Let's Get Acquainted

Last week I was asked if I'd like to move forward my 12 November slot on the Plum & June's Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop to Thursday, 11 October. I jumped at the chance - not a hope of me creating a new tutorial by then, I thought, but I'd just posted one that same evening and maybe not that many would already have seen it, so with that sorted, here I am.

For anyone who doesn't already know me, I'm Chris, I'm English, and I've been living on Manhattan's doorstep since 1 August 2011.  Thank you for visiting, and an extra big 'hi' to anyone who's also taking part in the P&J LGA Blog Hop.  Thanks also to Beth, who is Plum & June, for organising what has turned out to be one heck of a fantastic 6 month Blog Hop marathon :)

View From My Roof Garden

Tatty the Havapoo

For 20 years, I've been married to my worst enemy, Simon - since this Blog Hop started, I've wanted to say that as I can't quite believe just how many quilters are "married to their best friend" ;).  It's Simon's fault that I'm living in America and that I've given up so much to be here.  I admit I've done quite a bit of kicking and screaming along the way, but the problem is I kind of like it now and don't want to leave, but let's just keep that between us as there's a lot more mileage, yet in him not knowing!

I have one dog, Thatcher (known as Tatty to her friends and named after a woman I have much admiration for - Margaret), and then there are my three children.  Jack is 23; he graduated from uni in July and has since completed an intensive teacher training course and started teaching English at a school in Seville, Spain. 

In the middle, I have Joe, who is 22, and he too graduated from uni in July.  He's about to move to live in London as he's an aspiring actor, so if anyone knows of any roles suitable for someone bearing a remarkable resemblance to a young Hugh Grant, send me an email.

My youngest is Flicky, she lives here in America with me and today is her 18th birthday.  This is a significant birthday in England as you are now considered an adult in all respects and legally old enough to buy alcohol.  Unfortunately for Flicky, we live in America, so she won't be celebrating her big day in quite the same way that all her friends back in England celebrate theirs.  Still, I hope this shout out for her via my blog will ease her disappointment to some extent, but somehow I don't think so!!!

These photos were taken in Manhattan on Christmas Eve 2011, the last time the five of us were all together.

As is the way in my day-to-day life, I've just realised that I'm talking on and on about my family and haven't told you anything really about me, so ...

I've been sewing and knitting since I'm too young to remember.  I watched my mum knitting and then when I was about 7 I had a go myself in my bedroom.  I made a jumper for my teddy bear, Bruno, using scraps of Mum's leftover wool, and I remember how shocked she was when I showed her what I'd made as she'd had no idea I'd been watching her and learning.

I have always been artistic and creative but was pushed down a more academic route at school, as we pretty much all were back in those days.  I tailored my own clothes in my teens and 20s and then made everything for my babies as they were born, and finally, in 2006, I gave up office-based work and went back to college.  I studied Art & Design, following my creative dreams, later specialising in Ceramics and then moving into Textile Art. 

When we moved to the States, I booked myself on a quilting course and started quilting 1 year and 6 days ago today, and I haven't looked back; I've written more about learning to quilt on my blog post My Very First Ever Quilt.  I started blogging on 28 April this year, and you can also find me on Facebook, Ravelry and Pinterest - please come and have a look :)  Hopefully, my green card will arrive any time now, allowing me to set up my Etsy shop and start selling my work as my current visa doesn't allow me to earn money.



I'm an NYC Metro Mod Guild member, and I'm in their Mod Bee with my Queen Bee month, December, coming up fast.   When I'm not quilting, I can often be found at my LQS in Manhattan, searching out fabrics, attending classes and chatting with friends.  I also like to go to the NY Philharmonic Open Rehearsals on Wednesday/Thursday mornings. If you're visiting NYC and love classical music, this is an excellent way of seeing a concert for $18.




I'm counting down the days and weeks to QuiltCon, Austin, Texas, in February and hope to meet up with lots of you there so I can put faces to all the wonderful people I've met through blogging.  Be sure to let me know if you're going too :)




Here's a quick list of answers to Beth's original suggested questions for the Blog Hop:

Favourite quilting tip(s)
Using 2 small spare pieces of fabric, chain piece on and then off your main fabric piece saves thread, and the machine foot doesn't have to go up and down as it stays engaged.  That's hard to explain in writing, so I'll have to sort out a photo tutorial!!!

Favourite blogging tip(s) 
Don't write long wordy posts - this tip is very tongue in cheek as I'm the world's worst  ;)

Favourite fabric (or wish list fabric)
Currently, Aqua La Femme by Melissa Crowley and a Betsey Johnson plaid that I'm using to make a lofty quilt for Flicky to take off to uni with her next September.

Favourite craft book
Piecing, The Piece o' Cake Way by Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins
a 'how to' quilting book recommended by my first quilting teacher, the fabulous Christine Janove.

Favourite book (or book you are currently reading)
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Both of my two grandads, as teenagers, fought in the WWI trenches and survived The Somme.  This book gave me my first insight into what shaped them as men and helped me understand the subsequent impact on their offspring ... my family.

Favourite children's book
Unless he was working, my Dad read to me every night while I was growing up, and every night I asked for the same story - Old Mister Glue-Pot from Tales of Green Hedges by Enid Blyton. 

Favourite quilting tool
I can't pick one as I have three that I love so much I did tutorials on using them.
June Tailor's Shape Plus Cut Ruler and Bloc-Loc and Rotating Cutting Mat

Favourite music to listen to work to
The Wanted, Neon Trees, Cee Lo Green, LMFAO, Katy Perry, Jesse J, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murs, Taio Cruz, oh and better mention One Direction as Flicky and her friend Maud run a fansite about them, Maud and the Dods.

