How quickly time is going by. It seems like it was not time at all when I launched the Spirit of Flight competition and it has now closed. This afternoon I will be checking and double checking the entries putting them into a hat, and doing the draw. I will be in touch with the winner later on today and will announce the winner on the blog tomorrow. Good luck to all that have entered.
Sundays sewing was to get to grips with bagging out the sleeves on Robyn’s jacket. I’m pleased to say that using the tip from my sister I managed it and the jacket is now finished.
I think with the red bodysuit and red tights she is going look lovely.
The next videos in the Patchwork Basics series have been uploaded and you can see the full list on the Patchwork Basics page.
how to make a perfect Nine Patch Block
the disappearing Hourglass
Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see who the winner of the competition is.
The weeks fly by even though we are in lockdown and here we are again with my midweek musings. I am finding that I am waking extremely early these days. I don’t know if age has anything to do with it, but it is a blessing and a curse. It gives me time to plan the day ahead but I can run out of steam by late afternoon. Today I have an online class with one of my regular groups. Because of the lockdown the lessons at the shops were cancelled but we have decided to keep in touch via zoom. This can not replace being in the classroom together but is a way of keeping in touch and will allow me to continue helping with any patchwork problems.
The studio needed reorganising for todays lesson and it was an opportunity to put away and sort the scraps left over from my folded patchwork sampler quilt. I found that there was quite a lot of ‘bits’ left over so I sorted them into groups of the same sizes. 2½” squares and 2½” by 4½” rectangles being the most common sized pieces. My problem here is, that when faced with a pile of fabric I cannot help myself – I have to start sewing.
I have no plan for these pieces so the blocks have had to develop as I stitched. Starting with the rectangles I have made some useable blocks. At the moment I haven’t decided what it is going to be, a small quilt? a bag? The decision will have to wait until the 2½” squares are sewn together and then I can play around with them on my design wall.
Whatever it is going to be, it will be something useful, made out of a pile of scraps which otherwise would have been consigned to the scrap basket.
As it was such a beautiful afternoon yesterday, I did get out of the studio for a walk. I am lucky to live close to a country park which provides lovely walks and time for reflection. This is yesterdays sunset.
In a moment I will peek out the window to see if the sun has risen yet.
I now know how the contestants on the Sewing Bee feel, when presented with instructions which could be written in ancient greek. I thought that I would finish the jacket for Robyn and everything was going well until I came to finishing the sleeves. The instructions tell me to pull the sleeves through the gap left in the lower back. I did this and ended up with the lining and the front as separate items and never the twain shall meet. Luckily my sister is a dressmaker, but trying to explain what I am attempting to do over FaceTime gave us both headaches. She has given me a tip which I will try, when I can bring myself to look at it again. If all else fails I can always make a wide double fold binding and make a cuff with the robin fabric. Look out for a post later in the week to see which I choose.
As I couldn’t get on with the jacket I decided to finish some more outstanding projects. The first was to make a label for the folded patchwork quilt. For some reason my sewing machine is now playing up and the feed dogs not moving as smoothly as they should be. I think cleaning and a new needle is in order.
However, the green thread I needed for my folded patchwork cushion arrived last week. It was very irritating to run out of thread when all I had left to do was the zip and sewing the back and front together.
Finally for the day I made the last of the folded patchwork cushions and now have the full set for the conservatory. I know that Christmas is going to be a quiet affair this year but strangely this has made me more determined to be festive.
I will be running the folded patchwork cushion day school again on 25th March 2021 and have already decided on the lovely “Big Sky” collection by Moda for my cushions.
Don’t forget to comment on the Spirit of Flight blog post to be in with a chance of winning the fabric bundle. The closing date is next Monday 30th November 2020.
The Patchwork Basics videos now available on youtube and IGTV are the Hourglass, and the disappearing Four Patch – version 2. I hope you enjoy them.
After the busy weekend workshop it was nice to have a couple of days off. I spent some time at my allotment and managed to harvest the last of the turnips, some carrots and sprouts for a stew. Nothing beats a stew on a cold day and I think we may be in for a few soon.
Yesterday was a day of preparation. I managed to make the Christmas dress for Robyn, and I am planning on making a jacket in a cherry red cotton and lined with the robin fabric, to go with it. I purchased some 100% cotton summer weight wadding just before we went into the latest lockdown which I think will make it feel cosy.
