Switz & Geo Swirl Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: May/FMQ

FMQ is now complete on my two May Skill Builder BOM blocks.

Here are my 2 blocks:

SWITZ BLOCK

When I created the centre circles, I didn't want to do raw edge applique, so I turned the edges under and sewed them into place.  Once I was ready to fmq the centre, I removed the original straight stitching and fmq'd over both circles.

I got a bit carried away fmqing this block, and maybe it's worked too heavily compared to the simple fmqing on all the other blocks, but I think I like it.

Kaffe Fassett - Oriental Trees

GEO SWIRL BLOCK

Kaffe Fassett - Oriental Trees

and here's my progress so far:

Next Time: For June, we'll be perfecting Foundation Paper Piecing and HSTs - maybe I should get around to these June blocks sooner rather than later as we're pretty much at July already!!!

Related Posts:
Chev N' Hex & Diamond Carat Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: April/FMQ
Woven Star & Woven Chevrons Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: March/FMQ
Woven Star & Woven Chevrons Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: March/HSTs & QSTs & Bias Sewing

Em Dash & The Mood Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: February/Basic Piecing and Bias Sewing
Sound Wave & Magnum Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: January/FMQ
Sound Wave & Magnum Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: January/Piecing

A Year Long Quilt? Well I'm Very Excited About It!

Chev N' Hex & Diamond Carat Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: April/FMQ

FMQ is now complete on my two April Skill Builder BOM blocks.  I wasn't looking forward to making these blocks at all, and so I put it off, then I didn't make the May blocks either because I hadn't done the April blocks.  A week before the June blocks were available, I thought it was time to sort myself out, so I got stuck in to get up-to-date again with the BOM!

So here are my 2 April blocks:

CHEV N' HEX BLOCK

Alyssa introduced us to English Paper Piecing using a pre-cut applique foundation similar to interfacing (see image above) rather than card templates - this can be left in the finished block and breaks down when the quilt is finally washed.

Instead of thread basting the pieces, we glued the fabric to the templates and then glued the seams back into place.  I used Aleene's Tacky Glue (fast-drying glue pen), and also Aleene's OK To Wash-It (permanent fabric adhesive).  The Tacky Glue held the fabric in place quicker than the OK To Wash-It, and the OK To Wash-It was visible through the fabric for a day or so after I'd glued the pieces and then it disappeared - must have needed longer to dry out properly.  I found the glueing process messy and, even though I'm a very clean and careful worker, I frequently got glue on the fabric's surface.

I also found that the applique templates, which were incredibly like interfacing, didn't have a firm and solid enough edge to allow me to cleanly fold the fabric back over them and get the crisp seam line to sew along.  This was frustrating when joining the pieces together as the edges didn't butt up to each other as perfectly as I expect when I'm doing English Paper Piecing - you'll see what I mean more when you see the photos of the next Diamond Carat block.

 Look how you can see the glue showing through the fabric, particularly on the green sections above.

I decided to try out Alyssa's suggested machine sewn method of joining the pieces.  Basically, I surface sewed the pieces together using an invisible top and bottom thread and set my stitch to zig-zag with a 0.9 width and 1.0 length.  This method was soooooo quick and easy, and although the stitches are visible (I'll show you these more in the Diamond Carat block), it's really not that bad.

And here's the finished quilted block:

Kaffe Fassett -Bekah

DIAMOND CARAT BLOCK

On this Diamond Carat block, you can see how the surface zig-zag stitching works - and just how visible it is.  Creating the centre star's tiny points wasn't easy - there was so much fabric to fold back, and the interfacing wasn't solid enough to give good crisp lines.  The pieces didn't come out to perfect sizes as you would normally expect with English Paper Piecing, and then the pieces didn't line up well against each other.   The fabric surface is also dirtied with glue.

 You can see in the photo above that the pieces didn't lie well next to each other - there's overlapping, gaps and unevenness along the seams.

Below is the finished quilted block - I quilted as close as I could to the seam lines to try to hold the pieces in place more firmly, and then shadow/echo quilted each line as I didn't trust that the zig-zag joining method would hold the block together well over time.

