A little EPP

It's a good thing I'm not aiming to make my Christmas Stars quilt to any deadline, I'd correctly remembered how long hand sewing patches takes. Although I did think little pieces would be quicker.

It has been surprising how little they are. 

This is the little work table near my chair. It was a relatively cheap purchase from IKEA but does its job perfectly, I even have my tablet propped up In the corner providing background noise or a way to watch the Great British Sewing Bee and Masterchef whilst crafting. I think all I need now is some form of lamp to light my work better and the corner will be perfect. 

And here's my progress to date. I darent even look how many star I actually need! 

When one project finishes...

Actually the KISS shawl isn't quite finished but I've completed all the knitting.

It now needs a good blocking, but as I'm working away from home during the week now that will have to wait until 1) I'm at home and 2) have some spare time.

The drawing to a close of a project is obviously the perfect time to start another project or two!

I couldn't decide whether to start a hand sewing project or a crochet project, both of which will be slow growers, so I decided to start both.

I made some very initial steps on the Christmas Stars Quilt from Millefiori Quilts Book 1. I've been collecting fabric for it for a while so my now quieter evenings seem the ideal time to try and get to grips with it.

There are definitely a few techniques to get figured out and I mistakenly thought the small diamonds would see together quickly...I definitely made the right choice excluding this from my 12 Things challenge!

The crochet project is on my 12 Things list and as it has the reputation of taking a while to complete I wanted to start it early in the year...forgot to say the project is the CBTL shawl.

First steps with this was to check I could still do the necessary stitches (I think I can) and try and figure out which size hook to achieve the necessary gauge (I think I know). Hopefully I'll have more of this done by the end of the month (which is actually next week so maybe not).

At least I won't be struggling for things to fill my time in the evenings!

Beautiful distraction

I can't remember why but I decided to treat myself to the Millefiori Quilts book without knowing much about it except it's all English paper piecing (EPP) and the front cover quilt is stunning.

The book is lovely just to look through. There's an interesting section on the author at the front and it's in French and English.

Now I own the book I also know that the shapes are small

On average the sides seem to be no longer than an inch.

There are pages of instructions for each of the quilts which require hundreds, or even thousands of shapes.

And finally it's not only the front cover quilt which is stunning, all of them are in my opinion.

I also know I want to make at least one of them, can't decide which one, and I need to get my brave pants on.  Luckily this should suit my crafting style in that a quilt will take years to complete!

This book is definitely distracting me from what I should be doing and I'm still only at the browsing and deciding stage.

FNSI Results

Not the most successful FNSI ever for me due to getting home a little later than planned and then realising I'd forgotten to bring key items home with me such as some studying that needs doing and my internet dongle.  And then my technological items started playing up and all in all I got quite wound up but I did manage a little hand sewing to calm me down.

A few more blocks for my brother's quilt.

Hope everyone else's FNSI was entirely relaxing.

This may take some time...

Its a little difficult to see thanks to my sister's ability to match the sewing threads perfectly to the fabric, but I have started the hand quilting on the rainbow quilt.  Not doing anything fancy just a single line of stitching in each round following the chalk lines, I don't want to detract from the hexagons themselves.  As this is meat to be a curling up on the sofa quilt (even though it is huge) I'm going against the "rules" of quilting and not including any batting just the quilt top and a thinnish fleece blanket banking.  Hopefully it'll work okay else I could be undoing a lot of stitching!

"Perforated Fingertips" or "The Gentle Art of Hand Quilting"

On Saturday I attended an introduction to hand quilting class at my LQS.  I booked this several weeks ago and when I booked it was purely to find out how to hand quilt with no intention of using my hopefully new found skill in the near future.  That was until I received the rainbow hexagons quilt and, as it is totally hand sewn, I started to toy with the idea of hand quilting it somehow.


Rather than jumping the gun and buying all the necessary threads, needles etc, I was patient and waited until I'd found out at the class a) if I could manage hand quilting and b) if I enjoyed it enough to embark on a large project.

And even though it was only a small piece I'm happy to say I enjoyed hand quilting (although it does take a lot of concentration) and I love the effect and look of it.

I'm going to have to find a better fitting, and if at all possible more comfortable, thimble but I'm now considering how best to hand quilt a large quilt.


And why the slightly odd post title?

You use one of the fingers on your none sewing hand to tell when the tip of the quilting needle is through the quilt.  After only a very short period of time hand quilting the skin on my middle finger is already quite roughed up.  Not helped by sewing myself to the work once or twice.  Goodness knows what it'll be like after doing a whole quilt! Any tips on how to avoid a callous on that finger gratefully received.

Union Flag Cushion

I made this for my brother a couple of years ago at his request.  As, at the time I made this, I had no idea about using the sewing machine to piece patchwork it was made totally by hand.  It's not totally clear from the photo but the cream fabric was cord, the red velvet and the blue some fine, blue, shiny stuff that frayed like crazy I had to be stuck on fusible interfacing so I could sew it up.


I enjoyed making this cushion, I would like to get around to making another one using the sewing machine some time, or maybe create a quilt to go with (minus the sparkly blue fabric).

Bath Quilters Sewing Group

Took myself off to the Bath Quilters' sewing group tonight.  I have attended a different sewing group previously and found it very conducive to getting paper piecing done.  The Bath Quilters group seems very friendly, although it was flipping cold in the hall we were in (later discovered that the heaters had been slightly blocked by chairs). I'm definitely going to go again - I like being sociable whilst I sew.  I also got more done than I would have done at home (but maybe not quite as much as I hoped).

I am determined to finish the quilt top they are for this year.

Almost Hexies - A Crafting Review

Been a bit quiet on here as I have been having some work done on my flat and consequently felt a bit guilty crafting.  And then last weekend, when I had lots of crafting time and got the squiggles done, I found I'd forgotten to bring my camera - there will be a sudden burst of photos in the nearish future showcasing my house improvements and craft achievements (barring the knitting which I have been doing obsessively but is destined to be a family present in the winter).

For now I'm going to have a little craft retrospective and update everyone with my slow progress on my hand sewn tumbling blocks quilt.

It hasn't grown much but I've just started on the third row, having added about half a rows worth of blocks.  To give a sense of scale (and to explain why its folded over) this quilt is destined to be suitable for at least a double bed, possibly a kingsize bed.  I have a cunning plan to increase the size of this quilt rapidly...at least two or three rows (possibly as many as five) have already been completed and sewn together.  These are currently somewhere in my mum's house so I have put a plea in with her to track them down and send them to me and then I can get a real feel for how far I have got with this quilt.  In optimistic hope I'm starting to try and figure out how it should be quilted and planning in a trip to buy backing fabric.  Judging on current progress that trip may not be until 2014 but you never know!