60 Degrees

This weekend I decided to give in to the endless demand for the second speaker quilt. Rather than do the same thing as before, I decided to do something different using the same sort of fabric. I decided to practice 60° triangles with the newish 60 degree ruler. It's much easier than the template I was using before. I thought Id's experiment with bigger seams in an effort to improve my precision as they always seem off.



Fighting the stretchy nature of the bias is really frustrating. It didn't make it any easier really, just more bulky, but at least I know now. I just used a lot of spray starch and tried not to pull the material too much as it warps the shape. I also drew a line on the plate of the sewing machine to help with lining the material up when you sew it. That definitely helped when it came to the ends which have a tendency to move weirdly. I have a little wooden cuticle pusher which I used to hold the material in place up until the very last minute it is sewn which made life more precise but it still isn't perfect.



I couldn't work out the maths enough to make it a perfect fit so I evened it up with the leftovers from the last quilt. I'm pleased about this as there was just enough and I had no idea what I was going to do with it otherwise as it was so pindling.



It's all ready and waiting to just be quilted now. A job for next weekend methinks.

Hexagons

So I have been thinking about doing some hexagons (or English patchwork if you want to be technical). I have no idea why. It's all done by hand ye olde fashioned way and is a tonne of work unless you just make a pin cushion.) I have many other projects to do, but I quite like the idea of something I can do by hand, little by little. I am not quite sure if it is madness yet. I am still working it out. And I am not quite sure what would look nice. Should it be modern prints, totally random, with a bauhaus colour theme or small pretty sprigs. Plains and patterns forming larger shapes, white bits? Who knows, it is just a small idea lodging itself in the back of my head. Above are some different examples that have caught my eye.

1. The Pillow Talk { Swap } , 2. Eggs from just this morn, 3. Always work in progress, 4. Four, 5. Pillow Talk swap round 3, 6. YIP 365.299 :: Honeycomb Hexagon quilt from Fresh Quilting, 7. girly hexagon quilt, 8. checking out the hexagons...., 9. Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, 10. butterfly hexes, 11. Hexillow, 12. Milk & Honey

I would also like to mention at this point that I left my crochet granny squares lying around in a pile for so long that they got infested by moths so I have had to wash them and put them in the freezer. I have a bad track record with these things, yet I yearn to start them.

SImple Quilt

I have so nearly finished this quilt. It's the first quilt I glued instead of basting. I did this as it was just getting so dirty on the floor and it was too big so the stairs kept getting in the way.



I think I might have to try basting my next quilt on a table. I am going to have to wash it, it is so dirty, but part of me is quite excited to see how this turns out. Although I washed all the fabric, I don't wash wadding and this quilt is made of lots of offcuts sewn together so it could well go all wrong, but I don't think I would mind that either. The backing is an old sheet and the whole thing is really soft. I kind of want it to go old and knackered and be something I can just bung in the wash without being too precious over it. With this in mind I machine quilted it quite heavily. The only problem with that is tying off all the ends. I Still haven't finished them so I still haven't washed it. I am going to try and make it my mission to do so.



I decided to make thick borders for this quilt so that they were soft and floppy, but I did them in continuous binding and I got the measurements wrong as the binding so so much thicker. So I had to make these funny corners. I actually quite like them, they seem to add to the softness, but they are a mistake. One I won't make again.

I started this quilt when I was in my last house as a moving in gift to myself for this house. That was over FIVE years ago. Shows how behind I have been. This is my simple boy friendly quilt based on one I saw by Conran in Libertys that was so expensive it was ridiculous. I wish I had taken a photo of it.