Stash

It’s official.  I have just scored myself with the amount of fabric I have.  I counted up the fat quarters and half metres I had folded into this shelf of my storage system.  It amounts to 6.25 metres in just that tiny space.

Well I have 72 of those in the storage system

Which means that I must have about 450 metres of fabric.  And this is fabric that I do not use for my special appliqué quilts.  It gets used for my students and also for quilts for Project Linus and other charity quilts.  So I have worked out that if I do not buy another fat quarter I have enough fabric to make about 70 charity quilts.  I know I sew fast but this is slightly frightening!!!!!Especially as this year I am using my pre-cut strips for the quilt tops so that means it will be more like 120 quilts.

But I have made a start

This is made from my black and grey strips with the contrast orange to lift it a bit.  I can see this being given to a teenager hopefully.  It measures 60 x 65”. The back is made up of fabrics from my stash. 

So I think I had better get sewing!

Happy Quilting.

Prepping

This week has been one of prepping for appliqué projects.  I have been designing an open border for the vase appliqué quilt

The weird shape between the strawberries will be a bee with hand stitched legs.  This is very slow going but I am enjoying it hugely.  When life seems to get faster and faster, it is comforting to just sit and glue down the edges.  This quilt is being machine appliqué so once all the prep has been done should go together quite quickly.

I have signed up for some more block of the month appliqué projects again this year so am going to be really busy.  I will let you know which ones once they have started.

December’s instalment for the block of the month from Material Obsessions finally arrived yesterday and so I spent a happy time cutting out the shapes for the flowers

 Am going to be stitching them with Eleganza thread.  They are such fun to do in front of the TV so I am going to have a few cosy evenings just sewing.

Happy quilting!

New Year - new projects

Happy New Year to you all.  I have been plotting and planning all in order to support by word for this year which is DISCIPLINE.  I need to get more organised with my quilting and record what I am doing more accurately.

I bought the Quilter’s Planner for myself  and have already decided to do the two sampler quilts this year.  They will use up some stash and at the moment they are destined for Project Linus.  The colourways I have chosen are

And

OK I am ever going to use them all in the quilt tops but I reckon that they can also be used in the backings and bindings and will make a bit of a dent on the stash.

I have also finished the top for the 365 Block Challenge - 365 blocks in 365 days.  Gosh this was hard and I am certainly not going to be doing something like that again.  It really interrupted the work on other quilts but I am pleased with the result and now have to quilt it in order to gift it in May.

I don’t have the room to lay it all out but it is VERY busy so I reckon that some fairly overall quilting should be enough.

 I have some new fabrics on their way from the States and so will show them as soon as they arrive.

Happy Quilting!

Black Friday

Oh dear.  I never thought much about Black Friday before but this year I seem to be much more aware of it.  OK I am on Instagram and Facebook quite a lot and all these wonderful offers keep on appearing. So I am sitting here in my pjs and have a credit card in hand so what is a girl to do!!!!!  I am waiting for a few parcels to arrive!

I have been working on my BOM from Material Obsessions with lots of hand stitching

This is a tree for one of the borders.  Don’t you love the background fabric.  I would never have dared to use it but it works really well.  It has been whipstitched using Wonderfil’s Eleganza thread by Sue Spargo.  I really like this thread as it does not unravel when you are using quite long lengths.
I also have to make a mass of felt flowers which has been the greatest fun.  They should all be

Perfect Circles and although I am using them they are a little wonky - or as someone on Instagram said - they have character.  Why have I never discovered hand embroidery before. I always thought I was just a quilter and of course I still am but Oh the joy of just sitting and doing colonial knots and whip stitch in the evening.  I will show you some finished ones next time.

My machine is in the hospital as the top tension has been going bananas and I certainly do not need this as I am still doing the 365 day challenge and the latest Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt started on Friday.  So I have a mass of things cut out and no way to sew them but the machine should be back by Friday.

Just in case you might want to  follow me on Instagram I am Louisa Lawson and have a picture of a striped hippo  and on Facebook I am Louiisa Lawson (yes I know the spelling is different - I typed it in wrong all those years ago!!)

Happy quilting

Progress of sorts

Waiting for the start of the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt means that I need to get a bit more organised. I am still doing the 365 Block Challenge but thankfully we have now finished the dark 3” blocks and I have put two of the borders on

How I managed to have one extra 3” block and a 6” block is a complete mystery to me but I am glad that they are sewn and the other two borders are ready.  I will have to go and measure my son’s bed and I have a ghastly feeling that the quilt is going to end up too large but hey he can always keep it until he  upgrades the bed. So all the dark fabrics are back in the stash and the pale one all pulled and sorted together.

Off to work on the flower blocks and will show some photographs soon.

Happy quilting.

Too much to do

I seem to be working on too many projects at the moment. I think the trouble started with blocks on the month.  Most of them do not take a month or even a week to complete, so while you are waiting for the next instalment you still want to do some sewing.

I am working on a wool appliqué project from Australia which is supplying all the fabrics.  There are some fundamental problems with this way of working - sometimes you do not get all the necessary fabrics or they are cut far too close for comfort and of course it does not reduce the stash at all.

On the other hand it is a really good way of deciding whether you want to continue to work with a new medium.  Yes I have now decided that I like working with wool and all the embroidery that it involves and have just watched the Sue Spargo class on Craftsy
She is such a talented lady and I am excited about using some of her techniques.  So I have ordered some wool and hopefully will be making something before too long.  I don’t think that wool appliqué is suitable for bed quilts and as I hate small quilts I think I am going to be making cushions - probably satisfying my Circle obsession and  doing a whole lot of those.  She has the most marvellous variegated threads which you can get from her website.  I will keep you posted!!

I am also coming to the end of the 365 block challenge which has involved in the insanity of making 3” and 6” pieced blocks with gazillions of pieces.  I must have been mad to start it but of course we are now nearing the end and I just want to finish it.  Please remind me that it is a really bad idea to have to create a block a day in future - all the changing of threads etc mean that it is a pain to have
to change everything to sew any other project.

Well I had better go and do some sewing.  Will talk again soon.

Happy quilting

Back again

Hi - if anyone is still out there.

I have not blogged for about four years but have now decided to give it another go.  If you followed me before, I hope you are still here and if you find me now - welcome.

I am not going to go over old ground but start from where I am today.  I have done the ultimate downsize and now live in a two bedroom flat - or at least it would be if I had not dedicated one of the bedrooms to my sewing cave.  It is small but beautifully formed.

My main passion has now become appliqué which if I am honest is rather a surprise.  Here is a picture of a quilt block that I have just completed

It is based on a watercolour I painted during the 100 Day Project Challenge

in the summer. as you can see I have had to alter the design slightly but I am really pleased with how it has turned out.  Not all the flowers and leaves I painted turned out too well but I have other ideas which I can interpret into fabric. this is all going to take some time but there is no deadline on this quilt thankfully

It is really good to be back and I hope you will enjoy my musings over the coming posts

Happy quilting