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

Patchwork Project Bag

I've got a bit of catching up to do here to update you on some recent crafty makes.

Here's a patchwork project bag I made this spring.

The block itself is nothing new but I followed a diagram in February's Patchwork and Quilting Magazine and then improvised the bag design round the patchwork block.
I had made the "Shoo-Fly" block before but without the central contrast section.
Because I am inexperienced in patchwork I find some blocks fiddly, so I upped the size to make it less of a fouter.
It is wadded and quilted with a zig-zag stitch over the seams on my Elna.
I added a lining and handles in the marbly green fabric. If for any reason I feel the quilted side is too "loud" I can easily use it inside-out.

Overall I am very pleased with it and it makes a good knitting project or magazine bag.
Fabrics were fat quarters from the Galloway Gem Shop, King St, Castle Douglas.

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.

Shoo-Fly

Supergran - are you "Canadian" or "Welsh"??? Either way, you are very welcome.

Some people take you at your word.
Some people like photographic proof you've been doing your patchwork!

Here are the four Shoo-Fly blocks I've made so far from the leftovers from the blue and white as-yet-unnamed quilt top.
I'm moving up in the quilting world as I have progressed to triangles with this one!
Don't worry if the triangle edges don't seem aligned to the edge of the blocks- once the 1/4 inch seam allowances have been sewn into the seams they should be bang on.

I don't know why they're called Shoo-Fly blocks, even though I borrowed a beautiful book about Amish quilts from Partick library.
I think they will become part of a storage bag for the blue and white thing when it becomes a quilt, rather than just a top. Or maybe a jammie case to sit on top of the bed. (Why does a grown woman need so many pyjama cases?)

The other side of the storage bag/ p.j. case will be done in another square and triangle pattern block, but I can't remember its name at the mo.
Each of these blocks is one foot across.
I'm getting the feeling that the patchwork/piecing is more of a draw to me than the quilting btw, but it's still early days.
Strange as this may seem, I do not want to establish a fabric stash, so I want to use up as much as I can as I go along.
I have even included a pic of the reverse side of one of the blocks for you madsters who immediately turn over all embroidery/ fair-isle/ patchwork to look at the back.
I got some brilliant news this week which I hope to share with you in my next entry. In the meantime- feast your eyes on my Shoo-Flies.

Coming clean

Thank-you for all your lovely comments about my quilt top- now get working on yours, you skivers!

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

I've been attending a Dressmaking Course at Cardonald Cottage. I've just completed Course F and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got a lot out of the tuition, as you do, but also I learned tons and got a lot of inspiration from my classmates. (This is nothing to do with my quilting, which I've been plugging away at with the help of books and the internet.)

I've been holding out on you, Part the Third.
I've made myself a skirt! It's in a linen and cotton blend and I made it from Butterick Pattern B4557 (scroll down, she's wearing a black top and a patterned black skirt) at my class. I'm going to make myself at least one more, using some patterned black fabric, (another linen with white surface embroidery) I'm a sucker for advertising.


The photos are 1- front view 2- back view showing darts and zip 3- waistband, couldn't get matching bias binding so I went for a toning colour.

According to the quilting books you can make your own bias binding in the matching shade, but this is a beginner project, I've never sewn anything to wear before.

Unlike some lucky people, I don't have a Vianne or Dianne or Leeanne or anyone to stand very still for me while I fix the hem or photograph the finished product, so I have to stick with a humble hedge.


I've been holding out on you, Part the Fourth.
I've recently been treated to a
New Sewing Machine !!! It's model 3210, the simpler, blue one. I love it! I'm even learning to use it properly.

No more revelations to break at the moment.

Happy crafting and I hope you enjoyed World Wide Knit in Public Day. x K

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

Slinky scarf

This is a quote from my blog on February 19th, after DH and I had visited the Bon Marche shop on the rue du Bac, during a lovely trip to Paris-


"You may also notice the scarf lengths in two colours of crushed velvet in the top picture. They were bought in the Droguerie concession within the same store. Must get the sewing machine out and rustle up a posh scarf for myself. I can see a beaded edging of some sort in my mind's eye."

