Moore Patchwork & Quilting

Postcard Swap

The theme for May's postcard swap is Jigsaw.  Now that might sound harmless enough but for me it turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  I tossed around all sorts of ideas in my mind and thought "It's a puzzle."

This lead me onto thinking that life is a bit of a puzzle - it's difficult to fit all the peices together.  Just when you think you've got something worked out something happens to mess it all up again. I've come to realise that I won't see the full picture until I stand before the Lord and until then will be content knowing that he has it all worked out! (so glad someone does)

I traced my jigsaw shapes onto vliesofix from an actual jigsaw puzzle. The fabric is left over from my Made with Love project - 30's playtime by Chloe's Closet - and the background is linen.  I blanket stitch appliqued around the shapes by hand and there it is. Ready to be posted tomorrow - a week early!

Now the next big challenge - next month's theme is Bubbles. My mind is totally blank!

Until next time

Lyn

Bow Tie Quilt

This week I managed to finish the quilting and binding on my Bow Tie quilt.

I machine quilted with grey thread and for the binding - I joined together left over bindings from other projects. I keep all my pieces of left over bindings in a small basket and after all my stash busting, the basket is almost empty!  Some of the bindings I used were years and years old so it was like a trip down memory lane as I remembered the projects they came from.

I'm pleased with the way the different coloured backgrounds went together.  I think they give the quilt a bit of a 'glow'.

 

The finished size of the quilt is 42" square and each block is 6" square when finished.  (I have 7 rows of 7 blocks).  Again I chose not to add a border.

The block is made up of 2 x 3.5" squares of the main fabric; 2 x 3.5" squares of background fabric; 2 x 2.5" squares of main fabric. Draw a diagonal line through the centre of the wrong side of each 2.5" square and place on the background squares.  Sew along the line and then trim the excess fabric 1/4" from seam in the triangle.  Press the main fabric back.  Then you just join the blocks together.

I was able to use lots of smaller scraps of fabric as well as some 'ugly' pieces that I know I wouldn't use for anything else.  Some of those pieces had been sitting in my cupboard for quite a while.

 For the back of the quilt, I pieced together some of the fabric pieces I had received from Patchwork on Stonleigh fabric club.  Some of these had been sitting in my cupboard for a while too.

It felt really good to finally put them to use.  I think the back looks really good. Would be a nice quilt by itself.

Found Boots sleeping on the quilt when I left it on a chair waiting to photograph it.  It must be okay then!

Until next time

Lyn

Pencil Case

My Zakka Style pencil case is now finished.

It was very quick to make although at first I was a bit confused by the assembly instructions.  There was no problem with the instructions, it was just that I couldn't visualise how it would work out. But, it turned out to be a very ingenious way of putting it together.  The band on the top holds the flap down which in turn, keeps the pencils from falling out. My pencil case has a couple of pens in it and you can see in the photo that it stays very neat.

The sample in the book was plain but I couldn't resist adding some ric-rac braid and some buttons. Finished size is 2.5" wide and 6.75" long when closed.

One of the reasons I wanted the pencil case was because I want to start doing my art journal on-the-go.  I needed something to store my pens and pencils in and this is just the right size to fit in my bag.  I'm tossing around some ideas in my mind for a small zippered pouch to carry my journal around in.  Not sure what I really want.  I think I'll leave it on the backburner for a while.

Until next time

Lyn

 

 

Postcard Swap - Autumn

On the weekend I managed to finish my postcard swap for April.  The theme is Autumn and even though it sounds easy enough, it turned out to be a bit of a challenge.

I thought about falling leaves and bare trees but then when I went to Canberra last week, I realised that Autumn is about colour.  The leaves haven't fallen yet, but have changed into beautiful colours.

I then tried to translate that into my postcard with trees in different colours. 

I Vliesofixed the shapes onto the background and did the raw-edge applique again. I really like this technique for these cards. I then added the buttons to give some texture and of course I just had to add ric-rac braid. As you can see I'm still using the ric-rac I found in my mother-in-law's sewing room.  The yellow is starting to get a bit low but I also found some blue so you will start seeing blue ric-rac in my projects shortly!

My postcard is now on its way to Canada and I hope my partner likes it.

Next month's theme is Jigsaw.  Mmm not sure about that one at all.

Until next time

Lyn

 

 

Zakka Style

Yesterday we dropped into Mary Ryans and I bought this book that I've been thinking about for a while.

