Broken Dishes Quilt - Cat Mat

Finding useful opportunities for expressing your quilting creativity is sometimes a challenge.  I love making full size quilts, but the backlog of quilt tops that need quilting in my cupboard is a reminder that large projects are not always the most appropriate project to launch into.  A Mug Rug is fun, but to the other extreme, as they can be small and fiddly.  The alternative - the Cat Mat.


Sparky the Cat on Broken Dishes Cat Mat

This is Sparky the cat modelling my most recent Cat Mat using the Broken Dishes quilt block pattern.  I enjoy making this size project as I find that the size of a Cat Mat offers more scope to test out new quilting patterns, and to practice some different machine quilting techniques.  Best of all they actually get used, all day, every day, by the cats, as they are placed in strategic places around the house.  Also, they can be thrown into the washer easily.
This particular project used 5" batik charm squares in a mix of yellow, orange, red, pink and purple. The mat finishes up 18" square, with the finished quarter square triangles being 3.5". To create the contrast that builds up the Broken Dishes pattern, I made up some quarter square triangles, pairing up light and dark squares, front sides together.  I then marked a diagonal cross on the lighter fabric, as a guide for sewing.  The dashed lines on the diagram show where I machine stitched the two squares together with a 1/4 " seam allowance, the solid line shows where I cut them, once stitched on the machine.

Quarter Square Triangle Unit

Once sewn and cut, you have sets of light / dark triangles, which then need to be paired up into the squares, which can be seen on the far right of this picture.


Quarter Square Triangles - half way through!

With the squares complete, plan the layout, making sure the lights and darks are next to each other throughout.  I find that taking a picture on my iPhone or iPad at this stage is a useful reminder of the layout, as once I start lifting up the pieces for sewing on the machine the blocks easily get mixed up!

Broken Dishes Quilt Pattern Layout 

For this mat, I backed it with a red fabric, which I cut larger than the final size, so that the backing fabric could be brought forward onto the front for the binding, which I machined in place, after I had quilted the mat. As I said before, these mats are ideal for improving your free machine quilting techniques, and on this one I filled the darker triangles up with a smooth zig-zag pattern, which followed the graduating shape of the triangle.  


Broken Dishes Quilt - Backing and Binding

I love the Broken Dishes pattern.  I think it is especially great for using up scrap fabrics, the pattern is quite dynamic, and I particularly like quilts which have the same repetitive pattern throughout.  I don't profess to be ther greatest machine quilter, and I have had no complaints about the quilting so far, but then Sparky's eyesight is not too great ...

 

Joining up with Feline Friday at Sarah Did It, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Sew Many Ways today

Nearly Insane Quilt - First Draw

The first blocks for the Nearly Insane Quilt have been drawn.  They are blocks

21 - 41 - 55 - 91

I have now printed off the blocks from the Electric Quilt 5 software and made up little portable packs with the cut up paper pieces, the fabric, and the instructions, for these particular blocks.  The drive behind this patchwork project is for when I am travelling, or I am out and about, and I need a small portable sewing project with me.  When I am at home I am MEANT to be catching up on my hand quilting backlog...

Nearly Insane Block Home Made Portable Project Packs

As I mentioned before, the fabric for the sashing and cornerstones have not been finalised, but I am realising that I should be doing these as part of my batch system, so that when the time comes to put the quilt together everything is ready to go.  Actually, I should also be doing some of the zig zag border too .... but I haven't chosen the fabric for that yet either.
What I have noticed is, that besides their number, these Nearly Insane blocks don't have names, so if you recognise any as we are going along, then please shout out any suggestions.

Nearly Insane Quilt - Passport Packed!

Before you embark on a journey you need to make your travel arrangements, pack your suitcase with essentials, and arrange for someone to feed the cats.  These are the sort of preparations I have been making before my Nearly Insane Quilt journey.

1.  My guidebook on my Nearly Insane Quilt journey is Liz Lois book which has the templates for each of the 6" blocks, colour pictures of some completed Nearly Insane quilts, and along with some beautiful quilts on the internet, has been the inspiration for the journey in the first place.

Book: Nearly Insane Quilt by Liz Lois

2.  The type of journey I will be going on will be a hand pieced one.  It will largely be English Paper Pieced (EPP), but if there is heavy weather ahead, I am prepared for an alternative route using Foundation piecing.
3.  The flavours I will be tasting will largely be red and cream, with some white fabric.  At the moment I have not made a final decision on the fabric for the sashing and the cornerstones.  At the moment the sashing is probably a cream calico and the cornerstones a solid red.  But like any good quilter, I will try to fit in a few 'fabric shop hops' along the way of my journey, where I hope to find something more appealing.


