Stained QAL begins

I do apologise for this QAL being way behind schedule already and its barely even started.  I suppose it was only to be expected for me, I have been falling asleep too much to be any faster!

Right, down to business.  It has to be said that this quilt IS a fairly straight forward quilt to put together.  It also has to be said (more than once apparently) that it is a complete PAIN to cut.  I've been trying to sort out cutting instructions for almost 2 weeks now, and everything I try just looks overwhelmingly complicated.  I can only apologise for that too...  I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing would sort it out, but you're stuck with me!  If most of you back out now, I'll totally get it... frankly at the cutting stage it looks a nightmare!  (But once that's over, its not I promise)  Its all about being organised and taking it slowly.  And feel free to email me or use the flickr group if any part of it is not making sense and I'll do my best to clear it up.

First of all I would like to, well for want of a better word, dissect the quilt clearly so you know what you are cutting for and how things will go together.
If anyone wants to get their colouring pencils out and play with what fabrics will go where, I've done a blank layout for you which you can view and print off HERE

This is the rough EQ7 guide of what my quilt 'should' look like...

And as separate blocks it looks like this....

oops, that 4c on the bottom left should be 4d....

What I would recommend very much is to be as organised as possible - I get 4 ziplock bags (one for each block type 1-4) to keep the cut pieces in, and another thing I've tried which was very successful, was to get quilters masking tape (low tack) and then I could put a wee bit of tape on each cut bit and that way write on it what block it was for.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO GOOGLE DOC WITH THE CUTTING PLANS!

*edit 12/02/12  in Fabric One, the 2.5 x 4.5 should be for block 4c and in Fabric 10 the 2.5 x 2.5 should be 4d.*  Sorry!

To explain what's there, and help you choose which to go with, they are as follows.

Cutting mapped out on Fat Quarters.  - I took my 11 different prints, and have drawn out exactly how I cut each one up.  This also tells you exactly where each piece goes.  I spent ages being fussy trying to get no two prints the same next to each other....  Use this guide if you don't want to have to do that!  Also, if you want to get the most from your fabric and not waste anything, and if you have NON DIRECTIONAL PRINTS you can just do one FQ at a time and cut as per the diagram.  

If you are using FQ's but want to just cut things your own way I have included a list of all the sizes to be cut from each fat quarter.

If you are working from scrap stash and have many many prints to use, I have included a list of cutting by block.

The in block sashing cutting instructions are per block cos that's the simplest way...  

I've added a widget that is meant to enable you to print this page simply, its at the bottom... see below... 

I'm off to bed now as my head is positively swimming with 11 x 3 and 6 x 2.5 and whatnot.  Fingers crossed when I get up tomorrow there wont be any "the google link doesn't work" emails!!  I've got a lot of cutting to do!

three updates...part three

Something (else) I'm a little late in posting is the Mid Winter Check in for Sarah's Winter Stitching...

I was a little concerned this would be a massive dud as I cant remember getting much done at all really.  Still, here goes!

                                

part one - the commitments

1.  MUST keep up to date with bee activities!  This period should involve 5 or so bee months, cos I've still got Octobers Star blocks to do...  and don't forget the Bee Blessed blocks!

1a  Do my own blocks from August, and after Christmas start putting my Bee Quilt together!

I am keeping up to date, with everyone elses blocks that is.... still have not done anything about mine!    The only one I had started, a paper pieced star, I had given up on as I wasnt liking it to be honest so mum finished it.  She loved it so I passed it on :-)

paper pieced star block and Harvey...(Elliecats nemesis)

2.  Make another Reversible Bucket Bag

Done.  This was the bag in question, made for my brothers wife, for her to give to her brothers wife!  I'm very pleased to say that it went down well - with my sister in law and with hers!

3.  Make Table Runner OR 6 place mats (deadline 30th November)

Oooh epic fail there.  Have revised plan to be oven glove and pot holders.... 

4.  Make the 1 Mini Quilt I've been asked to.  (deadline sometime early December)

That's done, and I forgot to take any photos, sorry!  Have also been asked for another 2 or 3.  Have found out in the mean time that I find it EXTREMELY difficult to do the same thing twice and actually be able to concentrate on it without my brain thinking "oh you've done that before, that means we can switch off and go into automatic behaviour"....  Hmmm.  Next two should be fun then...

