Trip Around the World and other stuff

Early this year I started on this hand pieced Trip Around the world.  I saw one that my friend Pip Porter was working on.  Hers was positively beautiful, and I wanted one too.  Pip's is made of modern fabrics with reproductions mixed in and mine in just reproductions.  As I was working on it, a number of people made a comment about using up fabrics, and I started to write down the amounts in case I decided to make a pattern.  I am not making a pattern, but I still have the amounts written down.  You can access the "pattern" using this link.  I will also put something on the side bar so that others can find it.  Let me know if the link is not working.


Apart from a bit of hand work, I have been working on the sewing machine over the last few weeks and have a couple of new things to show.  Last post I showed how I had started on this machine applique from Kaffe Fassett's Museum Quilts book.  I am really enjoying the machine applique!  No wonder people love it......you get something done in Weeks rather than years!

 I decided to use some of my stash of reproduction fabrics.  I love stripe fabrics and I love wiggly prints.

 Love this swan!  and I have wanted to use this fabric for ages.  It is quite overpowering so does not fit in everywhere

 How about the hombre cat? 

 This is a hand or a glove - not sure which, but the same shape.

 So far I have completed 2 of the 5 rows of applique.  It is all done on 15"blocks, then sewn together.  Then you put more shapes over the seams.  You can still see some spaces, so in due coure I will add a few other shapes, not in the pattern

It was a nice day today, so I drew up all the shapes, and sat out on the verandah to cut them out.  I got 2 pineapples done, 2 gloves, 2 pigs and 2 cats.  And, I am one who says I don't like animals on my quilts!  Had to break my own rules.

Also on the machne jsut lately, I launched into a black and white quilt.  I saw something like it on Pinterest, and decided I could probably knock up a few blocks a day. 

The first 6 blocks took no time at all, and I did not really have enough to make them all different, so ended up using a few prints in reversed places.  There are 24 in total and I am looking at a "strippy" kind of setting with 4 rows of 6 blocks.  There is a little bit of red going in there too.

This is the last one I made, and finally I got the zig zags going in the right direction

Kaffe and the museum quilt

I have always been a huge fan of antique quilts and reproduction fabrics.  On the sideline of all that is my love of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  So, it all came together for him and me when I found his book. Museum Quilts.

And in particular, this lovely Folk Art Quilt.  It has been sitting on my radar for quite some time, and then I saw Barb Vedder's version where she added some of her own drawings, and used some from Kaffe's book.

The original quilt is held in the Victoria and Albert museum in London.





 
Kaffe's version is somewhat different, but really charming.  Anyway, I started it this week.  There was a bit of work to get it started as the drawings had to be increased 200%.  Eek!  my copier does not do that.  So off I went to Officeworks, and they did if for me as a "plan print"  -  great big sheets - for $11 for 5 pages.

Now, the really important thing is that I am machine appliqueing!  Yes, I have gone over to the dark side (in some cases).  I taught myself machine applique bit by bit over the last couple of years, and the instructions in the book are for machine, so off I went with it. 

 

It is quite interesting the way this large quilt is made .  It is made in 15" blocks, with some designs appliquied in the centre, like these, then once the blocks are joined, there is more appliqued over the top of the seams 

 Three blocks side by side, then once joined, the Chook (Aussie speak for hen) is appliqued over the seam.  Doing it in small sections like this, makes it easier to handle in the sewing machine.

So far I have used fabric only from my repro stash, but I might have to use some of my little collection of Kaffe Fassett prints.  That should zoom it up a bit! 

I am still working on my hand applique project, but that can be done at night when I have the TV going and kind of looking at it, and then I can do an hour or so on the machine during the day,

A bit of detective work

A couple of weeks ago I found this photo on Pinterest, and it was love at first sight!

