Pricking and Pouncing Day

At last I've made a start on Leah's Goddess Quilting project.....I printed the design out a couple of weeks ago and couldn't decide how I wanted to proceed with it. I asked myself  should I try  white cotton and paint the design or stay with black, black had obvious problems with transferring the design.  So I started with a cream  fabric, tracing the design was a doddle and last night I started to stencil with Markal/Shiver paint sticks, whilst I enjoyed applying the colour I realised that the speed I was working it would be another couple of weeks before I could even start thinking about FMQ which is what I want to learn.

Above picture shows my progress the colours on the scrap quilting lower right are colours I wanted to apply at some point to the goddess quilt.  I will continue with this quilt at a later date...Because I can't wait to start  FMQ I decided to start again this time with black fabric, only problem is I don't have a large enough light box or window that would allow me to trace the design onto the fabric, so I remembered I had a pouncing bag which I sometimes use for calligraphy, despite the fact I can do embroidery I've never used this method to transfer a design onto dark fabric...To cut along story short I took a few pics whilst I was working the design to show how I managed to get the design onto the black fabric.

Pic above shows a felt mat, pricking tool and my pouncing bag filled with chalk.  First I needed  to perforate all the design with a pricking tool, I placed the felt mat under the design (remember to protect your table from the needle.  the picture below shows part of the perforated design.

 

 

When I had perforated the whole design  it was time to lay the fabric out.  I held the fabric in place with tape I then placed the perforated design on top of the fabric  holding it in place with tape.

Then using the pouncing bag I gently stroked the bag over the perforated design, I was not sure how well the chalk was going through the perforations so did a second pass. When I was sure I had covered the design I very carefully took the perforated paper away.

 

 

And voila! one successfully transferred design, the only thing to do now was connect the dots with a white pencil to make the design more permanent

 

 

There is a little residue left on the fabric but this will soon disappear.

I'm sure there must be other ways of transfering a large design to dark fabric but for now I'm happy with this technique.

Can't wait to start the FMQ I know there will be lots of $%^& but does it matter if it's kept on the level of having fun.

 

Happy Quilting

Kathleen

 

 

Snowball and nine patch quilt

I'm not sure if I fully understand the concept of Pinterest but thought I would join and find out more, two hours later I was still trying to find a user name that hadn't already been taken, I've decided I must be unimaginative as all my made up names were already taken, to think I could have spent the two hours happily quilting.....

I've made good progress with the Kim Diehl quilt from the book ' Simple Charm'  

   

I've still to sew the leaves on, I'm not sure if I should do this on the machine or by hand.  I have omitted the corner leaves which to my eye seemed cluttered and used fabric rather than the suggested wool felt.

I

Whilst searching the web I came across this block of the month from Sulky which looked a fun project you can find the link on the left hand bar.

 

Kathleen

January 2013 New FO Challenge

First I would like to wish everyone a very happy sewing 2013

I've already kick started January with a project from Kim Diehl's book 'Simple Charm' I love every project in this book so it was a difficult choice which to start first. 

 

As I'm on a learning curve I chose this project from the book

 

                                  Good practice for the Snowball block and the 9 patch

At this point I should point out that the nine patch are 1.5 inch squares individually cut to that size, as I'm on a learning curve  and have already tried the alternative method of sewing longer strips and then cutting to size it seemed a good idea to try different method of constructing the nine patch.  After I had cut the tiny squares I did wonder if I could sew the little blighters with accuracy, surprisingly I found sewing them to be really relaxing.

The first 120 pairs for the nine patch

 

 

Already complete 41 Snowball blocks

The fabric I'm using is from a Moda Charm pack called Harvest Moon.