5.  Brit Quilt Swap PILLOW FIGHT!  pillow cover and wee extra  (deadline 20th November)

Done, that was this cushion, in case you've forgotten.  (Look away Hadley, its brown ;-)  

6.  Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap   table runner and ornaments (deadline 20th November)

Done.  That looked like this.

Or at least that side of it looked like that... lol  

7.  Christmas making!  Boxy pouches, cushion covers, needle cases, pin cushions...

Done!  Hardly took any photos, but I did get one of the 3 scarves snapped - 

Flannel scarf and square pin cushion

8.  Make a quilt for bestie in Germany and her wee bump wee lass!

That is now a WIP... and a secret one at that....  I'm getting there!

       part two - I've started so I'll finish

9.   Must do another 50 or so hexies for the Hexalong    (nothing yet.)

10.  Must do a pattern for hand quilting the Not-so-hidden-stars quilt to finish it.  (still nothing yet!)

11.  Must decide how to go about quilting my Stained pink Quilt.

Done!  It has even inspired my first QAL...  more on that in a few days...  

12.  Must get on with my 5" charms quilt top

Yes, I must, really....  just havent yet that's all...

         part three - where I wimp out and say that one of the following will do for me ;-)

• Dresden needs unpicking and re sewn to fix crappy seam allowance  (mum unpicked for me!)
• Decide on a palette for Dead Simple QAL
• City Quilt that I started cutting ages ago, finish cutting it at the very least!  Quilt top is done :-)
• Complete cutting instructions for City Weekend I & II
• Make City Weekend I  taking photos for tutorial
• Make City Weekend II  taking photos for tutorial
• Complete pattern and instructions for Soul Tracks Quilt, then make, photograph and do tutorial.
• Attempt a free form "stack and slash" quilt top.  I did say attempt, which I've done, I did not say "complete" which I havent...

Ach no' bad really, when I think about it.  Fair bit more to go though...   And a quilt along and two more swaps can be added to that list.  Not clever!  Oh well.  MUST STOP SIGNING UP FOR STUFF!

three updates...part two

Elliecat "I don't understand.  What do you mean you didn't cut this fabric specifically for me to sit on?"

I thought I'd start with this little Ellie gem for Nicke, as a thank you since she was awfully kind to pass on to me the  Versatile Blogger Award.
                                                                      

In return I need to tell you seven things and pass the award ever onwards.  So, 7 things in a minute.  As for passing it on, I'll pass it to lovely Judith who has finally gotten her patterns on a shop site :-)  and to lovely Cindy who has finally finished her birdy stitches! woohoo!  They are lovely ladies, who do lovely blogs.  Check 'em out.


Right.  7 things...

1.  I hoard.  Not terribly, as I tend to hoard with a recycling intention, but whilst living in my boyfriends small house, I owe it to him to spring clean once in a while to shut him up  keep him happy be fair.... Mum helped enormously and between us the house has been freed of

• one deep windowsill of glass jars
• 54 dvds and cds
• one bag of books
• one printer
• 4 pairs of trainers
• 8 handbags
• one A1 Drawing Board
• one bag of clothes
• one bag of assorted (non quilting cotton) fabrics
• one massive black bag for the trash...

Not that I'm counting or anything.

2.  Mum and I had a Harry Potter Marathon - we did 2 films a night for a week.  I cried within the first two minutes of the final film, and lost count how many times throughout it.  I'm a bit of a soft sod...

3.  I am getting rather obsessive and even more freaky as the years go on.  New to mum this visit were the joyously weird "butter must be taken from a specific end of the butter tub or I freak out", the fussy "fabric has to be folded in a specific way"  (mum caught me re-folding a few...  I tried the old "I dropped it" but she just raised an eyebrow and said "no you didn't" and I had to confess...)  and the downright irritating "saying something twice (something twice)  which frankly concerns me....

4.  I think 3 counts for at least two... that was proper mental.

5.  My favourite dinner (one of mums specialities) is Cheese Charlotte - a bread and cheese souffle.  Here's one I made earlier...

6.  I cant sneeze properly.  When I was a kid I so dreaded giving classmates any more ammunition to take the piss out of me and laugh, and I'd seen them laugh at another kid for his nose running and him not having a tissue (I'm sure I don't need to go into any more detail there...)  so I made sure that any time I felt a sneeze coming along I held my breath.  Now I cant sneeze.  I feel the sneeze coming, and go thru the whole "ah... ah..aaaah.." bit, but then its like an invisible hand holds my nose for me and I usually just say the "choo!" part without ever actually sneezing.  Its kinda sore and sounds really stupid...


