First Christmas 2011 make

 A new cuddly friend for dinosaur mad Little Fella.

I adapted a pattern from a back issue of sew hip magazine.  The pattern was only 2D, so the dinosaur had only 2 legs.  So I made a belly by lots of experimenting with paper and a couple of attempts later I did it!!!

I stuffed his feet, head and tail with pudding rice to give it a bit of weight.  Only once I had finished did I think about the practicalitles of a child's toy that is made from dry clean only wool tweed and stuffed with pudding rice! Hmm hopefully we won't have to cross that bridge!

 The tweed was from a charity shop - it cost the grand sum of 50p!  It feels really soft & expensive. THe other fabrics are from a couple of remnant bundles that I bought from FabricRehab a while ago. Although it works out no cheaper than buying of the bolt, they are a great idea if you do lot's of applique or like to make smaller things.  You get to own a range of desinger fabrics without having to buy large quantities.

I googled the tweed fabric and it is a very luxurious blend of wool, cashmere and angora.  I am saving the rest to make myself a bag.

Vintage Linen Quilt update

 

So this was the beginning of my little collection. I now have quite a few traycloths, napkins, tea towels & hankies (all gathered from carboots and charity shops) and have made a start on my Vintage Linen Quilt. I have steered clear of tablecloths as I didn't think that I would have the guts to chop into them!

I forget to follow the instructions so the basket caused me a few problems. I pieced it upside down and it was very fiddly to resolve!

 I currently have hundreds of tiny squares, and half square triangles that I am piecing together to make pinwheels.  I am hoping to use the pinwheels to frame some of the bigger embroidery pieces. I tend to make a couple of pinwheels in between over projects, or if I need a short break from whatever else I might be doing.  Some nights the monotony of sewing those little squares & triangles can be quite therapeutic and other times torture lol!

It is very much a long-term project!  I will need 50 something blocks if I am going to make a quilt big enough for my king-size bed!!! I will be "quilting on the go" and then joining the blocks together.  There is no way my Old Girl could cope with quilting a whole king-size quilt!!!

a belated round-up of "Quilting-on-the-go" course

Some time back in late spring, I took part in a two day "Quilting-on-the-go" course led by Carolyn Forster  at Threadbear near Croydon.

 Threadbear is a gorgeous shop full of all things knitting and sewing related.  There is a big selection of wools at the front of the store and many folders of patterns - not books but single patterns.  (I don't knit, but the people that I know do knit, often complain that they have to buy whole books these-days rather than a single pattern)  The middle of the store is full of cross stitch, embroidery and tools/ other supplies, whilst the back of the shop is stuffed with fabrics and the work-shop area.

Carolyn was a very patient and informative teacher.  She showed us lots of samples to get started.  I showed Carolyn my stash of old linens & talked about a possible quilt block pattern.  I ended up making only one block on the first day as I was so indecisive, although it was great watching everyone else.  A couple of ladies had chosen the same pattern but different fabrics and it was fascinating, just how different the quilt blocks looked.In the afternoon, we were taught how to quilt the individual blocks.  This is the block that I made on the first day of the course. (sadly still not quilted!)  All of Carolyn's blocks for QOTG finish at 16-17 inches.

Between the two course dates, we needed to go home & make some more quilt blocks.  (pieced and quilted) I was very busy with work stuff - report-writing time :(  and didn't have the time I needed to concentrate on my vintage linen blocks, so I used a charm pack and some "jelly roll" strips that I had left over from my first ever quilt and followed the same pattern. I managed to piece & quilt 10, 17 inch blocks in a couple of evenings.

 On the 2nd way, we were taught Carolyn's "quiting on the go method" to join all the quilted blocks together.  It is a mixture of machine and hand sewing. This quilt will be square, 3 blocks X 3 blocks with one block left over to either make it into a quillow or to make a matching pillow.  I have started sewing the blocks together, and now have to sew the rows together.  However, this is something that will have to wait till after Christmas.

If you are unable to get to one of Carolyn's courses but are interested in the Quilting on the go method, Carolyn has a book and book2 is due out next year sometime.