En Provence with Bonnie Hunter

I'm not too sure what the deal is with the end of month and writing up posts - quite often multiple ones, but it has happened again!  So much to say!  I have to admit to being a little lazy - firstly I do do a lot multiple sewing (much to my husbands' consternation!).  Why make just one top when you love the pattern so much?  Why not make three or four?  What I then forget to do is to make a note of the changes that I have made - add a bit here, lengthen this, scrap that etc.  I do keep a notebook that has measurements in for elastic lengths to use on vest tops, or sizes to cut when making little pouches which is useful, but not as useful as referring back to my notes and photos on my blog.  Time to catch up.

So, lots of sewing happening in my part of the world, and today I am going to start with another quilt that I have started.  Well actually, there are two, so get a nice steaming cup of tea, put your feet up and read on!!

Somehow I heard about a quilter called Bonnie Hunter (and I am so glad I did!) who is obsessed with scraps of fabric (in a totally good way) and thought that I'd have a go at her mystery quilt that she starts this time each year.  I think that this is the third or fourth that she has run.  She starts off with a tempting photo of her inspiration (in this case the lavender farms in Provence.  This link will only be live for a few months) and then suggests colour combinations.  Now this is pretty smart - as computers vary, she actually goes into a paint store and selects a number of paint chips to help you make choices.  I can only imagine how daft quilters must look, running into hardware stores to get their paint chips and then raiding their stashes for the appropriate fabric.  Of course you can make your own colour choices, but I am happy to be a sheep!

Very pretty indeed.  These are the main colours that will be used with lots of low volume neutrals.  The first clue came out on Friday, and involved making over 200 of these (see below) four patch squares (here is the first clue.  Bonnie has asked that folks be redirected to her blog rather than copying and pasting the details on your own blog).

So this is what I made:

I've included a couple of close ups to show some of the very lovely fabrics like cute little birds and sewing paraphernalia, 

the dragonfly above,

Delicate pink flower fabric as well as the two Christmas fabrics with firs and berries, and the stars with writing.  There are some cute little birds and fabric with sewing machines on too.

And the compass fabric with paw prints in.

So there we have it - clue one completed.  Clue two comes out next Friday . . . . . can't wait to see what we will be making next!

Have you tried mystery quilts?  I know that some folks really don't like committing time and fabric to a project where they don't know what the final item will look like, but I really like the freedom of not having to think - just instructions - use this type of fabric, cut your fabric in this manner etc., and if you look at her other quilts, they are rather lovely, so I am sure this one will be just as good.

Clue 1.  Sitting waiting . . . .

Do take a look at the progress of my fellow mystery quilters here.

Is it Friday yet?

Gypsy Wife - the Beginning!

Whilst waiting for the new patterns and fabrics to come out for the fall, I thought I'd try my hand at a bit quilting.  It really is 'big' in Canada - much more so that in the UK (where I hail from originally), and in fact the first Canadian dollars that I earned when we moved here in 2004 was from working in a quilt shop, cutting fabric.  As you can imagine, I was handing over most of my wages each month to my employer to pay for the fabric, books, notions that I had bought!

So, what to make?  I have made a couple of quilt tops, or 'flimsys' as I have heard them referred to, as a result of buying a 'class pass' from my local quilt shop and attending some classes, and now I wanted to try something different.  Somewhere on the net I saw some photos of a pattern called Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell.  Oh man, what a riot of colour and pattern!  And best of all?  You can use up scraps.

I bought the pattern online via Etsy from a seller in Australia - and I would thoroughly recommend her.  I did a bit of research checking pattern cost & postage, and she came out top, saving me over $20 on some of the other sellers.  Some people have written reviews about the pattern (mostly on Amazon) commenting about the content, and as long as you go into this knowing that you will NOT be held by the hand, I think most people will be fine.  And of course, thanks to the interwebs, there are lots of blog posts to help you out - and I used these two blogs that were actually a quilt-a-long.  There are some excellent documents that list the size of the different blocks in the different units - I found it very helpful.

