Nearly Insane Quilt - resurrected

Red and White Scraps left over from my Nearly Insane quilt

These two jars of scraps have been looking at me since I finished my Nearly Insane quilt top back in July 2015. This holiday weekend I decided to sort them out and make them into their own fabric.

New fabric made from the white scraps

The white scraps made this pretty piece which measures about 15" x 15"

New fabric made from the red scraps

For some reason the red scraps were bigger and ended up making a piece which was 25" x 22".  No plans for them yet - I may combine them, I may leave the red one as it is.  This project has reminded me of other 'bags of treasure' I have squirrelled away, which I was going to do something with one day.  Maybe the one day is very near.

New fabric made from the red and white scraps

There are some pieces which are too small for even me to tackle, along with trimmings.  These bits are not thrown away.  I have a large bag of  small scraps which I fill up and take to the local charity shops where I believe they can recycle them into 'shoddy' felt.

Fabric trimmings for recycling

Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate 2019 - Some Scraps are Bigger Than Others

'Some Scraps are Bigger Than Others' Quilt made by Frances Meredith

It is a busy weekend for quilt shows this weekend.  Whilst my Dear Jane has been having success at the 2019 West Country Quilt and Textile Show, my latest quilt, 'Some Scraps are Bigger Than Others' has travelled up to Harrogate to the 2019 Great Northern Quilt Show.  I am pleased to report that it has received a Judges Choice Award.  This quilt is made up of small half square triangles, using up the bucket of scrap fabrics which I have accumulated over the past few years - a very satisfying quilt to have.

Jane Pizar Quilt at Cheltenham Art Gallery, UK

Detail - Jane Pizar Quilt

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums

I have been on a special trip out today.  Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums were holding an event 'Quilty Pleasures', where a group of us had the opportunity to look at some of the quilts held in their collection. It was just a short visit, but we got to see three very interesting quilts including this one, the Jane Pizar quilt, which I have also heard be called the Cheltenham Quilt.  This quilt is not on regular display and so it was a rare treat to see the staff unroll in front of our eyes.

Detail - Jane Pizar Quilt

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums

The quilt is understood to be made by Jane Pizar between 1850-1860 in Ireland.  Looking at the front and the back, the majority looked (IMHO) to be English Paper Pieced.  How could I see the back?  Well this quilt is not actually quilted, like many of us, Jane perhaps preferred the piecing to quilting! 

Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - February Sea Green

Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - February Sea Green

It is the end of February and I am just about managing to keep up with the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge at So Scrappy.  It is only now that I realise how prolific these Scrap Challenge quilters are.  I have managed sixteen blocks this month in colours which stretch from the blue and green end of sea green.

Malvern Quilts UK 2015 - Judges Merit Award



'Welcome to my Stash' quilt - Judges Merit Award

A while ago I showed you all a half square triangle quilt I had been making and had long admired.  Once it was finally finished, it was just in time to enter it into the annual Malvern Quilt show.  When you spend so much time alone stitching it is always nice to share what you have done by displaying your work.

Judges Merit Award - Malvern Quilts UK 2015

On arrival at the show I was delighted to see a rosette against my quilt - a Judges Merit Award.  There was no feedback, but I think I am safe in saying that my quilt probably had the most variety of fabrics in it! LOL


Half Square Triangle Quilt

 

Half Square Triangle (HST) Scrappy Quilt

Half Square Triangle Scrappy Quilt

You may recognise this quilt.  I have been admiring it here and here.  I decided it was time to have one of my own.  It is a Katherine Guerrier design from one of my favourite books, 'Scrap Quilt Sensation' .

Scrappy Triangle Quilt

I have had a pile of random charm squares which were given to me in my stash for some time.  They are not fabrics I particularly like, but it was hard to turn down the offer of free fabric at the time. I don't think things have changed. This is the sort of quilt you can hide these ugly fabrics in quite easily.  Just to make it interesting I also added some of my favourite fabrics too.  The need to get as much variety as possible allowed plenty of petting and stroking of the fabrics in my stash. I had many happy hours in my sewing room. 