Red and Cream / White Fabrics for Nearly Insane Quilt

3.  My map on the journey is Electric Quilt 5.  I have already drawn out each block into the software, and set them into the quilt.  I have also scanned all my fabrics in, as a 'Nearly Insane Collection'.  This allows me to print off an accurate block for my paper pieces, and the shapes for cutting out the fabric.  It will also allow me to keep track of my progress, so I know how much of the quilt I have done, and how far I have to go.

Nearly Insane Quilt in Electric Quilt Software

4. To help decide which route I am taking I have set myself up a lucky draw.  I have cut up each block from the Electric Quilt print out of the whole Nearly Insane Quilt, numbered each block, and put them in a lucky dip bowl. For each draw I will randomly select 3 blocks, and 1 edge half block.  This will allow me to prepare the fabrics as I go along in a manageable way, and set them up in portable project bags, so there is always something ready to do on the go.


Nearly Insane Quilt - Lucky Dip Bowl

I think that is about everything for now.  I will be on this journey for quite a while, but I hope to send you all regular postcards!

Red and Cream Fabric Choice - Nearly Insane Quilt

Now that I have decided to embark on the 'Nearly Insane' quilt, I have spent a lot of time preparing for it.  I will be hand piecing it, probably using the English Paper Piecing method, but I can also see a need to some foundation piecing work for the more intricate blocks.  I have put all the blocks into Electric Quilt 5, and I have also now scanned all my red, white and cream fabrics into the package.  Despite having the Electric Quilt software for years, this is the first time I have done this, and it went relatively well.


'Mama Said Sew' by Sweetwater for Moda

The foundations of my colour choice are based on the red and cream colourway in the 'Mama Said Sew' fabric range by Sweetwater for Moda.  As soon as I saw this range, I knew I wanted a piece of it.  Not only is it in a red and cream colourway, but it has an appropriate set of sewing themed fabrics.  I particularly like the little red pinwheels.


Red and White Fabric Charm Squares

I have also gone through all my charm packs, charm squares, and fabric scraps searching for red and cream fabric.  This has included some of the reds from a Bonnie and Camille, 'Bliss' Moda Candy Bar, and some Civil War pre-cut circles I bought at Keepsake Quilting in Meredith, USA, several years ago.  As you can see, nothing is safe - even the tiny little charm squares are in for a shout, especially as a lot of the blocks have very tiny pieces in them.

Red and Cream / White Fabric Stash

Then finally, the red, cream and white fabrics from my stash.  Lots of red and white spots and dots.  With the project probably taking a few years, no doubt my antennae will be up for red and cream fabrics that are within arms length.

Getting to Grips with Nearly Insane Using Electric Quilt 5

Using Electric Quilt 5 for my Nearly Insane Quilt

In the dark evenings this week I have been quietly creating the blocks for the Nearly Insane quilt on the Electric Quilt 5 software.  In Liz Lois 'Nearly Insane' pattern book of the Salinda Rupp quilt they are drawn out to size for tracing, and I am hoping that all this effort on the Electric Quilt software up front will make it easier for me to keep track of what I am doing in the long run. It has been a good exercise in becoming familiar with different patterns on the 6" blocks, as well as my Electric Quilt software.  It has also helped for generally just getting my head around how I am going to approach the project. 
Some were a doddle to work out on the software, but others (Blocks 49, 75), were a test of my maths skills - and I haven't even sewn them yet!  I also think I have been lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that I have been working on them on the computer screen where they are twice the size of the actual block.  There are going to be some very tiny pieces in this quilt.
I will admit at this stage that I have adapted some of the blocks to fit in with my personal preference for order and symmetry.  There are plenty of pretty blocks, but the centre of Block 58 looked a bit of a dogs dinner, so I have re-orientated the little half square triangles.  You get the impression that the original quilt was a REAL scrap quilt, and some of the block patterns have been necessarily adapted by Salinda Rupp to accommodate her scrap stash.
I am now getting the strength up to scan my own red and white / cream fabrics I will be using.  I have never got as far as this with a quilt design on the Electric Quilt software, so wish me luck.

