Tag Archive for 'sunday patchwork'

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #11

Published on November 9, 2011 in patchwork, scraps and the workroom. 9 Comments Tags: improv patchwork, sunday patchwork.

I was thinking about herringbone the other day and wanted to see what it would look like in patchwork. I’m going to try some more, but I’m liking this idea a lot! This version is very random, but perhaps more organized and with high contrast fabrics, next time? This block is still a work in progress. We’ll see where it goes next.

I very rarely plan much when I sew improv patchwork. I know that some people will draw sketches beforehand. But I really like to just see what happens. Sometimes when I set out to create something specific, something totally different will happen. Like the last block, for instance. That was not even close to what I was trying to do, but sometimes you just have to listen to what the fabric tells you to do. There are so many happy surprises with improv.

p.s. Look for my improv patchwork class coming in January. (!!!!!)

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #9

Published on August 4, 2011 in patchwork. 4 Comments Tags: mrsmcporkchop, star-y log cabin, sunday patchwork.

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on my Star-y Log Cabin quilt, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. (that counts for something, right?) I finally promised myself that I would devote a Sunday Patchwork night to make some headway with this quilt top. (which was designed by Amanda)

It’s pretty fun to start to see it come together. It’s definitely a much bolder palette than what I tend to go for and it feels pretty good to step outside my normal ‘grey’ palette. I have about five more rounds of logs to do, so I’m just about half way done!

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #8

Published on July 20, 2011 in colour and patchwork. 7 Comments Tags: improv patchwork, mini quilt, pinterest, sunday patchwork.

The beauty of a mini quilt is that you work through a colour palette or style on a very small scale and feel like you’ve checked it off your list. It would be impossible for me to work out every colour combination I’m in love with as a full sized quilt. Plus, I’ve recently decided that my life needs a wall filled with mini quilts.

This melon and grey combination has made several appearances on my Pinterest colour board. (1, 2, 3, 4!) Grey plus anything is always a favourite for me.

I’m testing out some new ways of doing improv patchwork. For this piece, I made up a rule that I must use equal amounts of all the fabric I chose. I cut a strip of fabric that was 6″ x 2″ of each fabric and started sewing. I wanted to keep it really simple, so I didn’t chop up my sewing too much as I went along. I like how it just ended up being equal squares and rectangles. So simple.

I’m feeling like I need to be more experimental with my quilting designs. I have not yet braved the world of free motion. (soon!) So, I’m still exploring the world of straight lines. I decided to take out my Hera Marker for this and see how it worked for marking my quilting lines. It was perfect!! It allowed me to quickly mark my design with a ruler as I went along without leaving any chalk or ink lines behind. I was surprised at how well the indentations marked the lines for me. This is definitely a new favourite notion to use.

I finished this mini quilt in four days from start to finishing the binding. Wall full of mini quilts should be a breeze, right?

HAND QUILTED HOOP TRAVEL BAG

Published on June 29, 2011 in patchwork, scraps and stitchery. 9 Comments Tags: hand quilting, sunday patchwork, The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, Travel Hoop Bag.

No matter how busy I am, I make sure that I carve out some time in my week to sit down and do some crafting for myself. Especially right now, these little projects are keeping me sane!

You might recognize this as a Sunday Patchwork project. I had decided that the pieces needed to be hand quilted and made into a Hoop Travel Bag. I started the hand quilting back in March and I was finally able to finish it off when we went to the cottage.

Although I own a hoop bag already, this was the first one that I made. I had trimmed down my patchwork pieces to the final dimensions of the outside pieces in the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery pattern and followed the instructions from there. It came together really quickly and was so fun to make. It took me just over an hour to construct the pouch and I was almost giddy when I finished it. Sewing is good therapy.

I am doing more and more handwork. It’s perfect for trips, stitching outside, watching movies and hanging with friends. Right now I’ve got an embroidery sampler project, a cross stitch project and an English paper piecing project in progress. Ideally, I’d like to have a hoop bag for each of these. So, I think I need to make myself at least two more. (an extra one for good luck)

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #7

Published on June 14, 2011 in colour and patchwork. 13 Comments Tags: half square triangle, hand, mini quilt, sunday patchwork.

This Sunday Patchwork spans the last three Sundays and lots of hours in between. It started with an idea to do a mini quilt in aqua, yellow and cream. A big part of my love for this colour palette was this Windham fabric. I picked out a selection of fabrics from my stash and had it in my mind to ‘whip up’ this mini quilt top in a night. I also had it in my mind to do it all in tiny half square triangles (HSTs) rather than my usual improv piecing style. I wanted structure and repetition for this mini quilt.

Well, that first Sunday night, I barely got through cutting all the squares of fabric, marking lines, sewing, slicing and ironing over 150 HSTs. The next morning when I got up, I jumped on the sewing machine and started to sew them together, but I didn’t get far. Those teeny tiny HSTs (they are 1″ finished) got really wonky, really quickly when I started putting them together. I could see right away that in order for me to get all my points perfect and to keep things square, I was going to have to hand piece this mini quilt.

I learned about the joys of hand piecing from Carolanne. It is an amazing way to sew incredibly accurately. When I made my patchwork skateboard last year, it was all pieced by hand. It might take a bit longer, but it’s so satisfying and you can do it on the couch or tucked in bed.

