Festival of Quilts 2017, UK - Pies and Tarts Quilt

'Pies and Tarts' Quilt by Frances Meredith, designed by Sue Daley

Here is my entry for the NEC Festival of Quilts show 2017.  You will find it amongst the Traditional Quilts, No 538. It is a Sue Daley pattern called Pies and Tarts.  My early Followers may remember it. I have just browsed through my blog to see when I actually finished piecing this quilt - it was 5 years ago in December 2012.  Well since then I basted it, left it a while, made a pathetic attempt to hand quilt it, left it a while, bought a long arm quilting machine, still thought I would hand quilt it, and left it a little bit longer.

Unpicking basting and quilting stitches before longarming

Then one day earlier this year I decided that I would unpick the basting and hand quilting I had done (it wasn't very much) and I would quilt it on my long arm machine.  I can remember the time and pain it took to baste the quilt, but the stitching came out in no time at all ....

Long Arm Quilting

So in one day the quilt was quilted.  The binding had been waiting patiently for 5 years in a bag with the quilt.  In the evenings I have quietly attached it, added a hanging sleeve and even stitched out a label for it. It has been delivered to the organisers There is a moral in there somewhere.

Do go and see it at the Festival of Quilts this year, however, you probably won't see its fabulous Kaffe Fassett Millifiore fabric on the back - so here is a picture for you to enjoy.

Pies and Tarts - In A Quilt Sandwich!

Pies and Tarts Quilt, with navy background

It is a month since I finished hand quilting the Red and White Pinwheel Quilt, so yesterday I decided it was time to prepare the next quilt waiting in the queue.  Back in January, I told you about how I had finished the top to my Pies and Tarts Quilt. Yes, it has been hand stitched, and this time, the English Paper Pieced Pies and Tarts have been appliqued onto the navy background.  It was quilt sandwich time!


Millefiore GP92, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan

I am backing the quilt with a Kaffe Fassett fabric, Millefiore GP92, which is nice and busy to hide the quilting stitches, and also because of the circular patterns mirroring the circles on the front. It's a bit deeper in colour in actual life v. internet.


Quilters Dream Poly Batting - Midnight Black

In the middle of the sandwich I am using Midnight Black Quilters Dream Poly.  One of the first quilts I ever made was a small Wedding Ring Quilt, in navy and Japanese fabrics.  I had hand stitched it and had put a 100% cotton wadding in the middle.  Once I started the quilting, I realised to my horror that every stitch pulled out a beard of white cotton onto the navy top. I had to abandon the hand quilting and do it on the machine.  I was not happy, but the lesson was learnt - dark fabrics need a dark wadding.

Making a Quilt Sandwich - Laying the Top onto the Wadding

This is a double quilt, 75" x 75" square, so I knew it was going to take the best part of the day to baste.  Over the years I have done a few of these, and my technique improves slightly each time.  Having unpacked the batting, I unfolded it and let it 'relax' overnight.  Then, the first stage is quite simple, you just need to lay the quilt top onto the batting, smoothing it out, so it as flat as a pancake.


Making a Quilt Sandwich - Rolling Quilt and Wadding onto a tube

Using a long tube, I roll just the top and the wadding onto it, making sure any wrinkles are smoothed out, and then put it aside.


Fixing the quilt backing to the floor with masking tape

Now for the backing.  I lay the backing onto the floor face down, and using masking tape, fix the backing fabric to the floor, making it a taut as possible.  This stage will save you hours of trying to line up the three layers.


Making the Quilt Sandwich

Once fixed, line up the roll with the quilt top and wadding, and unroll. Easy Peasy! All you need to do now is fix them together ...

I had toyed with using the quilters safety pins, I even bought some.  But being realistic, when you are hand quilting, you really don't know how long the quilt is going to be in this state - it could be years, so I opted for the tried and true basting it together with tacking stitches.

Pies and Tarts Quilt, Brights on Navy

The task was an opportunity to admire all the colour combinations I had chosen from my stash for the Pies and Tarts Quilt. I love the quilt, and I enjoyed making it.



