Zig Zag / Chevron Quilt - Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs Fabrics

Zig Zag / Chevron Quilt - Kaffe Fassett Philip Jacobs, Westminster fabrics

A few weeks ago I shared my purchases from the Festival of Quilt 2014.  It included a bundle of Kaffe Fassett fabrics for 'a quilt' which I felt I needed to get out of my system.   Having seen the display of Kaffe Fassett quilts in Lampeter, Wales, last summer, I realised that his fabrics do most of the talking and piecing and quilting take a bit of a backseat. On closer inspection of the fabrics - not all the fabrics are Kaffe Fassett, some are by the fabric designer, Philip Jacobs, but all of them are the same style and tones, all produced by Westminster Fabrics.

8 inch squares for half square triangles

With all that in mind I opted for a simple strong design using just half square triangles in a zig zag layout.  No pattern, just a few rough calculations on the back of an envelope and off I went.  As you know, I usually work with quite small pieces, but for this Chevron Quilt I cut 'huge' 8 inch squares (50 blue, 50 pink), to make 100 half square triangles (HSTs).  I had about 9 different fabrics for each colour.  I had some fat quarters, some long quarters and some half metres.  I managed 4 squares from a fat quarter and 5 from a long quarter, with some smaller bits left over.  I did my best to straighten the fabric before I cut the squares, which I managed to do to my *own* standards.  Once cut I paired up the pink / blue squares and marked a diagonal as a guide for stitching. 

Half Square Triangles - Kaffe Fassett fabric

Stitching on the machine, I took my time to pin the pieces thoroughly to make sure the points met.  I even resisted giving each block a good press with the steam iron, which is my usual approach, allowing the blocks to ease into place. It all came together very quickly, which is in contrast to my Nearly Insane quilt which I have been working on since February 2013! 

Zig Zag / Chevron Quilt - Kaffe Fassett Philip Jacobs, Westminster fabrics


The finished quilt top is 72" x 72", and I think this has to be a first - I have actually made a quilt top in the same month as purchasing the fabric!  As you reach for your sunglasses, you can see the colours are quite exuberant, but with signs of autumn on the way a bit of exuberance maybe just what we all need.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday and Crazy Mom Quilts

Festival of Quilts 2014 - Shopping

As I knew I was going to the Festival of Quilts for two days this year, I planned ahead and actually wrote a shopping list to work from which included a few projects I have in mind.


Kaffe Fassett Fabrics

I don't have many pieces of Kaffe Fassett fabric in my stash as I have found it hard to blend them with other ranges.  They only seem to work with other Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  So I decided if you can't beat them, join them.  The plan is to use these blues and reds in a chevron / zig-zag quilt.  Doughty's were selling them at a good price and I think I just need to get this little Kaffe project out of my system.

Foltvilag English Paper Piecing Templates

In a previous edition of Quiltmania magazine I had noticed a shop in Europe selling tiny plastic templates for English Paper Piecing.  Well, they were at the show. Foltvilag are based in Hungary and sell these versatile patchwork templates.  With all my Nearly Insane blocks completed I have a couple of jars of scraps staring at me and I thought these shapes would be an incentive to use them up.  These templates are tiny, but there were smaller ones (and larger ones) available in a variety of shapes. When it gets tiny, paper sometimes just isn't man enough.In addition there is a Foltvilag YouTube channel which demonstrates how to use them.


Oakshott Fabrics

Oakshotts were there.  I succumbed.  I don't know how long it will be until I can bear to untie the ribbon and actually use these lovely fabrics.

Others things went into my bag including a new seam ripper, a new machine cleaning brush and some Superior Threads Bottom Line to try in my machine.

Festival of Quilts 2014 - Focus on Medallion Quilts

When I go to a show there is usually a theme which is my current 'flavour of the month'.  This time at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham I was focussing on medallion quilts.  I like the idea that you can use lots of different techniques and fabrics in one quilt.  I especially like the mystery 'Round Robins'.

'My Love fro Liberty' by Tracy Alpin

This quilt by Tracy Alpin uses Liberty fabric - always a winner.  It also caught my eye as I have been looking at spool blocks lately, as I like the sewing related idea behind them.  The Liberty colours are always so attractive.


'Turning 40' by Rebecca Handyside

I love the centre panel in Rebecca's quilt.  It has plenty of white around it to show off the appliqued flower.  She also used this space to show off some lovely quilting.  The colours are lovely.

'Yorkshire Quilt' by Pam Lofthouse

This medallion quilt by Pam Lofthouse is based on the Mrs Billings coverlet.  To me, the colours she has used make it look more graphic and modern than other interpretations I have seen.  It must have been fun watching it grow.


