Urban abacus

 

Hello Again

I have pictures to share today from the Urban Abacus class I taught last week. I love teaching, I get so excited seeing the girls "get" the techniques, stop being worried about what to come, and start having fun when they see it not that hard. Anyone can tell when the fun starts by the way the girls start talking about fabric choices for the next quilt they make.

Urban Abacus is from Sew Kind of Wonderful and uses the Quick Curve Ruler.  So far I feel this is about the easiest quilt to cut and piece using the Ruler.

We had the class at The Patchwork Angel, and again the shop helps us all relax and create in a very pretty and wonderful class room. During the class we get used to the cutting and then sewing curves and then the final trim of the blocks.  This all takes time to make sure everyone is confident so when the girls get home they can pick up right where we left off in class.


This pink and vintage quilt is mine as a class sample.  Everyone knows this is mine, cause it so pink.

 

Kaye is using bright purples,pinks and greens with a black background for a sons girlfriend.  He must think she is a keeper to deserve a quilt.

 

Robyn is sewing with some fantastic Aboriginal prints.  Robyn I am looking forward to seeing this one finished.



Daphne's quilt is going to be so cool and modern with black and white prints mixed with the aqua background



Bev is making her quilt in a classic blue and white combination




And lastly, Sue is using a beautiful collection of soft florals in pinks and greens with a cream background.



Wonderful work by all the ladies and I would love to see all of these quilts when they are finished. They will all be beautiful.



My next teaching gig is on Saturday 30th of May.  I will be teaching the Metro Hoops quilt by Sew Kind of Wonderful and the Quick Curve Ruler.  The class will be held at The Patchwork Angel again and I believe there are still a couple of spots left, give the girls a call and come along and join the fun.



This stunning version is from one of my students from the last time I taught Metro Hoops, very different to my white and pretty one above.

See you all soon

Tumbling Blocks Class

Hi everyone

Wow it been a long time since I last posted, so sorry to make you wait, if you are still with me.

Also several weeks ago I taught a class, at The Patchwork Angel, on the Tumbling Blocks quilt, pieced with strip sets and no Y seams, easy as...

But I now can not remember who's piecing is who's.  All the girls were great students and had wonderful fabrics to play with.  Thank you Christine L, Wendy, Sue, Christine M, Michelle, Nicky Shirley and Tracey for coming and sharing your passion with me.

Pretty pinks and blues

 

This is Michelle's bright citrus fabrics, fantastic



Modern aquas and greys



Striking pinks and purples



Subtle tan and blue



 Sue is  using many reds and blues for a traditional feel to the quilt.



And in solids for a very striking effect.

The whole quilt comes down to choosing the right values in fabrics and straight sewing, easy as....

And one of the girls showed her Metro Hoops quilt top, from a previous class with me.  This is fantastic with the dark background and vivid batiks, well done.



I am teaching both the Tumbling Blocks and Metro Hoops again at The Patchwork Angel, contact the shop for all the details.  These quilts are great in that they look complicated but are NOT....

Lone Star Class

My last class taught for the year, at The Patchwork Angel, is a Lone Star quilt.  I love this teaching this quilt, the fabric choices made by the students are varied and so all the quilts look different but all stunning.

At the end of the second class the girls had half the quilt sewn together.  In the first class we learn how to construct the star points with strip sets.  The second class is putting the star points together with the background fabric.

So here are the girls beautiful quilts. I love how this photo worked out all the halves lined out. I get all excited and start jumping around waiting for the ladies to get to this point, this is when it all comes together and you get your chance to see how all the fabrics have worked together and how stunning it really is.

 

This is Kathrine's top. It is over the top of mine so it looks a little jumbled.  Kathrine used civil war reproductions in greys, green and the pink is actually a red.  The background is a cream with red print.

Thurley went a completely different way with her colours.  Stunning yellows, reds and oranges.  Thurley's background is a black with white spots.

Sharon used blues of all shades for your Lone Star Quilt.  This has a completely different feel compared to Thurley's, the fabrics give it a cool feeling.  Sharon used a pale blue spot fabric for the background.

I didn't get a photo of Michelle's on her own.  So sorry Michelle.  Michelle's is the one right in the front of this picture. Michelle used beautiful civil war reproductions also but with greens, pinks and browns with cream background fabric.  The same type of fabrics as Katherine but they look so different.

 

This is one of my class samples.  Completely scrappy star points and a vibrant Shot Cotton pink used for the background.  Different look and feel again.

 

Thank you ladies for coming to my class, I am hoping to see your finished tops next year.

Metro Hoops Class

Hi everyone

This past Saturday I taught at The Patchwork Angel, the Metro Hoops quilt by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Here is the great work done by all the girls

 Deb is making hers for a sweet little girl.  These colours are just perfect.

 Katherine is colours are just wonderful, the orange setting triangles just set off the blue so well.

