Bear Paw Quilt

Mum made all her quilting friends some bear paw blocks for a gift a few months ago. It's my all time favourite block along with the similar maple leaf block. She gave me one! How special am I? I thought it was a really nice idea. I love my block. It's so her. It's just in her colours. I decided to make mine into a quilt, trying my best to use mum's sort of fabrics and colours. It seemed like a good excuse to make one of my favourite blocks.



I am not sure about the very dark purple one in the middle. I am going to call this my mum quilt. I am trying to stick to her kinds of greens and dark purples. It's hard because I automatically veer towards my sorts of fabrics which tend to be louder and lighter. Mum mixes patterns with batiks which I tend not to do. But I am trying.



I have used some of my precious Liberty fat quarters and a William Morris print I have had for years. I am really liking the result. It really makes me want to go to Birmingham this year.



This is my favourite block. I love this Liberty print.



This green fabric was bought by mum for one of the first quilts I ever made.



I love the little green square from mum's scrap bin in the middle.



I have made eight blocks so far, plus mum's block and I have nine. I have all the pieces cut out and ready for two more blocks. So then I'll have two more left to do. I plan to do plain skip blocks inbetween.

One day I'd love to make this bear paw quilt
Or this one. I love all the sizes. I could make this block all day. It's easy, but it looks great.
And here is a free pattern of the block

Batik is back!

So I am finally back at the sewing machine. I have taken a week off work to settle Penelope into school so every morning I get three hours to myself. I admit, the first few days I just sat on the sofa worrying but by day three I had poked my nose into the cellar to bring up all the stuff I needed. My sewing world is so messy I have to keep it hidden away. I mean just look at the mess of my public shelf.

What a mess! Anyway, after a bit of a tidy up I got out all my batik blocks and laid them out. I was three blocks short so I got to use some of my new fabric as I was running low on mum's stash.

Finally I trimmed each block, some of mine were way off. Should have measured as I went along. Luckily nothing much needs to line up. I used my great new ruler I bought ages ago for some project or other. It's really great. I love Le Summit rulers.


This is the perfect size and the markings are really useful. Then I laid them out and numbered them.


I sewed the blocks into strips and ironed them. They are a bit lumpy because of the seams and the steam iron warped them a bit. Out of practice...


It came together really quickly in the end and the central block is made! I do think it looks a bit odd laid out like this but it's when it scrunches up that it looks great. You need to have it on your lap to truly appreciate it. It's much brighter than mums which was not my intention at all. Plus mine has blue in it which I didn't realise hers did not. I think if I were to do it again I would choose less bright Batiks, but it's so weird trying to pick them out when I buy them. I just look at them and think 'ew, disgusting' but then, later on, I love them. So I found it very hard to choose them. I still think it will be great when it's done. Now I just need to sew on the borders today.

What I bought

No Festival post would be complete without showing all the stuff I bought. I often look back through these types of post to identify where I bought something from so they are pretty useful to me.

For once, I don't think I went overboard. In a way it was sad, because I haven't been actively quilting I had no projects in mind really, no burning desires or half-baked plans. The only things I wanted were:

• Bottom Line Thread – It's perfect for hand piecing but it's expensive so I have decided to buy three rolls every year to build up a bit of a stash. At the moment I only have white and dark & light pink thinking that these would get me through, but if you want to be 100% invisible then it doesn't hurt to match thread to material colour as much as possible. So I am on a mission to amass a bit of a spectrum. They do an offer at Birmingham on three rolls so that's always good to take advantage of.

• Batik Fabric – Although I have paused on projects, the last thing I was working on was a batik log cabin made by mum's quilting group. I don't really own any batik fabric. I am not even sure I like it sometimes, but I loved mum's quilt she made and she had lots of extra strips cut. I mean loads! So I had nearly everything I needed. But I wanted to buy a few fat quarters and possibly a backing.

• Hiroshima Needles – So I bought some of these needles last year and they have grown on me. Of course my little glass test tube lost its cork whilst rattling around in my silly sewing kit which has gaps in the sides and half the needles were lost instantly. D'oh. SO I was on the look out for some more. 

THAT'S IT! 

Can you believe it?

Well of course, it's never quite that simple on the day...

