A Date for Your Diary

It's that time of year when I get out my Christmas quilts for a few weeks and the photo shows my favourite - a panel given to me in a Secret Santa gift some time ago. It was fun to quilt and I really love it. Do you have a favourite Christmas quilt? Like Janet I've made one or two Christmas gifts and will still be working on one or two more this weekend! Here's a little bag I made yesterday from a pattern in a fabulous book: 'A Passion for Patchwork' by Lise Bergene

Now for something to look forward to in 2013 - our next sit and sew day! It will be on Saturday February 16th  at Clifford Village Hall, Clifford near Wetherby. I'll be posting more details in the New Year but our theme for this meeting will be quilting, both with the walking foot and free motion quilting. So put the date in your diary and in the meantime you might want to browse some of the quilt photos I've added to our YMQG Pinterest boards  and my Free Motion Quilting board. This Flickr photostream  shows lots of lovely walking foot quilting designs from the '31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting' I mentioned in a previous post.

Have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hazel

Christmas Gift making.

This is the time of the year when we like to make gifts for family and friends. I always over estimate how much time I will have available for this activity but I do have some completed items to show.

I used some of my Alexander Henry fabrics to make bookcovers for my two sons.

The one on the left is simple applique - broderie perse, if you are posh or just fussy cutting motifs from patchwork fabric for the rest of us!

The one on the right is a single piece of fabric which I have free machine quilted around the skulls - fun to do and very quick. This has given each skull a nice raised appearance.

 Here is a photo to show both sides of the applique bookcover.

 I also have two great nieces whom I try to make hand made gifts for. Their Mum is very appreciative so that really helps! I studied a lot of tutorials on apron making and came up with my own simple version. Each is made from a fat quarter. The applique pockets will help them remember which one belongs to them. I used this great 'wordy' fabric which is so educational! The neck straps contain elastic so they will be nice and comfy.

My simple squares quilt is still 'in progress'. The top is finished and the next job is to make the pieced back. Rob is now home from Uni so I can't always work on it, although he does spend long periods sleeping!!

Wishing you all a Pieceful Christmas and New Year!

Janet x

Simple Squares - Progress!

I have started work on the quilt of the previous post which I have decided to call 'Simple Squares'. Due to the dull weather conditions and limited daylight hours all photos are taken in my extension room where there is the most natural light so you will be seeing more of my new blue Ikea sofa! The design wall in the sewing room is just no good for photos at this time of year.

I will give directions of how I am making this quilt, just in case you feel inspired to join me!

I decided to use twenty 10 inch squares - these can actually be cut from 5 fat quarters - as long as they are metric FQs (20 x 22 inches).

I then cut fifteen strips of 10 x 3 inches and joined the squares and strips as shown in the photo below. This produced five rows, each containing four squares.

I then cut four strips 3 x 46 inches to join the five rows together as shown in the photo below.

This has produced a quilt top of 46 x 58 inches.

I will add borders next, probably of 5 or 6 inches, also in the plain grey.

The layout of squares is not random, can you see the pattern? The vertical rows are all set in the same order, just starting at different points in the sequence.

Hope you are finding time for quilting at this busy time of the year?

Janet x

A simple modern quilt in time for Christmas?

Yesterday I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. It was lovely to meet up with Hazel and Anthea of Quilting Antics.

I purchased some Alexander Henry fabrics in order to make my youngest son, Rob, a University Quilt.
The poor lad started Uni in September without a quilt, what sort of a mother am I? Sad to say that Rob is a victim of that well known condition, second child syndrome. I have made loads of things for his elder brother but sadly Rob has missed out.

I have decided to set myself the challenge of making a simple modern quilt for him in time for Christmas (or maybe New Year!). I thought I might chart my progress here on the blog and perhaps even inspire some of you to make a similar quilt. After all there are some lovely fabrics out there!

Here are the fabrics for starters

It is my intention to cut these half metre pieces into 10 inch squares.
I will then join these with sashings of a lovely grey/blue solid.

Hope you are all enjoying your quilting!
Hazel and I will have news of the next YMQG Meet Up soon!