7.  I'm left handed but only for writing - I don't need anything from Ned Flanders Left-orium....


And finally, another big thank you - this time to Dianne of Quiltova.  She sent me a lovely Pay it Forward package!  Dianne is a lovely lady, and my parcel was so thoughtful, it really brought a smile to my face.

Derngate Door designed by C.R. Mackintosh

She knows I love Mackintosh, so she did me this fabulous mug rug based on a Charles Rennie Mackintosh door.  Isn't it brilliant?  She also did a lovely wee house, and she sent me these...

"Camel Balls"  

Shhhhh!  Don't tell her I'm a vegetarian....

three updates part one

I've sort of built up a few blog posts worth of stuff, so I'm going to do one after the other.  Hope this isnt too tedious for you!

Mum has been up visiting, which is why I've been a little quieter than usual.  We had the BEST time, really, I cant tell you how much fun it was having someone to sew with, someone who gets as excited as I do about fabrics and all the things you can do with them...  Not to mention how absolutely bloody wonderful it was to be looked after!!  (I know, it was her holiday, I am awful...)

I'm going to save the big photos for when I've managed to finish things, so in the mean time, here are some hints of what we were playing with....

3 different fabric selections, and a pile of removed selvedges...  there's been a whole lotta cutting done here!

That rather wonderful pile of selvedges is part of my sewing resolutions.   You see, I do have some nice fabric.  The thing is though, I get so convinced that I'll have to have every scrap of it intact in order to make anything, that it ends up sitting untouched and I have nothing nice to use for fun little projects.  Well,   I've been sitting looking at it all and daydreaming about it all for long enough.  It was driving me mad that I had nice "quilt bundles" and no energy to make quilts fast enough, and boring scraps when sometimes all I feel like doing is something quick, easy and wee.  Enter mum and a rotary cutter...  

my scrap boxes, now with some decent scraps in 'em!

Mum trimmed a nice 5" strip off most of my stash.  She cut me two charms from every print, and the remainder went into my scrap boxes.  Et voila!  A much more respectable, interesting, and usable scrap stash!  Wouldnt you say?

Also, I got my January bee blocks done - so lovely to have sent them on time for a change... It was the wonderful  Judith's month as queen bee, and she requested 2 denim framed log cabins of some kind.  We were to pick a fabric of our own for the centre that would represent us. 

Oz block on left, second block on right.

For my first block the centre fabric is from my Dorothy (rainbow) quilt and I started thinking OZ...  the stripes reminded me of the dead wicked witches feet sticking out under the house (black and white stripey socks!) the dog would be Toto of course, and there wasnt blue gingham but blue polka dot would be next best thing for a dorothy dress...

I had embroidered a rainbow in the centre, and I was about to embroider "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too" around the centre...  Then I remembered I was doing a bee block for someone who quite possibly wasnt an Oz fan so I unpicked and restrained myself....

For the second block the centre piece is fabric I bought and hand dyed for my own bee quilt, and I did a hexagonal log cabin around it.  I was quite pleased with this one, very neat for my standards!

Mum wasnt sitting idle either, she made 2 blocks for Judith's charity bee, Bee Blessed.  The requirements were for sampler style blocks from any book of your choice.  Mum spotted my 99 Modern Blocks book and was raring to go!

Mums blocks, taken from 99 modern blocks

We had a very amusing Foundation piecing day....  After sitting there tutting at me and giving me lots of "sarah..."s with the disappointed tone mum very soon did me proud and almost out swore me by the end of it...  talk about turning the air blue, it was everything from aqua to indigo....  Ah happy happy happy days!

three foundation pieced blocks with a kind of spiralling triangles theme

The bottom left Ash one is mine.  Mum did the other two in the time it took me to make mine (and nap)....  You might notice that on the block we've each done, our triangles are spinning in opposite directions.  That'd be because I started sewing on the wrong side of my foundation paper...  I have been wondering though if it might be an idea for my For the love of Solids swap, so I might be doing it again soon...
I have been challenged to make that complicated lookin one on the left too....  Now I've got some decent scraps, it should be fun!