Double pinning quilt seams

I think there are about 896 3" half square triangles in this quilt.  It is a surprisingly simple quilt to make, it is just the sheer quantity of square half square triangle blocks which need cutting, stitching and trimming which take up the time.  The finished size is about 84" x 96". Any half square triangle pattern really relies on accurate seam joins and I took time from the very beginning to double pin every seam to keep the seams in place as they went through the sewing machine. On the front (which is where it matters) they look as if they have behaved very well, but on the back there are a few which tried to go against the flow.


Half Square Triangle Scrap Quilt

Comparing it to the same quilts I have seen already, it is clear that the look of the quilt will depend on the DNA of your personal stash.  I struggled for large scale prints for contrast, and I struggled for murky dull fabrics to stand out against the brights, but I wasn't about to go shopping for this project.  The aim was too get rid of some scraps, but in the process I seem to have created a new set of scraps! He ho ...


Joining up with Scraptastic Tuesday! and the scrap fans at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Katherine Guerrier Retrospective Quilt Exhibition, Wales, September 2014

'Stars and Scraps' Quilt by Katherine Guerrier 

All summer I have been trying to get to an exhibition of quilts 'Adventures in Colour' by Katherine Guerrier, author of one of my favourite quilting books 'Scrap Quilt Sensation'.  Today was the day.

'Triangle Directions' Quilt by Katherine Guerrier

As you will see from the photos, her work is all about colour.  Katherine has done workshops at my local quilt shop, Busy Bees Patchwork in Newport, Wales, and I saw several interpretations of her work on display in one of their exhibitions a few years ago. (BTW - Good news! Busy Bees Patchwork is up and running again, just around the corner from their old shop near Tredegar House (National Trust), they also have an online shop).


'Strictly Triangles' Quilt by Katherine Guerrier

I took a close up of one of my favourite quilts, 'Strictly Triangles' because it really shows the mix of scraps she includes in her scrap quilts.  I love this quilt.  It is made up from scrappy half square triangles.

'Strictly Triangles' Quilt by Katherine Guerrier

The exhibition is at the Rhondda Heritage Park (CF37 2NP) in Wales, and will be on until September 19th, 2014.  The exhibition is displayed upstairs next to the café, and entry is FREE. If you can't make it to the exhibition her book is great inspiration.

Anna Maria Horner meets Victoria Finlay Wolfe meets Celtic Solstice - Triple Whammy Mini Scrap Quilt Project

'Celtic Solstice Feather' 18.5 cm x 38cm

I expect many of you will recognise this pattern.  It is an Anna Maria Horner feather pattern which can be downloaded FREE from her website.  I have admired these feathers for a long time and the design was subconsciously on my To-Do list.  I think I only needed to do one to get it off the list.

'Celtic Solstice' Fabric Scrap basket

This basket of scraps has been looking at me since January from when I completed Bonnie Hunter's 'Celtic Solstice' Mystery Quilt.  I just needed the right project to use them up.  Just one of these lovely feathers would be the fix I needed.  I slightly reduced the size down to 90%, as I originally intended it to be a mug rug 'sort of thing'.  Now it is complete I might hang it on a wall.

Foundation pieced feathers

Because the scraps really were 'scraps', the lengths were quite short, some thin, so a whole family of feathers were not really the order of the day.  Using pages from an old Radio Times for my foundation paper, I randomly stitched down the strips, and then cut out the feather pattern.

Feather - Anna Maria Horner pattern

I love how the unruly scraps have been tamed into this shape, a shape that reminds me of a school tie.  It looks so neat.  The pattern was quite easy to put together and dragged my dormant dressmaking pattern cutting skills back out into the workroom.

'Celtic Solstice Feather'

After lots of auditioning from my fabric stash I decided to set my 'Celtic Solstice' Anna Maria Horner feather off with a  Moda 'Weave' #9898 grey fabric (I think I will need to add more of this to my stash), and a binding of a pink spotty fabric from the Chez Moi 'Boutique' range.

