Sunday 20 January 2013

New Projects and Challenges



Hello Hazel here! Are you ready for our challenge? We're asking you to make a quilt which includes pieced letters. It can be any size you choose so you have plenty of freedom in the design and it can include other blocks too. I gave some links to useful websites in a previous post here.

Today I've been playing in Electric Quilt (EQ7) software to make a banner design for YMQG - what do you think?  Electic quilt has  classic pieced alphabets and a foundation pieced lower and upper case alphabet which I used for this design. There are even Greek and Hebrew alphabets if you want something a bit different! I can't live without EQ7 because I use it to design and adapt quilt patterns for my classes and it really is brilliant! You can create your own block designs or use hundreds of pre-drawn ones on a choice of quilt layouts. There are a multitude of possibilities to choose fabrics, colours and sizes of blocks and borders too but it's very easy to use. I can also export pictures of the blocks or quilts to illustrate my instruction sheets. I don't have any affiliation to Electric Quilt but if you're interested check out the Electric Quilt Blog to see some projects designed in EQ7.


With the New Year there are many new projects and challenges out there in blogland. I came across a link to a new 'Skill Builder' Block of the Month on our new member Sarah's blog Duck Egg Threads, which looks fantastic. Sarah's also taking part in the new Craftsy 2013 Block of the Month. Both of these are free so well worth a look!



If you fancy a different challenge how about a Mug Rug swap? Michelle at Quilting Gallery is hosting one. It costs $5 to join but you get two lovely free mug rug patterns included. Visit Quilting Gallery regularly to find a weekly coupon for fabric and pattern discounts and enter the weekly show and tell to be in with a chance to win a prize. 

Have you set yourself new challenges this month? Leave a comment below to share your favourite new projects, swaps and blog hops!

Monday 14 January 2013

Sit and Sew Day


You are invited to our Sit and Sew Day!

When: Saturday 16th February 2013 10am to 4pm
Where: Clifford Village Hall, 7 Albion Street, Clifford LS23 6HY Click here for a map
Cost: £8 including tea and coffee plus a free raffle with quilty prizes

Come along and spend time sewing with friends! This will be an informal get-together to share ideas and inspiration, see other quilters projects and spend time working on your own projects. We'll have a 'show and tell' of your quilts (finished or WIPs) to get the ball rolling then Hazel will demonstrate some easy free-motion quilting designs for those who are interested. Most of the day will be just for you to sew, whatever you please, with like minded people. There will also be an opportunity to buy some fabrics and supplies for those who wish to do so.

There will have to be a limit on the number of quilters attending so it is essential that you book in advance. To do so please send  an email with your name and contact details by clicking here

Sunday 6 January 2013

Shattered


Hello, Hazel here. My new quilt's name seems appropriate as the New Year has started with some very sad news about a dear friend who had a sudden bereavement last week. I'm thinking of her constantly and send her my love.

I actually started this new quilt before Christmas but then got sidetracked with making other gifts, but have managed to finish the quilt top in the last week. It's from the 'Quilting Modern' book and uses the insert a strip technique to make very large blocks. This measures about 50 by 60 inches and was great fun to do. I used a plain white fabric which I dyed using Dylon machine dye in black. I just added a small amount of the dye and it worked well although it was a little more blue than I would have liked. Perhaps I didn't stir up the dye packet enough. The dark fabric is from the 'Scraffito' range from P and B fabrics which I love.

Because I had to piece the backing and was a bit short of the plain black I planned to use I decided to make a feature of the backing. I'd seen a photo of a quilt on Pinterest which inspired me but I just can't find it again to give you the link - sorry! Anyway here is my version:


I now have to layer this up ready to quilt but can't face crawling around on the floor so I'm going to take it to one of my classes and stay late to layer it on the large tables there. I can't wait to get started on the quilting.

What have you been working on recently? If you'd like to share it with us how about doing a guest blog with a photo or two? Let me know in a comment if you'd like to have a go.

I'll be back soon with more details for the next sit and sew day but to get the ball rolling we'd like to set a challenge: make a quilt (any size) which includes pieced letters in the style of the book 'Word Play Quilts' by Tonya Ricucci. Click Here for photos on Flickr. Here's a link to step by step instructions for all the letters of the alphabet: http://patcherymenagerie.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/red-letter
 If you want to join in please bring your challenge piece to the next SASD on February 16th.

Happy Stitching

Hazel