Saturdays cushion workshop was great fun, and some beautiful cushions were completed on the day. Eleanor has sent me this lovely photo of the cushion she completed. It is very rewarding to see the finished items from my day schools and courses. The embroidered fabric and the texture of the folded patchwork work beautifully together.
I was making good progress on one of the ‘on point’ cushions, but have now ground to a halt because I have run out of dark green thread. I always seem to run out of thread at the most inconvenient times. At least I will be able to get the other one done as it is red. The hexagon cushions can be seen at the top the post.
I have added more dates for the Ambleside Quilt Block of the month course. This is now available on Saturdays as well as the original Thursday dates. You can choose each month which day you would like to attend. I am also adding the blocks as separate lessons which can be booked as you go.
I also did a bit of online shopping and treated myself to Laura Kemshall’s Sketchbook challenge course. I haven’t had my sketchbooks out for a couple of months, and although I don’t have much time over the next couple of weeks this is going to give me a push when I need it in the New Year. If you have not come across Linda and Laura Kemshall before, it is worth looking at their website. There is lots of inspiration for both adults and ideas for kids too.
Finally for today, I added the binding to my Christmas quilt and will be settling down to the last bit of hand stitching to finish, in front of the TV tonight. Have a good evening.
Are you suspicious? I don’t think I am but sometimes find myself acting in ways which would indicate that I am – not walking under ladders, cracks in the pavement etc.
Quilting superstitions include – never make a quilt with 13 blocks, which I think would look odd even if I was tempted to try it.
Quilting Daily has many more quilting superstitions, many I hadn’t come across before.
Even though it is Friday 13th there is lots to get on with in my studio. The design wall is covered with blocks for the Patchwork Basics series and more will be added next week. You can follow the series both on IGTV and YouTube. The block collection will be made into sampler quilts next year. ( how strange it feels to be saying that )
Christmas has come early this week with a number of the block swap blocks arriving. The members of the group have made their designs in a blue and white colour scheme for me. They are perfect as I asked for a colour scheme to reflect Willow Pattern China. We have also welcomed another member to the block swap group which is great as this will mean we all will have 9 blocks to play around with.
Later today the studio needs to be prepared for tomorrows ‘Cushions for Christmas’ workshop. Most of the fabric has been cut in preparation, and the last fabric has arrived so that can now be prepared. Its going to be a fun day of folded patchwork.
Christmas Wonders by Stoffabrics.com
Don’t forget the fabric competition which is running until November 30th 2020 Choose your favourite flying creature from the panel and leave a comment on the Spirit of Flight blog post.
The picture at the top of the post is the path behind our house. We couldn’t say indoors on such a lovely day, so my blog was delayed by a walk in the Autumn sunshine. We have to make the most of sunny days at this time of the year.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a series of patchwork basics videos which I am releasing both on my new IGTV ( Instagram TV), bevmayo_quilts, and YouTube.
I will be covering lots of patchwork blocks and techniques which will go together to make a modern sampler quilt.
Videos already released are
The Pinwheel Block
The Disappearing Pinwheel
And the Four Patch Block
All these blocks are starting from a 5″ square such as a charm pack, and show how versatile one can be with the addition of a plain fabric.
Don’t forget the fabric competition to celebrate the launch of the new channel
Don’t forget to add a comment to the Spirit of Flight blog post before 30th November 2020 to be in with a chance to win the beautiful fabric bundle.
There are still places available on the Cushions for Christmas course on Saturday 14th November. For more details and to book a place go to Cushions for Christmas
Todays blog post is going to be different to the one I had planned. I was preparing projects for the next couple of weeks, one of which is the Christmas dress for Robyn. I unwrapped the fabric which I purchased a couple of months ago ( I had left it in the plastic bag to keep it clean ) to find that the fabric had been ripped along the crossgrain and not cut straight from the fold. This method of “cutting” fabric works on the principal that the crossgrain – the Weft – is at right angles to the selvage and the Warp threads. However quite often in the weaving process the weft moves away from the right angle ( 90°) This can lead to a significant loss of fabric at both ends of the piece.
In this case there is a loss of 2″ at each end of the fabric. This is irritating for me but not too much of an issue as I ordered a couple of metres so I have plenty of fabric. So why write a blog post about it?
Imagine, as a patchworker, you have purchased a long quarter to make a bargello quilt. This is a piece of fabric which has a useable area 42″ ( selvedge to selvedge) by approx 10″ ( 25cms) If the fabric has been torn along the crossgrain and there is a fall away of 1″ at each end you have lost 2″ of useable fabric. It may be actually worse than that.