So let's break it down

So I got my batik fabric, even the backing. It has made me motivated to finish it off.

Got my thread and needles. Amazingly I had forgotten the stalls I bought them from but they were in exactly the same position this year and I recognised the stalls instantly. And last but not least...

Every year mum buys me my birthday present from the show as it's only a few weeks after the show. This time she bought me this Monkey Buttons Sunset pattern and 8 fat quarters to go with it. I have a real issue with this quilt. I think I love it because of the fabric colours. I saw it last year and decided that I would never be able to recreate them as they are just not my colours. My mind can't even bend itself to their will. But I remembered it and went to look at it again. It just feels like an autumn/haloween/bonfire quilt. Mum talked me into it by saying the best course of action was to use fabric from their shop and to buy it all right then whilst we had the real quilt in front of us. It was very extravagant as the last thing I need is more fabric, but nothing much I have is those tones. So in the end, mum bought 8 quarters and I bought 8 so I would have enough. And then of course I got a few extra bits from my favourite stalls


I love The Shuttle. It's so cheap! I love their solids. They feel as if they are made from sheeting and go really soft. I am always on the lookout for warm greys for my stash so these were perfect.

I love Sunflower Fabrics. I always have to buy something from Maggie. Liberty fabric is so bloody expensive but this is one of my favourite patterns.

I didn't buy anything from Worn and Washed this year, but not because I didn't want to. I held back because I haven't touched what I bought time from Kim. I loved these hexagon cushions though. And last but not least... I bought one single fat quarter from The Eternal Maker. I have never been so restrained. Without Rachel there to guide me, plus the fact that I still haven't made the purse I bought all the stuff for last year, made me hold myself. So 1 fat quarter goes towards my Monkey Buttons quilt. That, as they say, is all folks.

Festival of Quilts

I'm really sorry it's been such a quiet year for me. Life has taken over and my sewing machine is making a grinding noise. Everything quilty has taken a back seat for a while. But it did not stop me going to Birmingham this year. I couldn't miss the opportunity to take mum away for the weekend. We decided to go Thursday/Friday this year and I don't think it made much difference to the numbers really. The above shot is taken at around 10.30. By 11 you could barely move! But you just have to take your time which we did. Because I have been so out of the loop with my sewing, I felt less driven; less crazy. I had a very small shopping list. Sometimes this is good because it means you can meander more. More about what I bought later... Due to my lackadaisical nature, I forgot to take my big camera and I didn't spend as long looking at the quilts as usual, but I did see some lovely things. See the full album here Otherwise, here are a few highlights. I really enjoyed looking through the 365 day challenge. I had seen this around the web and had been really tempted to join in, but after The Farmer's Wife, I just needed a rest. Do I really need a 90"x 90" quilt in my life? Not really. But I LOVE these sampler type quilts. I loved looking at the different colour combinations, choices of lights and darks and how they changed the pattern. It was great. Such a huge body of work. Check out the website for more info. I've got this Moda pattern, but I admit, seeing it up close made me realise how big some of those blocks are. Such beautiful fabric. I love this. Especially this bit with the big white circle. It makes me want to get my screenprinting kit out that Rachel bought me. I love the bright colours in this quilt. There were some really lovely modern quilts this year. I think that's more than enough. There were some epic quilts there. I am always blown away by just how many man hours they must take to make and how perfect the sewing is. Another great year at the show.

Half Square Triangle Quilt Done

Last year I started this quilt. I based it on this quilt. It just shows you though, that no matter how hard you try to replicate something, you always end up with something quite different. I still prefer the more subtle palette of Megan's original, but I often think that I fall in love with the fabrics people choose rather than the pattern and that it's a real hostage to fortune as you can never quite match them unless they are current fabrics.


I knew that this quilt would be for Penelope so I decided to use brighter fabrics. I wanted to avoid making it overly pink or purple as these are Penelope's least favourite colours; seeing as they are GIRLS colours and she hates GIRLS. Urgh! Yucky! I liked the use of light and dark blues in the original so I tried to incorporate these and just use one slight green fabric.


I used Kona Ash for the solid. I found trying to find the exact warm grey/brown fabric impossible so the ash was a compromise. I am still annoyed about it. It lacks the slight warmth I would have liked. It's too grey. But I just couldn't wait any longer and to be fair, I looked for it at Birmingham and Duxford and couldn't find it so you can't say I didn't try.


