Scrappy Trip Around the World finished

With the end of the second quarter of FAL rapidly approaching I have a couple of short posts to reveal my finished quilts. I'm doing really well this quarter, despite being busy doing other things. This is my fifth finished quilt in the last 3 months, so I'm really pleased with myself!
Here it is:

 

And here is the back:

 

 

I really like the extra wide quilt backs, they make life so much easier! These phone photo's don't quite convey how pretty this quilt really is- I know I need to get a better camera.

 

After my marathon quilting extravaganza with the last quilt, I just used very straightforward serpentine quilting on this quilt. The front is so busy that I think more complicated quilting would be wasted. The binding was from Lizzy House's Constellations ( can't remember the exact name) and I really like the way it finishes it off.

Originally, I had intended this quilt for the daughter of my BF but Madlen saw it and said she wanted it. I have the blocks for  another scrappy trip quilt (to be sewn together soon!) that was meant to be for her ( Madlen), so now I'm going to finish that one and let her choose between the two. They are both very pretty so I don't think it will matter which one she decides upon.

 

 

This was again quilted with So Fine in colour 401.

 

Quilt Stats:

Finished quilt size: 70 x 80 inches ( it's shrunk a little in the wash)

Front: made in various strips from stash

Back: Spot on spot in pink by Robert Kaufman

Binding : from Lizzy House's constellations

Quilted: in So Fine 

 

Another second quarter FAL





Another ST quilt finished

I have another quilt finished. I'm definitely on a roll as I have another reveal after this one and a couple of quilts very near to completion. These are not as difficult as they sound because I have a huge backlog of tops/blocks that needed making into finished quilts.
So onto the finished quilt.
Last year  FQR quilt bee decided to make some quilts for Siblings Together. We decided on the scrappy trip around the world and made a blue one and a pink one. I had volunteered to sew the blue one into a quilt top, then a quilt. It was difficult as quite a number of the blocks sent to me were not 12 1/2 inches square but smaller. This I discovered is a common problem with quilting bees, mainly to do with the inaccuracy of the quarter inch seam.However, the blocks we had chosen have to line up reasonably well or it just doesn't work. So, I made several more blocks myself and some of my bee mates did too and I managed to make the blue quilt top. Then disaster struck in the shape of my house fire, so Kate kindly finished the quilt off and it was given to ST at the FQR retreat last summer.
Rather than do nothing with the smaller blocks, I  put 4 that were the same size as a middle medallion and deconstructed some of the others to make borders. I also had some flying geese blocks left over from Harri's quilt. I made a lot more and here is the finished result:

And the back:

 

The backing fabric is from Ikea but was designed by Beckman College ( I think there was only a limited run of this). The solid blue fabric in the quilt top is also from Ikea.

 

After the fancy quilting on my previous ST quilt I chose to do very straight forward quilting on this one. To add a bit of variety though, I chose a variegated polyester thread called Fantastico from Superior Threads. It was a disaster! I don't know if it was me and my inexperience, but the thread kept breaking and shredding and I had to unpick so much of it that my hands hurt. I also discovered that I had to underfill the bobbins or the thread just slid off the bobbin and tangled up.

 

 

 

To add insult to injury, the variegated thread doesn't really show up that well and I probably needn't have bothered!

 

I used a Kona navy solid for the binding to finish it all off.

 

 

I'm very pleased with the finished result ( and that it's finished at all) and I'll be taking it to the retreat next month to give to Siblings Together.

 

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 62 x 54 inches

Front: Spare blocks and Ikea blue solid

Wadding from stash

Backing fabric: Ikea

Binding : navy Kona solid

Quilted in Fantastico by Superior Threads

 

This is another 2nd quarter finish for FAL

 







S T Q B quilt finished

I've written this post once and whilst trying to copy it to send to Lynne, I deleted the whole thing in error. So annoying!!!
So, I'll start again. I have been meaning to write the post about finishing my STQB quilt for some time but real life has been very busy. Nearly a year ago now Lynne set up a quilting bee to make quilts for Siblings Together. She has written about the charity here. You have probably seen a lot of other posts with the quilts we have all made. I was Ms March and I received a lovely huge bundle of Storybook by Kate and Birdie. This was kindly donated by Moda. I added my own white crosshatch ( Botanics from Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander) and chose Melissa's original Happy quilt-a-long as my pattern.  My lovely bee mates made up the blocks ( in fact I have enough partial blocks left to make another quilt for ST at some future point). So here it is in all it's glory:

