Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Quilt - Part 5

I got a little behind last week with Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery Quilt, but today I feel as if I have pulled it back a bit.  Firstly, I caught up on the fabric cutting.  Last week we were assigned to cut squares in our final colour, which for me is PURPLE.  I was itching to work with another colour, but it just didn't happen last week, so it felt like a bit of a treat to dig into my stash and pull out the purples.

145 x 3 1/5" Purple Squares

I noticed that a lot of my fabrics have cherries on them, and I have mixed some more fruit into my quilt, with some juicy blackberries, courtesy of RJR Fabrics Farmer's Market (2008).  There is a cute print 'Crazy Daisies' by Buggy Barn for Henry Glass (Pattern 1394).  They are meant to be daisies, but I think they look more like to intergalactic stars, against this deep purple!  There is also another 'Ditzy Daisy' (1005) print, and a swirly black and purple 'Lava'  pattern (730), both by The Henley Studio for Makower, a few batiks, and a few odd scraps.  Once the purple was done, I cut the red squares, and green squares I needed for Part 5.  The red fabric on top of the pile is called 'Santas Got the Goods' by Diane Knott for Clothworks - I sure hope he has!



Red, Green and Purple Fabric cut ready for Part 5

The construction of this little block was quite simple - if you follow Bonnie's excellent instructions.  My first few attempts were not squaring up very accurately, but once I started to sew along the right side of the line, as Bonnie suggested, they were much better.  I have decided to keep the square in tact, mainly for greater accuracy further along the line, just trimming out the excess of the triangle.  On a previous quilt I was sewing a similar block, but I had to cut both excess triangles because I was using a light fabric and the dark pattern was showing through.

 



Up until now my colour scheme has been looking a bit too festive, which has been concerning me, but with the addition of the purple I think it has been brought back to a 365 days a year quilt.  Do you think I have got away with it?



All my cutting is up to date.  I still have to join up some of the Flying Geese from last week, and to complete the rest of this weeks block.  I also have A LOT of trimming to catch up with.  I am really pleased with my colours and can't wait to start piecing all these parts together.  It has been great fun playing with the pieces to create patterns, and seeing everyone elses ideas. Here is my 'guess' for the Mystery Quilt, using this weeks pieces. 

#4 Butterfly Quilt - What did I learn from this Quilt?

Each quilt I make, I tend to learn something new.  With the Butterflies Quilt being my first large project, over a long period of time, it was perhaps my steepest learning curve with regard to patchwork and quilting.  Looking back, I realise how naïve I was, and how this project really opened the doors to the quilting world for me.


Butterfly Quilt on the Bed

English Paper Piecing is Great!
As long as the paper is cut to the right size, you can get away with rough cutting fabric, and along with hand sewing , you have much greater control of what is going on with your quilt - this is why I love working with the English Paper Piecing method. Also, cutting out the paper for quilts reminds me of cutting out dresses for paper dolls when I was a child.  I used to love this.  It is a quiet, peaceful pastime.  Sometimes I like to be on the machine, but when you have no choice in order to get a project done, it can feel like you are chained to it, and you really have to find a block of time to get the job done - not easy when you work full-time.  In the two years it took to complete the Butterflies quilt, I never once got frustrated with it.  It is portable.  You can fit it in to small gaps of time.  Just make sure you have it with you all the time!

Go With the Scraps
For this quilt project, the only fabric I bought was the cream calico and the fabric for the butterfly bodies.  Otherwise, I kept to what scrap fabric I had.  This led to, what felt like, some heavily compromised colour combinations, which made me wince as I sewed them together.  However, once the quilt was together, it looked perfect.  Go with the scraps, in general, they know what they are doing.

Thread
I used an off-white cotton to sew my pieces together, which worked for the majority of the quilt, but not so well on the coloured fabric.  As it travelled around with me  A LOT, just having to worry about one reel of thread, made it easier, however, with the quilts I have done since I have taken more care to match the thread to the fabric.

Quilting
This quilt needs more quilting.  I look at it every day and think this, but part of me is happy to keep it as it is, as a reminder that there is a ‘tipping point’ of too little, or too much quilting on a quilt.  I am still working on the balance of this.