I bought the backing at Duxford. It was cheap which was a great and it's Penelope's favourite colour; orange. I think it goes really well with her Ikea duvet cover.


I finished the top quite quickly. But since November it has sat around waiting for the next step. It was in danger of toppling my enormous pile of quilt tops which never get finished. So I decided to plough on through to the bitter end. I hate basting. I am just not set up for it. I hate machine quilting as I am just not set up for it, but it worked out fine in the end. I used my favourite Quilter's Dream Puff wadding because it is so light and bouncy. I didn't want it to be a heavy quilt as they annoy Penelope. I also want it to scrunch up nicely and be really soft.


It looks a bit flat at the moment. I toyed with the idea of doing the quilting 1/4 inch from the seams on either side but it was twice the work so I just did one line down the ditch. A wash will tell the true story. I am in no doubt this will need washing over and over so it will never look this flat again. I have not prewashed any of the fabric which I know could spell ruin but part of me wouldn't mind if the colours merge and blotch a bit.... well I say that now. I just want it to look scrunchy and well loved and the grey could benefit from being washed with a slight purple tint.


The other thing I wanted was for it to fit the top of her bed perfectly but have no bits draping. At present her quilts tend to drag off onto the floor because her bed is pressed up against the wall and they just tend to slide off. So this needed to just cover the top which it does perfectly. I can see this quilt being used a lot. All of her baby quilts are slightly annoying for her now as she is so tall that her feet poke out of the bottom. I never really thought she would be such a quilt person, but she loves them!

Right onto the next UFO! I am on a roll!

Adventures in Batik

Behold! It is a Hawaiian disco traincrash!

For many years mum and I have disagreed upon certain quilting matters, one of these has been batiks - mum loves them, whereas I do not. I like traditional, flowery or modern and geometric. Batik doesn't seem to fit any of those characteristics. It's loud, garish and a bit, well, Hawaiian.

Batik is just not me. No siree. This is more me.

I mean look at it? It's old, flowery, delicate. Everything a cosy, little house on the prairie quilt should be. I love it.

But you know, sometimes I change my mind...


Mum made this Asymmetrical Log Cabin quilt at her local quilting class she goes to. When she first showed it to me I think I thought it was quite nice. But left alone with it for a week, it grew and grew on me, to the point where I just asked mum if I could have it. I mean come on, there must be ten quilts in every room in my mum's house; what's one less between friends?

Mum said no.

Sigh.

Ok.

No big deal.

I am the last person to need more quilts. But it gnawed at me. I really just WANTED it. I am not even sure why I like it. I think partly why I like it is because it really is a mum quilt. Whenever I see those colours and batik prints together I just think of mum. Whenever I curl up underneath it, it feels like a mumple hug.

I MUST HAVE THAT QUILT!

Mum's answer? Just make your own one. I of course pointed out that I have no batiks, so she just unveiled a huge scrap bin full of perfectly sized cut strips.


So here they are. A few fistfuls to get me going. I bought a couple of fat quarters at Duxford to supplement the stash, but it's quite hard as they really are not my thing. Heavens knows why I am making this. It's so hard. I haven't a clue how they go together and I feel a slight sense of despondency that whatever I do will not be as nice as mum's quilt, but maybe I can trick her into a swap!


This is how it started. The days have totally drawn in here. Dark in the morning until 10. Dark again at 4. There is no light. So sorry, everything is shot under my harsh angle poise lamp. The great thing about log cabin though, is how easy it is. I stuffed all the strips in a basket and just yank them out willy nilly. I tried making choices about what went next to each other but I couldn't do it. So now I just try to make sure the same colour and tone don't go right next to each other.


Here is how it chain pieces together. It's quite amazing how they all come together. Ones I thought I would like I am not that into and ones I thought weren't that nice have turned out to be my favourites.


This one was my special block because it has a sliver of mum's favourite dress from the 60's in it. She seems to manage to insert it into quite a few quilts. It always reminds me of her so I decided that this quilt should be a homage to my mam. It's the plummy pattern top middle. Then I followed her basic rule of putting purples and pinks next to greens. The outcome is ok, but the two greens next to each other was a bit of a mistake I think.


