What Do You Get When You Mix Essex Linen With Cashmere?

Another quilt for Flicky of course!!!

I've talked about it for long enough about it and it's finally complete ... Flicky's University Quilt



It all started way back in July last year when Flicky chose an Essex Linen fabric 'La Femme Deco Vines' by Melissa Crowley for Robert Kaufman on a trip to Purl Soho and it took me until September to find a backing fabric that I loved to put with it - a Betsey Johnson cashmere plaid - and you can read all about the bargain I grabbed at Mood here:

An Unexpected Trip To Mood

There's been mention of the quilt throughout the year but not much action:

Let's Get Acquainted
 What A Girl Wants ... She Usually Gets! 
 Welcome To My Second Home 

  but all that's put to rights now with lots of help from my little furry friend Tatty - she looks pretty fed up herself with how long this quilt's taken to make!

 

Flicky wanted a lofty quilt so instead of my usual batting Quilters Dream Request Cotton I used a double layer of Quilters Dream Puff and I did wonder just how I was going to manage to quilt it through the throat of my Bernina!  I thought it would be a really hard fought battle but actually, it wasn't and it took just 3 hours to finish the quilting.



Here's an Instagram pic of Tatty helping me to sew the binding - boy I look serious!



And here's the finished quilt


 

I quilted diagonal lines following the design lines of the print and just love how it makes the vines appear 3D - they're practically climbing up over the loft of the quilt as you look at it.



 Here's the back of the quilt - that cashmere is so soft and snug and silky.



The binding is Kona Solid - Robin Egg and it really makes the blue line running through the cashmere plaid pop.








The best of it is that, although Flicky and I both love the new quilt, it turns out it's incredibly heavy and thick to package up and send off to St Andrews.  Also it doesn't hold the same memories for Flicky that her original quilt does - you may remember I told you all about Flicky's quilt, the first quilt I ever made, here - so the consensus is that this new quilt will stay here, in Flicky's room, and her original quilt will go off with her to university to remind her of home.


Updated at 9 September 2014
On 3 August 2013 I received an email from Melissa Crowley who designed the La Femme fabric which reads:
"A friend forwarded me a pic of the quilt you made using a fabric I designed for Robert Kaufman. It's such a treat to see the vine illustration come to life in such a beautifully crafted piece! Of everything I've seen my fabrics become, your quilt is my absolute favorite"

To receive recognition from the fabric designer really made my year :D


What a really great start to the week! :)


Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

What A Girl Wants ... She Usually Gets!

In this instance, the girl in question is my daughter, Flicky, and regular readers can be forgiven for thinking, 'Isn't it always?' and this time, it's pillowcases!!!

Back in February, I shared with you the news that Flicky has been offered an unconditional place to study a Modern History MA at The University of St Andrews in Scotland 

University of St Andrews, Scotland

 and then in March, the two of us did a recce* and loved the place so much that Flicky immediately accepted her offer.

Screen Shot of Flicky's UCAS Offer Page

Anyway, to get back to this post and a bit of sewing content, on a trip to our Manhattan LQS, Flicky had picked out some fabrics and requested a couple of pillowcases for her room at uni. So, with the clock fast ticking now on the countdown to 7 September 2013, I've duly obliged.

Here's my Instagram photo of the fabrics - there are two Avalon JAY-CYN designs for birch fabrics and a piece of Kona Solid 'Red'

I used a straightforward 'burrito method' of making the pillowcases - I'm writing up a tutorial for some eye mask covers I've made recently in the same way, so I'll be sharing that with you soon.

 One happy young lady and another sewing job ticked off a long list.

This weekend, I also started work on a quilt that Flicky requested (see previous post, 'An Unexpected Trip To Mood'). The top and back are done, but I'm waiting for the batting to arrive - she's asked for a puffy quilt, so I will use 2 layers of Quilter's Dream Puff batting.

Instagram photo of my cut selvedge edges for quilt top - Kaufman Essex Linen - La Femme

 I also altered Flicky's prom dress - it needed taking in; she must have lost a few pounds since we bought it. I was terrified I'd ruin it, but it went okay, and Flicky's delighted with the fit now.

Instagram photo of the altered prom dress seam

On a bit of a roll, I decided to bind my first ever fmq sampler that's been in my 'to do' pile for 18 months.

My 'to do' pile is diminishing - I even sewed the handle back on my doorstep last week that the removal men pulled off two years ago when we were packing to emigrate to the States!

I also grabbed myself a great bargain last week - check out all these 40/2 and 50/2 spools of Aurifil thread and packs of sharps - total cost $132.90. Yes, you read that right, $132.90 - Sue at Sue's Sew EZ Designs is having a fantastic closing-down sale; head over and check it out :)

Instagram photo of my sale bargain

I am still deciding what to tackle next today. Maybe I'll look at my Queen Bee Bear's Paw quilt blocks.
What do you have planned for your week?




