Friday 3 June 2011

Plugging away with squares.

I've been working on my Brit Quilt Swap   for my secret partner...  This was where we left off.




(Inspiration picture from Adirana Oancia .)  I would have liked to use my scraps or something from my stash, but my "scrapstash" ain't up to much yet, and it certainly wasn't up to this plan.  So, here's how I got round it.  (Shameless plugging to follow, I'm not being paid to say any of it I just like to share good shopping experiences!)  
There's a lovely wee shop online,  Carol's patchwork and quilting shop  (click on it to go there).  She sells packs of cut squares and strips, in various sizes.  I'd bought a few packs from her to make my Single Girl rings.   I emailed Carol, told her what I wanted to do, and asked if she could help.  Well if you don't ask you'll never know eh?  Turned out she was happy to help, and after a few emails she came up with a custom pack for me, at no extra charge!  Wonderful service, eh?  And the bundle she sent was exactly what I needed.  So, if, like me, you want to do something colourful but don't have the biggest scrap pile or budget, I cant recommend this shop enough.  


So, this is how it's gone so far...





Top layout looked a bit too, well, like strips of colour.  So I mixed it up a bit more in the second picture.  If you can't spot the difference that's cool, but I've been obsessing about this for days..  Which is pretty anal even for me....  A-n-y-waaay.....  Eventually got it stitched together and it looked like this.




After a day or so of being too scared to chop it up I got stuck in!  There followed a few days of sashing, unpicking, rearranging and unpicking again.  I've blunted 2 seam rippers...  No Narcolepsy related errors this time, just my bad maths and shocking attempts at a quarter inch seam.  (Though I did listen to Rhonda's podcast one afternoon whilst sewing and laughed so hard I got cataplexy and smacked my head off the table).






What do you think so far?  I'm actually rather pleased with it!  First time in ages (it feel like it anyway) that I've made something I really like.  Now to figure out getting a tree on it!  Bit confused here, as I think it would be much easier to quilt it before I put the tree on, but then it would have a back and I wanted to do machine embroidery on the tree and the backside of my embroidery should never be seen...  So I think maybe tree first?  Ooh I don't know.  I think I'll just sit and look at it like this for a couple of days, enjoy it whilst it's safe!  

16 comments:

  1. First - loved the photos on flickr but love this explanation even more. Second - the quilt is gorgeous. Third - I am in the same headspace as you as I didn't want the FMQ of the birds and fence on my quilt showing through at the back but am having a great deal of angst trying to figure out how to quilt the thing with them on. But I am not taking them off so shall find a way - somehow!

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  2. Wow this is lovely. I think do the tree first, if you don't want that stitching to show on the back. Maybe you can stitch in the ditch around the tree and do freehand quilting around the tree (like a ripple)???

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  3. Oh my melons that's fantastic Sarah!!!!
    I am useless enough on trying to think how to get my (as yet non-existent) label on - before or after quilting etc.
    Did I say I love your quilt? I do!!

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  4. WOWWEEE! That's amazing! Well worth all the extra time! I'm really blown away!

    Now as you know I'm not a quilter so don't baulk at this suggestion too much as you know I know nothing...but can you quilt it without the tree on and without the back so you get all the funky goodness of swirly stitching everywhere, then embroider on the tree and then put on the wadding and back and then you can just sort of quilt around the tree? Labour intensive but might get the look you're going for and hide the bits you don't want seen. Anyway, just a thought. Otherwise embroider the tree not on the quilt and then wonderweb it! haha! Sacrilege! Maybe not wonderweb but small stitches as near as dammit to the embroidery stitches so you can't see them from the top and you've still hidden the back of the embroidery?

    Good luck anyway!

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  5. Wow, this is just amazing! It's such a work of art!!!

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  6. SARAH! THIS IS AMAAAAAAAAAZING! This is gonna be an absolute work of art. Mind bogglingly gorgeous. You're a very talented and creative lady.
    Px

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  7. It looks brilliant. Really truely!

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  8. Wow, Sarah, it's amazing! I love how you arranged the squares.

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  9. Thank you each and all, you are too kind! xxx

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  10. OooooOOoooo I totally love this! Well done you! I had a similar challenge with a mini quilt I did with a mouse on it. In the end I put the wadding on and quilted the bits I didn't want to show through, and then I added the backing and did more quilting, the stuff I did want to show, the borders etc. and my label I added to the backing before I quilted anything.. this method does require a bit of forethought though :) x

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  11. Sarah you have talent in spades! Well done on creating your very own piece of art! It's gorgeous as is! Jxo

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  12. Ok first and foremost...love love love this quilt! Any chance you would want to make another for me? hehehe just teasing. It really is lovely! Second...I can't believe I got the blame for your cataplexy...how rude!!! hehehe I hope the good laugh was worth a bump on the head!

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  13. Hey Sarah, this is fantastic. Look forward to seeing the next stage. No idea about the quilting though, sorry! I find it a bit scary when you don't know which way to go next, but you don't want to ruin what you've done.

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  14. This looks great. I love your very clever use of colour.

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  15. It is beautiful! I am looking forward to seeing how you take the next step, I have no useful advice to provide, instead I will learn from you.

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  16. simply awesome Sarah

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