'made fabric' for quilt backing

For the back I wanted to try out another technique. This time is was Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 'made fabric' from her book ' 15 Minutes of Play'.  Again, the idea was to use up the scraps from my Celtic Solstice quilt.  I did this all from memory without actually taking the time to take the book off the shelf.  It took quite a while (more than 15 minutes ...) as I got caught up in quite a few cul-de-sacs, but I got there in the end.


Back of mini feather quilt

Here is the back of the mini quilt using the 'made fabric'.  I machine quilted it with a stipple, but I will admit that some of the seams of the 'made fabric' provided quite a lot of resistance and it would not be a backing fabric of choice in the future.

So, something a bit different here from Fabadashery.  Have you tried anything new today?
 

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 46

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 46

There are several blocks in this style in the Nearly Insane Quilt, where the block is made up of diminishing squares (see Block 11, 39).  They are quite fun to do in terms of choosing the fabric combinations.  However, depending on the complexity of the English paper piecing in the centre, it can tend to make the straight edges bulge. This one isn't too bad. Altering the original block, I have added the cornerstones to the outside border, as it made it easier to negotiate the stripe on the corner. I was also careful to 'fussy' cut the outer striped fabric, so it is the same on each side - I think I am gradually learning ...

Block 46 - Nearly Insane Quilt

Originally the central star of Block 46 was going to be all calico, but at the last minute, I popped in a little red pindot - who doesn't like a little red pindot?  When choosing fabrics for each block I easily fall into the trap of just sticking to a few favourites, but in this scrap quilt, the more the merrier, so the pindot is a welcome addition.


Giant sweet jars filled with fabric scraps

Talking of scraps, my scrap jars have recently multiplied.  For this project I have been storing my red and white scraps in a giant glass sweet jar.  Even though this project is meant to be using up scraps, I seem to have created more in the process.  These jars are lovely for seeing what you have, and you can dip your hand right inside to pull out what you need.  Knowing how much I love them, my husband picked another one up for me as a gift from Baileys Home near Ross-On-Wye. What a great husband I have :)

NUMBER OF PIECES:  40
DIFFICULTY: 2/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Triangle  11/16" (18 mm) x 1/2" (13mm) x 1/2" (13mm)
LARGEST PIECE: Rectangle  6" (152 mm) x 1/2" (13mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS:
Christmas Past  (14547) by Polly Minick and Lauri Simpson for Moda
Reunion Cherry Sally's Skirt by Sweetwater for Moda #5473
Rail stripe Red, Michael Miller Fabrics
Cream with red pindot - unidentified
Calico


 

Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013 - Update

Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013

I just had a call from my sister reminding me that there was a Link UP for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice 2013 Mystery Quilt today, so I thought I had better put up a post.

Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013

I haven't done anything more to the quilt since you last saw it at the beginning of January, but I have been busy sourcing a suitable binding and backing for it.

'California Girl' line by Fig Tree and Co for Moda

The fabric I have found for the back is part of the 'California Girl' line by Fig Tree and Co for Moda.  I had used a yellow colour way of this print in the actual quilt, but had originally only bought a fat quarter.  Once I saw this lighter background, I decided it would be perfect for the back.  The range was distributed several years ago, and I have spent quite a lot of time sourcing it on the internet.  Several shops had it, but no more.  Some shops still have it, but only in small yardage, which will not be enough for a back.  As a result I have had to buy bits from here and there, and slowly they are arriving in packages in the post.  Once it has all arrived, I just need to get some wadding and there is nothing to stop me starting the quilting ....

Part 1 - Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013

Well we're off!

I can't begin to tell you how excited I have been in anticipation of this quilt. I enjoyed doing my Easy Street Quilt last year so much, I have pretty much been counting down the days since the Easy Street Big Reveal back in January!  

Part 1 Completed - Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt

As I write I have stitched all the units for the star points for Part 1 of Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt, I just need to trim the rest of my blocks to tidy them up, so they look as neat as the blocks above. 

Bonnie has offered us plenty of options on how to approach this quilt, and I have opted to use the speciality rulers. I am using the Creative Grids 2-in-1 ruler to make my blocks, which does the same job as the two Tri-Recs rulers. The cutting was quite straight forward, and if you have any problems, visit Bonnie's website to see her videos.  