I traced the image to Barbara Brackman's blog, but after that it went cold.  I decided to make the quilt anyway based on the image, and just kind of "winging it".  I did put out a few questions on Facebook and here and Sylvia actually gave me a bit more information.  She directed me to another blog post, this time to countrythreads blog, and was able to tell me that the quilt is held by the Hampshire Cultural Trust in England.  I sent them an email, and crossed my fingers, and they answered me!

So here is some of the things they told me.  It is a cot quilt (guess we knew that) and the size is 83cm x 88cm (32.5"x 34.5") ...very little indeed.  The background fabric is cotton, and the red border, and the red applique is twill wool.  The other applique is done in cotton prints and all completed using herringbone stitch.   The shapes have been done with paper cutting (which I had already started) and the other squiggly bits, are all Broderie Perse!    The lovely lady (I think it is a lady) named Sam is going to dig out a few photos and send them to me. I can't wait for the that, so have already started making it myself.

So far, this is what I have done.  I wanted to make it all from fabric from my stash.  The background is linen, which I already had, and all the others, except the green print, I already had.  The green print was from my friend Penny, 'cause it was just the green I wanted, and it had a wiggly print. I love wiggly prints.  I had no idea what size it was,  so just used the width of the linen which was 54cm and cut the length the same.  Then I visually divided the centre into 3rds, and decided the size of the big stars would be 18"across.  All the other shape sizes worked in after I did the big star/flowers.

 I cut all the flowers out of freezer paper, and drew the designs on the back (for back-basting applique)

With the big star/flowers, I was able to attach the design fabrics by sewing on the sewing machine.  Works just the same, and much quicker to get started.

 now with the small pieces too, they are all folded into 8's, open up and draw the shape you want.

 Fold back again, cut out the shape through all the layers, and voila!  Lovely little flower shape.

This is the flower shape on the edge and centre of the quilt.  It is a little bigger in my cutting, as I want to do needle-turn and the original is wool, and that could be a little small because of the way it is appliqued,

So if you think you might like to have a go at making your own, this is how I started, just measuring and cutting.  The 4 leaf clovers are about 5"across, the ladies are about 9" high - all based on the idea that my background is 54"square.  If yours is smaller, then adjust the size accordingly.

Eventually I will make a pattern for it, but in the mean time I am happy to help you do it this way.  I bought some red linen for the border, and as yet I have no idea what I will put on the border.  Just waiting on those extra photos.   Hope they come.

Some changes

I now have an Etsy shop!

Don't get too excited, as it just has one thing there - my Bling Bling Baltimore quilt pattern.  Apparently my Legend and Lace website requires major upgrades, or a new website, and I have decided it is now time to move on.  It looks like I started this Etsy shop in 2013 and never followed through with it, as it was just hanging there waiting for something from me.  So, over time I will start moving my pdf patterns to Etsy.  I think it might be easy enough, and will change the link on the side of this Blog as I get them done.

So,  now back to what I have been doing over the last several month.  I told you that my DH got sick while we were travelling, so that gave me lots of time to sit about and do some hand sewing.  I got this quilt finished while sitting about

This quilt is from a pattern my Susan Smith called Stevie's Garden.  I called mine Midnight in the Garden.  I was lucky enough to win two ribbons for this at the recent Adelaide Festival of Quilts.  One for the applique, and the other for Hand Quilting.  Not many people are doing hand quilting these days, so it can be worth the effort.

Once this was finished I had to wait for some inspiration to come along.  Lucky for me that has happened!  A few close ups of the new quilt I am working on.

I have used lots of my really old Repro fabrics

This is the centre and working out

Working title is "No Quilt Police Here!"  I plan that it will be quite random after I get the main parts in place.

A few more things that have inspired me this month.  the first one is an original image, via Pinterest, of an antique quilt held in the Victoria and Albert museum in England.  I actually saw this quilt when the exhibition came to Australia about 5 years ago.  I know that Kaffe Fassett has made a reproduction of it, and I have it on my horizon as well.

