Free Online Class

Have you discovered Craftsy yet? It's a great place to find video classes including this new FREE class with Elizabeth Hartman called 'Creative Quilt Backs' and the Craftsy Block of the Month, also free. Elizabeth also has an 'Inspired Modern Quilts' class running costing £25 which is a typical price for Craftsy courses. If you sign up for Craftsy you will often be offered classes at half price which for me have proved irresistible!

I find the classes incredibly good value (an important consideration for Yorkshire folk) with very easy to access to the videos at any time on the internet, class discussions and notes to print too. There are 22 classes listed on the Quilting page such as  Sewing Machine Basics, Scrap Quilting, Cloth Dyeing and Thread Art. For those interested in other crafts there is a wide variety of sewing, knitting, crochet, papercrafts etc too

Recently Craftsy launched a pattern market place with quilters from around the world offering patterns for free download or for a very reasonable price. If you fancy publishing a pattern this may be a good way to offer it for sale.

Let us know if you have taken any Craftsy classes and what you thought of them. Also if you have found any similar online classes tell us so we can share the fun!

Happy Stitching!

Hazel

String Hearts Workshop

Sorry but this class is now full! Janet will be teaching a similar workshop in November for the Quilters Guild - details to follow.

I'm delighted to announce that Tuesday Quilters of Boston Spa near Wetherby have booked Janet to teach her 'String Hearts' workshop on Saturday September 8th from 10am to 4pm and there are places available if anyone would like to join us for the day. The cost is only £20 which is a real bargain and as we'll be using scraps you won't even need to spend a lot on fabric! Oh and by the way if anyone is short of scraps I can supply plenty!!!!

The workshop will be held at the Deepdale Community Centre, Boston Spa. Click here to view a map and get directions. Tea and coffee will be provided but you will need to bring a packed lunch as well as your sewing machine and the usual patchwork equipment. I'll also be bringing my portable shop selling notions, fabrics, threads etc at very competitive prices. We are a very friendly group and it's going to be a fun and relaxing day

If you would like to book a place please click here to send me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Quilting in Progress

I've made a start on the quilting of my modern log cabin. Following QuiltSue's suggestion that I 'pebbled' the block centres, I played on a practice piece and decided on a sort of curly filler. I then decided to use my lovely coloured threads on the hand-dyed fabric shapes. Hmm not sure! Anyway I ploughed on and did some echo quilting on the white background. That done I decided I definitely didn't like the outlining on the coloured section, so that had to go!

I wielded the seam ripper and used a sticky lint roller to remove the threads:

But, as some of you may know, when you unpick you can still see where the stitches were, so how do I get rid of the dotted line of holes?

Here's my tip of the week. Go to an art supplies store or large stationers and buy a refillable brush and fill with water. These are very clever as you can gently squeeze just a little water onto the brush to dampen it. Brush along the line and the holes start to disappear. I knew some of that arty stuff I bought for City and Guilds would come in handy sometime! 

Next gently press the fabric with a warm iron and if you can still see some holes, repeat the brushing and pressing:

Hey Presto! Just about all gone. Now back to the machine and I decided a bit of stitch in the ditch would finish the block nicely.

There, that's better! I want these bright coloured shapes to stand out and I prefer them now without the stitching breaking them up. In fact if I make similar blocks in future I might add some trapunto to raise them up more. Oh dear! I'm never completely satisfied and I'm always thinking my quilts could be better if..........Does anyone else have that problem?

 Ware you working on at the moment? If you would like to do a guest blog about your quilts please leave a comment and I'll send you an invite!

Hazel

Quilting Decisions

Hi Hazel here! After all the excitement of my daughter's wedding I'm finally coming down to earth and today got back to sewing. I dug out a modern quilt blocks inspired by 'Quilting Modern' and stitched them together. Here is the quilt top layered and ready to quilt but where do I start? Here are a couple of close ups of the blocks:

I love stitching free motion quilting curvy designs but I think this one needs something more geometric so I think I may do some echo quilting and see where that takes me. In  'Quilting Modern' a similar quilt is quilted in an overall large zigzag which I think looks great. 

How would you quilt it? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Now what about thread? Do you have a favourite type of quilting thread? I have a pretty good stash of polyester and rayon machine embroidery threads which have a lovely sheen and come in an enormous array of colours including variegated shades and are reasonably priced:

I particularly like Madeira's Polyneon range. Remember to unwind some thread on your quilt top to judge the effect - these can look rather startling on the spool but are a bit more subtle in a single strand! The variegated spool at the bottom right is Superior 'Rainbows' which is very shiny and bright - another lovely thread. Some people are surprised that I use polyester thread  as I always use cotton for piecing but I don't have a problem with it for quilting if it gives the effect I'm looking for.

