Making Some Progress

I took on the second January block on Sunday evening, and finished it!!! I can't believe it, two in one day!!!

This one frustrated me with the vertical lines not "lining" up perhaps if I made them wider it wouldn't be so noticeably


Can't wait to get onto the next one... for now... happy quilting <3 

Learning Online

Since the class I was going to attend on Friday's has been postponed until June I decided to look around and see what I could find online to teach myself quilting, I came across the Craftsy website and found their "The Craftsy Block of the Month with Amy Gibson" class and decided to sign up, I mean who wouldn't being that the course is FREE!!!! They teach you a technique and then you make two blocks, you have the ability to watch and re-watch the video, take notes, ask questions and share you work.


So I sat down last night and watched the first lesson (January), started on what I thought would be an awesome block, unpicked it TWICE! and then decided to give it another go in the morning with an easier fabric. Now I don't know if it was my skill level or just that the block I tried to complete isn't designed to work with stripes but I don't recommend it :-)


This afternoon after cleaning the house *germ removal* and seeing to my middle son who was up with a tummy bug last night, I decided to try and tackle the block again... and look :-) I did it... I haven't completed the final step as I don't have a 12.5 inch square ruler so I think I'll leave all the blocks until the end to trim down to size.

Now off to start the second block for Janurary, wish me luck <3

Rainbow Charm List

Here's the list of colours along with who is to purchase what colour, if you find you'd like to swap please let me know as soon as possible to ensure we have all colours covered. We are aiming for four people per colour.

Rainbow Charm Swap

I'm a bit of an organiser so when the opportunity come around for a fabric swap I jumped at the chance of taking part and took charge.

This fabric swap is going to be based on collecting the rainbow. Everyone will be allocated a colour, then you'll need to source a tone on tone fabric that matches that colour, prepare it for the swap and then send it to me, I'll split up all the colours of the rainbow and send you back your own pot of gold (2 charms from each swap, 56 charms in total).


Our colours are red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, we require 28 people or swaps *you're more than welcome to join more than once by selecting another colour* we need 4 of each colour for this rainbow to be complete.


Please read below and then comment if you'd like to take part, you can either select a colour or one will be allocated to you.



Fabric requirements:

1.  For swapping 5" charm squares, each person will purchase 1 yard of fabric and cut it  into 5" charm squares. 1 yard = 56 charms.  (I recommend buying 1.25 yards- never hurts to have a little extra in case you make a cutting mistake.) 1 yard equals 92cms
2. Choose a fabric that has a small print suitable for an 5" charms. Scale of the print is very important as smaller works better in this case. 
3. Fabric should be 100% cotton, quilt shop quality fabric. 
4. Fabric must be new and unwashed and must come from a smoke free environment.
5. Before mailing, cut your fabric into 5" x 5" charm squares.  Press your fabric before cutting. 1 yard = 56 charm squares (5" x 5".)  Here's a great tutorial on how to cut fabric into charms by Elizabeth Hartman.
6.  Put your fabric in a ziplock bag and include an index card with your name and email address. 
7. Upload pictures of your fabric to the swap Flickr group and include the name of the fabric, designer, etc if possible. This ensures that there are no duplicate fabrics chosen and allows everyone to find out more about the fabrics in case they would like to order more once they have received their charms. 

Timeline: Please have your fabric in the post to me no later than the 30th April 2012. 

Shipping:
Participants must include a prepaid self-addressed, stamped envelope along with their charms when mailing them to me. A very easy way to handle this is to include a pre paid Australian Post satchel with your charms. Smaller package envelopes are fine too but participants should keep in mind: bubble or plastic envelopes work best - no risk of tearing in the mail.  

Taking the Next Step

Well I started the next step tonight before I put ALL of the blocks together in my 1st Ever Quilt.


I created a quater of the blocks and started to cut them up, but then realised that the blocks aren't perfectly square (17") which means I need to trim them, however my cutting mat is only 17" wide which I thought wouldn't be a problem but the last one I cut (after I realised this problem) proved that I need a larger mat so I can try and create more of a perfect square by viewing the grid under the block so I can see what edges need trimming. I believe that involves another trip to spotlight. 


Thankfully I had only cut up 3 of the 9 blocks from the original pattern (crib size). The plan was to cut up the 9 blocks, place them out to see how things look and then start on the extra blocks to make it a queen sized quilt.


I couldn't help but place the three blocks I had cut onto the floor to see what kind of result I have to look forward too, what do you think?

Once I have more blocks cut I'll be able to space out the colours some more, I've used 10 different fabrics so that SHOULD (I hope) create more room.

On a Roll

After a bit of house work today and then a quick "stroll" down to spotlight I was able to justify spending this afternoon on my "1st Quilt Ever" I thought I was getting some amazing progress down until I heard the garage door open and the kids were home... opps caught out!

I had my blocks spread out all over the lounge floor... organisation plus 11 month old... equals mess so I quickly picked it all up and waiting for bed time...


And then I sewed together my first block!!! doesn't line up completely correct but hey! it's a first :-)

Now for the other 30!!!

1st Ever Quilt

I've decided to run though the "1st Ever Quilt" tutorial from Obsessively Stitching for my next quilt.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX2tFVaP5sDgs-N8dchw-iybFbr4MUf_HWKX9u_75SLOMAvKS9oYdiG2loI0cKwINuwYi8W4tT7FvM0KOkxXaP5zWuB9QZd-eQB2KSqPjaA5PmEusOjFuw6PfWqsK7gVKS7drHDtidrgM/s1600/hedgies.jpg

It is the first I've started from scratch and I hope to make it a lot bigger, than the crib size in this tutorial so will see how I go. I've decided to use the Aubusson Range for this quilt. Best head off and start cutting <3

Time to Create

Well I've jumped in the quilting band wagon and decided finally start something I've wanted to do for so long. I started off last week by purchasing MY first sewing machine. I've had one in the past but the last one I owned was actually my ex-mother in laws and I don't even know if I got around to using it before handing it on to her now daughter in law (you still with me ;-) ) and before that I used my Mums and Step Mothers, that was about 14 years ago!!!


I started on a quilt kit last week and completed the top with a few errors, un picking twice, plaster required once, and a bad choice of fabric, it was meant to be for my son's bed, you know, blues and greens PERFECT... except it's covered in flowers and butterflies. Now I need to work out how to do the rest... but I'll leave that until I've completed some local classes and work out how to piece them all together without ruining it. 

Quilt of the Season by Creative Cuts
Blue & Green Brick

And since it no longer has a home I've decided to start on another... but which one?


I've fallen in love with these two fabric combinations

Sugar & Spice Textiles - Sock Monkey Range
plus some solid fabrics

This one will be for Oliver's First Bed, he's only 11 months so I've got plenty of time to create something.

Aubusson Range
plus some solid fabrics

This one I'd like to make into a queen sized quilt... home? TBA