But first, what colours?  I was tempted to do the full 'scrappy' look, but thought it wold also be fun to have some kind of colour co-ordination, so over to Design Seeds for some inspiration.  I love this blog - and if you ever need some help with colours - this is a great place to start.  After lots of mooching around, this is the photo and colours that I plumped for:

  Source

Very Mediterranean with quite a few colour choices.  Love it!  And here is my selection:

There is a real mixture here, Amy Butler, Riley Blake, Moda, Wal-Mart, Fabricland, fat quarters, jelly rolls, charms squares, and scrappy scraps!

Once the colour choices were made, it was time to play!!

The pattern book itself has you make up all the blocks - pinwheels x 6, hourglass x 2 etc., and then link them all together in their ten sections with the long strips, finally sewing the 10 sections together.  I found it easier to make one section at a time, including the strips, starting on the left (sections 9 & 10) and working towards the right (sections 1, 2 &7).  Here are my first few blocks:

Which when put together, made this sections 9, 8 and 10):

The colours are really rich and it amazing how they all seem to 'go' together.  I tried not to have two fabrics the same touching, and I wanted to have all my strips at the bottom to be different (60 in all!)

Close up you can see more detail (well, duh!)  I have NEVER made any of these blocks before, so although I would count myself as an experienced dressmaker, I am definitely a beginner quilter.  There are a couple of differences in my blocks - sometimes because I didn't read the instructions fully, and at others for aesthetic reasons - for example the blue heart below.  The pattern directs you to have more contrast/background in the middle section where the triangles are, but I wanted mine to have a more solid appearance.  So that is what I gave it!

Well, that was my first weekend's sewing.  I am absolutely thrilled with the progress.  My camera doesn't quite capture the vibrancy of the project so far.  I will work on that for the next set of photos!

And in the meantime - ooooh, new Tina Givens patterns and autumn fabrics to play with.  I really like this look by Kaliyana called the 'Anti Suit:

Watch this space!

Have you started your Autumn sewing yet?

Heritage Park 2016 Festival of Quilts

The weather was gorgeous this weekend so I took myself off to the Festival of Quilts at Heritage Park today.  There were over 600 quilts displayed around the park, some in huge tents, some hanging from the balconies of the historic hotel, and some draped over fences.  It really was spectacular - and such a great variety.

Here are a few that particularly enjoyed:

Thi reminds me of silver birch tree trunks.  A great way to use up scraps.

This was my father's favourite.  It is called 'Whirling Dervishes' and is paper pieced.  It is only now, looking at the photo, that I can see how detailed this is - there is even some shading in the clothes!

It looks as though this has been made from a couple of charm packs, and a couple of packs may have fallen into my bag in the vendors tent!!  I love rainbow patterns . . . . . .

The bargello quilt above is made from just two fabrics, with the main one being gradient dyed.

The quilt above and below is made up of tiny houses about 3" square.  In some of the windows there are little faces peeking out.  Very cute!

The teeny tiny square on the quilt above are about .75".  At first they looked to be random squares, but you can see a rather subtle pattern.  Such detailed and time consuming work.

The pixilated quilt above reminds me of 'Starry Night'.  Again, lovely colours.

I love houses on quilts.  Just saying!!

Very calming colours - blues and greens.

Stunning.  Just stunning!  I didn't get close to the lions head, but from a slight distance it looked stunning.

And finally, hearts.  This was actually on display next to one of the vendor tills and each square is made of three layers - either a base layer with two hearts on or a base layer with two windows.  I think this would work really well as labels on my clothes.

Well, lots of ideas and thoughts.  Some that would relate to dressmaking, some to quilting - I tend to err on the side of smaller table runners or wall hangings, or maybe a mug rug or two.  Can't wait to start!

And as a last note - but certainly not an afterthought, I was approached by a lovely lady who recognised me from my blog.  I am sorry to say that I was so blown away that I did not ask her name, but thank-you lovely lady, you made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

What inspiration has caught your eye recently?

Catching Up Pt 3 - Wallets

And then I came across a pattern for wallets.  And that was that.  I made one or two or a whole lot more!!