Mini Hexagon Mug Rug

A Morris Tapestry, Hexagon Mug Rug

As you would have read in my last post, I have been aching to do some sewing this week, and finally I have managed it. Firstly, thanks to Sarah at Sarah Did It for the gentle nudge and inspiration for this Mini Hexi Project, which has kept me quiet for the past 24 hours. I wanted a little hand piecing project, using the English Paper Piecing method, AND I needed to produce a little birthday gift for this Monday, so this little hexagon Mug Rug fits the bill nicely.

English Paper Piecing Templates in MS Powerpoint

The other night, whilst doing some work on the computer, I quickly popped into MS Powerpoint and drew up some paper templates. I found that the actual 'hexagon' shape in the package did not have equal length sides, so instead combined six equilateral triangles and some lines to make up the hexagons. The sides are 3cm each.


English Paper Piecing Hexagon Templates

I was travelling yesterday and NOT driving, so I seized the moment to start the project. This meant a rather hurried choice of fabric, so I played safe and went for a fabric range I had in my stash.  I was literally cutting out the fabric with my coat on, and the engine running on the car! 

A Morris Tapestry Fabric, MODA,
(L-R) 8172-15, 8177-17, 8176-15, 8171-34) 

The fabric I chose was from 'A Morris Tapestry' by Barbara Brackman for Moda. They are reproductions of some William Morris (Arts and Crafts Movement) prints from about the 1890's, featuring the Strawberry Thief and a pretty Daffodil print. I thought this was appropriate because, it was a lovely sunny day here today and a chance to see the progress of the Spring DaffodiI bulbs - little way to go yet!  

Daffodil Bulbs - February 2013

During the hour I had in the car, I was surprised to see that I had covered all my paper templates and that they were ready for stitching together.  I tend to use cheap tacking thread in a contrasting colour and stitch right through the paper.  It is the way I have always done it.  I like this method, as you never know how long it will be before you actually are going to stitch it together when you are hand piecing, so they can sit there for years without a worry.

But this project had to be done today. After a little thought, I decided that the easiest way to construct the little Mug Rug was to do it in columns, this avoided any awkward seams, and you can see here the different stages.

With only tiny pieces, it did not take long to piece together, and in no time at all it was time to take the paper out.  This is a picture of the reverse of the mug rug, after it was stitched together, but with the paper still in place.  I tend to give  projects like this a good press whilst the papers are still in place - I find it helps to keep their structure.


Hexagon English Paper Piecing - Reverse

With the papers removed, I pressed out the seam, and made up a quilt sandwich from some scrap wadding, and some fabric for the reverse.  I just did some simple hand quilting, outlining the shapes. If I am hand piecing and hand quilting an item, I usually like to keep the integrity of the piece by banning ALL machine stitching, but lately, once the top is quilted, I have started to machine stitch the edge, to stay stitch the quilt sandwich, which will then be hidden in the binding. I used a straight edge binding.  Again, for this little project I did use the machine to sew on the binding, and then hand stitched it on the reverse. 


Hexi-Puzzle Mug Rug - English Paper Piecing

The good news is that the gift is completed in time, and that I still have the rest of the day to do some stiching!  If you enjoy hand piecing, especially Hexagons, Sarah Did It has a special Hexi Link Up on the 17th of each month - do be sure to join in!
Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion By The River and Crazy Mom Quilts.



Virtual Sewing Progress

This week I have spent more time thinking about sewing than actual doing any.  I have been working all day, as well as evenings this week, and sewing just has not had a look in. My journeys to work in the car have been spent dreaming of projects I want to do, of fabric I would need to buy for them, and lamenting the lack of time I have had in my sewing room.  Since Suzi became an 'internet sensation' by winning the Feline Friday giveaway at the Sarah Did It Blog, she has behaved like a winner of X Factor, but even she is missing the special time we share in the sewing room.

When life gets too hectic for sewing, there are places on the internet that I always seem to head off to for an instant fix.  The Fat Quarter Shop, to review their What's New section, to Green Fairy Quilts, to marvel at the incredible long arm quilting skills of Judi Madsen, and the list of bloggers that I follow.  Are there places that you head to for some virtual sewing?
 
Thank heavens for Blogland.
 
1. I have been posting my blog for just a little over two months, and this week I reached 21 Followers.  This means that Damsel Creations, the kind-hearted blogger who was the first Fabadashery Follower, has been moved to a second page. Just to say thank you for leading the way - you are not forgotten!

