WIP Wednesday - How to quilt a monster (and a giveaway!)

After a week or so of working on another (secret) project, I gave in and started quilting the giant Just Wing It quilt. It's really not that massive - just a lot more massive than my usual baby quilts. At around 60" x 85" I was a bit scared of trying to wrestle it through my machine to FMQ it.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it's been - the middle part has required a fair bit of starting and stopping to manipulate the part I have rolled up within the throat of my machine, but otherwise its been smooth sailing. I'm doing a loose stipple (not sure if that's a mutually exclusive statement? Does stipple mean tight?) - around 1" between the quilting. This should hopefully make it a good texture for a bed quilt, and mean its snuggly and soft once its washed.

I normally start at one corner and quilt like Elizabeth's tutorial. This time I did it differently. I drew a (really dodgy) diagram showing how I did it. Note how bored I got of drawing wavy lines - they get progressively more sloppy. I did not do this with my real quilting ;o)
* I started at 1 (with the quilt rolled up from the bottom side in this picture) and quilted that quarter, moving from the centre to the side edge and back again, all the way down the quilt..
* I removed the quilt completely from my machine, and rolled the quilt from the right hand side in the photo - starting at 2, I quilted down from the middle to the bottom edge, then up, then down etc. until that quarter was fully quilted.
* Once that quarter was finished, I rolled the quilt from the top side in this picture, and started at 3, quilting across to the edge and back to the middle etc.
* Finally, I rolled the quilt from the left side and started at 4, quilting up and down until I had finished the final quarter.
I will definitely be using this technique for quilting larger quilts from now on. It involved minimal quilt wrangling (the weight of the quilt was on the table top as much as possible) and I didn't have too much of the quilt under my machine at any time.

I finished quilting it tonight - but the photos are of a part-quilted quilt taken during daylight hours (better ones tomorrow I promise!)

Oh, if you haven't already entered, I have a giveaway open until next Tuesday (sponsored by Sew Fresh Fabrics, so it's a goodie!!)

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - as always, go check out the awesome stuff being made :o)

Sponsored Giveaway: Feather and Stitch!!!

I have been watching my followers slowly (like really, really slowly - you know how they say a watched pot never boils?) creep up towards the magical century so I could announce this... And now it has! Yay!

So, to help me celebrate my (small-but-exciting-for-me) milestone of reaching 100 followers, the lovely ladies at Sew Fresh Fabrics have sponsored a giveaway. On my blog. How cool is that? When I approached them with this idea, they said 'sure, we'd love to for one of our best customers!'. For obvious reasons I have decided not to mention this statement to Mr Elven Garden ;o)

You can find Sew Fresh Fabrics, run by Peg and Becca on etsy. They stock heaps of my favorite designers (think Lizzy House, Thomas Knauer , Lotta Jansdotter, Jenean Morrison and heaps, heaps more). Plus one of the really great things they offer are bundles of Kona solids inspired by different collections. This is so much easier than trying to match colours on a computer monitor (which if you're me ususally ends in total disaster...) Plus they are just really nice, post your fabric really fast and are generally legendary people.

And the giveaway? Hurry up you say? Peg and Becca have most generously offered a Fat Quarter Bundle of Feather and Stitch by Sarah Watts.

Image from Sew Fresh Fabrics on etsy.

Giveaway Rules:

* This giveaway is open internationally.
* One comment per person please! Any extra comments will be deleted by me.
* To enter you must be a follower of my blog (since its a follower milestone celebration giveaway :o) )
* Leave a comment on this blog post, and tell me what you'd make if you win!
Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you win. If you're a no-reply blogger and don't leave an email address you will not have a valid entry. Update: I am getting lots of no-reply comments where no email address has been left. Please leave me a way to contact you or you won't have a valid entry!!!
* The winner will be selected my random.com on Tuesday 20th March, 8pm Australian EST (so Monday sometime for most of you!)

UPDATE: Winner announced (comment #15 Jessica)

Finally, thanks so much for following my blog! It's the comments you leave that really keep me doing this, and I am loving making some other quilty friends across the world :)

I'm linking up to Fabric Tuesday (link on sidebar).

One thing, one week challenge - Just Wing It quilt top

I'm really excited I have gotten this quilt top finished (which was my one thing, one week aim). I'm quite happy with the results (although these photos were taken inside with really bad lighting, so they look pretty terrible!)

It's pretty big (about 60" x 85") so I couldn't get a really good picture. Weather has been terrible so no outside photo opportunities - and the pics are quite blurry so its an all around fail really. I really need to work on my camera skills ;o)

(did you tilt your head on an angle for this one?)

It's actually now pin basted and ready to quilt (when I get up the courage to wrestle it through my machine!!)

Linking up to the One Week, One Thing challenge at Amy's Creative Side (button in sidebar).

x Jess

My sewing space

I've been wanting to put up some pictures of my sewing space for a while. I've seen a lot of pictures lately of pristine, extremely organised spaces that people describe as messy. Well, I'm about to show you my cleaned up sewing room - this is my version of tidy and organised (which isn't really very organised or tidy...) Be warned this is a photo-heavy post!

Why now? Well I spent an hour or two today sorting my scraps. They went from this:

Via this (Zoe had the best time 'helping' me - I'm sure I'll find lots of scraps scattered around the house over the next week or so!)