 This one is from Barb Vedder, who used some of Kaffe's drawings from his book Museum Quilts, plus original drawings of her own.

I spend far too much time on Pinterest!  These random kind of quilts I find really appealing.  this is another English quilt centre from the V&A.  Pattern has been produced by Caolyn Konig

Very close to the original  - once again taken from Pinterest.  I tried to crop it, but would not play, so you get the black bits around the photo.  Sorry,

It pleases me that I have some inspiration again.  I did do a lot of sitting about and thinking, but not doing, so a good step forward!

Short holiday and new inspiration

Last week my husband and I decided to take a short 4 day break to Kangaroo Island which is just off the coast of South Australia. 

 We had to drive about 1 1/2 hours south of Adelaide, then take a car ferry for about 20km and 50 minutes to get there.   It was a sparkly sunny day.

 We landed at Penneshaw, had lunch at the local pub, and started our tour from there.

It was a very relaxing few days and I had a little time to do a bit of fabric shopping in the only quilt shop on KI, and had a balcony to sit on to do a little sewing.

A couple of pieces of Out Of Print Kaffee fabrics

View near Cape Borda on the north coast 

 This was a bit sad  -  the cemetary for the light house families.  Little children included.

So while I am sitting about enjoying the view, I started thinking about making something new.  I want to be inspired to make something beautiful.  What is beautiful to me, may not necessarily be the same for others.

While scrolling through Pinterest I found a photo of a quilt, and loved it straight away.  I love red and white and I love unstructured, whimsical quilts.

I traced the photo back to Barbara Brackman's blog but with very little information, apart from labelling it British and the makers name, which you can see on the quilt.  If anyone reading this knows anything about this quilt, I would love to hear from you.

So when I got home, I could not wait to try and work out how to make this quilt.  I found some cream linen fabric tucked away (that will be a good background!) and I have lots of reds, but they have to be the "right red"....not the madder kind of red,  but proper kind of reds.  Yes, I found a few of those as well.  I wonder how to make those shapes (I ask myself) and decide that they are made by folding and cutting paper.

Yep, I think that will work.  Looks a bit like the original.  Does not have to be just the same but close will do..............................and I was off and running!

I think I will do all the big bits first, then add the little pieces as needed.  I think I will have this all done in............maybe a year!

Last week I continued with kitchen renovations and had a new oven installed.  Very nice!  However, the electrician had to get access via the cupboard in my sewing room.  It was not a pretty sight, and had to pull everything out of one cupboard to get in.  I found something.  An almost completed Whig Rose quilt.  I can remember starting this, and I checked the dates and it was started July 2004.  The border went on in 2005, it was basted and some parts marked in 2006..........

and.....there it sat for all these years.

What went wrong?  Did I fall out of love? No. It was, and still is, a very heavy quilt.  It is Kona cotton solids for all of the applique, plus cotton batting and cotton backing.  As I was quilting it, it seemed to slip a lot within the hoop.  I could see lots of ripples in the hand quilting.  I lost heart. 

However, having another look at it after 12 years, I have decided to finish it and make the best of it.  It had been marked with a blue wash out pen...my favourite....but after all these years I have no idea what brand it was and if it would come out. Usually I spray the work with water after it is quilted, and hope the marks come out.  I am very happy to say that after all these years the marks did come out......mostly

You can see here (along with the ripples!) that the blue lines have disappeared.  Once it is washed and blocked I expect (!) the quilt to be smooth and flat and free of any marks.

However, some lines had turned grey.  I have no idea what I marked this part with, and I hope it washes out.  I will just quilt over the top and hope for the best.

You can see these very faint lines.  Has anyone else had this happen?  I have never had a problem with the blue pens and have used them for probably 20 years.

This is the book where I first saw the quilt I am making.

 I am pretty sure that I have seen it in other books, but this is the one that took my eye

I changed the colours a bit.  The original is made from prints and mine is all solids.  I love the way the solids shine against the background.