Wednesday 30 September 2009

Linus Sudoku Quilt

This is the second of the Sudoku quilts that I've made, the squares were cut by our club chairman to make sudoku puzzles for our social evening in July (see this blog entry for the first one). There were six different puzzles, all in different colourways, and the cutting alone was a major project. The fabrics all came out of the Linus box, so wouldn't have been anyone's first choice, but it's an interesting study in how fabrics from a colour group can work together. I've pieced this one from scratch; the previous one had the nine-patches already assembled by other group members. I've taken the opportunity to play with what has become known in our group as "short-arm long-arming". You find yourself a suitable continuous line quilting design, trace it onto Golden Threads quilting paper (or baking parchment - Morrison's is apparently very good!), and then sew the design in rows as you would if you were using a pantograph on a longarm machine. I have to confess to being reasonably pleased with my effort, not too bad for a first attempt. The sewing itself goes quickly, removing the paper isn't quite as quick, but the end result is very effective. Amazingly, the impetus for us all to have a go at this has come from one of our newest members, a lady who has been quilting for less than a year, but who is completely fearless and so enthusiastic that everyone's dying to try their hand at it.




Of course, Fatcat never likes to be left out ...

Sunday 20 September 2009

Cot Quilt Progress


I've done some work on my hand quilting project, I've completed about half the central motif. I'm really enjoying doing it, I can't wait till I can wash the blue out and see what it really looks like, but I suspect that time is a fair way off!

Saturday 19 September 2009

Secret Garden

I've not posted to the quilting blog for a while, I've done a little sewing in the meantime, but not made any notable progress on anything. So here's another of my older quilts.

This pretty quilt was made several years ago for a friend from one of my online groups. I pieced the top and another of the members (BilboWaggins) quilted it on her longarm machine, using Hobbs Heirloom Wool wadding (wonderfully soft and cuddly). I don't have any closeups of the quilting, I was very remiss with my photography, maybe someone else has some better pictures? I have another top just like this lurking in my cupboard, I must get it out and quilt it one of these days. The reason I made two identical tops? I loved the fabric and I had so much of it that I didn't have to buy much more to do the second!