Motoring on with the patchwork

Getting on well with the patchwork this week. Not much to show you at the moment but I can offer you an archive picture of the fabrics before they all got chopped up into hexagons!

It's nuts, isn't it? You take perfectly good fabric, cut it up into wee pieces then sew it all together again in a different order. The things we do for fun! x K

Playing with hexagons

My crafty energy has recently been going into playing with some hexagons cut from Christmassy fabrics.

I've decided on the pattern and it's going to be dubbed something like 'Poinsettias in the Snow', that is red flowers with green leaves on a creamy/gold background.

Here is a wee sketchy layout. Don't worry if you see things like identical fabrics side-by-side or other clashes, it's just to help

me visualise the basic outline. DH helped me with the physical laying out and his keen aesthetic eye too.

I've made a few refinements since then and it's shaping up nicely. The four main flowers are sewn with their leaves attached and the green lozenge in the middle is done with its light row around it.

Yes, hexagons are a bit fiddly to work with, but these babies are 5 1/2" each, so they aren't quite as tricky.

Making progress and I'm sure it will be ready for Christmas 2011. Well, when I say sure... x K

Cheeky Pandas

Behold a mini-quilt made to the nine-patch pattern.
I'd had the panda fabric for a while, and held onto it until I could make good use of the small quantity I had.
Our new six year-old niece is getting great use of it for playing with dollies and soft-toys.
Quilted on the diagonal using my (then) new walking-foot attachment.
It seems that JANOME accessories can be used on ELNA sewing machines, in fact for some models the JANOME fittings are now the only option.
Musical note backing fabric and silky bias binding from Mandors if my memory serves me well. x K

Christmas Quilt

Back home in Glasgow to find the snow still here!
Long gone in Dumfries and Galloway, although they did do a great line in ice and black ice down there.

Took advantage of the Christmas holidays to do some sewing. I made this quilt from William Morris Christmas Cat fabric purchased at John Lewis in Glasgow.
I'm not a cat person, I'm not a pet of any description person, but these guys looked very festive and because I am crap, sorry, inexperienced, at sewing I thought the linear pattern would help my sewing and especially my quilting. (Plus, it was on special offer.)

I'm quite pleased with it overall and it doesn't bother me at all that it wasn't finished for Christmas Day- we've been getting the good of it over the Festive period, and will continue to do so for many years ahead.

Pic one is on the red armchair made famous by the Siesta Blanket .

Pic two is a close-up of the cat pattern and the buttons added to the centre for decorative reasons, and to help tame the wadding.

Pic three is of the complementary backing fabric.


Pic four is a little detail shot of the edgings and quilting. I added the black binding to cover my raw edges, then I added the gold ribbon to dress up the edges and frame the cats.

It wasn't all easy peasy, but we can admire it and snuggle up under it for years to come.

Not a tutorial on how to make a quilt top

I've been holding out on you, Part the First.

I've made a bed quilt top behind your back. I did most of it during the Bank Holiday weekend last week, and I did the border today.

This link is not a tutorial on how to make a quilt top.

It's not "How to make a quilt top" it's "How I made a quilt top".

I come with great big L plates on at the moment, although I really enjoyed it and I am pleased with the results so far.

You can find out how I got from pencil and paper to full top by looking at my KEDkrafty's Patchwork Quilt Top Step by Step on Flickr.

If you know nothing about quilts, the top is the big sheety bit at the top. I haven't touched the layering and binding, and oh yeah, the actual quilting bit yet.

It's quite detailed, if you get bored just look at the pictures.

I would love it if you would leave a comment, either on Flickr or on here.

Do you happen to know the name of that diagonal layout I've done? If so, I'd be much obliged if you'd let me know, I'm having a hard time finding out.

Thank you my friends, and Happy Crafting! K x