I have moved my blog

It's a very long time since I posted here and for that I apologise.


I am now writing posts on a blog contained within my website.  My original plan had been to keep this blog running as well, but there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to run two blogs - and try and keep both of them interesting!


You can find my new blog here:


http://www.ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk


and I do hope that you will pop over and see me there.


If you have been following me on bloglovin', I understand that they will transfer you automatically to my new blog.


Or if you prefer you can sign up for my email on the blue form in the right hand column and I will write to you every Friday with a newsletter containing my latest project tutorial.  The photo at the top shows the last project, posted on Friday 30th January 2014.


Thanks for your interest.


Best Wishes


Rose

JENNIE RAYMENT FLOWER

Flower wall hanging in progress

Black may not be a traditional background for a flower but I am thrilled with the look of this wall hanging which is very much still a work in progress.  The one that I started at the Jennie Rayment workshop had a mountain in the middle which I have managed to avoid this time.

Detail of the flower wall hanging

I've used two different batiks for the petals, alternating them around the flower and now I am working on the hand sewing, manipulating the fabric.  As you can see, I am working my way down the right hand side and still have a fair way to go.  A lot of the edges are rolled back in the cathedral windows style and I'm using invisible thread for this.  I'm not sure that it is intended for hand sewing and it's not very easy to work with, but it does give a nice - um, invisible - finish.  I think this wall hanging is going to keep me going for a day or two yet.

Completed Hereford quilt

Before I began I had to finish a quilt for a 90th birthday present for a friend of my father.  I chose my Hereford quilt for her (very traditional colours) and I've meandered the main body of the quilt.  I used a variegated dark thread for the red and brown and then changed to a light thread for the cream sections.  Around the border I used straight line quilting in zigzags to outline all the squares and triangles.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

THREE ACROSS QUILT BLOCK

Three across quilt block

The three across quilt block is unusual looking.  It uses four colours and I can definitely see this in a quilt.  You'd have to rotate the blocks so that the yellow squares weren't next to each other and then you'd get the dark blue squares forming some sort of a zigzag.  I've made it as a 14" block using 2.1/2" and 4.1/2" squares mostly.

Layout for three across quilt block

This is the basic layout and it's best to sew it together as large top and bottom rows with a single middle row.

On Saturday I went to the Quilt Guild Area Day over at Stourport which was really interesting.  In the morning we were asked to help making Japanese folded quilt blocks - it just reminded me of why I don't like making them!  The highlight was a talk by Jan Hassard in the afternoon.  She really is so talented.  Some of her quilt patterns looked relatively simple but it was the colour placement that made them extraordinary quilts.  Sorry - I forgot to take my camera so I can't show you any photos of the quilts that were on display.

Manipulated fabric flower

Last week I attended a Jennie Rayment workshop which was so interesting.  I made this flower which is a long way from being complete and has a veritable mountain in the middle where it should be flat, but I learned so much!  I've abandoned that one for the moment and I'm in the middle of making another one using batiks which I'm really pleased with (and it has a flat middle!).  I'm hoping to have enough of it done to show you more later in the week.

This morning I received a surprise package from Marelize containing some bobbin washers.  I had commented to her that I could only find washers for industrial, not domestic, sewing machines so she sent me some all the way from South Africa.  Thanks, Marelize - you're a star!

Linking up to Stitch by Stitch:

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Mosaic Tile Quilt Block

Mosaic tile quilt block

This quilt block was called Mosaic by Nancy Cabot and the Ladies Art Company, but I rather like the alternative name of Zigzag Tile Quilt Block.  It's dead easy and only needs sixteen half square triangle units to make.  I've used several different black patterned fabrics, but of course you could use eight different fabrics with one background fabric if you chose.

Mosaic quilt block layout

The only point to watch is which way you place the half square triangles, but other than that it's just a case of laying them out and sewing them together.






On Saturday I went to the National Quilt Championships taking place at the Sandown Park Race Course.  I so wish that I could bring you some photos, but there were signs everywhere saying that photos could only be used with the written permission of Grosvenor, which of course I don't have.  There were displays of quilts by Liz Jones who lives not far from Ludlow amongst several others - I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours there and then went to see my daughter who lives in London so it was a great day overall.