* old English word: If you recce an area, you visit that place to become familiar with it. People usually recce an area when they are going to return at a later time to do something there - Collins Dictionary 


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Related Posts:

Anything Wills & Kate Can Do ...

Will Ye No Come Back Again? Absolutely, Next September! 
An Unexpected Trip To Mood
Back To Some Serious Quilting
Need To Nail That Bear's Paw

Drunkard's Path Quilt

Bet some of you are wondering if I've ever actually made a quilt - looking over my blog so far it's a bit lacking in finished articles - just the pram quilt to date.  So I've decided to start creating some posts highlighting quilts I made prior to becoming a technical specialist in HTML code blogger.

The first quilt I've chosen to share with you is a Drunkard's Path Quilt. I've no 'how-to' style photos because obviously at that early, naive stage in my quilting life I had no idea I'd ever be a crazy lady who loves to double the time it takes to make a quilt by:

• stopping to make step by step notes of what she's doing;
• taking numerous photos of her work at various ridiculous angles;
• roping the family in to take photos of her hands at work but with strict instructions that they must make sure no-one can see she's still in her pjs while she's quilting - oh and;
• doing a quick tidy round so the place doesn't look like it's the undusted, unhoovered hovel it's become because she's too busy blogging and quilting!

Fabrics Used:

Top Sheet: Michael Moore's periwinkle Firefly and Alice Kennedy's Marmalade Geometric
Back Sheet & Binding: Dear Stella Design's Confetti Dot Pink
Batting: Quilter's Dream Cotton Request

Handy Tools Used:

That Purple Thang

6" Quick Curves

That Purple Thang by Lynn Graves
An amazing little piece of plastic that you can use to push, poke, pull, thread.  It also has a 1/4" tab on one end which is very handy.  I used the point to crease mark my half way fabric folds on my curves and then to control the fabric all the way to the end of the curve under the machine foot which saved my fingers getting in the way of the needle.


6" Quick Curves Template from Elisa's Backporch Design
These make cutting those curves so easy.

Quilt Details:

Outline Quilting - also known as 1/4" Ditch Quilting and Next to the Ditch Quilting.
Machine bound front binding then hand sewn to back of quilt.

Top Sheet Completed

Completed Quilt - top and backing and detail

Quilting and Binding detail

So this was the first quilt I made that wasn't for my home or a family member or to be a gift and it was my first attempt at curves.  It took me quite some time to decide on a layout for the finished blocks -  and I learnt a lot about using directional fabrics when you're working with curves (basically, it would be a lot easier not to).  If you're interested in seeing other Drunkard's Path designs, I pinned all my favourite 'findings' on a 'Drunkard's Path' blocks board on my Pinterest wall.

I made the quilt as part of an Intermediate Machine Quilting class at my LQS in Manhattan with the fab tutor, Christine Janove.  Christine showed us how to create a Drunkard's Path block in the 1st class and, 7 days later, I turned up at the 2nd class with a finished quilt - which caused quite a stir!  Here I am on the store's facebook photo wall and I was thrilled with the comments others put up there about my quilt - even Christine's the quilt store's comment:

"Too bad there isn't extra credit for overachievers. :-)."

All in all, though, I'm quite pleased with the end result - let me know what you think of it and tell me about your own Drunkard's Path experiences, I'd love to hear from you.

Disclaimer: 

This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

   

Tutorial: Piecing Together Batting Scraps To Make A New Batting Sheet

When you make a quilt there's always scrap pieces of batting left over.  Here's my tutorial explaining how to join these scraps together to make a new batting sheet - and that way nothing is ever wasted.

Piecing Scrap Batting

Select your batting scraps - enough to make a batting sheet that's large enough for your latest project.  Ensure your batting scraps are all the same loft/quality.

Starting to join the scraps together

Switch your machine's foot to one suitable for a wider stitch and set your machine stitch to double overlock (stitch no 8 on the Bernina 440QE).  I'm using stitch length 2.1 and stitch width 5.5 but you can adjust this to suit your needs.    You can also use a zigzag stitch if you prefer.  If you can set your machine stop to needle down - this will give you more control of the fabric should you stop sewing.


Butt the edges of the scrap pieces up to each other and sew them together using the overlock stitch.  There's no need to pin the batting scraps - just adjust your sewing speed to one that's manageable for you to bring the two pieces together by hand as you sew.  Add additional sections of batting scraps to achieve the required sheet size.




When you're sewing the scraps together it's okay if they overlap in places, it won't make too much thickness when the sheet is finished, in fact, it is better to overlap than to leave a gap.

Butt edges together as you go

That seam is lying flat

Add more scraps as needed

This technique is really great and, depending on the weight of the top and bottom sheet fabrics, the seams won't be visible through the finished quilt.  Of course, if you're making a really special quilt as a memory, a gift or to sell then you wouldn't want to use pieced batting but for an everyday quilt, it works really well and saves you money.

The finished batting sheet

Piecing Scrap Batting

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Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.