 

And here is the back:

 

 

 

The backing is another Kate and Birdie fabric ( Hydrangea in Sunrise from the Bluebird Park collection). This was very kindly donated by Alice at Backstitch. I used my own wadding ( Warm and Natural) because I was keen to get it finished. Hadley sent me some wadding which had been donated by Lady Sew and Sew and I will use this for the other ST quilt in due course.The binding is the yellow fabric from  Storybook which I think finishes it off perfectly:

 



 

 

I decided to try out my fledgling FMQ skills on this quilt which was a very 'interesting' experience. I quickly discovered that I needed a proper ruler to sew the straight lines without ruining my machine. I bought one ( now the quilt is finished) called a Line Tamer ( more commonly known as the Lion Tamer for obvious reasons!).The flowers, though far from perfect, were much easier than I thought. I used a Frixion pen to mark out the quilting lines and this worked really well. I was worried that the pen might leave marks, especially on the white fabric, but it was fine. The straight lines were much, much harder and this is something I will have to practice.

 

 

 

 

 

I used my favourite So Fine in colour 401 for the quilting, both in the bobbin and for the topstitching.

The problem with doing fancy quilting is that you have hundreds of threads to sew in at the end. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to move across the quilt without stopping and starting ( less threads to sew!) but was only partially successful at this.

 Anyway, I'm very pleased with the end result and I hope it will make some girl ( it's definitely a girlie quilt) very happy.

 

I just have to sew on a label and it's done.

 

This is also one of my 2nd quarter finishes in Katie's 2014 FAL.

 





Catch Up Time

Life has been busy here in Hare House, so not much time for blogging. Firstly, Harri had his dissertation to finish, which is now done and dusted. He only has one more exam to go then he will have finished his degree ( hurrah!). He has certainly matured this year, but I will be glad when it's all over. Then, I made a flying visit to Malvern Quilt Show, where I briefly met up with Sonia and her friend to say hello! I bought a few essentials ( wadding, thread, a tiny bit of fabric and ordered some longarm quilting rulers- more about them in my next post).Then it was onto a week in Madrid via London.
Madrid is a wonderful city, full of history so of course it rained for nearly the whole week, while everyone at home enjoyed glorious sunshine! Typical. We did all the usual touristy things including a bus tour of the city, which was actually very informative. We visited a few museums and saw far too much art ( to the point of overload). We also did a lot of walking . Mr Hare , in typical fashion, insisted on a visit to the railway station, to compare the new building with the old 'Victorian' one. I found it surprisingly difficult to get any decent food ( being non- meat eating doesn't help). The one vegetarian restaurant we tried was truly awful. The tapas were expensive but fortunately the wine was cheap!
Mr Hare chose the hotel: The Hotel Puerta America because it has each floor designed by a different famous architect. We were on the fourth floor ( didn't have an enormous choice of floors because we wanted a non-smoking room???). This is the corridor to the rooms:

And this was our bathroom:

 

 

This was the triumph of design over functionality. The floor of the shower was a sheet of stainless steel, seriously slippery when trying to take a shower! The head of the bed was also  stainless steel, level with the mattress and having the result that the pillows slipped off the bed. Seriously annoying. My other final gripe was that the hotel was advertised as having free wifi access, which turned out to be a complete joke! It was obviously designed to make you pay for the access because in the café around the corner the wifi was perfect, yet in the hotel it was so slow as to be impossible to use. These are small irritations in what was otherwise a very enjoyable break.

The metro system in Madrid was fantastic and easy to use. There are loads of wonderful buildings,  parks and  museums.

 

Mr Hare on the one sunny day of our trip.

 

 

I didn't take many photos, but here are a few:

 

This is a Salvador Dali painting from 1944 entitled: Dream caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a second before waking up.

 

 

A Painting by Magritte

 

The very touristy Iron Market, though still a lovely building:

 

 

A garden by the Royal Palace:

 











 

Then it was back to go to the last day of Chelsea Flower Show on the Saturday, which is another post in itself.

Eye Spy Economy Block Quilt -Ta Da!