Octagon quilt

I made an octagon quilt for last week's project on the website.  It could be used as a table topper or a picnic quilt and many quilters have come up with different ideas for uses - usually involving dogs or children!

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Pinwheel Table Runner

Quilted table runners can be great for using up stash.  This one is 12" by 40" finished size and it really doesn't use much fabric.  It's made using Nancy Cabot's dancing pinwheels quilt block and I think it's really fresh and cheerful looking.

Each quilt block is made using four white 2.1/2" squares, sixteen 2.7/8" brown squares and eight 2.7/8" squares of both yellow and white.  All the half square triangle units are made using brown with either yellow or white fabric.  For the table runner I used three complete blocks.

After sewing the quilt blocks together I felt that it needed something to finish off the ends, so I added a row consisting of two brown 2.1/2" squares and four brown/yellow half square triangles at each end.  That seemed to do the trick and round off the design.  Then it just needed layering, quilting and binding.


Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Scrappy Quilt Borders

I love trying out new ideas for quilt borders and recently I made a french braid quilt which gave me an idea for a quilt border that could use up lots of odds and ends of scrap fabric.

I cut piles of strips of fabric 3.1/2" by 2" and another pile of red 2" squares.  This makes quite a wide border, but you could always adjust the length of the strips if you wanted a thinner border.

With the red squares in the middle I laid out all the strips of fabric on either side.  I began by putting two strips of the same fabric next to each other but then decided that I preferred the random look.

I began by sewing the brown strip to the red square and then sewed the green strip to both of these.  That's the base so then it's just a case of building from there.  The cream strip goes next on the left hand side and then a red square with another strip on the right hand side.

Once I had the length that I needed it was just a case of pressing well before trimming.

I trimmed the top and bottom first and then the sides.  The safest way to trim the sides is to place your ruler on the strip so that you can cut a definite amount from each side.  Otherwise you risk having your border strip an uneven width.



My work in progress right now is a tutorial for quilting rope borders.  In order to keep the process simple I seem to have lots of diagrams showing each stage - templates would be so much easier except that they are never the right size!

Linking up with freshly pieced as ever:



Thanks for visiting my blog.
I hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Ticker Tape Quilts

Don't you just love a quilt design where there are no rules!  I hadn't come across ticker tape quilts until recently and I can't believe what fun they are to make.  They are a great way to use up small strips of fabric from your stash and I'm sure that they were orginally intended for strips only - hence the ticker tape name.  But in fact they have now become a great way to use up all scraps of any size or shape. 

The ticker tape quilt block is intended for quilt as you go methods, so the starting point is a layer of backing fabric with right side down, batting and then white fabric on top with right side up.  I chose a 12.1/2" block to give 12" finished size.  Pin the three layers.

When placing the patches I tend to start in a corner and work across and down, but there really aren't any rules to this quilt design!  Decide on the first patch, lay it where you want to start and sew it down.  There are obviously alternative methods of sewing it down.  I prefer to zigzag around the patch with a fairly close zigzag - about 1 for stitch length and about 3 for stitch width.  I've seen ticker tape quilts where the patches are sewn with straight stitch just inside the edge so that there will be a frayed effect after the quilt has been washed and other quilts where the patches are cut using pinking shears to prevent fraying.  I just find that zigzag stitching works for me.

Keep adding patches, sewing each one in place before you move on.  Leave a good 1/2" or so around the edge for sewing the blocks together.  The patches don't have to be squares or rectangles.  Leave enough white fabric showing between the patches, somewhere around 1/4" but that can vary.  The main focus of these ticker tape quilts is keeping it irregular, so it's good to vary the amount of white showing and try not to have rows and columns - just varied sizes.

As you can see, the quilting is all done as you go, with plenty of varied shapes of zigzag.  I found that as the shapes were so small I could use my normal sewing foot without having to worry about the fabric puckering.

I tried something completely different for the next ticker tape quilt block.  I began with a circle in the middle, sewn on in the same way, and used the same fabric for four spokes along the diagonals.  Then I filled in the areas between the spokes with random patches and ended up with quite a striking quilt block.

To sew the blocks together I placed them with right sides together and sewed the top fabrics together, then trimmed the batting to lie flat between the blocks, turned under a small hem in one of the backing fabric edges and sewed it down over the other backing fabric.

