Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts

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.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Can I say shit-o-meter in the title?

A week that's pretty high on the shit-o-meter does have unexpected benefits.

The quilt I took on camp is hand quilted and I have one more side to go with the binding. Unless my friend is in labour right now - the chances are that this will finished before the baby even gets here (I think that is a first for me with baby presents - I am always late).



So when things do turn to shit - as they tend to do occasionally, I recommend some hand-sewing.

because we all know that keeping your hands busy means you can't actually kill anyone.

and that has to be a good thing...

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!

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.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

and another one bites the dust !

And another one down and another one down and another one bites the dust !


YEH!



I made this with a felted jumper. It is the same pattern as the previous post but the handles are attached to the body of the bag first and then sewn into the bottom seam. (does that make sense? ) No magnetic clasp for this one as I have fallen out of love with them lately. The bag I made for myself a while ago has a large magnetic clasp - so large in fact it is hard to open and my pulling at it has started to tear the lining - yes I can fix it but I can't be bothered. Bigger is not always better Jodie !!!



I have also been toiling away at "The Big Project". I have quilted a mass of this fabric - probably more than I will need- It is the same fabric as the bag handles - lovely patterned black - the photo has just washed it out a bit.




I want to say a huge Happy Birthday to Annie - pop on over to her Flower Garden and wish her a happy birthday- she might just give you a slice of cake....

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Whiplash challenge.

The hardest part of this challenge may be me trying to get the whiplash button on here !!!
As part of the Whiplash challenge on Whip up I have made a doll quilt or miniature quilt.

I had so much fun with this that I thought I'd show you how I did it. (Mind you it is so easy I am sure you could just wing it).


Yep.... thats right its all made from selvedge !!! I just love how it turned out !! I am soo excited by this I am planning a bigger project !




  1. Step 1. Cut the selvedged edge off your fabrics leaving 1/4 inch of fabric (this becomes your seam allowance.) Then with right sides together sew two pieces together and press open, showing selvedge.




  2. Step 2. If you have nice thick selvedge you may be able to join one pair to another pair - giving you four (or more) joined togetherwithout losing all the details.





  3. Step 3. When you have pieced a few strips together you can begin to foundation piece them. I cut (ripped) a piece of very light cotton to the size I wanted and then simply began sewing the strips on. Sew as close to the very edge as you can but remember that this is the selvedge so it is not going to fray.



  4. Step 4. Continue on adding your little pairs of selvedge strips ( or bigger ones) until you have the size you require. I used my walking foot for this part.


5.

Step 5. When you have pieced all your strips , turn over your work and trim the edges, squaring up if you need to.


Step 6. I used cotton batting in this little quilt and I quilted it very simply by running some lines of stitching across the quilt in a "stitch-in-the-ditch style. My finished quilt is almost fat quarter sixe measuring approx 18 x 20 inches. Then of couse a bit of binding and your done !!!


I really love this project and am keen to do a bit more with selvedges. I have been chopping them off every scrap of fabric in the stash.

The added bonus to this project is, when asked about all the fabric in the stash I can honestly say "of course I use them all I have put almost all of them into a quilt !"

Miss Eloise says it is very snuggly !





whipup

Friday, May 18, 2007

Sewin' shoppin' and swearin'

I have been sewing this week, working on the quilt. For the life of me I cannot get a photo that's decent - how do you take photos of quilts? All of it with no details or just a little section ? GGGRRRR - that's where the swearin' came in.



But I can't stay cross for long because this week I bought the best fabric from Shannon over at Aunty Cookie. She made this fabric - like actually designed and magically created her own - off the bolt fabric. She is one talented woman !!! Go on - go over and have a look................


Isn't it great?

The fabric is spectacular and that "kind of detail impressed me"(LOL) That is what is written on the fabric. The handwriting even had the little arrows on it that's guides children's writing - I just love it.

I am imagining a handbag with a red wool base -or cherry red with the fabric and then red handles - but i did spend some time this morning wrapping it around the existing cushions on the lounge and it look great - I just need a little something red in there............

Her new design with the birdies and trees I am also in love with as well as the fabrics that Lara of Kirin Notebook is working on. Seriously, this is fabric paradise.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Australasian Quilting Convention


What a weekend ! Early starts and long days filled with fabric, fibres and fun!.
I have just been luck enough to spend two days at the AQC .
I was asked to go along and help out my friends Emma and Pam of Ballarat patchwork.
They had the most beautiful stall and were surrounded by customers (sometimes five deep) for hours on end.
One of the big hits of the marketplace was the Yo –Yo. They are such fun and easy things to make (especially with the Clover “quick yo-yo maker). People loved Emma’s gorgeous rosettes and her garland and we completely sold out of the yo-yo makers.


The prettiest stall in the marketplace


Emmas Yo Yo garland

Yo Yo purse from the Clover stand

It was fascinating to see a show from behind the counter and to meet some of the most amazing people.

I was lucky enough to have a brief chat with Lisa of Dyed & Gone to Heaven. Her hand dyed fabrics are just breathtaking and the depth and range of colour are truly inspirational (and she is a lovely welcoming person !!).




Lisa's beautiful fabrics



I met and secretly almost fell in love with Tony Sullivan of Victorian Textiles. He is the gadget man !!! I especially loved the rotating cutting mat, his tiny tiny scissors that fit onto a key ring and the scissors with large pad handles and spring loaded opening action. He had every gadget you can imagine and I wanted them all! I love gadgets !!!


I also met Christine Abela of Gecko gully and her friends who as you can see went to a lot of trouble for the show –there is 8 metres of fabric in those dresses!

Of course the marketplace was only a small part of what was happening at the AQC.
The AQC is a world class quilt show that showcases a collection of exhibitions. With teachers like Ruth B McDowell, Gloria Loughman, Pam Holland Sue Nickells and Esterita Austin it is no wonder that delegates were already booking accommodation for next year before this years convention had ended.

I have to mention the breathtaking exhibitions !!!! I was amazed and humbled by the magical quilts on display.
You must go and check out the AQC site and take some time to look at all these exhibitions – I cannot begin to explain to you how inspiring they are (and a bit scary – how can people sew like that??)

The Husqvarna Viking International Quilt Competition
Eyeline by tACTile
Best of the Best
Michele Hill’s Tribute to William Morris
Journal Quilts from the Australia New Zealand ArtQuilters
Stitch like an Egyptian
Victorian Quilters Challenge.

As a bit of a show junkie I have to say this is far and away one of Australia’s best events. I was there for two days but could have quite easily managed four. Even if you are not a delegate there are so many free seminars and exhibitons you would be hard pressed to fit it all into one day.
By far the best thing about this show is that it is a dedicated Quilt show so every where you turn you will see quilts, quilters, notions, fabrics and fibres – you just have to breath deeply and take it all in !