Showing posts with label Quiltworks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quiltworks. Show all posts

7 May 2015

Bali Wedding Star - The End

... or just the beginning?



Recently I had the pleasure of presenting my DD and her DH with their Wedding Gift.




DD doesn't read my Blog and so these photos are the first time she has seen her Quilt!


So here it is - our first look after waiting so patiently for so long....


But what exactly has taken their interest?


Oh!
It would appear that Artemis has raised the bar from plain Quilters Cat in waiting to Quilt Police!

I can tell you this -
She is on a Wild Goose Chase!


Hey Mum.....

Is this when we start to sing "Toss the Cat" ?





Maybe the Quilting needs a closer look ....




Nope - 's all Good
It has passed MY inspection

You can put it on the bed now....

I am so glad that THE CAT approved!

(for the record - DD & DSIL loved it too)

And I get to finally see it on their bed.









(My thanks to Fi for taking the photos so I could enjoy the moment - without being behind the camera.)

26 April 2015

Mariner's Compass - Progress report

Over the past week as part of a UFO Challenge I have been working on my Quiltworx Mariner's Compass in an attempt to PREVENT it becoming a UFO.



I have Sewn and Folded, Cut and Pressed, turning fabric into Rope and Feathers and Spikes.




Then slowly and carefully sewed the pieces together.


Until the bundles reduced down to just 8,
Then 4
And 2



Nine Hundred and Eighty Four pieces are now ONE.




All that remained was to add an extra border of my own



...and send it off to be Custom Quilted.

But not before getting
the "Seal of Approval"



(obviously someone thought it needed another Spike!)


I can't tick this one off the UFO list just yet, but if I get the binding and label organised now (before getting sidetracked on another project....) it will be so much easier to complete once it is back from the Quilter.





23 February 2015

Bali Wedding Star - The Binding

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step"

or in this case a single stitch


I shudder to think just how many miles of stitching has gone into making this quilt.

My Bali Wedding Star has now been beautifully quilted by Desley, and
 I have finally laid it onto my machine for the last time.
 A very careful hour later the binding had been sewn all around.


Before I started I did some research and found a tutorial
(from the Missouri Quilt Company) that suggested taking the machine off on an angle at each corner - rather than stopping 1/4" short or sewing straight off.....


Wow - what a difference that made!
The stitching created a firm 45 degree angle to fold the binding against.
I have never had corners so neat.


All that is left to do is hand stitch the binding and remember a label.
- And a photo -



11 February 2015

Mariner's Compass - The Rings

Goodness - was my last post almost a month ago?

Things have been pretty hectic here but in between the Chaos and Catastrophes I find some small spots of Calm when I can pull aside to do something for me. (Even if it IS a Quilt for someone else!)

Since my last Blog post I have been working on THE RINGS of the Quiltworx Mariner's Compass.

There are two sets of rings, designed to look like ROPE.  The Inner ring weaves it's way through the major elements of the quilt locking the Spokes together with the Sails and skipping in and out of the Feathered Star points.


The Outer Ring sits behind the design, giving the illusion that the Compass is resting upon it and forms a circular outer border before being tied together with the background fabric.

I have spent a LOT of time trying to get the colours and fabric right for the 'look' I want this quilt to have and when I got to the rings I wanted to make the chosen colours appear to be consistent as they disappeared and then reappeared out the other side.

The process I used to make sure my rings did just that involved a lot of photocopying, sticky tape and colouring in with highlighter pens!
The inner ring I used 4 fabrics, keeping the colours consistent with 2 being completely hidden under the feathered star and 2 for the Spikes.
The larger outer rings were a bit easier - I found 5 fabrics worked well with just 3 colours hiding under the points of the Sails.

I am now at the point where I start sewing it all together - but THAT will have to wait for a day or two when I can concentrate!


In the meantime - I am toying with colour selection for my NEXT quilt............




15 January 2015

Bali Wedding Star.

I came to a point the other day where I found myself counting corners
one corner, two.. three .... four....
That's four corners done....

It's DONE - YAY!
my Top is finished!!


I did need a bit of a reshuffle in the sewing room to set up my extra awesome 
1800x 600 Ironing board and even then it was not big enough.


The box lid said the quilt was 80" x  80"
but what it didn't say was, that also in the box were the patterns and instructions to square up the quilt, 
add a Flying Geese border 
and another plain 6" mitred border.
So now how big is it?

106" x 106"


11 December 2014

Finished - Almost . . .

I have come to the realisation that, in quilting, there are varying degrees of "Finished".  
Today I have come to one of those points.
YAY! - WOW!- HOORAY!


My Bali Wedding Star top is finished!

The blocks are together and it is lookin' pretty good!


The 'road map' tags have finally been removed.
They have done a fantastic job of keeping the colour graduation in order and have saved me lots of headaches!



The quilt can now happily go off to be quilted  
. . . BUT . . . 
(and this is where the varying degrees of finished comes in)

A little while ago I decided it needed to be bigger!
The pattern box contained all the papers for the Flying geese border - so why not make them?

It's 'just a border'...
and THEN it will be finished...

They were flying together quite happily until I started thinking about something else...
How on earth did I manage this?
Two papers picked up together and in perfect alignment sewed them together!
What a Goose!

If I can give any advice to anyone starting out
 making one of these quilts it would be
1 - Read ALL the instructions
2 - Points DO matter
3 - Don't Rush it

...now - Where is my unpicker?




27 November 2014

Bali Wedding Star - Progress report.

"Where was I?"
That question - is the one I ask myself every time I pick up this project.


Then I lay out the blocks
- YET AGAIN
... and thank whoever it was that suggested I make a "MAP" of this quilt.
(Thanks again DH).



It certainly made it a lot easier to keep my colours in the right order while sewing the small blocks into bigger blocks.