Creative Grids 2-1 Ruler - Tri Recs alternative

The only difference I have notices with the Creative Grids ruler is that it does not have the same special 'notch' as the Tri-Recs for alignment. 

So far we have had to cut strips in the neutral, pink and green, and then using the ruler to cut the appropriate shapes.

Front - Aligning Star Point Triangles

I had a few goes at aligning the pieces without much luck, but then finally got into my groove.  I found that if you align them, with the tip of the green piece filling in the missing tip of the pink triangle, making sure there is a VERY tiny bit overlapping at the bottom, everything was OK. 

Reverse side - Aligning Star Point Triangles

You can see this more clearly by looking at the reverse side, as I have shown above.  My finished block is only just the right size, despite checking my seam allowance, and placements carefully.

For the record - I am going for the smaller version, and as you can see, I have switched the colours around for my Celtic Solstice Quilt, with my colour choice listed below on the right

BLUE - GREEN

GREEN - YELLOW

YELLOW- ORANGE

ORANGE - PINK

NEUTRAL - NEUTRAL

 



Suzi - Celtic Solstice Quilt Assistant

Suzi is joining in - just a bit camera shy today.

Nearly Insane Quilt - Edge Block 95

Edge Block 95, Nearly Insane Quilt

I tried to make something of the original pattern for this half edge block, but it was coming to nothing.  Instead I have adapted it (again).  It has ended up as a scrappy half square triangle fest, which is just fine for me.

Red and Cream fabric scraps

My pot of scraps is always staring at me, so whenever possible I try to use them.  As it is, I tend to make more scraps in the process!


Sewing thread for Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt

Speaking of scraps - it is only 4 days until Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt starts.  As you will know, I have raided my fabric stash for my alternative colour scheme , and yesterday, I went through my thread collection to pull out some spools of thread to use them up for the project, before I go out and buy some more. 

NUMBER OF PIECES:  16
DIFFICULTY: 1/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Triangle, 1 1/8"  (54mm) x 1 1/2" (38mm) x 1 1/2" (38m)
LARGEST PIECE: Triangle, 1 1/8"  (54mm) x 1 1/2" (38mm) x 1 1/2" (38m) (they are all the same size!)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS:
Scraps

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 64, Cornwall Coastal Path

Cornish Coastal Path, Coverack - Nearly Insane Quilt

Yes, I know, it's been a few days.  Here in the UK we are experiencing SUMMER (we haven't had one of those for a couple of years) and it just so happened that I had planned a few days away this week, walking some of the coastal path in Cornwall.  My sister and I have been walking the whole Cornish Coastal Path, and are about 75% complete.  However, there has been a 6 year gap since our last stint, so we made the effort this week to make some progress, and we have managed to walk from Coverack to Porthscatho. Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, Cornwall at its best.
BTW - In the far, far, far distance of this picture, across the English Channel, you may even be able to see the cyclists on the 10th Stage of the Tour de France in St Malo, Brittany.... then again, maybe not.


Nearly Insane Quilt, Block 64

Walking aside, the journey down to Cornwall allowed me to catch up on some Nearly Insane Quilt blocks, and here you can see Block 64. With the hand quilting I am currently doing, progress on piecing has been less of a priority, and the poor Nearly Insane quilt blocks have taken a back seat, so I was pleased to have some travelling time to catch up. 

I have done this one scrappy again, and it is very similar to Block 80, except that the centre pattern is different.  I think I might have changed the direction of the HST's on the border, from the original pattern, and that meant the borders had to be sewn in a certain direction, which meant a bit of unpicking ... but it was soon resolved.  Only 53 pieces in this little 6 inch block, so not too bad.  I really like the scrappy blocks, as they help to blend all the different reds I am using in the quilt, and with this block complete, all the blocks from Draw 8 are done.

