Sunday 29 July 2018

A cute little finish!

I just don't know where the time goes but, I don't seem to get many things finished at the moment.  Perhaps the beautiful weather we have been having here has something to do with it..... we have been out and about rather a lot in the mountains!! It is cooler up higher!



This weekend I was determined to get one small project I have been meaning to get done for some time crossed off my 'to do' list. As luck would have it, it was pouring with rain all day on Saturday, so the perfect day to be in my sewing room.



A couple of years ago we were given a very pretty metal bread basket for Christmas by another family member.  I really like it, so I use it all the time (almost daily).  It is by the Danish designer Georg Jensen and I really love his style of designs.  Nearly every time I cut bread into it, I line it first with a square of kitchen paper towel and then throw that away after we have used it. 


For months now I have been promising myself that I would make myself a quilted fabric liner to put in my basket.  Well, this was that day!  I had decided to just make a simple patchwork square using scraps but, as I was sitting in my sewing room pondering on my scraps, I was drawn to look in a book I haven't used for a while. 'Flower Power Patchwork' by Anne-Pia Godske Rasmussen and found a pretty star block which used up some scraps and which I really liked.



So I set to and made myself a basket liner using just one star block.



I used a fat eighth of fabric for the main background pieces and the rest were all scraps.


I  was thrilled with my new basket liner and put it straight to use!!

Monday 23 July 2018

Just one small finish this week.....

It seems to have been another busy week.  Don't they just fly by?!! I haven't done a huge amount of stitching but I have just managed one small finish. You may recall, that I have been participating in a sew-a-long hosted by Serena Boffa Soda of La Casetta Nel Bosco as part of a Facebook group.  Well, the last stitch for the sampler was on Wednesday so, once I had completed the last stitch, I decided that I should frame the sampler.


To do this, I layered the sampler fabric with some batting and backing and added some quilting.  I then trimmed it to 7 inches square and fused some heavyweight interfacing to the back.  I finished the edges with a satin stitch in green thread to match the embroidery thread I had used.  I then stuck this to the mount board (which I covered with a complimentary coloured paper) and put it inside the frame.  It wasn't easy to photograph in the frame as there always seemed to be a shine from the glass!!


That must mean it's time to start another new project......!! 

Monday 16 July 2018

Not everything goes according to plan!

I think I should probably start this post by sharing with you the finished project that I showed you in my last post.... complete with it's frame!!



In fact, the frame arrived just after I had finished writing my last post and I had almost forgotten that I hadn't shown it to you!!  I am really pleased with how this little framed quilt looks. You may recall how excited I was to have finished this little project and, that I was keen to get started on another new project.


I started planning almost immediately, making good progress and getting an exciting new background pieced together, which is shown above.  I wanted to try out another 'floral' art-style quilt like the ones I had previously made (shown below).



So, the next step was to quilt the background before adding some applique and free machine embroidery.  This is where things didn't quite go according to plan!! I had almost finished the quilting and was relatively happy with how the background was looking until disaster struck.....



The corner of the backing fabric got folded back on itself and the corner was stitched to the middle of the quilt.  I cut the fabric away but, I knew it would be difficult to unpick the quite densely quilted stitches.


In any case, I had now decided that the quilting was too formal for the type of texture I wanted to give the background. So, I decided to chalk the whole thing up to experience and just be content with the FMQ practise it had given me.


I had thought that I would throw the whole thing in the dustbin but, I didn't really want to waste the fabrics and time that I had spent quilting by just throwing the piece away.  I suddenly remembered a pattern Christina Cameli at A Few Scraps wrote for quilted fabric buckets and which Christina kindly offers as a free pattern in her Craftsy Shop. She also wrote an accompanying video showing you how to make them in this post in November of last year.  My discarded background fabric was just the right size to make two little fabric buckets which I am extremely pleased with!  Now to get started on the new background.....




Monday 2 July 2018

Waiting for a frame.....

Hope everyone had a lovely week!  I have managed to finish the new project that I showed you last time and it is now sitting in my sewing room while I wait for a new frame that I have ordered to be delivered.


I am really very pleased with how it looks. I used a real mixture of different techniques and added both applique and hand stitching as well as free motion quilting.


I learned a lot of lessons along the way as to how I would do things differently another time, which is always very valuable!!


As this was only a very small project, I chose not to use traditional binding for finishing the edges.  Instead, I fused some very stiff fusible interfacing onto the back and zig-zag stitched around the edge.


I then mounted it onto mount board (the board used to mount photographs) and it is all ready to be framed.  We are just waiting for the frame to arrive!!


This little project was my fourth finish in the month of June.


You can see the other finishes which I completed in June under my page OPAM 2018 (which is shown on the right hand sidebar.)  Thank you to Peg and Kris for running OPAM which keeps a tally of all the finished projects of those participating.

I am very excited now to get started on my next project!  I have so many ideas but it has been so hot here the last few days, I haven't really felt like sitting in my sewing room!  I know I won't be able to resist for long though..... !!