And when you find that you are walking around the house 
trying to find SOMEWHERE to lay this quilt out - 

It's time to "look outside the box"

Or in my case - The House.
It was a beautiful day outside and all I had to do to access all that floorspace was move a couple of chairs and sweep the deck!

All my enthusiasm soon evaporated when I realised I had not been too careful when lining up my seams.

Some people say
"It doesn't matter" -
I am afraid - for me -
It DOES matter!

So out with the unpicker
and
"Do the Frog Stitch"

c a r e f u l l y - unpick each stitch

and sew them back together again.

This time it is much better - still not perfect - but considering this fabric frays like crazy everytime I touch it - It will have to do.



So now the quilt is back on the floor 
and I am CAREFULLY sewing the blocks into diagonal rows.
And I have realised that - it is really going to need the Flying Geese Border.....

30 October 2014

Bali Wedding Star - What next

"How is your beautiful Wedding Star Quilt coming along?"

That question sent me into a mild panic as I realised that time was slipping by and my DD's Wedding Anniversary was rapidly approaching.  

The Quilt was nowhere near finished!

First I had to find it!
Where did I put it?
Which box is it in??


Then work out where I was up to on the pattern. I knew I had been making good progress before I put it down (to do other more urgent things).  I was met with a box full of finished blocks, unfinished blocks and a whole heap of blocks that were pinned ready to sew.... 

A little bit of time to myself and the company of Cathy Miller singing "It ain't finished yet" gave me the motivation I needed to get working.




That box of unfinished blocks are now all done, pressed and the setting triangles cut.




And now the FUN starts - 
Putting it all together with nothing more than
 "Refer to illustration 6 page 21
to guide me!


I wonder if Cathy has anymore inspirational songs that will help me get this to the Quilter and back before November 22!




18 June 2014

Mariner's Compass - Update

It seems to me that this is becoming a trend ...
Once again I cannot credit that it has been 3 months since I posted on my Mariner's Compass.
I have been thoroughly enjoying making this quilt -


So - Where am I up to? 

Chapter 1 - Spokes.
These are the Compass Points and the feature of the quilt's design so it was important to get these right. The initial choice of fabric didn't quite sit with the 'feel' that I am wanting to achieve for the quilt.

So - I made them again!

Chapter 2 - Compass Flower.
These pieces fit between the Spokes forming the first ring of the Compass.
They went together easily and I am very happy with my decision to fussy-cut the central Burgundy spear.


Chapter 3 - Feathered Star.
This is another block that my original choice of fabric and colour didn't sit well on.
As you can see, these pieces lock the design together. I decided to hold off on making these until I was sure of my colour combination - so these will be the next section to make.


Chapter 4 - Sails.
Another Imposing feature!
These will loop their way around the outside of the Compass, locking the spokes in place.
The Foundation Paper Piecing method of making this quilt gives perfect points, and these blocks went together beautifully, with the exception of the last piece where the fabric could have been a little wider to comfortably accommodate the point of the sail.


Chapter 5 - Compass Rose.
The Central HUB of the Compass.
This beautiful star went together in a day!
The first pieces I can actually place together as they will be in the finished quilt.  I am very pleased with my choice of the exquisite marbled fabric from the Stonehenge Range from Northcott.


Looking forward to next month's installment.
In the meantime - I have enough scraps to 'stuff a cushion' with!
Some are just rubbish and some are very usable pieces - especially for applique.
So for now it will be trying to determine which is which!




10 June 2014

Bali Wedding Star Update - Still at it

I can't credit that it has almost been THREE MONTHS since I posted an update on my Bali Wedding Star Quilt!

It hasn't been thrown into the "Too Hard Basket" and although I have been thoroughly distracted with other things I have been plodding along making 72 of these and 72 of those and 12 of each of this and that...
WITH an ample amount of reverse sewing thrown into the mix!

So, on Sunday, I finally reached the part where I had to start by vacuuming the floor - (wait for DD to go out for Dinner) and lay this box full of Jigsaw puzzle pieces out for the first time.

It really did help to enlist my DH for this part.
(Lets just say he has a 'gift' for colour placement which can be useful at times.)
We were able to arrange the blocks into a design that looks good - But now what?

I can't leave it on the floor until it is finished, DD has chosen not to peek and it is laid out where Spike loves to play!

The answer we came up with was to make a map!

I enlarged the block placement guide so we could write on it, and then printed out reference points to pin onto each block, before laying them in order back into the box.
(This one belongs in  Row 3, Block 2, Part A and B)

Now all I need to do is work out what colours to use for the central 'hub' of each ring set. Then I will be able to start sewing the blocks together.

There is still a long way to go with this quilt, so a few more progress posts to come!







27 March 2014

1 Down - 83 to Go

It has been a fortnight since I posted a progress report on my Bali Wedding Star Quilt, so I thought it may be an idea to fill in any that are interested on where I am up to.


I have had lots of paper to sort through, cut apart and file away into numbered bags so I can have everything on hand when the instructions call for them.


I have cut and cross cut what seems like bolts of fabric.
And glued (yes GLUE) and pinned and sewn and trimmed.
Even did a little un-sewing as well.

Until I had a mountain of these!
These odd shaped pieces are the start of my Star points that 'float' across the background fabric.

Straying (once again) from the suggested pattern, my Stars will only have TWO contrast colours not the suggested 8.

And now that they are finished it is onwards to make the smaller Star Points (referred to as the Melon Stars).

This time I will be teaming up a Deep Mid Blue Batik with the Black contrast.
It is not a true black but more like an Inky Blue/Green, it has a bit more 'life' to it than a flat black.

Will it all work together?
I don't know yet.
I have done ONE - and there are 83 to go!