I'm certainly on a roll at the moment. I've finished another of my WIP's and I'm well on my way with a few others ( which I will reveal in later posts).
So, here is my economy block quilt in all it's glory:

 

 

And here is the back:

 

 

 

In close up on the back:

 

 

 

 

And similarly on the front:

 

 





Quilt stats:

48 inches by 60 inches

Front made with 6 inch ( finished ) blocks from stash, with lots of fussy cutting
Back made with 'Princess Kingdom' from Alexander Henry and a strip of Denyse Schmidt ( don't know what it is called) again from stash
Binding another unknown fabric from my stash
Quilted with So fine in white .

I'm a little disappointed with myself as the quilting on this one is not the finest! I wanted the quilting to be light, so as not to detract from the blocks. So, I just did wavy lines diagonally round all the blocks. I think I had it too loosely set up on the machine and it is not as 'flat' as I would have liked. It does give it a softer handle than more dense quilting, which I suppose was the effect I was after.
Once I've done the label, this is off to Isabella, the daughter of a colleague of mine.

I'm chuffed because this is the second finish of FAL quarter 2 and it's not May yet!



'Lil'Twister Quilt Finished

Well, the long Easter weekend was quite a productive one for me. We decided not to go away, but to stay and enjoy the few days of glorious sunshine. Harri went back up to Durham on Thursday, dissertation well under way, so I got my computer back. Madlen was working on Good Friday and Easter Monday, so there was just Mr Hare and myself. We had a busy day of gardening on Friday (still lots more to do though) and went out to The Bear in Crickhowell in the evening with friends.

 

 

These tulips I planted in the autumn have been wonderful and flowering much earlier than usual.

 

 

 

I planted two big pots full of these colours and another two pots ( which aren't quite so advanced) of pinks and purples. The weather has been unusual again this year. My wisteria is just coming into flower already, a good 3-4 weeks earlier than is normal.

Mr Hare went away on Sunday and Monday, leaving me to sew. Bliss! So, this :

 

 

 

 

became this:

 

 

which became this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These phone photos aren't doing it any justice, because it is very pretty.

 

Quilt stats:

34 x 44 inches

Front made with a mixture of prints  including lots of Posy, some Wee Wander and lots of others.

Edging made with pale grey Sketch from Timeless Treasures.

Back made with some lavender flannel I bought in Joann's when I was in the States in February

Binding Roman Glass in pink by Kaffe Fassett.

Quilted with So fine ( no 401) by Superior threads.

 

This is the first quilt I have quilted on my longarm since it was reassembled after the fire. Before that, I had only quilted 2  quilts on my longarm, so I am a real novice.

What have I learned so far? Well, stippling is a very forgiving quilting design, and although I need lots more practice the quilt doesn't look too bad. I also found out to leave more overlap in the throat distance. When I had finished, I had a line of missed quilting all the way across. Fortunately, I just reloaded the quilt with the back facing upwards and filled in the gap.

I tried to plan my quilting using a hera marker. Well, that didn't work, I couldn't see the lines.I tried a blue chalk pen- same thing. So I abandoned that and just winged it. I also found I couldn't see where I had previously quilted ( the light in my sewing room is very bright) and so there are some overlapping quilting lines.

 

This has got me fired up and ready for some more. So, this afternoon I'll load up another one and get going. I also discovered I need to buy some more wadding. This is a real dilemma. What do I go for? I really like Quilter's Dream Orient, but it's relatively expensive. Do I order a whole roll of wadding and become a proper grown up quilter? 



 



 





FAL Second Quarter

Despite only finishing one of my FAL Q1 list of shame I'm going to be foolish enough to bring this list forward to quarter 2 and add 5 more projects. Why add any more when I have enough WIP's to last a year? Well, it's because I have to do them.
So here goes again
1) FAL  quarter 1 list minus the VW cushion

2)Sibling together quilt No 1

I've had back all the bee blocks and pieced the top together, just waiting for backing and binding fabric to arrive

 

 

3)Siblings together Quilt No 2

 

My fellow bee mates made half of another set of blocks for me. I'm also waiting for more of the white crosshatch botanics to finish this one as well. I've cut out all the 5inch squares though

 

 

 

4and 5) Girl baby quilt and divided basket

 

My friend Ginevra is imminently about to give birth. I want to do a 'lil'twister quilt for her baby.

I've done a fabric pull, just have to get on with it

 

 

I'd also like to make her a divided basket to hold baby things. I've got the pattern so again have to get on with it.

 

6) Boy baby quilt

 

Another friend is having her first grandson, so I've said I'll make a quilt for him as well. I've done a fabric pull for this one, but haven't decided on a pattern yet.

 

 

I think that's more than enough to be going on with.