Spring Vase

I rarely buy fabric with a specific project in mind.  And that goes for this one above.  I usually buy a few metres of a border type fabric, or a metre or fat quarter, depending on how much I like it.  This fabric I bought 4 metre.  Most of my projects are scrappy and kind of evolve from what I have in the cupboard at the time.

This beautiful directional print from RJR Fabrics, Fairhaven range, was in the disccounted section of Quiltsmith, when I went there in July, after my visit to the Sydney Quilt Show.  My dear friend Maureen took me for a very interesting drive to get there and back.  The date on the fabric is 2009, so I guess they had it laying about for a while and decided to "move it on".....right into my ever appreciative arms!  Thank you very much!

It has a beautiful print right through the blue stripe, which is not noticed at first.

 I decided to use these blue parts of the print, as they were exactly the width I needed.  See my calculator in the photo?  It is there all the time.  The blue part is exactly 4 1/2" wide which includes a lttle bit of the cream background, and that will go into the seams.

Then we are left with something that looks like this.  Wasted?  no way, there is method in my madness

These pieces are totally perfect for fussy cutting for Broderie Perse.....whether it be in this current project or in another.  I can see a whole border with this cut out and appliqued in place, but one thing at a time :-)

These blue strips are going around the central vase for my latest hand appliqued project.  I do not work with blue very often, but the blue in the vase is a favourite of mine, and there are blue leaves in the  surrounding chintz print.  These pieces are just laid in place right now, but I plan to mitre the corners, and get it all nice and neat.

The size after they are added will be 36 1/2", and the blocks I am addeing for the next border are 6" finished, so it *should* all fit together nicely.  Always with a quilt like this you have the option to make the borders a little wider or narrower if it does not work out the first time.  I have done that many times!  but this time I think it will work ok.

Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Square

 Love it when boxes arrive at my home/office.  I knew this one was on the way, but it is still exciting to open up.

10 lovely little boxes, with Karen Kay Buckley's new Perfect Adjustable Squares.  Karen has been working on this idea for some time, and it has finally happened for her.

The packaging is beautiful, with a pull out tray the store the squares for future use

This is what you find inside  - all these little bits of a puzzle, that you can join together in any size you need to enable you to square off blocks from 4" to 24 1/2".  You can use the centre like a window, to help with fussy cutting.

I was going to do this whole blog on how to use it, but Karen has done that for us.  Click on this link for the Youtube video.  She shows how it all works.

Price is $AU89.95, plus postage.  The bad news is that it is quite heavy, about 1 kilo with packaging, so the post will be around $14 in Australia.  For the first 10 customers, I will cover the cost of the postage within Australia.  Available now on the Legend and Lace Website

I also I now have a large supply of Karen's  new Perfect Pins

I have never before worked with a pin that is this thin.  It is very, very skinny and very sharp.  You can see the size in the photograph.  Because the head on these pins is so small I find that I like to spill the pins onto a piece of felt, making it easier to pick them up. There are 50 pins in each little plastic tube.  The cost is $AU9.90

Winter Workshop update

Those of you who are "regulars" at our workshops, know that we have a great day.  Lots of nice people, good food, and plenty of sewing time.  This year we tried something different and offered a Come and Try......kind of idea where we had 4 different blocks to try some people did all 4, others just one. 

This photo is of one of the Pinwheel quilt based on Mary's blocks.  They are made from 2 1/2" strips, and you can use a Jelly roll or just cut off strips from your scraps.  The black and white on lime looks so fresh!

 Another one with Batics, on a black background.  Love this one too!

This is the "original".....Mary's crisp blue and white pinwheel quilt

 The Abacus looks great in this colour group.  Another black and white print on orange background

I think I would like to try this colour combo myself!

 Julie M was pretty traditional with this beautiful blue and white quilt.  All finished on the day.

Again, this is Mary's original - grey and white, with the yellow background.  She is busy quilting it now.

 These are the other two blocks we had on that day.  The Criss-Cross is based on a Wrench block, and it is the placement of the fabrics that makes it look like this woven cross over and under.