Kaffe Fassett - Lake Blossoms

Next Time: We'll be doing Foundation Paper Piecing - something I'm well practised at already being a pattern tester for Juliet @Tartankiwi, so it shouldn't be too difficult ;)

Related Posts:
Woven Star & Woven Chevrons Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: March/FMQ
Woven Star & Woven Chevrons Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: March/HSTs & QSTs & Bias Sewing

Em Dash & The Mood Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: February/Basic Piecing and Bias Sewing
Sound Wave & Magnum Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: January/FMQ
Sound Wave & Magnum Blocks - Skill Builder BOM: January/Piecing

A Year Long Quilt? Well I'm Very Excited About It!

Previously On This Week: 26 June

I've had an idea for a regular feature on my blog that I'm going to try out - I'm going to keep it really simple and do a weekly post 'Previously On This Week'.  No words just a few links back to posts from the same week in previous years that are still relevant or might be fun to revisit.

Here's the first collection, just click on an image to take you to the original post:

Friday, 15 June 2012

Did Thursday And Friday Sparkle? Yes, Plenty!

Sunday, 17 June 2012

And The Winner Is ... Oh My, It's Me!!!!!

Saturday, 23 June 2012

FP's Taxi Quilt

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

A Weekend Full of Sunshine

Sonia, You'll Never Believe It - I Just Found The Golden Ticket!!!

A couple of weeks ago I shared this post with you:

Welcome To My Second Home

I had an incredible response from so many of you and here's just one of the comments from Sonia @fabric & flowers: 

Oh My Word!!!!!!!! I think I'd have to make a few visits just to try and take it all in!!!! 
It's a shop I'd love to visit, but am pretty sure Mr f&f is pretty pleased we don't live close to it, 
we'd be bankrupt very quickly, but very warm tucked under quilts!!!!!!!!  

I wrote back and said:

I love the idea of being 'quilt rich, cash poor' - for some reason 
it makes me think of Charlie's Grandparents all in bed together 
in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory :)

to which Sonia replied:

 Can you imagine if there was a golden ticket to the quilt shop?!

Well crikey Sonia you'll never believe it but today it actually happened, the Golden Ticket is mine, or as close to it as I can get!
 I've been to see Cathy, Dale and Nancy at The City Quilter and I'm starting work there next Tuesday, two days a week.
I can't believe it, I'm so excited and I can't wait for all of you to drop in and say 'hi' when you visit Manhattan.  

Who'd have thought less than two years ago when I first moved to the States, found The City Quilter and learnt to quilt that I'd end up working there (you can read about my first visit to the store and first quilt here)?

Wish me luck and I guess you know by now that I'll be sure to keep you posted :D

My Top 3 Reasons For Visiting Seville

1) to spend time with my wonderful family:

lots of piccies of me, Flicky, Jack and Ana

and I came bearing gifts - you may remember seeing these before!

My quilted pillows and my 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' quilt

 2) to experience the city and appreciate the stunning architecture:

Ana particularly wanted me to see this beautiful building  - it's Costurero de la Reina - Queen's Sewing Room, the name comes from its use by Maria de las Mercedes, the Queen, who was ill and used the site as a refuge to sew and enjoy the open air close to the river.

and 3) to quilt with Ana:

So this is Ana's sewing room and that's my very large cup of tea on the cutting mat!  I wasn't expecting such a great setup so this was a wonderful surprise, to go on holiday and get to do some quilting, there's nothing better :) 

 I didn't actually bring any fabric back with me - the choice of quilting weight fabric was very limited and at €18/metre it's so hard to justify buying fabric at that price unless it's something special that you can't live without, certainly not when we can buy it so cheaply back in the States - I'm not sure we know just how lucky we are!!!

Here's Ana adding a binding to a Christmas wall hanging she's made - I taught her everything about binding that Christine Janove at The City Quilter taught me. And check out those two Flamenco dresses hanging to her side, Ana made those too, she's amazing :)

And here's Ana with her first bound and finished hand quilted Christmas wall hanging - it's so cute and gorgeous, just like her - I'm not surprised Jack headed off to Seville to be with her ;)

Here's a round up of my Instagram photos from Spain

And the best bit about coming home?

... Tatty waiting for me

but then Flicky did this to her:

I don't think Tatty's too keen on learning Flamenco dancing even if it is to that 1970's classic Y Viva España - total humiliation.
Don't worry Tatty, it's only about 11 weeks now until she goes to live in St Andrews! ;)

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D