Weekender

It's been a weekend of catching up with housework and gardening.  I did manage to fit in an argument with Sam about GCSE revision, but there's been little time for sewing.

Seeing as I was in the garden, I thought I'd do a photoshoot of a couple of things I completed a while back.

I've been sewing since I was a teenager and I took some quilting classes back when the children were little, but this was the first 'proper' quilt I did, about 18 months ago.  I used the Mix Tape pattern from Oh Fransson.  It's done in prints from the 'Just Wing It' collection by Momo - I was just getting to grips with online fabric shopping at this point.  I learnt a lot while doing this quilt.  Like the importance of measuring and cutting accurately, and sewing an accurate seam.  It was the first quilt I'd ever machine quilted - that was a steep learning curve.  There are many, many mistakes in this quilt, but it was made with love and it's used every day, so I'm happy.

Close up of the binding and backing, just to give you an even better idea of the number of mistakes.

I did a few other projects after the quilt, but don't have any photos to show of them today.  Obviously I couldn't do a quilt for one child and not for the other, because that would make me a terrible mother.  Sam and I discussed what he would like and he chose Drunk Love From Denyse Schmidt.  I quickly decided that I couldn't be bothered faffing around with templates, so I read some tutorials here and here and jumped in.

This was a lot of fun to do, plus it's very forgiving as you're just able to trim each block to the perfect size as you finish.  I haven't actually finished this yet.  The top has been done for quite a few months and I ordered some fabric for the backing, but when it arrived I didn't like it as much as I'd expected, so I've had it folded up on a shelf, hoping that I'd start to like the backing fabric better.  Taking it down to photograph today, I've come to peace with the fact that I need to buy some other backing fabric, so that's what I'm going to do.  I'm trying to forget about the money I spent on the 4 metres of fabric that I'm not going to use.

It's done in Kona Solids with some Alexander Henry Pirate Grid mixed in.  While making this one I learnt that calculating the correct amount of fabric before you order is a good idea.  I ordered about half what I needed, ran out and then had to search through every Kona supplier in the UK to find one of the shades of grey I needed.

The coming week promises to be busy again but I'm hoping to squeeze in a bit of sewing time at some point.  I've signed up to a couple of swaps and bees on Flickr, so I'm looking forward to some fun stuff over the next few months.

Comments

[2paw]

Wow, what beautiful quilts. I love the top one and truly, it looks great!! Thanks for the tutorial links, I wondered how you made such clever log cabin-esque squares. I love wonkiness that you just trim too!!
I always buy too much- wool and fabric, just in case!! It can be a steep learning curve but a rewarding one.

[blueadt]

We've also had the arguments re GCSE revision this weekend& she's got her last one as I write, thank god!

Beautiful quilts, makes me want to find time to do some sewing...

[Nic]

They are stunning

[maria]

It looks like arguments about school work will continue! I'm having them already with my son about home work in year 5!
Great quilts.

[Joanne Jones]

I just saw this on Flickr and had to have a look at your blog - it's such a beautiful quilt. I love it! Jo :)

[Angela @ Heart of Charnwood]

Oh wow, I love the check fabric up close, from a distance it all looks solid, it gives it real depth. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has quilt tops hanging around for ages while my brain ticks over what to do about backings etc! Ange : )