I’ll be quilting again soon…

Recently I made my first quilted items and I love them.  Two quilted cushion covers, they were so much fun.  I made them out of a couple of Charm Square packs bought off the internet, so there was minimal cutting out needed.  Then I found some fat quarters of the same material in a local fabric shop.  So, given how much I enjoyed my first quilting experience, I decided it was time for some online shopping.  I had the material already after all.  But lets be honest, cutting it up into small squares by hand with a pair of scissors simply wasn’t going to be accurate enough.

Result…  I obviously ‘needed’ a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler.  Give me a little while and I can usually justify ‘needing’ anything I actually want hehe…

Soon the goodies were on their way via the post and today I picked the last one up from the sorting office.  The A2 cutting mat didn’t want to fit through my letter box for some reason, funny that.

So I suppose I should really decide upon a design and sizing for the runner now before I start playing with my new toys…

Musings on a modern world

Earlier in the week my phone line went down.  It started with the voice line turning into cracklesville and I couldn’t get a dial tone.  This was quickly followed by the internet becoming more twitchy than a fluffy cat sat in the middle of a dog pound that had run out of food.

The result is no voice calls and the internet has become so intermittent its not really worth the bother.  At first – being a thoroughly modern girl – I fiddled with the connectors and, after assuring myself it wasn’t something I or the beasties had done, called the phone company.  One hour, two companies and six operators later they decided an engineer needed to come out because ‘I had a fault on the line.’  Funnily enough I seem to remember that being my opening comment to all 6 people I spoke to.  Still I suppose they’re just doing their job.

So you’d imagine faced with 4 days or so without modern communications (my mobile signal is terrible at home as well) I’d simply reach for my knitting and think nothing of the passage of time.  But not so.  Even if you discount the internet for work (yes I often work at home on an evening) I found myself all twitchy.  No Ravelry, No blogs, No Mysewingcircle…… NO INTERNET SHOPPING!

It’s not until we have something like this taken away that you start to comprehend how much it has infiltrated our lives.  Isn’t it silly that I feel aggrieved I can't shop online for stuff at 3 in the morning.  These photos are all images of some fabric I bought recently on a late night shopping trawl of the internet from Gone to Earth.

They’re designed by Tanya Whelan and I’ve not seen them in the local fabric shops.  Years ago I either wouldn’t have been able to buy these, or would have needed to do it mail order, possibly via a catalogue.

The plan is to make them into a quilt for my garden hammock.  I love my hammock.  It’s wonderful and I could rave about it for pages on end.  Yet, for reasons I won’t go into, I couldn’t really to use it last year.  However I’m hoping a nice new quilt to throw over it will allow me to bask in the summer sun once more with a nice cold drink.

So it was I decided (flushed with the success of my quilted cushions) to add a garden hammock quilt to my list of things to make.  The hunt for the fabric was on…

I’ve chosen these patterns as I want something floral but with a slightly vintage feel.  In my minds eye I see the primary colours as blue and white with just a little bit of another colour for accent.  While I was looking around I worried that many of the fabrics would be to bright, or the pattern too busy.  I want the quilt to be beautiful but not compete with the real plants and flowers close by.  Thanks to the modern world of communications when I found these beautiful fabrics I was able to order and pay for them at silly o’clock.  Within a few days they were delivered and now they are tucked neatly away in my blanket box waiting to be turned into my new garden quilt. 

It amazes me how much we come to accept and expect the convenience of technology.  How it has so quickly become the norm, and how much I miss it when it’s gone.  I really hope that engineer turns up soon and put’s me out of my misery…

Those cushions again

Remember those patchwork quilted cushion covers?  Well the project has kind of grown a bit… But more of that later. 

 

I’m really rather pleased with them even though I know that they are far from perfect.  I have to say that the patchwork was by far the easiest bit.  Quilting the ‘pads’ to form the fronts was ahem ‘interesting’.  But attaching the cushion backs was a nightmare!

If I was to do them again I would choose a different wadding – this one was definitely to thick for the job.  Also investing in a ‘walking foot’ for my sewing machine would be a good move.  I’ve never used a walking foot before but I know that they are designed to help compensate for problems with differential feed.  This is when different layers of fabric move through your sewing machine at different rates which leads to all sorts of problems.  Everyone I’ve spoken to who has one has raved about it, so onto the shopping list it goes.

Now remember I mentioned that the project has sort of grown a bit?  Well the cushion covers were made from some charm squares I bought off the internet.  The seller only had squares of this particular fabric so it was only ever going to be cushions.  At least that’s what I thought.  Then I walked into one of my local fabric shops (one which I don’t go to much because I don’t like the atmosphere) and there sitting on the shelf were two rolls of fat quarters, one in the white and one in the cream.  You know what happened next don’t you.

Yup they are now at home in my fabric stash.  I’d like to say at this point that my fabric stash is tiny compared to my yarn stash so the addition of two rolls of fat quarters is a major thing.  I’m now imagining the cushions on my bed with a matching runner across the bottom.  Hmm……

A New Experience

As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been thinking about giving patchwork quilting a go.  Nothing ambitious to start with, just something small for the cottage.  However, two things kept putting me off.  My sewing machine was stuck underneath a pile of stuff (that’s sorted now and I have a sewing table again), and cutting out the pieces.

Speaking to a couple of friends who quilt I was advised this is usually done with a cutting mat and a rotary cutter.  I own neither of these and since I had no idea if I would enjoy this new adventure, was reluctant to purchase them.  Then while browsing online I wandered onto some sites that sell pre-cut fabric ready for patchwork sewing.  Hmmm so perhaps here was a way I could try it out without a large financial outlay.  I had no idea you could buy the fabric pre-cut as my friends always seemed to buy it off the roll.

So out came the graph paper and measuring tape.  I decided to make two cushion covers for my bedroom in a cream/white scheme.  I don’t own any books on quilting but in true Top Gear style I decided ‘How hard can it be?’ and got stuck in.

 

I quickly had some squares winging their way to me through the post, and when they arrived spent a little while playing with different orders.  Then there was pinning and sewing…

And before long I had the patchwork bit of two cushions done.  Now I’m sure experienced quilters will be able to point out numerous mistakes I made and places I could have improved.  Miss C also sent me numerous tutorial links for the internet, which I ignored because I was two busy playing with the fabric, pins and my machine!

This bit hadn’t been pressed when I took this photo (I really should learn patience with my camera) but you get the idea.  I’m rather proud of my first attempts, and most of all – I had a huge amount of fun…