I loved making these, the inside, binding and closure tab took just one fat quarter, and then the front portion was cut out of a second fat quarter (a quarter yard of quilting fabric, usually 18" x 22") .

Inside there is space for six credit cards and then the two deeper pockets can hold something larger - perhaps receipts, health cards etc.

Now I made these primarily for myself - not that I need so many wallets, but I like to keep my cards all together so there are no zippers or coin pockets.

And I get really excited about some of these fabric matches - the colours are just such fun!

I called this wallet (above) the 'Cool Cats in London' (what-do-you-mean . . . . your wallets don't have names??)

I bought a panel for the wallet above - it is what I would call 'Primitive Americana' and there are different scenes on it so I could make a number of wallets and although you could tell that they belonged together - they would all be different.  A bit like a clothing collection really.  I got a bit carried away with the labels though, and this one ended up with two!

To finish off I made a sweet little coin purse. This was a new pattern and I'm not too happy about how it ended up (my issues, not the pattens) so I guess in quilting terms it could be known as a 'useable muslin'!!

All in all it has been a fun diversion. I know that I am nearing the end of this sojourn, because when I went to look in my local fabric shop, the quilting fabric was not calling my name! I did have some fun with precision sewing - those 1/4" take a bit of getting used to, but a 1/4" foot helps immeasurably. I also got to play with interfacing weights (some of the wallets are pretty rigid whilst others have some bendability).

And the fabrics - I really love the colours and patterns that you get with quilting cottons. I love that these projects are quick and easy (and don't take a large table to cut out on!) and I suspect that I will continue to make little bits and bobs during the week and dress-make at the weekends. I have also toyed with making up some wallets and purses, and maybe some mug rug patterns, to sell on Ebay. Isn't it great that we live in a time when we can realise these kinds of dreams?

I have a busy weekend this weekend - my father really loves Charley Pride, so I am taking him to see Charley in concert this weekend.  Although it is not my kind of music - I remember growing up listening to it, and he has a fabulous voice and great stage presence. So, not much sewing this weekend, but I am now ready to start planning what to make next.  It looks like Winter has finally turned its back on Alberta - we have had temperatures in the 20's (centigrade) all week, so it is probably time to chop up the linen!  How is your Spring/Summer sewing coming along?

Catching Up - Mug Rugs and Wall Hangings

The second post from the trilogy that chronicles my brief sojourn away from dressmaking (I can hear my dress fabric calling me back!) was to dabble in mug rugs.  I have mentioned them previously in this post, and have had a great time sewing up some more . . . .

1. Whales, 2. Jigsaw, 3. Scottie Dogs, 4. Flowers, 5.Tea Cups (my own design), 6. Scottie Dogs (see 3), 7. Four Seasons, 8. Autumnal Leaves, 9. Jigsaw (see 2), 10. Red Flowers, 11. Snowman, 12. Christmas Tree Sampler, 13. Rainbow Stripes (my own design), 14. Autumnal Leaves (see 8.), 15. Home

They range in size from about 8" x 4" to 10" x 6" and do not use up much fabric.  I learned a lot about colours and how they play together, as well as working with light and dark values.  I also found these great outlets for precision sewing (1/4" seams, stitch in the ditch etc) and, of course, hand-sewing!  But most of all, they are just so damn cute - it makes me smile to delve into my fabric stash and choose such lovely fabrics to play with - and a fat quarter goes a loooong way!  I plan on making up some more for Christmas/birthdays - I would parcel one up with a cute mug and some hot chocolate and/or fruity tea.

I have already given most of these away - the 'new home' one was made into a tiny wall hanging for my brother and his wife when they moved into their new house.

I love that the windows are a little wonky - I think it adds to the quirky charm.

And finally, for this post, I made a few wall hangings:

Again, these have all been snagged - I only have the photos to remind myself of them!  I will make another version of the last wall hanging as it is from a fabulous quilt shop in Canmore, Alberta (as is the 'We Love Canada' one), and features the Three Sisters Mountains which were in most of our wedding photos as we got married in Canmore.  Happy memories!