So there you have it my first 2013 New FO Challenge  and WIP Wednesday

 

Kathleen x

 

 

 

 

IHSW- A little bit of everything weekend

This is my first entry into IHSW and yes I feel like a Hermit, I've been so busy trying to finish items for Christmas and preparing new projects for the New Year, I realised I hadn't stepped foot outside the house all weekend.                                                                                                                                           Firstly I managed to complete the following Candlewick cushion top.  One of the many designs by Sandi Lush, there was only a small amount of quilting left to do, only the piping and back to sort out.  I really love working colonial knots  I find working them so relaxing.

 
My second project was to do more on the Town Mandala but only managed a few of the gold back stitches, I don''t think I will see this complete for a looooong time. I have so much rattling around my head I can't give it the concentration it needs.

 

I managed to complete the following Christmas tree decoration which is for my sisters tree.

 

 

I bought the Mountmellick embroidery book a few weeks ago, something I really want to learn, I didn't get time to start sewing but I did manage to prepare the fabric and trace the leaves which are practise leaves for some of the stitches.  Hope to make a start on this in the New Year.

 

 

And last but not least a little bit of leather tooling work.  This is a joint project which Mr C and myself completed today.  The belt is a Christmas gift and a new dog collar of Oscar our granddaughters puppy.

 

 

 

Well that only leaves the housework but that's another day

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Kathleen

 

WIP - Scrappy Quilts

Why is there no warning!!!.....Patchwork and quilting are addictive and yes over the years I've bought the odd fat quarter, who can resist but and it's a big but I'm not a quilter.  I've never had the patience and would get so frustrated at not being able to piece perfectly Ohhh yes I'm a perfectionist......So why did I foolishly start making a quilt???  Mainly because I felt guilty at a tub full to bursting with fabric and searching through the said tub I have to question my taste in fabric, yep some some of it is pretty gross.....So it was time to create but what?  I searched the web for scrappy quilts and was taken with Arkansas Crossroads block instructions can be found here at BellaOnline  I adapted my block to 8" rather than the 12" and the result is below.

Don't get too close you might see imperfect piecing.....I still have quilting to do but that'll be another story,  despite having a walking and free motion foot for my machine I've never machine quilted anything, but help is at hand, on my Christmas wish list is a book on machine quilting.....OK walk before you run I'll practise  first.

Now we get on to the addiction not only did I finish the above quilt top, being a glutton for punishment I also started the BIG ONE...The Country Medallion Quilt. Pattern from White Cottage Country Crafts  On reflection maybe this project was not for the novice or faint hearted but once started I ploughed on regardless, the saying 'Ignorance is bliss' comes to mind.

I'm waiting for additional fabric for the border and binding which is on order with a promise of being delivered within the week, hmmm still waiting after a month. So there you have it two quilt tops and I'm already planning the next I just can't stop Heeeeelp.

In between the quilts I also made this cute padded Christmas Tree plus one other for my daughter, I bought the pattern from Zigzags at a quilt show in Shrewsbury, plus a lap quilt which is a Christmas present for my mum, I got around the quilting by trying out the knot or tying technique which seemed to work quite well.   I cant show this as I've already wrapped it :-)

If like seeing other works in progress bob over to Freshly Pieced to see what others are doing.

Hope you like
Kathleen

Summer Quilt

 

I started this quilt 4 years ago, everything was complete except for a bit of quilting and the binding, not the best quilting in the world, as at the time I did'nt have a walking foot.  I kept the quilt in the spare room which hubby uses when working occasional night shifts ...I did'nt realise he had been using the quilt until he told me what a relief it was not to have safty pins catching his face!!!  Glad I had the forethought to wash it before starting the binding. 

Chatelaine Medieval Town WIP

At last I've made a start on the Medieval Town Mandala.

As this is my first Chatelaine design I decided to buy the Needlepoint Inc Silks rather than using the DMC equivalent and to be honest I found them disappointing, I would go as far as saying they are lack lustre compared to Pearsall's silks, other than that I love the design and the challenge of discovering and working new stitches, I did however break out in a rash when I discovered half stitches in the chart, I have a real aversion to the little blighters. 

Kathleen x