I stopped after just the two ticker tape quilt blocks and added quilt binding once I had sewn the blocks together.  I'm not sure now where I'll put it, but I really love how bright and cheerful it looks.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

I hope to see you again soon.

Rose

Applique Flowers In Vase

I always feel that it's a good idea to build up a good selection of quilt block patterns to choose from when you're planning your next quilt.  Some of them can be patterns for the quilt blocks in the main body of the quilt and some of them can be ideas for quilt borders or cornerstones.

I think this applique flower quilt block would fit into either of those categories.  I first designed it as a quilt cornerstone but I can see it working just as well as one block in a floral quilt.

I began with a 6.1/2" square of background fabric and drew a couple of flowers on it with fabric marker.  This was just to help me get the size right so that the flowers would fit in the middle of the block.  Then I drew two flowers the same size on some pink fabric squares which were backed with fusible interfacing.

After I had cut the flowers out I laid them in place on the background fabric and sewed all round the edge with a zigzag stitch.  This was easier than I had expected - as long as you take it slowly it's quite easy to follow the curves of the petals.  You can see the back of the quilt block on the right.

For the flower stems I changed the thread colour but continued with the zigzag stitch.  I had used a fairly small stitch width for edging the petals, but I increased the stitch width for the stems and sewed the length of each stem twice:  starting at the bottom and sewing up to the flower and back down again.

So with the flower complete I just wanted to add a vase.  This is what sets this flower applique quilt block apart from other applique quilt blocks and I think it's a really neat idea.  I cut a tumbler shape from some see through organza fabric and placed it over the lower part of the flower stems.  Then I changed the thread (again!) to a colour that would match the background fabric and zigzagged round the sides of the vase to hold it in place.  I think next time I'll use a slightly darker organza for the vase to make it stand out better, but I'm really pleased with the overall effect.

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Hope to see you again soon.
Rose

Angel Wall Hanging

I love this time of year - even though I no longer have small children and so can't go to the pantomime any more!

I did a tutorial on my website a few weeks back for redwork embroidery using the eagle on the right and I found it so relaxing that I made the festive redwork shown on the left. 

I've used calico for the backing so that I can write on the back if I decide to give it away as a very special card.  The angels are a primitive design and I love them.  I think I might try some primitive applique on a quilt some time in the new year.

It's been a fairly hectic week because I wanted to send out a newsletter showing the quilt as you go fun and done technique.  It's made by machine sewing the backing fabrics together and then hand sewing the backing fabric down as sashing on the front of the quilt.



If that doesn't sound too clear here's the video:



I've just realised that there are only two clear weeks now for me to get everything ready for the family coming home at Christmas.  It's finding somewhere other than the children's beds for my fabric stash that is a major problem - that and deciding on a hand sewn project to begin while my sewing machine is tidied away.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Hope to see you again soon.

Shadow Applique Heart

With Christmas approaching, I'm going to try and start posting more small projects that would make great gifts and don't take too long to make.  This shadow applique heart would make a great dressing table coaster for someone special. It’s really easy to make and I’m sure that you could make yours more flat than mine is.


Shadow applique is just normal applique with a layer of organza, net or some other fabric that is totally see through laid on top. It gives a lovely sheen to the fabric.

Begin with the applique shape of your choice. I have chosen a simple heart. Back it with fusible interfacing and press to the background fabric – a 9.1/2” white square in this case. The right hand photo shows the organza layer on top: you can see how it tones down the fabric and gives a lovely sheen.

Place the backing fabric right side down and lay the batting on top. Lay the heart on top of this and then the layer of organza. Baste the edge of the square and baste the heart.

Using a small running stitch, quilt around the edge of the heart. I’ve shown front and back here. I then added a further echo line of stitching ¼” outside the first line of stitching.

Using a plate or something similar draw a circle as large as possible on the square and cut along the line. Pin as the basting will now have been cut off. I know that this seems an odd way of doing it, but I wanted to be sure of how far out the heart and quilting went before I cut the circle.

Bind as for any quilt, but don’t forget to use binding cut on the bias. Because the binding is on top of the organza layer, it shows up as a richer colour than the heart itself, giving a lovely contrast.





This was made as a gift for a girl – somewhere for her to put her jewellery when she took it off – but it could just as easily be made with another shape (holly leaves for example) to make a lovely Christmas gift.  You can't beat handmade gifts for really showing that you care.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Hope to see you again soon.