I actually had it on my wish list at Amazon but had hesitated in buying it because I generally like to look through craft books before I buy them.

Zakka Style has 24 really nice little projects - all very achievable.  I think they would make great little gifts. They include bags and purses, sewing accessories, pillowcase and other bits and pieces. All of the projects are by different designers so there's something unique about each one.

I love the An Elephant Never Forgets Bookmark so I gathered together some scraps of fabric - literally - it only takes a few - and made it yesterday afternoon. Yes, it is that quick.

 

Isn't she cute?

The fabric are leftover from the project I made for Homespun recently and the ric-rac braid was found in my mother-in-law's sewing room when we were clearing out the house.  The pattern includes instructions to crochet a little bow for the head but I decided not to worry about that. Instead,  I made a twisted cord and added a button.

Finished size is approx. 7" tall. I just love her.  I think she would make a lovely gift and could be made in all different combination of fabrics. (It felt good to get something started and finished in an afternoon!)

Spooks....

(If you haven't seen the last episode - stop reading now.)

Well it's over.  I'm quite sad about it.  Just love that show. I wasn't really surprised at the ending - I guess deep down I always knew that Harry and Ruth weren't meant for happy ever after.  It just doesn't fit in with the Spooks I love so much.  The highlight of the last episode for me was when Tom showed up.  I was totally chuffed by that. It was like tidying up the loose ends.  (Robin - who is not a devotee like me - didn't even know who Tom was!) Just love that show!

Until next time

Lyn 

 

 

Postcard - By the Sea Shore

I decided to rejoin the postcard swap for March to September this year.  My reason was that I enjoyed the creative challenge.  I like the idea of having a theme and then having to come up with a postcard to fit that theme.  I have to admit though that the time constraint was often a huge challenge for me and I know that my postcards were often late.  I'm hoping that this time I might be a bit more disciplined and organised and that my postcards will make it to their recipient on time.

The theme for March is 'By the Sea Shore'.  I tossed around lots of different ideas from a boat to a surfboard to a beach umbrella but couldn't quite settle on one.  Then on the weekend I was looking through some old copies of Homespun when I saw a lovely little quilt with colourful bathing huts.  I knew then that I had found my postcard design.

This is my finished card. I Vliesofixed the shapes into place and then machine stitched around them. It was quick and simple to make. 

It will be posted tomorrow and I hope my swap partner likes it.

Next month the theme is Autumn.  I'm determined to have it ready early and have already started thinking about it.

 

Until next time

Lyn

Log Cabin Quilt

One of my favourite quilts I made as part of my Stash Busting Summer is this Log Cabin Quilt.  I made it over the Christmas holidays but just realised the other day that I hadn't posted it on my blog.

Log Cabin Blocks are favourites of mine and I use them a lot in my designs.  I usually make mine really scrappy and don't worry about lights and darks but this time I was inspired by another little quiltlet by Ruth Buchanan in Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  Her quilt was called I is for Innamincka and was made with 5" charm squares and each block had a red spot centre square.  I didn't want my blocks to be quite as small as hers (her finished blocks were 4.5") but thought that 6" blocks were better for me.

I did however choose lights and darks for the blocks and pieced them in a more traditional log cabin block.

 

This is a close-up of one of the blocks.

The centre square is 2" and the strips are 1" each - measurements without seam allowance,

I was able to use up a lot of smaller pieces from my stash and although the cutting out seemed to take forever, it all went together fairly smoothly.

I 'found' a blue print fabric in my stash for the border (2" finished) and the binding is made up of left over pieces of red bindings from other projects sewn together.

Finished quilt size is 40" square.  I just love it!

 

 

Spooks returns...

I'm excited that Spooks returns to ABC1 for the final series next Saturday night.  Disappointed it's the last but looking forward to the show. 

Radio National..

My favourite radio program for sometime has been Life Matters with Richard Aedy.  To my disappointment he has been shuffled around to another program and the new host is Natasha Mitchell.  I really miss Richard.  I heard somewhere (maybe on Life Matters?) that change becomes a challenge as you age.  Well I must be getting old.  I really miss Richard.

Until next time

Lyn

Snowball Quilt

Last night I put the finishing touches on my Snowball Quilt.