See, some of my passing notions and lofty plans do come to fruition!

Your eyes are not deceiving you- the two sides of the scarf ARE different colours.

Plus, there are subtle colours hiding in the folds of the crushed velvet waiting to be hit by a certain light.

I hand-stitched in the beaded edges because I wanted to make sure they were really secure and machined up the sides, leaving a wee slit unstitched so I could turn it out and hand sew the last wee section.

I love my new posh scarf :-)

P.S. If you haven't had a chance to look at my Californian gift yet, please see the post below.

Similarities

A special shout out to my big sis who has discovered the world of blogs!

Back in the day I used to watch her make lovely cabled school jumpers and such for my nieces, bet she's getting itchy fingers to pick up the needles again.

Could tell you were bending a little when you were looking at the Swallowtail Shawl "in person" at Easter! :-)

I've often remarked on how we (I) go back to the same beloved colour combinations, without even being conscious of it.

Well, continuing the theme, I hadn't even remarked on the similarity of some of my recent projects until it was commented about on here. The shape, the component forms, -I see what you mean!! So, it's not just the colour I'm drawn back to now, it seems.

Thanks for your kind comments about the doily and bag. I'm crafting away for Scotland at the moment here.

CD Bag

I've made this drawstring bag from some Ikea fabric.

"Belinda Fabric" 100% cotton, designed by Caroline Abild Jessen 2005 (although I bought it in 2006).
Wait for it...£1.59 per metre! !

It has light wadding and polyester lining and I hand-quilted some of the shapes.

Again, DH gets credit for naming it - the circles on it are like decorative Compact Discs, and of course it is to be used for transporting things like shoes back and forth to CD as Castle Douglas in good old Galloway is known. If it's lucky it may even get to travel further afield.

I've got plenty of this fabric left so I think I'll make a big laundry bag without the wadding for separating out your cleans and dirties while on holiday.

BTW I do still knit and I have one FO and one very nearly FO to show you in a couple of days.

Happy crafting! x K

Beginner's patchwork cushion

This is a hand-quilted patchwork cushion I've been making. Got it finished today because we were off work for a Bank Holiday.

During the Easter holidays I picked up a beginners' book about quilting in the Gem Shop, Castle Douglas, as well as a few Fat Quarters.
Yeah, like I needed more craft stuff in the house.

Although I didn't follow any pattern to the letter, it did inspire me to make this quilted cushion, or pillow as the book would have it.

I chose this layout and colour scheme because I liked it, but I've since found out that Alex Anderson, the author of my book, is pretty famous in the quilting domain and has her own quilting programme in the USA called "Simply Quilts" on HGTV. (My upload method just now won't let me do you a link, but that information should be enough to get you there.)

Anyway, I've been reading up on it and watching the video clips on the Simply Quilting site and found out that this is an analogous colour scheme, and an "Trip around the World" block setting. I've found the whole thing very interesting, and following some leads I have found out a hundred things about COLOUR THEORY, about which I was almost entirely ignorant before. Fascinating stuff.

Look out for some more patchwork and quilting from me in the future, but for now I leave you with this "Blue Monday", thanks DH, cushion.

The back is done with a 20" inch square of the "interest" fabric.
I had to fudge like there was no tomorrow because I forgot about the seam allowance.
I had to "make it work" because I had no fall-back fabric for the back of the cushion, but that meant stitching in part of the pattern for the patchwork squares on the front. Or should I say , shapes on the front, once I'd done my shaving they weren't squares anymore.

Not a particularly clear picture, but I am pleased at the way the zip insertion went.
I did this section by hand as I was working with varying widths of fabric (varying numbers of layers).

Trying out the layout of the pieces.
Sometimes I can see crafty things more objectively when I photograph them and appraise how they come over visually.