The quilt is finished... The big reveal!

So... It has finally been done...

And what a journey it has been...

Once all the panels were finished I stitched them all together to make the complete front of the quilt.

I then cleared my living room to make enough space to lay down the backing, wadding and front panel on the floor.

And then the grand pinning project began...

Once pinned it was on through the sewing machine...

The weather has been extremely hot in Yorkshire which, I have found, is not conducive to sewing quilts in a windowless room shared with a smelly tortoise... Endurance didn't cover it! There must be an easier way too to get a quilt through a machine like mine... Though I am surprised how well it coped. There is nothing worse than stuffing a half made quilt through a machine when most of it starts on your lap, you are pricked to death by pins and the weather is 30o outside!

Since I last wrote I have recieved the walking foot for my sewing machine. And what a god send it has been. As readers of my blog will know that when I did my last quilt I broke a stack load of needles while using a regular foot and it was a complete nightmare. My life has now been transformed with this foot. I haven't puckered the fabric once and it worked like a dream... The link for the one I bought is below!

I then carefully pinned the re-ironed bias binding to the outside edge (while trimming the excess fabric along the way!)

That was then sewn... I don't know about anyone else but I love this part as you know you are on the home stretch... And it seems to go a lot quicker than the quilting bit... But it is not as hot either!

And then it was a quick trim or two and TA-dah! The quilt was finished. I am pleased that it is finally done as it was a long time in the conception and the actual practice but all a labour of love. I will be travelling down to my parents at the weekend to give it to them and can't wait to see their faces when they see it...

Ladies and gentlemen... The anniversary quilt!

Quilting against the clock... Part vi

The last couple of days have been manic in quilting terms...

I spent most of Friday cutting out, bondaweb-ing and sewing the remaining squares for my parents quilt. I have also been appliquéing as if my life depended on it!

The weekend was taken up by my daughter (10 months old and on the move!) so it meant that I could only do the finishing touches in the evenings after she had gone to bed.

I have also been hindered in terms of equipment. I have recently ordered a walking foot for my singers sewing machine as I hope I won't snap as many needles as I did when I last made a quilt! I am still awaiting its arrival! ... That and another foot which has a quarter inch setting which will be perfect for the edge of the quilt... I will let you know how/ if they work!

However, in more positive terms I have bought the remaining fabric, the backing, the wadding and the bias binding which means it is just the finishing touches to pin and cut...

But, I am now excited as I can feel how close I am to finishing... And within my deadline too... But I must be patient as I don't want to trip at the last hurdle...

I hope that my next post will show the finished product... As long as I don't get distracted as I am already looking to my next project...

Quilting against the clock.... Part III

After spending a lot of the previous evening appliqué - ing I had a finished panel... Only another 12 to go plus the extra filler, backing, wadding, edging etc!!

The next on the list was the peacock to symbolise my parents trip to India as my mum couldn't get over the fact that she had wild peacocks to look at every day!

The picture I found had a lovely big tail and didn't seem too difficult to cut into colour blocks.

I have been able to use scraps and off cuts of cotton for this one ... The blue is from the off cuts of the massive quilt that I made for my husband... The green is from the bow tie project at school and the silver is from the previous lemur leftovers!

The cutting out of the fabric was slightly more fiddly than the last one... There seemed to be more small part in this one than in the last one.

The crest of the peacock will be finished once I have appliquéd it... Something I plan to do tomorrow night... I can't wait as I am really enjoying this project so far!

Quilting against the clock... Part II

Update: My parents are not having their wedding anniversary 'do' until 26th July... This is a small mercy and I am grateful I have an extra week to work on the quilt.... It is still pushing it though!

The first square I wanted to tackle was the lemur one as I had found a picture that I wanted to follow.

The picture I found had lots of block colour which I could easily spilt for ease of appliqué...

Each of the designs was drawn onto the fabric and then bondaweb was ironed on the back. This was a particularly good move as the shiny silver fabric was very slippery and frayed easily so the bondaweb kept it together.

Before ironing on the main body of the lemur I back stitched the design of where the legs and paws of the lemur are...

I then cut out the main face and ironed them on the cream square.

Bit by bit I pieced together the black and white tail. This was a long and fiddly process and took a lot of concentration.

This is it so far... I need to appliqué it now...more updates soon...

Quilting against the clock... Part I

So, I finished a massive quilt a couple of days ago. And said that I would leave it a while before I embarked on something so big again especially as I have a busy term at school with three school productions and a young daughter who needs my attention.

Well, that has gone out of the window!

My parents will have been married 11 years in July and they are the absolute role model for a marriage made in heaven! My step father has stepped in and been a great father figure and my mum is so supportive and willing to drop everything for me even though she lives over 5 hours away.

So, I thought I would design and make them a quilt. And I have until 17th July to finish it... Now that's what I call a challenge!

My parents are just about to redecorate their bedroom so this was a great starting point for the design and I asked my mum to send me a sample of their wallpaper.

As you can see the wallpaper is cream with a deep red and gold... So I went to have a look around my local haberdasheries to see what kind of fabric might fit this scheme.

I found a few fabrics that fitted the criteria nicely so I then started sketching what I wanted to do.


As it is mega personal to them I wanted to include some designs that would reflect what they have done together and places they have been so the top half of the quilt is all the diy projects that they have done around the house and the bottom is all the places they have been.

The design is relatively simple as I am still on the basic square quilt thing.
The quilt, when finished should measure the same as a double bedspread... Enormous really! So, with lots of maths I worked out how big each of the square should be allowing for 2cm on each side for seam allowance. (41cm if you are interested!)

I made a template out of cardboard and cut it so I could have the outside edge and the seam allowance.

I was fortunate enough be browsing around my local haberdasher when I spied some cream cotton on sale so had to buy it as I was certainly not going to find it any cheaper.

It was then the pain staining drawing out... Not an easy task when you have a very small dining room table!

And now I have a pile of squares!

This is as far as I have got... I hope to post more as the squares progress and as each one is completed...  And fingers crossed I may get it finished before the 17th July!

Not just for Valentines...

One of the very first things I got given when I started crafting was 'Craft' by Kirstie Allsopp. I admire the way that she tackles every craft she tries with an eager enthusiasm.

This cute little project seemed quite a quick little one to do and didn't need more than some felt, a button, a short length of ribbon, some stuffing and some thread.

I tweaked Ms Allsopp's design a little by using polystyrene balls as stuffing (a huge bag of them still lives in my guest room!) I also didn't put a tassel on the bottom as I thought it might look better without it.

I have made a few of these since my first one. They make great gifts for someone you love - or just because you want to remind someone that even if it isn't Valentine's Day you still love them.

These can be found at my etsy shop too!

The model farm...

I love giving handmade gifts. It gives me a warm glow. It also means that I can give something that is unique.

 When my parents hit their 7th wedding anniversary I wanted to make a little something for them. The 7th anniversary is wool. I saw a fimo pack with some farm animals to make. A sheep would be a great gift!

 I hadn't tried fimo since I was a young kid and I used to love it... And I still do!

As there were two animals to make in the pack - a sheep and a pig - my husband decided to make the pig. The results were great.

My parent's loved the sheep. These packs are great crafts to do with kids and I can't wait for my little one to be old enough to discover the wonders of fimo!