This hand piecing project couldn’t have come at a better time, it has been the best therapy for some long, stressful days. Completely focusing on the stitching gave me a great escape to clear my mind.

I put the top together with no plan and just randomly sewed the pieces together. I originally thought I would have all the HSTs facing in the same direction, but decided to do some alternating to create some movement within the piece. It will finish at 12″ square and is made up of 144 half square triangles.

I love to take photos of the back of my work, especially when all the seams line up and create perfect little shapes. That is the best!

I gotta say, I love it. A LOT.

Tonight at the Stitch n’ Bitch, I’m going to baste it and figure out how to quilt it. I’ll probably also be thinking about my next mini quilt, which is going to be inspired by ice cream colours!

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #5

Published on March 26, 2011 in patchwork. 4 Comments Tags: Liberty of London, mauvey, sunday patchwork, V&A Patchwork Pattern Maker.

Last Sunday, my patchwork was basically the opposite of improv. I’ve been wanting to make some progress on my ‘Mauvey Quilt’. This is a quilt design that was generated from the V&A Patchwork Pattern Maker last year when I uploaded a photo of one of my favourite Liberty of London prints, Mauvey.

I spent a couple weeks assigning colours & fabrics to the colour key, then cutting out squares for both the square pieces and the half square triangle components. Oh yes, this is going to be a Queen-sized quilt. So, that was a heck of a lot of cutting. The final square size is 4.25″. I’m working through the quilt in 36 square increments (6 squares x 6 squares). There are 24 sections. I have now completed 2 sections. Here is the first. This is the second section.

Piecing this pattern requires a lot of attention. I have everything marked out and I am constantly referring to the pattern at every stage, multiple times. This entire quilt is a precision moment.

Though slow going, I love working on it. I’m intrigued by the pixel-y look of it. It’s going to be so fun to watch the sections come together. Luckily I’m feeling very patient with this quilt.

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #4

Published on March 14, 2011 in colour, patchwork and scraps. 2 Comments Tags: scraps, sunday patchwork.

I’ve been patchworking every Sunday, but for the last ten weeks have been focusing on my Quilt Sampler 2 homework. The class just finished last Thursday, so I’ll post up photos of our finished quilt tops this week.

Yesterday, I spent a few hours ironing and organizing my fabric stash at home. It’s gotten a bit messy and also spread out over the house, so I wanted to wrangle it into one location. It’s so fun to re-discover forgotten fabrics and make things all tidy. Handling all my fabrics, really got me inspired to work with some with new colour palettes.

I’ve really been in the mood for some improv patchwork, so last night I started by using some scraps of purple nani IRO double gauze and threw in other scraps of dark grape-y purple, navy and light blues. I wanted to keep it fairly simple, but kept adding more and more scraps. It’s hard to stop, once you get going! I built two separate, but similar blocks so that they would be the right size for me to make myself a travel hoop bag.

Tonight I’m going to baste the two blocks and start doing some simple hand quilting on them. I’ve been missing having a little hand work project, so this is going to be perfect!

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #3

Published on January 13, 2011 in DIY, patchwork and the workroom. 3 Comments Tags: heat n' bond, moleskine, star sampler, sunday patchwork, wonky star.

For the first Sunday of the year, I wanted to try out making a Wonky Star block. I used this great tutorial, but changed the dimensions. I cut my individual squares at 1.5″ x 1.5″ and my finished blocks were 3.75″ x 3.75″. They’re so cute and tiny! Wonky Stars are fun to make and really easy.

I made them extra small because I wanted to put the blocks on the covers of my new Moleskine cahier notebooks. I like to have a couple blank notebooks on the go to carry in my Birdie Sling for jotting down notes and ideas. For the first one, I used my sewing machine and just zigzagged the block on. I should have used a walking foot for this. Perhaps it wouldn’t have made the block even more wonky. Then, I had the idea to use fusible web to attach the second block. I used Heat N’ Bond from the workroom and simply ironed the block to the notebook cover. Fusible web is such a great thing to have around for craft projects, you can use it on so many materials and it gives an appliqué look without any sewing. I like the way this block looks on the cover much better, though I’m tempted to stitch over the edges, now that it’s secure.

Stars are my favourite blocks to make, without a doubt. So, I’m going to add ‘making a star sampler’ to my list of quilts to make.

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #2

Published on December 29, 2010 in patchwork and scraps. 4 Comments Tags: Kona Charcoal, scraps, sunday patchwork.

Happy Holidays! I’m actually still super busy, so I haven’t had lots of down time yet. I’m really looking forward to a quiet New Year’s weekend. I’m still working away on some of my ‘holiday/new year’ gifts!

In the midst of holiday sewing, I made time for my new Sunday routine. This block was inspired by the leftover scraps from a gift I am making using Kona Charcoal. I rarely use solids in patchwork, but I love how this turned out.

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #1

Published on December 22, 2010 in patchwork and scraps. 9 Comments Tags: scraps, sunday patchwork.

I’m trying out a new weekly routine where I dedicate Sunday nights to sewing and to doing some improvisational patchwork or other type of patchwork. No pressure to make anything from these blocks, but just time to play around with colour, form and fabric. So far I’ve been using scraps for these blocks and it’s giving me so many ideas for colour palettes, possible larger quilts and some smaller projects I want to try out. I’m absolutely loving the magical things that are happening when I sew with no plan.