Steady Progress & Thinking Ahead

Just in case anyone has been missing the most blogged-about quilt in the world, here's a pic of progress to date - that's 13 motifs down, and 7 to go.

Must get the knack of free motion quilting, which would eliminate the generation of quite as many ends - the sewing in of which is really tedious.


I spotted these jolly curtains for a fiver in the charity shop today - If I bottle out of using this PATTERNED fabric, then they will be great for backing fabric.



And talking of patterns, I bought this cotton skirt in Tesco the other day - it's so pretty and summery.

Then I had a bit of a brainwave - if I wait for it to be knocked down to half price and buy the tent-like size 22 which I suspect will be left of the rack, that's a heck of a lot of quilting potential...

A Voyage of Self Discovery

I discovered two things this evening whilst gazing lovingly at the bolts of fabric in Hobbycraft (handily close to the Supermarket on the retail park half a dozen miles from home).

I discovered where they keep the roll-ends and offcuts which they sell off at a cheap price - these three pieces (1yd, 1 ¾ yd and ½ yd respectively) work out at just over £3 a yard.

And I also discovered that I still cannot get to grips with patterned fabric.

Seven Down, Thirteen To Go...

The new walking foot seems to fit well onto the machine, and I've completed another flower motif this evening. That's a third of the way through.

I realised earlier that I can't remember what fabric I'd thought to use for the binding.

I have a horrible feeling that I'd earmarked the dark yellow of the inner border - and I'm not too sure that I'll have enough as I'm also using it in the Christmas Scatty Stars quilt...

Christmas Quiltalong! June, pt5

Certainly the tricky bit with these star blocks was those quarter square triangles - the piecing into blocks has gone together quite smoothly.

And I finally found out why some of the seam matching has been difficult, although I thought that my seams were pretty accurate. It's the cream fabric that I have used - it shrinks like mad when you press the seams.

I do hope that it has done all the shrinking that it is going to do because with 10 out of 12 blocks completed, I'm beggared if I'm going to start over!

The perils of using cloth of an unknown provenance, and of not washing and ironing it all to start with. What happened to my good intentions regarding this?

Right - time for dinner, then I am determined to quilt a couple of motifs on Spring Garden Trellis!

Christmas Quiltalong! June, pt4

Well, I must say that those quarter square jobbies are tricksey little numbers - but like everything, I guess that they are easier with practise - either that or my 'sensible approach' wasn't that sensible!

I figured that the method of cutting the squares into triangles, piecing into squares & squaring up would leave much room for error on the seams, so I made half square triangles then swapped them round to the right orientation (yeah - not as easy as it sounds), sewed across the opposite diagonal, cut, open up , and hey presto - quarter square triangles.

The difficulty is in seam matching the half square triangles, and I haven't done the best job in the world on these at all. I've redone a couple of them (three, I think, actually out of the eight) and I am a bit happier.

Of course, the star blocks aren't pieced yet, but it is time for a walk round the world to see what everyone else is up to, and I think that I have earned one of these too.......

Cheers!

Christmas Quiltalong! June, pt3

Aha!

Yes - I have it now (and it wasn't me being Mrs Thicky, after all!), and now that I have finished hemming the throw for mum, and am now cutting out for the stars blocks.

Christmas Quiltalong! June, pt2

Oh no!

I've fallen at the first hurdle! There is a new technique used on this block and I've turned into Mrs Thicky and don't understand the block instructions!

Have sent the ever-patient Sue an SOS - as if she hasn't got enough to do today!

Christmas Quiltalong! June, pt1

It's the second Saturday of the month, which means it's time to get the crackers out, put on the party hats, cook some mince pies and put the sherry on standby - it's the Christmas Quiltalong! Organised by Cathi and QuiltSue (this month hosted by Sue), we are on the fifth of the six star blocks (and the most complicated to date!) for the Scatty Christmas Stars quilt.

Apart from the two star blocks, I need to do a little hemming job on a light throw for mum's bed (alright, it's a sheet!). This is to protect the duvet cover from Cindy (a Jack Russell terrier for whom the word 'scamp' was coined, without doubt), who's foot wiping skills are sadly lacking when it comes to rocketing from the garden to the vantage point of the bed.

And with my new walking foot ready and waiting, I can't wait to make more progress quilting Spring Garden Trellis.

Against the Clock

...and on Tuesday, the new walking foot arrived from sewingparts - and I can't wait to try it out!

It included as a freebie a stick with a flat bit on which pokes into the back of the foot and acts as a marker on the quilt. It's called a 'quilter's guide', and I think that Bilbo warned me against this type of gadget some time ago, as being a right ol' waste of time. Advice welcome - as ever - on this.

So I've had the foot for the best part of the week, but - frustratingly - through one commitment or another, I've had no time to start using it, and won't until the weekend.

However, it is the Christmas Quiltalong which is this Saturday - hurrah! I've had a sneak preview of this month's star block's on Cathi's site - they look very complicated!

But I'm sure that QuiltSue - despite now being one of the published elite, having received advance copies of her book - will still be on hand to help! Well done, Sue - I'd be having to have a lie down in a dark room with the excitement of it all!

Sitting On My Hands

The broken walking foot has been returned to c9stores, where the verdict is that although the generic foot matches MOST low shank machines, the Singer 522 is not most low shank machines.

The patient Emily advised that she could send me a replacement, which would probably do the same thing as the first one, or refund my money so I can go off and buy a Singer walking foot designed for my machine - leaving the rest of the sentence 'which is what you should have done in the first place' unspoken.

She also refrained from saying 'I told you so', which she was surely thinking, bearing in mind that our email exchange prior to buying the foot was whether it would fit my particular model - I decided (quite wrongly) that it would, thank you.

And the money was refunded that day.

I ordered a Singer walking foot on Friday from Sewingparts instead - I've had confirmation that it was packed and dispatched over the weekend.

Marvellous.