#3 Butterfly Quilt - Showing the Butterfly Quilt

#2 Butterfly Quilt - Techniques and Construction

#1 Butterfly Quilt - Inspiration Behind the Quilt

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!

Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Quilt - Part 3

Removing cat hair from fabric

I started the day knowing I had to cut a lot of pieces of fabric, so I thought I would do a bit of housekeeping before I started.  Suzi has adopted the role of my 'fabric manager' , so I needed to remove her cat fur from where she has been sleeping keeping guard.  The most effective way I have found to do this is to put on my Marigold's and rub them across the fabric.  Suzi's cat fur is not as prolific as the other cat, so there was not too much to remove.  

Removing lint from cutting mat

I have also been fastidiously trimming my blocks for the Easy Street Mystery Quilt, and a lot of it has been tiny slithers of fabric, which disappeared as I cut them off.  I have found the same rubber glove technique works nicely to remove the lint that gathers up on my self-healing cutting mat.  Once I had tidied up, we sat down and read the instructions with a cup of tea.


Suzi cat helping with cutting fabric

Before I cut the whole batch, I cut out a few pieces, to check that it worked. It is the first time I have made a block like this before.  As usual, I followed Bonnie's instruction, and the blocks have come out fine.  By lunchtime all the cutting was done, and by teatime all the blocks were pieced, ready for trimming whilst I watched 'Strictly Come Dancing'. For some reason I cut way too many red triangles, so I will wait to see if I can use them or work out another project to use them up.
I was pleased to be using a different colour.  I am using for red fabric for Bonnie's turquoise, for this part, and for this colour my stash has plenty of choice.  The latest addition to my red stash has to be the most perfect fabric - a red dotty tone on tone which is from a Moda Collection "Christmas Past" #1457, by Polly Minick and Lauri Simpson.  I bought a large piece of it, knowing that I will want to include it in every quilt I ever make.  Another favourite in there is a crimson floral tone on tone fabric, from the 'Oriental Traditions' range designed by Adam Guan for Robert Kaufman.  This piece is getting smaller and smaller with each project, and I think this quilt will use up the last of it.  However, as this is a scrap quilt, it is an opportunity to scatter in some of those prints which are perhaps not my 'favourites' too.
 

Easy Street Mystery Quilt - Part 3 Released

Bonnie Hunter has released the third part of the Easy Street Mystery Quilt today.  The weeks sure go fast, but so far I have kept up with the pace.  This week we have to produce shaded 4 -patches.  I have never made these little blocks in my life, but I am using this Mystery Quilt as an exercise in getting my machine quilting skills up to scratch, and so another week, another string to my patchwork bow.

We are allowed to use another colour this week, Turquoise.  I have a different colour scheme, and up until now I haven't finalised whether her Turquoise is my Red or Purple.


Suzi chooses Red for the Easy Street Mystery Quilt

However, it looks like Suzi the cat has chosen for me.  Clearly the one I want will be the one she is sleeping on - so it is Red.  I have loads of Red.  I love Red, and it goes in all my quilts. This one will be no different ....
Suzi is joining in the Feline Friday Link today, so be sure to visit all the Internet Kitties.

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.

Easy Street – Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Easy Street - Choice 1 Black

Easy Street - Choice 2 Cream

I’ve never done a Mystery Quilt before, and I am the sort of person that likes to know where I am heading before I start on anything.  But there are times when you have to move out of your comfort zone, and try something different.  Viewing some of the beautiful ‘Orca Bay’ mystery quilts that participants made as part of last year’s Bonnie Hunter’s annual Mystery Quilt, has really inspired me, and I hope this one works out as well.
Details of Bonnie Hunter’s 2012 Mystery Quilt, Easy Street, can be found on the Quiltville Blogspot

The first part will be revealed on Friday 23^rd November, 2012, and every following Friday for the next 6 – 8 weeks.  If you care to look, quilters all over the internet are going crazy about the prospect!  Bonnie Hunter is a fabric scrap addict, and her quilt designs are usually scrap quilts – that’s just fine with me.  Naturally the aim is to use up your scraps, but her colour scheme doesn't correspond to my stash, so this is what I have come up with.  I plan to use deep colours red, purple and green.   My background is the pretty tan print, "Bound to the Prairie" #9195 by Kansas Troubles for Moda, which I used for the background for another Irish Chain scrap quilt, but I am still wondering what to use for the ‘background’. My first choice is using black prints. Again, this was inspired by the use of black in some of the Orca Bay quilts that were done last year. 