'Gargantuan' by Mary Cunningham and Maggie Kingston

I haven't done much applique myself, but I love the applique centre which is the focus of this quilt by Mary Cunningham and Maggie Kingston.  I can see applique, churn dash blocks, log cabin, flying geese - it's all in there.  That is what I love about medallion quilts.  Again, quilted beautifully to enhance the piecing.


'V and A Postcard Quilt' by Jean Phillips and Andrew Whittle

This medallion quilt is made from over 10 years worth of Kaffe Fassett fabric scraps.  Kaffe Fassett fabrics are always bold, and always seem to produce a bold quilt.  It must have felt great to use up all those scraps and a good excuse to go and buy some more!

Welsh Wholecloth Quilts - Welsh Quilt Centre Exhibition, Lampeter 2013

Cwrtnewydd Fans Art Deco Wholecloth Quilt, c 1930
Welsh Quilt Centre, Lampeter, Wales

Alongside all those colourful Kaffe Fassett quilts hanging from the ceiling which I showed in my last post, were a lovely selection of traditional hand made wholecloth Welsh quilts, from the Jen Jones Collection, which makes up the majority of the Welsh Quilt Centre permanent exhibits.  It was hard to resist getting onto the bed and having a snooze with all those pink hand quilted quilts!

Green and Red Wholecloth Quilt, early 20th Century,
Welsh Quilt Centre, Lampeter

As I hope you can see, these quilts are ALL about hand quilting, and traditional wholecloth Welsh quilting patterns.  The majority of those on show were a cotton sateen, usually with a floral patterned fabric on the reverse.  The sheen on the sateen really shows off the quilting patterns well.

Detail - Green ad Red Wholecloth Quilt, possible Wedding Quilt, 
Welsh Quilt Centre, Lampeter

The detail on this Green quilt shows a heart pattern at the centre, surrounded by spirals which represent long life or eternity, most probably a wedding quilt.  What a wonderful gift to receive!

Detail - 'Jester Quilt', c 1920, Carmarthenshire 

This Jester Quilt really shows the quilting well, and even with my 2D photo on the internet, you get quite a good impression of the depth of the wadding. Alongside the completed quilts, there were samples on show the inside of these traditional quilts.  As you can see, the 'wadding' is sheep's wool.  In this sample it doesn't even look as if it was prepared in any way, and possible even just collected from the hedges in the fields.  As a result, the quilts have a lovely cosy depth to them. 

Sheep's Wool wadding in traditional Welsh Wholecloth Quilt

On the day we visited, Sandie Lush running a hand quilting workshop.  Sandie is a very good tutor if you want to learn about welsh quilt patterns and hand quilting, so if you get the chance to go on one of her workshops you will learn so much.

Cow keeping warm under Strippy Welsh Quilt

Finally, I picked up this card in the shop, showing a favourite cow wrapped up in a hand made quilt, on a Welsh farm.  It really emphasises the practical purpose of a quilt - to keep warm!

Kaffe Fassett Comes to Wales - Quilt Exhibition, Lampeter - Part 1

Kaffe Fassett Quilt Exhibition - Welsh Quilt Centre, Lampeter, 2013

During our trip up to mid-Wales we took the opportunity to visit the Welsh Quilt Centre, in Lampeter where they are hosting an exhibition of Kaffe Fassett quilts, on until 2nd November 2013. 


Welsh Quilt Centre Exhibition - Kaffe Fassett Quilts

It was a beautifully curated exhibition, with the quilts suspended from the ceiling, so you could see both the front and back. 


Imari Plates Quilt - Kaffe Fassett

Kaffe Fassett is known for his unmistakeable colourful quilts, and the colour and his fabric designs do most of the talking.  It is hard not to be drawn in by the vibrant colours.  On the other hand, fanciful quilting techniques are not the order of the day, partly maybe because they would be lost in all that colour.


Kaffe Fassett Applique Folk Art Quilt, Welsh Quilt Centre 2013

Lots of clever ideas using tone and colour, and plenty of inspiration.  I imagine few of us have been able to restrain ourselves from buying a few fat quarters of Kaffe Fassett's fabric.


Calico Kate, Quilt Shop , Lampeter, Wales

No fear.  Right next door to the Welsh Quilt Centre is a lovely quilt shop, Calico Kate.  There are eight rooms of quilt fabric, including a WHOLE ROOM of Kaffe Fassett prints.  What a find!  I came away with a few Fat Quarters - it was the least I could do to keeping the economy going.

Kaffe Fassett Quilt Exhibition, Welsh Quilt Centre, Wales

After spending a couple of hours in the shop and at the exhibition it was time for lunch.  Do you see some more subdued quilts in the background?  You will have to wait until next time to hear about those ...