So how to cut the fabric to make sure this does not happen?
Firstly take the line to be cut from the FOLD of the fabric as the selvedge may be uneven.
line up ruler with the fold
Place a quilters ruler so that one of the inch lines is on the fold ensuring a right angle – 90°- at the fold.
one of the inch lines is on the fold
Walk your hand up the quilters ruler as you cut to prevent it from moving as you cut away from yourself.
this shows how much fabric is lost
Open the piece of fabric out and it should be perfectly straight across the fold.
I once purchased a jelly roll which had been cut at an angle which made it impossible to use for strip sets. Again there was a loss of fabric because of the V shaped fold and it limited how the jelly roll could be used.
ruler lined up to cut a 2½” strip
I hope that you have found this post useful when cutting fabric for patchwork
To celebrate the launch of my IGTV channel, I am giving the chance for one person to win a fabulous fabric bundle from the Spirit of Flight collection by Josephine Wall for 3wishesfabric.com.
The prize consists of this wonderful panel – measuring approx 42″ x 34″ ,and seven fat quarters of complimentary fabric from the same range.
To win this fabulous fabric bundle add a comment to this post with your favourite flying creature from the panel. Favourite flying creature from the panel comments on the Spirit of Flight social media posts will also be entered into the draw. This gives you up to four chances to win this fabric prize. ONE entry per platform.
The competition is being advertised on my social media platforms but is independent of any of the social media platforms mentioned.
The competition will run until 12.00 noon BST on Monday 30th November 2020 and the winner will be announced on all the above platforms, and on this blog, by 12.00 noon BST on Tuesday 1st December 2020.
You can make sure that you don’t miss the announcement of the winner by following me on the website or social media.
No purchase is necessary to enter the competition.
prize value £30.00 – there is no cash alternative.
This competition is not a sponsored event.
Competition is open worldwide but any Import duty is the responsibility of the winner if outside UK
This last week has flown by. I was over at Tudor Rose Patchwork near Bedford for my usual patchwork class on Wednesday. I haven’t seen many of my students since March and it was lovely to be back, seeing everyone and catching up.
It also gave me the opportunity to collect the fabric I ordered for a competition to launch my new IGTV channel. The beginning of the week was spent producing patchwork basics videos for both YouTube and IGTV. More about all of this in a separate post.
Thursday was the patchwork bag online course. It was a very relaxing day of hand stitching -although the technique can be done by machine. The online classes give me the opportunity to meet people from all around the country. It is lovely to hear their stitching stories and learn about the projects they have been doing during this very strange year.
Any spare time I have had was spent finishing my Christmas quilt. This is made from all the sample blocks I have made over the last couple of years, teaching and demonstrating the folded log cabin technique. It is really time for this one to be finished and to come off the design wall. Do you have any projects which need completing?
Looking forward to next week I will be at Tudor Rose Patchwork again on Wednesday ( unless the new lockdown is brought forward). More fabric has arrived and needs to be prepared for the Cushions for Christmas course, and any spare time will be used to edit patchwork basics videos. Luckily the weather is not too good at the moment so I am not too tempted to spend hours on my allotment
Last week I popped into one of my local Patchwork & Quilting shops, Bee Crafty at Ellington. I have not been there since the lockdown in March so it was lovely to catch up with Maddie and Polly. They have moved things around in the shop and made it safe for small workshops and shoppers alike. As usual when I am confronted with an array of beautiful fabrics I cannot stop myself from purchasing a few, even if I don’t have a specific project in mind.
The first is a lovely fabric collection by Annie Brady for Moda called Big Sky. I have added a Bumbleberries fabric by Lewis & Irene in Mustard to this set. This will brighten up the dark winter months.
The second group is “Rainbow Colours” by Stoffabrics.com, in a vibrant purple and pink colour way. Along with a textured pink from their “Brighton” Range it will be fun set to work with.
I also couldn’t resist a charm pack ” Confetti” by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda.
It is certainly a bright mixture of colours and patterns, and it has started the creative juices flowing this weekend. How many blocks can I make from one charm pack plus a plain white fabric? I have been busy playing around with the 5″ squares and will post the results of my experimentations next week.
Hope you are having a creative weekend – Happy Quilting – Bev
Bev Mayo 