Sparky the cat on the Pies and Tarts Quilt

It took the majority of the day to get this done.  My fingers hurt.  My whole body hurts from sitting on the floor. But it was nice to have some moral support from Sparky, the cat, and the good news is that I even have the quilting pattern planned ready to get stitching over the winter months!

Linking with Freemotion By the River and WIP Wednesday!
 

Pies and Tarts Quilt - English Paper Piecing

Pies and Tart Quilt

Along with piecing my Easy Street Mystery Quilt over the holidays, I have also managed to complete the quilt top for my Pies and Tarts quilt.  This has been a hand piecing project for the past few years, started in February 2011.  The last few bits should have only taken about half a day to do, but Easy Street has rather taken over. When you are hand piecing, completing the top is a major milestone, so I thought I would share this with you.

I was also trying to use my stash and create a scrappy quilt, so I made up some slightly larger cardboard pies and tarts templates from cereal packets, adding on for the seam allowance, for the pies and smaller tarts to draw around for my fabric shapes.  I did a whole 'Pie' and some different sized slices to accommodate some fussy cutting and to use smaller scraps.  I found that a 5" charm square was the perfect size to fit the fabric template for a 'tart'.  As a result of all this circular cutting, a quick sift through my current stash will find fat quarters with awkward round holes in them - no neat strips for this project!

Because I only had a limited number of paper patchwork templates, I tended to cut the fabric in batches, pairing up colour schemes for each circle as I went along.  With a little bag of paper templates, some colourful fabrics scraps, and a needle and cotton, I was on my way.  It travelled with me everywhere, and gradually the Pies and Tarts quilt accumulated.  There are a variety of textured background navy fabrics used in this quilt.


Pies and Tarts Quilt Detail

The construction of each block roughly went a bit like this
1. Tack fabric around paper templates
2. Select two sets of four coordinating 'slices'
3. Sew up four pairs of the two colours, overstitching them together
4. Sew the four pairs to make a circle or 'pie'
4. Press the completed circle to ensure a smooth circular edge
5. Applique circle onto a 8" square of navy fabric, removing paper templates as you go.



Pies and Tarts Quilt Top Completed

It was only once four blocks were pieced together (by hand, of course!) that it was possible to apply the smaller tart in the middle.  With the verticals and horizontals of the blocks, it was easy to place the circles in the same direction, which adds a diagonal pattern to the whole quilt as well.  I have added half circles to the edge, and to finish the edge I will be adding a very narrow navy border.

At this stage I am joining up with Finish It Up Friday  and HeLP for Hexiaholics - the next stage is to put it away for a while whilst I decide on the quilting pattern I will use, and it waits its turn to be hand quilted ....



A Quiet Evening with my Pies and Tarts Quilt

Final Stages of the Pies and Tarts Quilt

 

This evening I managed to get back to my English piecing project, my Pies and Tarts Quilt.
The top of this is almost complete, I just have to sew on the 36 half circles to the edge of the quilt.  I dithered over whether they would be necessary, but have decided to go for a more modern look edge to edge quilt.  I have manged about half of these this evening whilst watching the television, and I hope to get the top finished over the holiday period.
Having hosted several parties in the past few weeks, it feels good to be having a quiet Christmas.  I hope everyone has been good, and Santa comes tonight.

Merry Christmas!

Pies and Tarts Quilt - Final Slices

Pies and Tarts Quilt - Final Slices

At the weekend I had a lazy Sunday afternoon, sitting in front of the television watching the final race of the Formula 1 2012 Season from Brazil, with Sparky the cat on my lap, hand sewing the last slices of my Pies and Tarts quilt together. I started English paper piecing my Pies and Tarts Quilt in February 2011, so this marks the end of an era.  These are the small 'tarts', which will be appliqued up to the edge of the quilt.
What does this mean?  It means that I do not have a hand piecing project on the go at the moment.  This is probably a good thing, as it means I will have to concentrate on hand quilting some of the quilt sandwiches that are waiting for my attention.