I think my all time favourite quilting thread is Superior's King Tut- a gorgeous silky smooth Egyptian cotton which sews beautifully on the machine. It comes in a range of 100+ colours, subtly shaded solid and wonderful variegated shades. This is more matt than the poly and rayon threads:

It's often difficult to judge the colour of threads in the shop as they have a plastic wrapping which reflects the light. Consider investing in a thread wrapped shade card for our favourite brands:

They make internet shopping so much easier too!

All the above threads are 40 weight. Remember that the smaller thread weight number the thicker the thread. 40 weight is a medium thickness, 30 weight is quite a lot thicker and 50 or 60 is a fine thread. I use a fine cotton for piecing e.g. 60 weight YLI soft touch or 50 weight Superior Masterpiece because these make a flatter seam for patchwork. I also use these threads in my bobbin when I use the quilting threads above through the needle. Why? Well when you do free motion quilting you will sometimes stitch a few stitches on the spot at certain points in a design and a thicker thread will make noticeable bobbles on the quilt back whereas a thin thread won't.  I generally try to match the colour of the bobbin thread to the top thread. Here's the hand dyed quilt backing:

I think any colour thread will blend with this! 

What type of needles do you use for quilting? I like to use a topstitch needle because it has a sharp point for penetrating the layers, a larger eye than a other needles and a groove down the shaft which lets the thread run smoothly. The large eye is also great if your machine doesn't have a needle threader! You can  get topstitch needles which are titanium coated and last five times as long as normal needles and I love these!

I buy most of my threads and needles from Barnyarns in Ripon. I can visit the shop near the canal, send hubby off to walk the dogs along the towpath so I can browse in peace, then meet him back at the lovely deli opposite Barnyarns for a cuppa and a bacon butty!! Barnyarns do have an extensive array of threads etc on their website too.

I'll be back soon with pictures of the quilting. In the meantime please share your quilting tips with us by leaving a comment below.

Happy Stitching!

Hazel

Rainbow String Hearts

I love scraps! I love to play with leftovers from a project and often like the things I make from leftovers better than the original item!

I also love colour and really enjoyed playing with these rainbow scraps in order to make string hearts.

 The method I used to make them left me with lots of 'bonus triangles' which turned into some of the cutest flying geese I have ever made. This project is going to be a cushion and the flying geese will make a lovely border on the back of the cushion.

 I have also made string hearts in some of my leftover red and white fabrics but I think I like the rainbow ones better! What do you think?

Modern Quilting Magazine

When I first heard about this magazine I tried to get a copy but to no avail. So when I saw it in WH Smith at the weekend I decided to buy it. Normally I don't buy magazines, preferring to save my money for books (you should see my Amazon wish list!) but this is for research purposes isn't it?

 Also I was drawn to the cover as I am a fan of Tula Pink - hers was one of the first blogs I followed.

 I am actually quite impressed with the magazine - there are loads of great articles - much more in depth than your average quilting mag.

 I never knew that Amy Butler's hubby was a fabric designer too - there is a good article about him and the pattern for this quilt made from his fabric line - Parson Gray.

 This is Tula's quilt pattern which appears in the magazine.
Did you know she has a book out? I almost bought it but had already ordered two this week - but it will be my next purchase.

 This Modern Alphabet quilt appears in the mag - but not the pattern.It is available to buy as a pattern but not sure if we can get it in the UK. Perhaps it is in the book?
Anyway I love this pattern - the machine quilting on it is excellent, I would love to make it one day!

So to summarise, I think Modern Quilting is a great magazine for up to date info and patterns for modern quilters. However there have been rumours on the internet that the magazine's publishing company has gone into receivership - I have no idea if these are true or not. All I will say is that I will not be taking out a subscription - just in case! 

Slice and Insert!

One of the techniques mentioned in the new 'Quilting Modern' book recently reviewed by Hazel was 'Slice & Insert'. This is a technique I have been playing with recently so I thought I would share some of my projects with you.

I am working on a new liberated patchwork workshop sample inspired by one of my favourite Gee's Bend quilts. I decided to slice and insert a red strip into my liberated stars - I am really pleased with the effect.

 I have also used the technique on an orphan Civil War block. This was inspired by reading Rayna Gilman's latest book where she encourages us to chop up those orphan blocks. This one you may recognise as 'Birds in the air.' I know the fabrics are far from modern but bear with me as I think you might find the results interesting.

 First I sliced it diagonally and inserted a pale cream strip. Still boring, I know!

 But then I sliced again through the other two small triangles and rearranged the pieces - this is much better I think!

 Got any orphan blocks that could do with a makeover?