Showing posts with label quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quilt. Show all posts

Thursday, March 13, 2014

On Friendships and Corduroy

I'm not sure how many of you know my friend Stephanie, we have been blog friends for years and last year when I was at Quilt Market we got to meet in real life. Yes, there were better photos but this one is my favourite.
Stephanie and I email each other a bit and we talk about life stuff and bloggy stuff and dog stuff and for a while now we have also been talking book stuff. 
Stephanie's book Uncommonly Corduroy has recently been released with Martingale. Now that I have my very own copy I have to share it with you.

I love this book! One of the things I often find with craft books is that they lack personality. They might be chock full of projects and brilliant instructions but they could all have been written by the same person.
So I was so pleased when I got Stephanie's book and thought - it sounds just like her !!! Every project has a little description explaining why it was made or how it got its name and I couldn't help but smile as I read them.
This quilt is Fairlane and Stephanie writes "Dad drove a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 for more than 40 years before selling his beloved car. That was the car of my childhood. Dad's cars were always white with black interior - classy, just like Dad." 
The solid black in this quilt is corduroy. This is one of my favourite quilts along with the first one below.
 "Images from Uncommonly Corduroy by Stephanie Dunphy, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photo by Brent Kane. All rights reserved."

Its called Plenty of Raindrops and the green just kills me  - I love it. 
Stephanies book has heaps of large clear diagrams, making it look like even I could whip up one of these quilts or bags. You know, maybe its an age thing but I really like big pictures in books.
The book itself is beautiful. Glossy with gorgeous large photos and step by step instructions. Its clear , uncluttered and fresh. It has 17 projects including some really cute bags - The one above is called "I Heart Dresdens" There is a great section on working with corduroy but of course all the patterns work without it just a beautifully. 
I am so excited that my friend has written this book - and as always so very overwhelmed that this little blog opened the door to this crazy wonderful life of craft and crafty mates. 

I borrowed these photos from Stephanie's blog and also from her Supreme friend Candace's blog -
You can find out what was going on in that first photo if you read here.

You can check out Stephanie's book on Martingale or Amazon
Corduroy- it's not just for pants !

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Gobsmacked –You have to see this !

Kristy of St. Louis Folk Victorian blog very kindly let me share her latest project with you.
I was cruising the interwebs last night and saw this and my brain exploded. I just cannot stop thinking about it.Pixel Quilt -1
It kind of fits in with my last post asking which of your projects people might think are a bit bonkers. Please go and visit Kristy – check out how she made this, how long it took then pop your undies on your head and run around the room a bit.
Its that good !
Pixel Quilt - 2
Oh hello You !
Pixel Quilt - 3
(all photos courtesy of Kristy, all insane jealousy courtesy of me but Kristy’s fault.)
man I love crafty people !

Saturday, January 12, 2013

eight-teen (s.o.b)

q1      Wearing the coat to protect you all from the arse-crack
q2
A thrown-together, no pattern quiltq9

Hand quilted with hundreds of teeny tiny stitches, some straight, some not
q10
Every stitch a labour of love for the birthday, and all joining to create a giant yet subtle piece of text across the quilt.q8
“Son of a bitch”
q6
‘cause there is something in that for both of us.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The worst photos you will see on this blog

Guys I am sorry about the photos - but this is me trying some vague quilt layouts on the kitchen table and standing on a chair to get the photos. I could have cropped out all the "life' in the background but then it was too close to look quiltish if that makes sense.
I've used scrap booking paper for the circles and of course the greens will be different depending on the fabrics I use......anyway would you like to tell me which layout you like ? I think I've already decided .....................
Number one.
Number 2. (essentially the same with no hole in the middle)

No. 3

No. 4

For a better idea of the actual colours have a look at the previous post
and thanks for all the help.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Granny's quilt

So, here is the quilt, she has returned from the most wonderfully gorgeous and talented quilter in the whole wide world - Yep !!! Totally true.


Darling Bernadette, who I have met once before - (she is part of "Team Selvedge") delivered this yesterday and I am so excited. Seriously this is the first- ever quilt I have made, and it looks like a quilt - a really truly quilt. (I expect you all to conveniently forget the great green monster at this point)
I sometimes have the misfortune of seeing people's quizzical faces when I present something hand made- or even worse the "but what's it for" question.

