, especially as it was also meant to be a Christmas present!

The third project I would like to finish this quarter is the cushion I planned from the New Zealand Falcon pattern by the very talented Tartankiwi.  Our local rugby team are known as the Falcons, and the males in this family are mad-keen rugby fans so it would be a fitting addition to our current collection of cushions.Would be nice to have it finished before the end of the rugby season too :)

The fourth project I really would like to finish this quarter is the Bargello quilt that I started in a class last August.

Again, all this needs is borders, basting and binding! Can you tell these are my least favourite parts of making a quilt??

The next set of projects have all been in my head for ages but I have never actually written them down anywhere, so I am hoping that by blogging about them I might actually get around to making them. So my fifth project for this quarter is another cushion, this time with some Celtic Knotwork applique. I know exactly what I want to do with this so I just need to knuckle down, draft up a pattern and sew it!

I am going for broke here with a sixth, seventh and eighth project :)

The sixth is another cushion, this time with Linen that I brought back from Latvia and some lovely Liberty fabric that I have been too nervous to cut into!

Again I know exactly what I want to do with this, I just need to sit down and do it!


More Liberty fabric and some vintage linen in the seventh project for a secret project that I am really excited about, that will, hopefully, be revealed later in the year.

And finally (thank goodness I hear you cry!) a Christmas project (!!!) using these cute fabrics. The reason for this project will be revealed rather sooner than the one above in the next couple of days, but let's just say now that I am planning to be the most organised I have ever been for Christmas this year :)

I think that is more than enough to be going on with, don't you?

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to use up my stash, and completing all of these projects will certainly help me to do that.

Well, that's the plan wish me luck :)

Enter the stash cupboard!

Kristy's block for August in the  And Sew On BOM is a paper-pieced stash cupboard, actually it is a totally unrealistically neat and tidy stash cupboard :)

Although, as you can see, it is probably just as well that I was not attempting to paper-piece a pattern of what my stash actually looks like!


 It is also a pattern filled with tiny bits of paper-piecing! I am beginning to like tiny paper-piecing bits as even I can't scrimp on the fabric for them so my usual problems with paper-piecing and very scant seam allowances just doesn't happen, well alright maybe sometimes.

So here is my fantasy stash cupboard in all its glory. Only one more block to go with the BOM, I dread to think what size the pieces will be in that one :)

As you can see I had a bit of trouble keeping the seams straight when I joined the pieces together. Using the linen for the floor meant that the seams didn't iron as flat as they might have if it was all cotton, so I think I will need to be a bit tougher on this with the iron when I come to join all the blocks together.

Speaking of ironing, am I the only one who ends up with bumps of fabric where the seams of all the tiny pieces are joined? How do you get a block like this as flat as possible, I would love to know? 

So, with another BOM block completed here's how the WIP list is looking now

• In Color Order HST BOM - quilting started!
• Sunday Morning Quilt Bee blocks received, 2 more to be added by me
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee 13 sets of blocks received, 3 more to come
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee blocks sent (on schedule)
• Star of Africa Bee blocks completed and sent (only 1 month behind schedule!)
• Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee Q2 - signed up
•  And Sew On BOM - eight blocks completed (On Schedule!)
• Paris Cushion - fabric received
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted  
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks 
• 20 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed 

I will be guest hosting the Slow Blogger link party tomorrow for Catherine at Knotted Cotton  so be sure to check back then and link up your month's projects, whether fast or slow.

Not sure whether you are a Slow Blogger or not?

Check out the Slow Blog Manifesto here

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Even more paper piecing!

Well, I made it but only just :) The missing block for March in Quiet Play's And Sew On BOM is finished, which means that for about 24 hours I am actually up-to-date with the BOM!

After all of the tiny pieces of the rotary cutter in July's block, this was so much more straightforward to do, and is, I think, one of the very few paper-piecing blocks that I have made where I didn't ever have to use my seam ripper :) At one point I very nearly attached a piece the wrong way round but noticed before I dropped the needle, now that is either progress or sheer good luck.

Here are all 7 of the blocks together for the first time.

Only two more to go and I will have a new addition to my sewing room, although these last two blocks look like they have some fiendish piecing.

All this paper-piecing activity means that there has been some progress on my WIP list, which now looks like this

• In Color Order HST BOM - quilting started!
• Sunday Morning Quilt Bee blocks received, 2 more to be added by me
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee 13 sets of blocks received, 3 more to come
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee blocks sent (on schedule)
• Star of Africa Bee blocks completed and sent (4 months behind schedule)
• Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee Q2 - sign ups start in next couple of days
•  And Sew On BOM - seven blocks completed (On Schedule!)
• Paris Cushion - fabric received
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted  
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks 
• 18 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (only 2 more to go!)

Maybe if I can keep this paper-piecing momentum going I will get those last two blocks of the Craftsy BOM finished soon too, stranger things have happened :)

If you have managed to try something new before the month ends there is still time to link up here to the link party for July.

I have some exciting news that I will be sharing with you in the next couple of days too, but in the meantime here is a sneak peek of what is in store.

Linking up to WOW


 

More paper piecing!

Quiet Play's little houses have fired up my paper-piecing mojo, so I decided that it was time to try and catch up with Kristy's And Sew On BOM. If I didn't get any blocks made this month I would end up three months behind, and probably never catch up before the last block is posted in September :)

So as some light relief from the ironing which was threatening to take over the kitchen, I set to.

Naturally, this being paper-piecing there were a few hiccoughs along the way!

Hmmn! This is what happens when I stop concentrating and start congratulating myself on how quickly it is all going together, I forget to turn the second piece over and iron before I attach the third piece!

I had intended to make each hexagon from a different fabric but then realised after (naturally!) I had sewn the three pieces together that I had used the same fabric for the edges of the two hexagons that overlap a strip. I was not going to get the seam ripper out to change that :)

When I had finished this block I was congratulating myself on actually finishing a block for the BOM in the month that it was posted. Premature congratulations as it turns out. When I checked up to see which blocks I was now missing, I discovered that this block was posted in June so I still had July's to make.

Fortunately the paper-piecing mojo hasn't deserted me yet so I printed out July's block and set to. Some of the pieces in this block are tiny!

I have yet to mark out the grid lines on the cutting board but I will probably embroider them at the end. I am thrilled to bits that the rotary cutter is actually recognisable too!

The March block is now the only one I am missing, so with a fair wind I might even manage to get it done before the end of July and finally have caught up with this BOM. I have said that before though, so I am not holding my breath :)

As we are still (just) in July there is still time for you to link up here to this month's

 Bloggers have been trying out everything from ballooning to wigglegrams, and if you don't know what that is (I didn't!) then check out the links to find out :)

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