For the binding, I joined left over pieces of binding together (from my stash) to add to the scrappy look. For the backing I joined together a couple of fat quarters - also from my stash. Finished size is 36" x 36" - a good size to use for a throw on the couch or table.

I'm really really pleased with the way it turned out.  The fabrics - some of which were what I would consider 'ugly' and probably not going to be used for anything else - all look good together.

Last night I stitched on the binding while watching tv and left the quilt on the coffee table when I went to bed. This morning I woke up to find Boots curled up on it.  He had his breakfast and headed back to the quilt for another nap.  I had to move him to take this photo.  It seems like this is his favourite for now.

Stash Busting Summer ...

Only a week to go in my Stash Busting Summer and the verdict is - a great success.  I've learned that it's better to use up my fabric than leave it in the cupboard and I've also expanded my patchwork knowledge by making up blocks I haven't used before.  I'm now thinking about what I really want in my stash and how to choose fabrics more carefully.  Will get back to you on that one.

Until next time

Lyn

Until next time

Lyn

Winner and Hearts

I enjoyed reading your preferences for either digital or printed magazines.  Seems that most people like a printed magazine sometimes - especially with a cup of coffee - and other times like the convenience of the digital version.  I just hope we will always have a choice and printed magazines don't disappear completely.

I've spun the random number generator and number 4 came up - that's you Sandee. Congratulations your pattern is somewhere in cyberspace hopefully arriving in your inbox shortly.

Hearts....

On Saturday I had some sewing time and wanted to start something new.  Lately I've 'discovered' some new blogs and one of them is Temecular Quilt Co. They really appeal to me because of their small quilts and reproduction fabrics. When I looked on their blog on Saturday, I found a small quilt project that looked pretty quick to make.

The hearts are paper pieced and the pattern is downloaded from Carol Doak website. I printed the pattern out on normal printing paper and planned to use that for the paper piecing.  There are 4 hearts and I chose a selection of pink and red fabrics. When you download the hearts pattern, there is a cutting guide provided but I didn't follow that I just cut a strip from each of my fabrics and just trimmed it to fit the pattern as I went along.

 

It's been a long time since I've actually done any paper piecing so the first heart took me a while to figure out which way to place the pieces to ensure that they folded down and actually covered the required 'space'. Along the way I discovered that unpicking incorrect seams on paper is a bit tricky!

I was also a bit worried about how easily the paper would come away from the fabric but there were no problems at all - ripped right off.

Once I had finished one, the other 3 were really easy.

 

The Temecula Quilt Co blog has all the measurements for the sashings which made the finishing really quick.

I machine quilted mine in the ditch of the borders and around the hearts.

Finished size is 13" square.

It turned out to be a great weekend project and added to my Stash Busting Summer goal.

Until next time

Lyn

Stash busting mat

One of the SBS projects I've made recently is a handy mat for the floor of my shed (studio).  My inspiration was the book Quilting in No Time by Emma Hardy where she has a pattern for a patchwork floor mat.  I have a kitchen area in the shed and I've been using a teatowel for a mat in front of the sink and every now and I then I would remember Emma's mat and think I should really make one but never got around to it.

I had this lovely fabric left over from my Faith, Hope, Love project and thought it would be perfect for a mat.  Really brighten up the kitchen area.

I didn't actually follow the pattern in the book but used it more as inspiration.  I decided to use the fabric for the backing, binding and applique pieces and I chose some blue fabrics for the applique background (front of the mat).

I used my teatowel as a guide for the size (seeing it seemed to work so well as a mat).

I pieced together 1.5" strips of the fabric into three rectangles measuring approx. 7" square. From these I cut 3 house shapes to applique onto the background.

I fused vliesofix to the back and ironed them onto the background piece.  I then just machine stitched close to the edge around the shapes - raw edge applique. 

By the way the idea for the house shapes came from the book Mixed and Stitched by Jen Osborn. She made her little houses into bunting which looked very nice hanging on her window.

I layered the mat as I would a quilt and quilted around the house shapes and along the seams joining the background piece.

The binding is just the background turned over to the front and machine stitched down.

My mat is 19" wide by 27" long.

I made mine from patchwork cotton fabric and cotton batting. The kitchen area of my studio doesn't get much 'foot traffic' but if I was going to make a mat for an area that did get a lot of traffic I would use a heavier fabric for the backing.

I'm really happy with it and am especially pleased because I made it from my stash.

Until next time

Lyn