But not this time - no sirree Bob !
This is a quilt.
I'M A QUILTER - HEAR ME ROAR
(although technically I'm just a topper, Bernadette is the quilter)
I'M A TOPPER -HEAR ME ROAR.
Yup - works for me.

OK - Now for the binding .....any opinions. The green of the outer border so the binding sort of blends in - or the cherry pink of the small border?

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Keep your knickers on!!!

So this will not be winning any design awards but as it comes together it really is becoming Granny's quilt.

The sashing is actually cream and has a very small tonal pattern of leaves. I had to snap these pics this morning before work and it had been folded up all night so please forgive the rather crumpled look.



Yes that photo above shows my amazing styling techniques - I sticky taped the quilt to the cupboard doors - How in the world do you take decent photos of a quilt? let me know because tomorrow I'll have to get some pics of the quilt top
FINISHED!!!!!!!

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Annie kicked my butt!


10 am :
Vague idea (really very vague) that making a quilt for Mr Ric-Rac's Granny's impending 100th birthday might be a nice thing to do and I cannot think of another thing that a one-hundred year old woman might possible need or want- or that we haven't already given her.
That's a lot of birthdays and Christmases folks!

11am:
Ring Grandma for helpful suggestions and then decide if I have to make anything like she suggested I would rather give granny a gift certificate for colonic irrigation or skydiving. Trust me , it was wrong...................very wrong.

12
Send some emails. Email a quilty friend with technical questions, email Annie ! Confuse myself with lots of questions so ring Annie instead. Blither vaguely to
Mr Ric-Rac about other present ideas for Granny - a nice teapot?

1pm
Decide that maybe a gift voucher would be a good idea as I give myself a good talking to about my inability to finish anything, my lack of quilting knowledge , my growing disinterest in the project and complete lack of inspiration. I'll have to make something all boring and "nanna".

2pm
Annie says she'll visit and bring one of her quilts over to show me how easy it is. I tell her I only have till October to do it.


3pm
Annie arrives and we begin the fabric auditions. We choose from the stash and I am impressed - Time for a cuppa?
Annie says "get out that cutting board- we need 27 eight inch squares." "I'll iron , you cut"
Wow I think, chosen and cut. Maybe this is do-able.
"OK," says Annie "chuck 'em on the floor we need to make 3 blocks of nine squares each. "




4pm

"You sew " says Annie as she passes me each square until the rows are sewn together. Annie runs in and out of the sewing room , ironing the rows while I sew.
She is a hard taskmaster - pointing at the machine every time I stop for a chat.
Then we cut up the big blocks and I have the 12 blocks needed for the quilt.

5pm
We have a beer and a giggle- I give Annie her "blog finished" present. (That means I had meant to sew up the turning hole while she was here but she had me so busy on the quilt that she went home with a pin still in it !)
Annie knows that what we have done so far does not commit me to the project by any means so she has booked me in to go shopping for sashing and backing on Tuesday lunchtime during our craft-at-work time.

5:30

Bye Annie......

Stay tuned folks - this could get interesting..............or it might all end in tears.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Doing it!

So tomorrow I have been invited to a sewing day. That's right - no kids , no significant others (except our sewing machines) - just 6 hrs of sewing time. There will be food and chatting of course . There will undoubtedly be great tips and show and tell and some sharing, but .........

I know that they are all lovely people.....I have met them all before,


Its just that they....you know .....do that thing.

They've all been doing it for a while, and doing it together for years ......they all love doing it, they adore doing it. They do it alone or in groups and they do it as often as they can. They are kind of addicted to doing it.


And that's OK - I mean I am pretty open-minded, each to his or her own I say......its just that ........well...........I 'm not that fond of doing it. I don't really enjoy doing it and and I kinda suck at doing it to be honest. That's not to say I won't ever do it, and I'll do it a little bit just to be social but yikes a whole day of DOING IT !


Maybe its just not my thing? Perhaps I could just follow their lead and bluff my way through? I could make the coffee when it all gets a bit intense right?