 My second option is to use cream, ditsy floral prints for the ‘background’

It’s so hard to decide when you are moving into the unknown!  Which is your favourite?

#1 Butterfly Quilt - Inspiration Behind the Quilt

Butterfly Quilt by Frances Meredith

Inspiration
The inspiration for this scrap quilt came from a picture in a quilting book I took out of our local library, early in my quilting journey, about 2003.  The original picture in the book was no more than a couple of inches big, but it was enough for me to work out a pattern for a block.  I like a scrappy quilt, and this quilt used all sorts of fabrics.  At the time, the only patchworking I knew was English piecing, so I made my own paper pattern, cut out all the pieces, and off I went.

History of the Butterflies Quilt
During the period when I was making the quilt, I went to a JOAnn’s store, during a trip to America, where I saw a pattern of the same quilt being sold on the shelves. I guess it was only then that I realised that the quilt I was making already had a history.  Further research when I returned home to the UK revealed that a pattern, and the history of the quilt was published in a book “The New England Quilt Museum Quilts: Featuring the Story of the Mill Girls -Instructions for 5 Heirloom Quilts” by Jennifer Gilbert (Paperback,1999) [NB: Which I notice you can currently access via Google Books].  I discovered that it was originally made in about 1935, by a lady called Nina Shrock, Harvard County, Indiana, USA, using a design by Laura Wheeler. When we were back in America in the Autumn of 2007, we made a pilgrimage to the New England Quilt Museum, in Lowell, where we able to see the quilt on display, the one I had seen originally in my library book, back in the UK.  It was a nice feeling. I now have a pencil with the same butterflies on it, as a memento!

What fabrics did I use?
My creative journey has included dressmaking and embroidery, and it was only in about 2002 that I inherited a collection of beautiful quilting fabric and I considered doing some quilting. Amongst the collection were packets of fabrics, which I later learnt were called Charm Packs.  There were 5” squares, 4“ squares, and tiny 1.5” squares, mainly from a mail order company, Strawberry Fayre based in Chagford in Devon, UK.  I wanted a project that was going to use these up, and the scrappy nature of the quilt, seemed like the ideal choice. 

However, I did notice in the small picture that there were ‘constants’.  For instance, the body of the butterfly was the same for each.  I did not have anything suitable, so I went to my local quilting and patchwork shop, BusyBees, based in the Craft Units at Tredegar House in Newport, Wales.  There I found a brown batik fabric.  I was recommended to give it a wash before I used it. I think that was a good idea.  Otherwise, I didn’t wash any of the fabric – the bits were too small.

There is a whole mix in there.  Ironically, it was only after I had completed the quilt that it was brought to my attention that there were a lot of 30’s reproduction fabrics in it.  This was not intentional, it was serendipity at work.  At the time I didn’t realise what 30’s reproduction fabrics were.  I also have one or two bits of special fabric in there, including the first piece of fabric I ever bought, at the Marldon Apple Pie Fair in Devon, back in the early 1980’s.  You can see details of Techniques and Construction in this post.

Statistics
Dimensions: 243cm x 243cm (approx 8ft x 8ft)
Blocks: 64 blocks, 10” x 10”
Piecing Method: English Paper Piecing. Hand Pieced
Quilting Method: Hand Quilted
Dates: 2004 – August 2006

Awards:
2007 South West Quilters Award for Traditional Quilts, Quilts UK , Malvern
2007 ‘My First Bed Quilt’, Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate

#4 Butterfly Quilt - What did I learn from this Quilt?

#3 Butterfly Quilt - Showing the Butterfly Quilt

#2 Butterfly Quilt - Techniques and Construction