NUMBER OF PIECES: 53
DIFFICULTY: 4/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Square, 1/2" (13mm) x 1/2" (13mm)
LARGEST PIECE: Triangle 1 3/4" (45mm) x 1 1/4" (32mm)  x 1 1/4" (32mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS:  Scrap variety

Joining up with Crazy Mom Quilts

Nearly Insane Quilt - May 2013 Progress

Nearly Insane Quilt - English Paper Piecing

Because we are currently celebrating the Queen's 60th Anniversary of her Coronation, I thought it was a good excuse to show you the progress of my Nearly Insane Quilt (imagine doing the same job for 60 years). I am not sure when her pension kicks in. I hope it doesn't take 60 years for me to complete this quilt!

Nearly Insane Quilt - May 2013 Progress

I love doing these pictures.  I usually only do them once a month, which is the same as when you get to see it.  The more I do, the more excited I am to see what it will look like when it is complete.  There are a few blocks in this picture that are yet to be revealed, so if you compare it to the last update, you may be able to spot them.  See all those little cornerstones - they look great too.  I am so glad that I have kept up with them. 

Working out the statistics I have done about 21% of the quilt so far, over 4 months, so with that progress I guess I should finish the components of the quilt in October 2014. Progress so far is

22 Blocks

8 Side blocks

23 Cornerstones

56 Sashes

I think this is more a display quilt than a bed quilt.  It would be great to have it hanging on a wall to see all the different fabrics and block patterns.  When they laid the floor in our house they took a lot of time to keep the tiles in line - next time I must remember to line up my quilt along them.

BTW - Did I mention the royalty that live at our house - introducing Princess Suzi. Joining up with Feline Friday over at Sarah Did It! and Crazy Mom Quilts!

Princess Suzi enjoying the sun

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 80

Since Block 12  I have wanted to make more of the Nearly Insane blocks scrappy.  As soon as I saw Block 80, I knew it was a perfect candidate.  The design has lots of small pieces in it and I have started to accumulate a jar of red and cream scraps which are so small that they are only going to find homes in certain blocks. 

Sweet jar scrap storage

Whilst my motives may be honourable, when it came to cutting the seventy two 'scrappy' pieces for this little 6" block, it took a lot longer than most, and on that day I did not get as much preparation done for my Nearly Insane blocks as I had hoped, so it feels as if it has been hanging around for a while.

Block 80, Nearly Insane Quilt, visiting California

I finally have had time to finish it during my Road Trip to the USA, and here it is on display our pitch at Turlock Lake Campsite, California.  This was fun, and quite easy to put together, and I think it is my latest favourite.  Remembering that these blocks are only 6" square, I think that this is a really cute block - imagine a whole quilt of these with some sashing in between - it would look great.


NUMBER OF PIECES: 72
DIFFICULTY: 4/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Square, 3/8" (9.5mm) x 3/8" (9.5mm)
LARGEST PIECE: Triangle 1 7/8" (46mm) x 1 1/4" (32mm)  x 1 1/4" (32mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS: 
Scrap variety

Spring Quilt Festval, Exeter, April 2013

At the weekend I popped down to Exeter, in Devon, to attend the Spring Quilt Festival, where I met up with my mother, to enjoy the Quilt Show.  We did a workshop with the textile artist Vineta Cable, I looked at Long Arm Quilting options, and as usual, we did our best to prop up the economy by supporting our local patchwork and quilting shops.

It is not a big show, but sometimes the smaller shows give you the opportunity to take more time to enjoy the individual quilts.  Below is a detail of one my favourites, which featured scrappy patched apples and pears, and was part of a display by Kernow Quilters.  I love the scrap fabrics used for the fruit.

Up the Old Apples and Pears' Quilt - Kernow Quilters

Another one I liked was a simple pictorial quilt hanging, depicting the harbour at Mevagissey in Cornwall, by Di Wells.  Simple, but very evocative of the Cornish coast.


Mevagissey by Di Wells, Kernow Quilters

Otherwise, I think I was quite restrained - just a few red and white fat quarters from Stof, purchased from a new vendor, Clarris, who I understand will be opening a new patchwork and quilting shop in Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, in the very near future.  These fabrics have been added to the stash, ready to be used in some of the Nearly Insane blocks in the very near future.


Red and White Fabrics - Quilters Basics, Stof