To this:

These are drawers that slide in pairs into a casing, and the casings stack on top of one another. This was by no means all of my scraps - I've got all the white and cream solids in zip lock bags. There are a few other zip locks full of 6" squares, and collections that I've kept together. But this is the scrappy scraps - all ready for some sort of scraptastic project.

So once I'd done that I did a quick tidy of my sewing room and took some pics. My quilty books - love pretty much all of them.

This one my mum gave to me (to borrow) last week and it's an oldie but a goodie.

It doesn't have cutting instructions etc for the blocks, but teaches you how to draft them yourself (and then figure out the piecing too :) )

I might make a sampler quilt using some of them at some stage I think - it would be a brilliant skill builder!

Anyhoo, back to the sewing room. This is under my sewing machine desk (tidy, hey?) All those boxes are full of sewing patterns - mostly vintage (60s and 70s):

My sewing machine table:

My threads/sewing machine accessories/fabrics pulled for WiPs/general crap.

Shelves above our computer - more sewing patterns (mostly ones in my etsy shop), more WiPs, finished quilts and some of my neutral fabrics.

My second desk - usually used to stash stuff I'm working on and used for pinning/trimming. Lots of drawers underneath full of more stuff. Not sure what (apart from the top two which I use all the time) and I'm too scared to clean them out. I don't use it for cutting as it's too low and not all that flat. Love my view of our garden though :)

So that's it. Cutting and basting happen on our 8-ball table - my long suffering other half bought two massive pieces of MDF board that sit on top. He bought them so he could play Warhammer on them, but they are conveniently perfect for cutting and basting. So yet again I win, and he gets to complain about my quilting stuff spreading even further :o)

I'd love to see some other people's sewing areas!

xx Jess

WIP Wednesday - Just Wing It #1

I did a small blog revamp last night, and I now have a 'current WIP' page so I can keep track of what I need to finish off - although I really can't imagine that will stop me starting new projects anyway :-p

I've been sewing up a storm this week, getting the first of my commission quilts done - I've nearly finished the quilt top. I will be about 55" x 85" when its done, and I'm struggling to get a good photo, because it's been raining and I don't have anywhere inside to hang it...

This is the main central panel (really crappy photo sorry) - mostly Just Wing It by Momo with some Just Dandy, metro circles and a white/pink/red polka dot print (not sure what collection its from...) I'm hoping to get this one finished, basted and quilted in the next week or so, and then get started on the second one.

WIP stats:


In progress: 3
* Swoon - completed 5/9 blocks
* Commissioned quilts - first quilt top nearly done, second one cut ready to assemble.
* Secret project

Long term WIPs: 3
* Outfoxed on the High Seas
* Fandango
* Pop garden
plus a few other abandoned projects that may never see the light of day again ;)


Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced (link button on sidebar).

Hexy Trail Mini Quilt

This is my entry into the Modern Mini Quilt challenge.

 

I wanted to use some techniques for this challenge that I hadn't tried before, and I'm a big fan of English paper piecing, so I decided to give that a try. I also worked with a linen/cotton blend which I never have before. 

I'm a bit obsessed with bright, saturated colours at the moment, so I decided to use some Echino linen fabric and a fussy cut bee from Melody Miller's Ruby Star Spring collection for the hexies, and used natural Essex linen for the background.

I made the hexagons in various sizes ranging from 1.25" to 2.5", and arranged them in an abstract-type arrangement. I whip-stitched them together, and then appliqued them straight on to the quilt sandwich. 

I stitched around each hexagon, using an off-white Aurifil thread.

I quilted in straight lines 1" apart, following the sides of some of the hexies using the same thread as for applique-ing the hexies. I didn't plan on quilting it this way - it evolved as I was doing it (I originally intended on quilting diagonally across the whole quilt). I love how the lines are kind-of-but-not-quite woven through the quilt.

I attached a flange to the edges of the quilt (Kona surf) before sewing on the binding (Kona cerise).

My mini measures 24" x 34". I've added some hanging sleeves to the upper corners, so it will soon be hung in my sewing room. I really, really loved making this mini, and I am completely in love with it - it makes me smile whenever I look at it :-D

xx Jess

Fresh Sewing Day - February 2012

I've decided to use my Fresh Sewing Day posts as a 'what I got done' and 'what I need to do' - thanks to Lawson&Lotti for the idea :).

I had my first finishes in Feb (yay!!)

Library bag, FTLOS big item, Name game Swap and FTLOS small item. 

I've completed another couple of swoon blocks, so I have five out of nine done:

I've made quite a few snail trail blocks, four of which became a mini (still not quite finished!)

And I've made progress on my secret project (bwahahaha!!)

And I've cut and planned out my two commissioned quilts - these are my priority for now. Apologies for the *#%t photo, I had to stand on our kitchen table to take it... Mostly Just Wing it, with a few other prints.

So my to do list for March:

1. Make my two commissioned quilts (no deadline, but I want to get them done soon)

2. Secret project (Deadline 30th March)

3. Swoon - make the other four blocks and then work out how the heck I'll quilt it (and what sashing colour to use - I'm thinking black at the moment ?!)

4. 4x5 Bee blocks (Due 15th April)

Plus whatever else crops up (and it always does!) I should probably get  a few long term WIPs quilted...

I'm linking up to Fresh Sewing day at Lily's Quilts (link in sidebar) - make sure you check out what everyone else has been up to this month!

I'm also linking up to Lawson&Lotti

xx Jess