Surely it would be better for everyone if I stayed home and finished off some monkey limbs, sewed the back onto my scarf, worked on the cushions, re-jigged the new softie, finished the ill-fated fabric birdcage and drew up some new dollies.

I mean they did say I didn't HAVE to do it, just cause they were. They kindly said I could do my own thing and just watch them doing it. But I am a hands -on kind of girl so there is nothing for it.

Tomorrow- I quilt !

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's back !!

After a recent email asking for instructions for the green quilt and some persistent, lets call it encouragement, from others, I dragged it out yesterday.


This quilt goes back a bit of way, and has been one the blog once or twice before.
A quilter I am not.
But yesterday with the crafty gods smiling and numerous cups of tea and trips to the ironing board, cutting mat, sewing machine , floor and back again, I have finally pieced the last third.

So now I guess I should be banging on about a sense of achievement and renewed excitement to tackle the quilting part. I should be excitedly pinning it together and draping it artistically over the bed.


Well it is true, I am very excited............................... and I have renewed crafty energy.

After all, finishing that quilt top means I get to add all these "extra" greens to my stash !

Friday, January 25, 2008

Still quilting............

I have been plugging away on the quilt in dribs and drabs.


I have pieced two of the three sections and am quilting them very simply.


I am just adding lines around the green and a few random rectangles. The starting and ending and hiding all the threads is what is taking me forever. Half a minute to quilt around a shape and then 5 minutes of knot tying and needle threading.

I have decided to quilt and join these two pieces before I start to piece the last third, simply because it takes ages and drives me slightly batty.


I was disappointed to find out today that the French word for Tampon is......................Tampon. Not even the French can make it sound attractive!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Not to put too fine a point on it.

There is a certain special kind of madness that comes with My mother deciding to sell house and move to this side of town at the same time that Mr Ric-Rac's parents sell their place of 27 yrs.

Lets just say I have never had quite so many conversations about boxes before in my life.

On Sunday we went to Mr Ric-Rac's parents place (about 1 1/4 hrs away ) to pack. The best part of that, was 2.5 hrs of car craft.


I finished off quite a few of these little guys. They are so great. I got the original idea from the gorgeous tutorials over at Moonstitches and made some before Christmas. They were so popular that I whizzed up another dozen on the machine and then just popped them in the car craft basket to finish off as the the opportunity arises.


A couple of late presents for some of Jemma's friends.

Remember murphy? Well when I gocco'd him I made quite a few and later fused on their bodies and popped them in the car craft basket as well. I blanket stitched this guy and when we got home turned him into a handbag.



It was a long day but we got lots done and the kids were excited with some of the "junk" they were able to acquire. They just loved these.........



and Grandma gave me this for safe keeping. This was her first ever ballet dress, made of parachute silk (that's all that was available at the time).


They couldn't afford a sewing machine so the whole little dress was hand sewn by Great -Gran (she of the 99 years not out).

Monday, January 14, 2008

Thanks for asking

Hi My name is Jodie and I am a novelty sewer .

I am unwilling to commit to projects that take longer than two days to at least "look finished"


I do not understand projects that involve more ironing than sewing


I do not like projects that require special equipment


I do not like having to remove special equipment (see above) from sewing machine every time I give up on the "big" project to tackle something do-able.


I do get bored with the same fabric after about 3 hrs.


I do not understand chopping up about 300 m of fabric to sew it back together into something only 2m in size.


I hate basting


I hate pinning


I hate exactness

I embrace the wonky

I hate enormous things that require rearranging my house just so I can lay them out to look at them.


I hate that no-one told me that just winging it is not actually a bona-fide quilting term....because it is a totally STUPID thing to do.



Yeh, so the quilt is coming along nicely, thanks for asking. No it doesn't take much time. Just a few minutes here and there. Yes I have only done one third, yes I haven't even laid out the other two. Yes I am sure I know what I am doing, so what if I have never done the quilt- as-you-go thingo before. Oh no, it's no problem to just make up a pattern, I really enjoy a challenge, Oh yes that's right, I will get so much enjoyment and self fulfillment when this is finished...........I mean ...I will....won't I? You know just like childbirth.....you never remember the pain afterwards.