2. This week a blogger, Zipje and Zopje from the Netherlands, got in touch to regarding my Butterfly Quilt, as her sewing bee group are just about to start the same quilt.  Do visit to watch their progress.  It is a great quilt to make.

3. Sarah at Sarah Did It has been posting the progress of a lovely hand pieced Hexagon project, and kindly suggested a 'Mini Hexi Puzzle' for those of us who were jealous in need of a quick fix of hexies. By Thursday night I had cut out the papers ... 

4. Finally, too much time spent on the Internet has introduced me to projects that I never knew I needed to do, and they are posted here on my Pinterest page.  The one that has been dominating my mind is the 'Nearly Insane', Salinda Rupp quilt, published in a book by Liz Lois.  I am pretty much sure that this is the next major hand piecing project I am doing, confirmed that I ordered the book from the USA over a week ago - it arrived this morning.

 



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! 

Fat Quarter Bundle - A Rite of Passage

Cherry Blossom at the Keukenhof Gardens

A few years ago, I visited the Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands to see the seasonal beauty of their lovely tulip fields. There were thousands and thousands of beautiful tulips on display, and I took loads of photographs of them. I really recommend a trip in March or April if you have the chance. However, of all the pictures that I took on that holiday, it was this picture of the spring blossom which was my favourite.

Sakura Park, Sentimental Studios, Moda Fabric
Fat Quarter Bundle

A late Christmas present (to myself) arrived this week.  This beautiful, Fat Quarter Bundle, Sakura Park by Sentimental Studios for Moda. The range features cherry blossom flowers and petals, and as you can see, the colours of the fabric are almost exactly the same as the picture I took. As a rule, I don't really go for pastel colours, but I was drawn in by the pretty blossom prints on the fabrics, reminiscent of the cherry blossom, when it comes out in the Spring.
I have had charm packs in the past. I have had a Jelly Roll, but a Fat Quarter Bundle, really feels like a 'rite of passage' in my quilting life. I have had it for several days now, and I still have not untied the knot and dismantle this perfect little package. 


Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Quilt - Part 8 Backing

Redundant of having to add borders to my Easy Street Quilt, I moved my attention to the backing.  It's a big quilt, and big quilts need a lot of fabric on the back, as well as the front.  There were no decent sized pieces of fabric left after Easy Street that would do the job, and I was reluctant to buy more fabric, when the project had specifically been a 'scrappy stash buster'.


Easy Street Quilt Backing

By the way, 244 quilters Linked Up with their Easy Street Mystery Quilt progress - I bet there were loads more out there working away on their masterpieces. With all the coloured fabric scraps of my Easy Street Quilt still draped around my workroom, it made sense to piece the back together from these pieces. 



Is now a good time to teach me
how to use the Rotary Cutter?

Working out the sizes for the new sized blocks took a bit of time.  The squares and rectangles were easy enough to size up, but the Flying Geese blocks and Shaded 4 patches were more of a challenge. It really made me appreciate Bonnie's straightforward instructions. I used this opportunity to use the alternate Flying Geese method, using the two different sized squares, instead of cutting strips from triangles.  In addition to this, I decided to swap the red and purple, as I thought I might have preferred on the top.  I also extended the original Block A  outwards by a set of the smaller blocks, making a larger block which can be abstracted from the original Easy Street quilt pattern.  By making the block larger by a row it meant I could use smaller pieces.  I really was at the end of my fabric scraps, and by making the block pieces smaller, it meant I had a more scrappy background.  Going  'large' for the first time has convinced me that a large square cutting ruler from Creative Grids is now a necessity.

I admit I was in two minds about using the left over scraps. Part of me wanted to hold onto them, to use in future projects, then the other part of me felt it was time to move on - the fabrics would be better used in a quilt, than lingering in my stash, going out of fashion. By using them up it would be a good excuse to buy some more.  How do you feel about using up your fabric?

There are a few downsides to this pieced backing approach. With the additional seams, hand quilting is going to be a struggle to say the least, so I guess I have now committed myself to machine quilting the Easy Street quilt . Also, with a mix of lights and darks on the back, choosing a quilting thread colour is likely to involve a lot of deliberation.  I have not even thought about what sort of wadding I will use.

So this is what I have been doing with my time. When we woke up on Saturday, Suzi the cat and I had no idea I we would be piecing another quilt.  It has taken time, but I am pleased with the result. Joining up with Design Wall Monday.