This one I feared was just too bright and garish - all different colours, no overall theme, but you know, it's grown on me.


This one is my favourite though. I like the orange and the dark and light combo. It knocks it back a bit. I thought the darker batiks wouldn't sit well with the black; not enough contrast, but you know, I kind of like it.

I am constantly surprised by my likes and dislikes. I cannot predict my fickle mind. So the game continues as I try to make 36 of these. I am doing them in blocks of 6 at a time so I can chain piece. It seems to average out at about 1 a day if I do 6 a week. We'll see. There is no time really at the moment.

I just hope at the end I achieve what I am looking for. It's an etherial kind of ending. I will like it if it reminds me of mum. It won't be about liking it, it's more about liking what it represents, but everytime I make a block, I think; 'But would mum like it?!' Maybe this is how people feel when they make quilts for other people in fabrics those people like. It's... weird.

Half Square Triangles

Inbetween hand sewing Smitten blocks on the sofa in the evenings, I also wanted something quite simple to do on the machine. A bit of a no brainer after The Farmer's Wife. So I have started making Penelope a bigger sofa quilt as she complains that all the others are too small. Luckily she does love a quilt. I bought some colourful fat quarters a while back specifically to make her some kind of bright quilt. I spent a bit of time trawling through my Pinterest boards and finally decided to make this by Megan. She has a whole album on Flickr.


It's a pretty basic pattern; just half square triangles. This quilt will be 48" square once I have finished. I have enough fabric to make it double this size, but I think that would just be too big. We'll see. If I added two more rows at the bottom it would fit on a single bed... tempting, but we'll see.


I cut 2 big 9" squares out of 16 fat quarters. I chose this measurement as you can easily cut four out of a fat quarter without too much to spare making it a good use of fabric. That's the only reason I chose it really. Then I made 8 half square triangles in a one go out of each square. The other nice thing was that I have a long 4 1/2" ruler that was great for finding the middle lines of each block. It just made the whole process really easy and enjoyable. Mum thinks you don't need many rulers, but there is something extremely pleasing about having the exact right size for the job. I have to return the 6 1/2" square I borrowed off mum so I might have to buy my own when we go to Duxford in a few weeks. Yes, I am finally returning to the old Chillford come Duxford show. Primarily to help test out the new rollator and make sure mum can zoom around the show to her hearts content. This basically means I will whinge very loudly about every slight step I come across. I might even wear a high viz jacket to make myself seem even more of a health and safety expert. But I also plan to see if the new show is managing to get back to the greatness of its predecessor: Chillford. It's so sad that the giant scones are gone and that we have to look at war planes instead of a historic barn. Poor Chillford, burnt to a crisp. I miss you!



Anyway, I've got a lot of HST to trim down to 4 1/2". Luckily I can just sit on the sofa with my rotating cutting mat and my 4 1/2" square ruler mum gave me and just trim them out. I made my 1/4" seams a bit scant when I sewed the 8 block so that I could have some room to trim. I just thought it would make things more accurate.


Here are some of the offcuts, it's not much. Part of me can't be bothered, but another part of me finds it kind of peaceful. It does end up giving you that level of accuracy that you see in other people's quilts which make you think 'Gosh, how can they be so accurate?' Well folks, it's not really skill, it's more patience. If you spend more time trimming, starching and ironing open seams, then you just end up with a more accurate end product... but you spend 200% more time getting there. It's a pain, and often has me thinking 'but once I have scrunched it all up in the wash will it matter?' Jury's out on that one.


I sewed the blocks into strips of 4 which on reflection was not the best idea. Next time I will make units of 4 and join them together instead, but it's not too shabby and I am pleased with the colours. I wanted to make sure I had some dark blues in there; it's not a colour I usually go for. I'm not really thinking too deeply about this project so I am just throwing the colours together randomly. It's rather freeing after all the agonising of The Farmer's Wife, which by the by, is all sewn together. I just need to iron it and try and photograph it. It's massive.


I am not overly happy with the neutral background colour, I wanted something a bit warmer, but Kona just have nothing like this. Plus I keep losing the colour card chart thingy so I just had to get a grip and move on. The neutral is Kona Ash.