Janet x
  

31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting

I love Pinterest. I can spend hours exploring and pinning photos of gorgeous quilts which in all honesty I'll never have time to make and all that time browsing doesn't help get my pile of UFOs finished!!! 

Today I came across something which might help - 31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting. I've not looked at all the 31 posts on this Petit Design Co Blog series, but what I have looked at had me sitting up and 'wowing'. There are some useful basic tutorials in the first few posts but then there are some really novel suggestions for walking foot quilting designs. One of my favourites is 'Topography' - a variation of echo quilting done large across a pieced quilt top. There are some great shots of finished quilts in the 'Sunday Inspiration' post too.

Happy Quilting!

Hazel x 

Our First SASD!

Andrea's Tablemat

Well our first SASD was fun or, as Davina posted on Facebook, 'Awesome'! You'll need to make a cup of tea and settle down to read all about it as we have a lot to share.

Although there were only 7 of us there was plenty of activity, stitching, chatter and laughter. In fact it felt like we'd known each other for ever! We got started with introductions and a show and tell of beautiful quilts. 

Andrea is a newbie to quilting but has already been practising FMQ on this lovely bag made from tea towels:

Here's a closer view of the amazing echo quilting:

Helen brought a finished quilt and a work in progress. First her spools quilt:

This has a fabulous labels fabric on the back

She's working on an appliqué quilt from a 'Don't Look Now' pattern and planning to add a flying geese border. BTW You can buy someDon't Look Now patterns from The Skep in Farsley.

Liz brought a selection of dintricate patchwork quilts - she likes small pieces!

 The three above are doll quilts so quite small and below is the back of the Hearts quilt:

Davina had been making some village quilts with a young quilter she teaches:

and a Christmas wall hanging made with paper piecing. You can find some free block patterns on Carol Doak's website.

Janet brought her scrappy hearts quilt to show and her prize winners from the Harrogate show.

Phew after that inspiration it was time to get on with some stitching. Janet showed us how she made her table mat from strips of fabric in a Moda Scrap Bag. Some of us then started on our own tablemats while others worked on their own project. I've shown you Andrea's mat at the top of the post and here are some others.

Susan worked with black and white

Davina had some bright Halloween fabrics

Davina has already written about our day on her blog Cotton Confetti with more photos of her work.

 Liz worked on these fabulous stars:

Helen completed a stunning sailing ship block:

Janet provided us with a steady supply of tea and spooky cakes and made us have a break for lunch. She did manage to sew a little and I did some quilting on a Jelly Roll UFO. 

We finished the day by deciding to meet again in February or March in Boston Spa. I'll let you know the details when I have confirmed the date. We also set a challenge to make a word with liberated pieced letters. You can find instructions for making all the letters of the alphabet on The Patchery Menagerie blog and everyone can join in by posting photos on our Flickr group: Yorkshire Modern Quilt Guild. We hope to see you at our next meeting.

Happy Stitching!

Hazel

Workshop sample for our first SASD!

I have made a sample for the Modern Quilted Placemat workshop which will be an optional part of our first Sit And Sew Day. It is made from Moda 12 Days of Christmas fabric by Kate Spain. The strips are 2 inches wide as they come from a scrap bag rather than a jelly roll.

So far we have had a great response to the SASD but there are still places left if you want to join us. Details are in the previous post but I am going to give some good old fashioned directions for those without a Sat Nav!
Come off the M1 at Junction 37 and follow sign to Manchester. You will pass a Toby pub called Dodworth Valley and come to a small roundabout. Turn left at roundabout and then right at the next mini roundabout, passing a Costcutter shop. You will continue past the Holiday Inn and turn left just past the Bannatyne's Health Club. Continue until you see Curry Mahal and Budgens supermarket on your left and turn left just after Budgens. You will pass Dodworth library and Dil Raj restaurant on your right. You turn right a few yards further on opposite the Thornley Arms pub. This road is called Strafford Walk and the Pollyfox Centre is just on your right as you turn. Turn right onto Pollyfox Way to park - there is plenty of space if you turn right at the end of the street.

Hope to see you there! Don't hesitate to get in touch if you need more info.