 Wendy used almost the opposite to Katherine.  I loved these rings.

 

 Donna did a great job with these very pretty fabrics.

 

Next to Donna was Helen.  I love the way Helen uses colours and fabrics, the two backgrounds are perfect.  I have been quilting for Helen for a couple of years now and am always amazed at her selections.

 

Gals fabrics are very warm and cozy feeling.  The chocolate was a great match for them.

 

 Margot couldn't come to class until later in the morning, but she certainly didn't waste time and did a wonderful job catching up and learning what we had already covered.  Margot left with a ring complete and smile on her face.  Glad you could make it to class, Margot

 

 

 

Catherine with a C ( there were 2 in class) did a great job in class.  Catherines bobbin ran out halfway through the last seam at the very end of class, don't you just hate that. But her points meet where they are supposed to, just like all the girls blocks.

During class we learnt that not all 1/4" feet for machines sew a true 1/4", and that not all Jelly Rolls strips start at 2.5" either.  For this class it is important to start with the correct size strip sets.  A couple of the strips were narrower than needed so we used the practice curves cut from some pieces I gave the ladies at the start.

We talked about the seam not necessarily needed to be 1/4" but more importantly having the units been sewn together measuring accurately after the seam is sewn.  That is when sewing 4 strips that are 2.5' wide together the final unit should measure 8.5" across.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame has a great tutorial in how to get your units to finish at the size they should HERE. And HERE is a link to create an accurate seam guide for any machine. I hope you find these helpful.

Thank you ladies for a great class on a very wet Saturday morning.  I am waiting to see how your quilts turn out and to see you again in a class with me.

Snowballs, Snowmen and other quilts

 

 

Here I am again with lots of pictures of quilts and fabric bits

 

 

This is a long term piecing project that I had fun with.  Its called Snowballs and Snowmen, well because they are snowball blocks and I used Snowmen Gatherings fabric from Primitive Gatherings.  

This fabric was all the blues and tans through to white.  It has cute snowmen and snowflakes and wintery stuff that I don't get where I live in Australia. Insert sad face here.

 I threw in the reds to add a bit of pop.  I just love this angle and the red scattered through out.  This again is a largish quilt top at 74" x 90".   Snowballs and Snowmen is now sitting in the "to be quilted" pile.

 

 These beautiful wattle trees are in full flower all over the place in my streets.  This was a couple of weeks ago and the trees are now weighed down with the blooms and the bees.

Another top I have finished of late is this Metro Hoops by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I have it quilted but sorry no photo at the moment.  I am teaching this quilt on Saturday at The Patchwork Angel.  I just love this one too.  The colours are so bright and fresh. 

 

I wanted to make another Metro Hoops but was stuck for inspiration.  So off I went to the shops and found this display at Bed Bath and Table. Shop displays are always a good source of colour inspiration.

 

 

And here are the colours I chose to  use.  This top is coming along nicely.  With this Metro Hoops I have used one fabric for the Hoops instead of strip sets.  Its looking good.

A few weeks ago, Jenny of Sew So Crazy and I went to a trunk show put on by A Piece of Cloth.  I cam home with this quilt top, like I need another quilt top or another quilt with 60 degree pieces in it.

 But I could not help myself.  It is from around the 1940's.

 The top is pieced from hexagons, diamonds and jewel shapes

 The colours are vibrant and cute.  The yellow background is very sunny and sweet.

 look at this fun print

There is hand and machine piecing throughout the top. And as this picture will also show you is that some of that piecing is not as accurate as it could be.  With this is mind I am working through whether to leave it as is and quilt it or undo some of the machine piecing and work out some of the excess fabric.  I know I can't unpick the hand stitching, that has to stay.

 

So that is about all that has been happening here with my quilting.  We have lots going on with the kids activities over the next few weeks, why does everything seem to happen in a short time frame with sports and school stuff.

 

anyway, I hope to have some hand sewing to show you next time.

 

Keep stitching

Lone Star Class

Last Saturday I taught the second part of  the Lone Star quilt at The Patchwork Angel.  The girls all had their 8 star points pieced.  We had started piecing these in the first class.  So this last class was sewing the background to the star points then sewing the star together.

I was very excited to see the Lone Stars come together.  And when they did the results were beautiful.

Here they are,

Vicki's purple pansy's and gold

Deb's shades of blue

Kathryn's blues, greens and yellow

 

Jenny made hers in Christmas colours and prints

Gail used purple batiks with blue and hot pink mixed in

Bridget had an Aboringal print as a focus and great tone on tones to highlight

Deb has greens and a great aqua

 

 I love teaching this class, every one has a different set of fabrics and creates a different feel to all the others.  So if you are thinking about making a Lone Star quilt I will be teaching this again in October and November this year at The Patchwork Angel.  I would love to see your interpretation of this stunning quilt.