Favourite TV shows to work to
The Great British Bake-Off

Strictly Come Dancing
Project Runway
The Good Wife

Binding
99% of the time, I machine the front binding and hand sew the back.

If I'd only known 
What excellent, encouraging people are out there sharing the same interests and equally keen to share their knowledge with you too.

Other people on the Blog Hop this week and next:
Tuesday, 9 October: Amy from Sew Incredibly Crazy and Foster from Foster Reviews It
Thursday, 11 October: Marit from Sew, love, live
Tuesday, 16 October: Vicki from Quilting Lodge Blog and Liz from Dandelion Daydream



The official theme of the Blog Hop is novelty prints. Fortunately, I posted a tutorial last week using 2 novelty prints - Echino Deer Patchwork in Purple and Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for Moda. Here it is, A Laminated Mug Rug, for those who are still awake to finish reading this!

and finally, finally


Happy 18th Birthday, Flicky xxx

Tutorial: Laminated Mug Rug

Made these 2 lovely little mug rugs as thank you gifts for Daughter F's College Guidance Counsellor and her History teacher at Dwight, who have been supporting us through her university application process.   

Although there's a lot of mug rug tutorials out there I've never seen one using laminated cotton which can be wiped clean so I photographed each stage and here's my quick tutorial to share.

Before we begin let's get this important informational bit out of the way :)

Care Instructions:

Before making the mug rugs I did some research into laminated cotton fabrics to see if you can machine wash them thinking that, although you can wipe the mug rug clean, at some stage you'll want to give it a quick wash.  I've discovered that these fabrics have come a long way even in just the last 12 months.  

Manufacturer instructions are that these fabrics are machine washable in cold water and additionally they can be tumble dried on low.  You may, however, prefer to line dry your mug rug to keep it away from heat in its wet state.  For anyone still wondering about these fabrics here's a great piece about machine washing with before and after photos by Kelly McCants of OilCloth Addict

Additionally, laminated cotton can be ironed on the reverse with a medium hot iron.  Once made you can happily iron these mug rugs quite firmly on the back only.

For each mug rug you'll need:

8" x 5" laminated cotton fabric for the top sheet

8" x 5" batting

8" x 5" backing fabric - I used 100% quilting cotton 

2¼" x 36" binding fabric

First cut out your fabrics (as above) and then layer just the batting and the backing fabric together and baste (as below).

WARNING:  
At this stage if you accidentally work through all 3 layers embroidering a message or name to the backing sheet then this will show in reverse on the top sheet.

Also, even if you choose to finally quilt through all 3 layers to include quilting the top sheet, don't baste through the laminated fabric as the basting pins are too big and will leave large holes.

Next, I used my machine to embroider my name through the fabrics - this stage isn't necessary so you can leave it out or embroider your own message either using your machine or by hand just be sure to have read the warnings I gave earlier in this tutorial.  

When I'd finished I knotted the thread ends and then using a hand sewing needle I drew them through to the back of the batting.

Now it's time to quilt the mug rug - IF you want to quilt through the laminated cotton too then now is the time to add it to your batting and backing sheet sandwich.  I decided not to do that so I'm just working with the 2 layers at this stage.

First, I free machined a flower chain onto the spotty pink Echino fabric in a contrasting thread

and then I did a similar free machine design on the brown stripe.

OMG! doesn't this just look awful?!!!  The quilting design works against the fabric pattern in every way possible - it's screaming at us and just looks dreadful.  There's nothing else for it ... I'm ripping the lot out and starting again.  

If you look closely at the photo below you can see that I've already started to unpick the quilting and then I thought that I should share just how bad it looks with you so you don't make a similar mistake!

Here's my second attempt at quilting the brown stripe - it's so simple and 'in keeping' that you can't even see it in the picture on the left so I thought I'd better share the back view with you as well so you can see that I really have quilted it!!!

Once you're happy with all of your quilting then it's time to add your laminated cotton to the sandwich.

TIP: Laminated cotton can be tricky to feed through your machine as it can be a bit sticky and difficult to move.  Try adding a layer of baking parchment or tissue paper between the laminated fabric and the sewing plate, this will slide easily over the plate and simply tears away afterwards.

Sew around the mug rug as close to the edge as you can just to hold the 3 layers together securely but not at the 1/4" mark or you might end up with a stitch line showing after you've added the binding.  Again that word of warning from earlier,  probably best not to baste the laminate to the sandwich and I found that the layers held together really well without basting, nothing slipped at all.

If you click on this photo below you should be able to see a larger version of it and then you can better see my sewn lines around the mug rugs - I've torn the baking parchment off the brown laminated cotton and left it on the other piece so you can see just how it was attached.

At this stage I suddenly panicked and wondered if the laminated cotton can take the heat of a hot cuppa - so I decided to conduct my own test and I can confirm that they are much hardier than one might imagine.  I tried 2 different mugs - just in case some mug bases get hotter than others - and filled them with water straight from a boiling kettle.  I left the mugs on the laminated cotton for 30 minutes, checking the condition of the laminate every 5 minutes and NOTHING!!!  Phew, that's a relief!

 

I ironed the binding strips in half lengthways

I'm going to assume here that you all know how to sew on and join binding so I'll not go into any detail.

I sewed the binding strips around the front of the sandwich using a ¼" seam and my walking foot.  I didn't use baking parchment this time as the laminated cotton is sandwiched between the binding fabric and the batting.  Then I hand sewed the binding down to the back of the mug rug - of course, you could machine sew the binding on totally if you wish.

I gave them a good press with a warm iron on the reverse and here they are complete! 

Daughter F loves them, hope her tutors agree.  We're going to make some very English Eccles cakes for F to give with them but might have to keep a few back for ourselves :)

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