A very simple block to make

Finally, the double wedding ring.  This one is a bit of a challenge!  There were a few harsh words said from time to time, but take it easy, and follow the instructions, and it all works out well. 

This block, and the Abacus, were made with the Quick Curved Ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful.

If you would like Mary and me to come to your quilting group, with a similar workshop idea, please let me know by email.  We are already making bookings for next year!

Talking on future bookings, we have our next workshop on 4th November, Melbourne Cup Day.  It is a Mystery Quilt ?????????????? with fabrics from your stash. Put this in your diary, with further details to come.  You can book now if you wish.  Once again, it will be held at St Paul's :Lutheran church hall in McLaren Vale, South Australia.

Next step

The Spring Basket is starting to take shape.  As yet not all the pieces are in place, but I have chosen the fabrics for the setting triangles.

 The block looked like this last week, and I had not thought about how to finish it off

 Turned on point and it looks like it might be the centre of "something"

When I bought this fabric a couple of months back I had no idea what I wanted it for, but I loved it and knew it would come in useful for something.......and here it is.  I cut out two squares, then cross cut from corner to corner.  Doing it this way you get a straight grain along the outer edge, and it will not pull out of shape.

Do you want to know how big to cut your squares?  Take the finished size of the block....lets say 20", then divide it by 1.414....you will probably need the calculator for this part :-) .   I get 14.14, then you add on 0.875 for the seam allowance and you come up with 15.019.  I round it up to the nearest 1/4" as I like to cut things a little bigger, then square off if necessary.

I am going to surround the centre with "some kind" of  spacer border (as yet undecided) and then add on a collection of English Paper Pieced blocks that I have had sitting about for a couple of years.  That is all I have thought about so far as I have been a bit busy with a few other projects.

The Pom Pom Tree is moving along as well.  This is Block 10 of 12 blocks.  The pattern is available on the Legend and Lace website for $4.95, as a digital pattern.

Next week I will be able to tell you about some exciting new products from Karen Kay Buckley.  They are on the way here from the USA, and expected on Wednesday (fingers crossed!)

Spring is in the air......

la, la, la......well not really spring yet, just feels a bit like spring after our cold and damp winter.  Makes me feel like doing things.  The sun is shining and the ground is starting to dry up a little.  Some of the early flowers are out, and I have been pulling weeds out,

After a bit of mucking about I settled on the floral motifs for my new basket block I showed you back here.  The flowers are from a few different ranges, and the leaves from others still.

 I am doing the applique with button hole stitch this time.  My stitches are about 1mm wide and 1mm long.  It is a very traditional way to complete the applique.  I am putting the pieces straight onto the background, not using vlisofix.  You get a much softer finish.

The thread I am using is the same for all the pieces.  you could use a thread to match each of the flower colours, but I stuck with neutral.....once again, this is quite traditional.

In the "olden days" they only had a couple of thread colours...white, black, probably grey, and maybe tan.  My thread is Auriful Mako 28 weight, with the grey base.  People familiar with Aurifil know it to be a wonderful soft thread to work with, and they change the colours of the base, according to the thread weight.  I am planning to use this thread for hand quilting on my next "big" project.  I have used the YLI Select for years, but find the colour I like - Ecru- getting hard to find.  The needle is a Milliners No.8.

Talking about hand quilting........
I have started the basket and rose quilt.  I am doing this one with "big stitch" quilting.  I am going to quilt 1/4" inside the sashing on both sides, then 1/4" inside the blocks, then follow the shapes a bit.  Not much planning involved as yet.

 I started the stitching last night, and got quite a bit done.  Hope to have this one finished for the Adelaide quilt show in November.

These blocks are 8" finished, and I cut the sashing strips 2" wide, so they finish 1 1/2".  A few people had asked me the size, so I am telling you all.

These are my new needles.  I have been using the Clover sashiko needles, then found these from Pepper Corey.  They are a little finer, with various eye sized, to take all the thicker threads.  They glide through the layers smoother than the sashiko needles as well.  I am going to try out each of the needles before I settle on the one I like the best.  I did have some for sale, but sold out totally at the Adelaide Stitches and hand craft show.  Once I have them back, I will let you know.