Speed 4 – Priory quilters

Yay, people came. Not as many as we had expected but still, students. I hope you will be impressed with what was achieved too. We had a bit of a slow start, what with getting into the hall and sorting out everyones equipment, however oce they got going they really got to work. Even the ones who were worried at the start have gone home with most or all of a quilt. I love these quilts, they are fun and very useful. When you don't have to invest time or stress you don't have to worry so much about the finished item. I hope these quilts will give years of great service.

You will notice a few small quilts. These are scaled down versions of the original, as worked out by the students themselves. Interestingly they take almost as long as the full size ones. I suppose that is because they have the same number of pieces, so although the sewing time per seam is reduced the thinking and pressing time isn't much. They do make very cute bably quilts and at least are enough to understand the technique. On the way home I realised the could be made as seasonal wall hangings. Two seasons per quilt as they are reversible.

Having got home I've done some more on the new quilt but you will have to wait for tomorrow for pictures of that.

Next quilt up

Any guesses what I've got obn the frame now? I think some of my students will be able to give it a pretty good go. I will tell you I need this done pretty soon. I am really looking forward to getting back to it, I'm having fun.

Right now though I need to prepare for todays class. I'm teaching Speed 4 to Priory quilters. I hope they come, it's the first nice day we've had and this looks like gardening territory.

On the subject of teaching, I am thinking of more long classes I can run as 3-5 day retreats. It seems this format is really popular right now. What would you like to work on in a retreat? Would you want to learn a lot of techniques, like a sampler or would you rather work on a project with one or two techniques? Do you want to go home with a finished item or would you enjoy carrying on your holiday when you get home?

Quilt done

The quilt I blogged about last week went home today. It took a late night and an early morning but I think it was well worth it. Getting the borders straight took a lot of pinning as the outer triangles are bias edges and the border is a loose weave. Any quilt where the blocks are on point will need a bit of extra care to keep straight and square, the loose weave fabrics are just an added bonus. Fortunately the piecing was good so it did come together.

I knew this quilt was going to be shown, and that also adds a level of stress when quilting. It does give me a chance to have my quilting seen, whcih is great, and I do like to make sure it's interesting. Had I just been quilting this as a pattern sample (which it is) I would probably use a quick all overpattern or maybe some repeated feathers in the blocks. However for a show quilt I have several patterns on the quilt. The designs needed rulers and a stencil to produce as well as masking tape to devide up the areas, so these would be custom quilting.

As well as making the quilt look good now I was thinking how the quilt will look in the future. The fabrics and wadding are not pre-washed so they will shrink when the quilt is washed. Jenny ans I both like the antique effect this gives but with the loose fabric I wanted to be sure it would shrink nicely. I also want the quilt design to be appropriate that antique look. That was a factor in choosing to do the cross hatching and ruler work. Of course it will be a while before I get to see how that pans out.

Birthday

Tuesday was my birthday, and I had fun. I went to the cinema, but not one with a tiny seat no leg room and some smelly person jabbing you with an elbow. No, we did some research and went to The Electric in Portabello Road. Big arm chairs separated by tables and each with a foot stool. That is the way to see a film. It wasn't even much more expensive than our local cramped one. The refreshments weren't up to much though so after the film I was really starving. I had planned of posting a picture of the sushi we had but we kept eating it too fast, whups. It was really pretty honest. I did remeber to photograph me desert, ice cream mochi. They now have several flavours and despite not being a fan of either chocolate or green tea ice cream, as mochi I love them.

The cake was made by Lorna the cake lady. She is in my Wednesday afternoon class and makes great cakes. The Ferret logo went down well, but the coffee cake is even more impressive. I will try and get a picture tomorrow as we haven't finished eating it yet.

Quilt on the frame

I don't usually share customer quilts while I am working on them as I feel they should see their quilt first, but I don't think this customer will mind. The quilt will be heading to the National Quilt Championships, so although it is a sample to sell fabric, I'm doing a bit extra on it. Can't have a show quilt going out half dressed can I? Whatever I do will be pretty subtle as the customer has chosen a thread that matches the fabric very closely and the fabrics are quite strongly patterned, but I'm not letting that stop me. I know it will make for a great wholecloth on the back if nothing else. It is however very slow going. As a normal sample I could quilt this in a day easily. Doing it this way it will be 2 or 3 days. I am really enjoying it and I hope the owner will love it when I've finished.

It’s done

You can tell it's been raining, I've finished my turning twenty 8 quilt top. It's about 120" by 96" and it was made completely in the van. It has taken longer than the other turning twenty patterns I've made but I've really enjoyed it. It is in need ov a very good pressing. Once I started getting bigger pieces I decided the travel iron wasn't up to the job. I've been finger pressing the ends of seams as I came to them, but the middle of the seams I left. Dinner seems to be just about hot, so I'll get this off.

Woo Hoo – Paducah ribbon

It’s not a huge ribbon, it’s not even an average ribbon, it’s a little ribbon, but it’s mine I am soooo thrilled to have collected an honourable mention at the AQS Paducah show. Heck getting in at all was pretty amazing so this is really special. A special thank you to Judy for grabbing the first photos and letting me know.  It’s a great way to start the day. I’m also pleased that Ricky approves too I wish I could have been there for the show, but if the rain holds off the is drag racing to be done. Yeah I know not very likely but that’s how it goes.

It’s next stop will be the National Quilt Championships at Sandown. So if you are in the UK and you want to have a look come and visit it there.

Speed 3 – Wroxham Barns

Sorry this is a bit late. I got home and got busy. I will also say sorry for any odd expressions in the photo. I am in a sunny queue waiting to collect a package and I can't see them very well. This is the first free time I've had and I hate to waste it. As you can see the venue at Sew Creative is great for taking pictures of speed quilts, even the biggest can be displayed on the stairs. These quilts were all made in a day. Several even did the cutting out during the day. I love speed quilts. They arn't clever and they won't win shows but they make great gifts and will keep you warm. Ah, here is my package, more metallic threads. I will see if we can get the into my online shop over the weekend.

Turning twenty

I finally have a chunk of quilt top done. This is less than a third of the top, but it is enough to start getting the idea of how it will look. I've run out of thread now so It seems as good a time as any to start getting everything stowed ready to move the van in the morning.

Another day, another class

I'm back at Sew Creative today teaching machine quilting 2 again. The class was so popular they decided to run it twice. The photos are the piece one of Thursdays students made. This repeat customer from last year is very quick at picking up techniques, and tends to push the boundrys. Turns out her friends are much the same and in the pictures from yesterday you could see her friend working out a pattern for herself. I do like it whjen students pick up an idea and run with it, but they still get to be called trouble. Well they are, just in a good way. I can't wait to see what this pair get up to on Sunday.My turning twenty is still progressing. I really am trying to get it finished but there are a lot of pieces in each block. Last night I got most of it into half block chunks, so if i gon't at least finish all the blocks tonight I will be cross. I'm not sure if I cut enough sashing to get the whole thing together. I seem to remembner thinking I might be able to use it more efficiently and that I could cut more if I needed. Of course I then took the bolt of fabric out of the van so I am now trying to be extra efficient in the hopes I can finish if I have the time. I only have tonight so I am not optimistic, but we shall see.