Addressing Fabric Stash Storage

Yesterday I had great plans to tidy up the Fabadashery workroom, knowing that I had come to the end of piecing the back and the front of my Easy Street Quilt.  I had a plan for a smaller project made up from the scraps of my scrappy Easy Street Quilt, but I needed to clear the decks properly. There were yards of fabric that had been dragged out and piled up, which had auditioned for the mystery quilt back in November.

I didn't know where to start, as my current system of storing my fabric in large plastic boxes was just not working for me.  By the end of the day all of my fabric was out of my cupboard.  It was time for a re-think on my fabric stash storage. There was not going to be any sewing today. If I am honest, I had planned to put aside the holidays to address the storage of my fabric stash, along with a load of other catch-up jobs, but the Easy Street quilt took over.  Since moving into the house in 2010, it has only been recently that I have finally had time to address my workspace. 

BEFORE - Fabric Stash Storage

A lot of stuff had ended up in here, piled up on these Billy bookcases from IKEA.  I have a workroom with a storage room attached to it. I wanted a dark room to store my fabric, so that it didn't fade. This works well as it is dark, and the light comes on and off automatically with a PIR, as I go in and out, so no risk of leaving the light on.

 

I split the fabric into Solids, Prints, Batiks, and Liberty Lovelies.  Then I sorted them into colour families.

AFTER - Fabric Stash Storage

The majority of the solid fabrics I have adopted, and didn't really have a grip on what I actually had.  I tend to avoid solids, as I find they can deaden a quilt in one easy move. However, looking at the selection, it is not bad, and there is enough to justify  a 'solid' project.  In fact, I have been even more tempted after seeing this 'solid' fabric project by Rhoda.

Halfway through sorting my fabrics I decided to pull all the batiks prints from the fabric colour collections.  Batiks are great for blending and carrying colour, and sometimes if I am looking for a particular colour, it is often only the batik fabrics that seem to do the job.  However, they do not always belong to every quilt, and I find that a whole quilt in batiks, often doesn't demand enough of me with regard to fabric colour choice, as the fabric seems to do a lot of the work for you.  I thought by keeping them separate, I would look at them in a new light.

With the little Liberty fabrics, because of their lighter lawn cotton, and multi-coloured prints (which were hard to classify within the new system!), I let them have a little pile of their own.  The same could be said for the Rowan / Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Yes, they are lovely, but I have found it hard to mix them up successfully with the rest of my stash, so I rarely buy them.
It was a great exercise in familiarising myself with my fabric again. You will also see that I have taken the opportuity to tidy up my library of quilting and embroidery books.  It is starting to look as if I mean business! 

Couture for IKEA, with Bemz

When we built our house, I made sure that it accommodated a workroom for me and my sewing.  Even though we have been in the house for over two years, it is only now that I have started to make the room, my space. 
Over the summer I made some check curtains and a pelmet out of the Voyage Lorient Contemporary range, called Bonnie ( .. is that a coincidence?), which I purchased from Fabric Mills, Monmouth.  I have made lots of curtains over the last few years, and with the lines of the check to follow, these were by far the easiest - why didn't I start with them? 
With the curtains in place, it has started to feel more comfortable, so we popped to IKEA to buy an easy chair as an addition to the room.  I had visions of me looking out of the window, watching the world go by, as I sat quilting, with some relaxing music in the background...


IKEA Jennylund chair from the EKTORP range

We purchased the Jennylund chair from the EKTORP range at IKEA, as the back was a bit higher for you to rest your head.  You can purchase them without a slipcover, so it comes with just a plain cotton cover.
At the NEC Festival of Quilts, on the Rowan stand, I noticed that within their display they had covered some IKEA chairs in some of their bright Kaffe Fassett quilt fabric.  They looked amazing, and they have even produced some patterns for other IKEA chairs (Henriksdal, Tullsta) which can be found on the Coats Craft website.  However, I felt this was a project too far for me at this stage.
Whilst I like the quality and design of IKEA furniture, I am rarely taken with the quality and colourway of the covers, so I looked elsewhere. There are a handful of companies which make covers especially for IKEA furniture - Save My Sofa, Ikuva and Bemz, are the ones I know about. 

www.bemz.com

Their websites allow you to order free samples so you can check the colours and the quaity of fabric.  I have ordered covers from Bemz before, and the quality is really good.  I was looking for something to go with the new curtains, so after waiting for the samples in the post, I finally decided on a textured cotton 'Tegner Melange Sand Beige' from Bemz. 

Bemz fabric samples

Bemz are based in Sweden, but as far as I know, they ship all over the world. The covers are preshrunk and machine washable at 40 degrees C.
Anyway, my cover has arrived, and today I have put it on the chair. 

Jennylund chair, with Bemz Cover
(Tegner Melange Sand Beige)

If I wasn't so busy with the Easy Street Mystery Quilt, I might have a moment to sit down in it!