Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Eternity Quilt - planning, laying out, cutting

"He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
"
Ecclesiastes 3:11

I think this one is going to informally be called "the Insanity quilt" because it really is going to send me insane.

It's a complicated pattern to begin with:

Eternity quilt pattern

And then there's the decision to do it in as many Kona solids as possible and replicating a colour wheel - requiring organisation to get it all laid out!

I believe there may be some fabric shopping in my near future. Either that or fabric begging.

Eternity quilt pieces

The first row of triangles, cut and sorted. I'm thinking I might have to create some numbers of my own to pin, so I'm not cross-referencing things twice (the tag with the colour with the diagram).

Laying out the first row of, oh, 60 rows. This is the narrowest row, too! And the widest row is about 4x the width of this.

Eternity quilt layout

I have no idea if I can get all this done in time for the November deadline. Maybe if I sew day and night?

*facepalms as she realises what she's gotten herself into*

Eternity quilt rows 1&2

Mind you, the result will be rather impressive! I just have to get to "the result"...

I might have some time to sew the row together on Wednesday night before church group, or Thursday night before the hockey dinner. Here's hoping!

Instagrams!

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A Land of Summer Skies

Why, hello there, Spring!
Why, hello there, Spring!

Mmm,  new car!
My new car! My new new car!

State Theatre Sydney
State Theatre, Sydney to see Bill Bailey.

Mum's quilt, stepdad's pillow. Finishes for the yay!
Finished quilt and pillow for parentals.

Insanity...uh, Eternity begins!
The starting rows of my "eternity" quilt.

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

From Everlasting To Eternity...

It is possible that I am insane.

*coughs*

The church service I attend is doing a "creatives project" whereby people with skills and interests in creative projects (writing, drawing, painting, design, etc.) put together a project based around our faith. The topic they've chosen is the Apostles Creed, and the line that I picked to work with is the last (second last?) one of the creed - right before 'Amen':

"I believe in the life everlasting".

So I went and googled "everlasting", just to see what came up. And got "eternity" as a comparable search.

Eternity-ArthurStace

Non-Australians might recognise it as a signature of the 2000 New Year celebrations in Sydney, and the 2000 Olympics. Australians will probably know the 'Eternity' tag as the artwork of Arthur Stace, former soldier, petty crim, and alcoholic, who became a Christian in the 1940s and died in the 1960s, but not before he'd graffiti'd this all over Sydney – they estimate he did it around half a million times.

Fitting, don't you think?

And then there's the Eternity puzzle - a mathematical puzzle that some brainiac with too much time and not enough children on his hands decided would be fun to make everyone scramble around to find a solution for.

EternitySolution

209 blocks. That are made up of composites of 30-60-90 triangles. And could be sewn in straight rows (when all put together).

And, hey, there just happen to be around 240-something Kona Solid colours...

Kona color card
picture c/o Penny Poppleton's Flickr, used with permission

I thought I'd put together the EternitySolution as the quilt background (equilat triangles in rows), and hand-quilt 'Eternity' onto it. Perhaps with a small text reference to Ecclesiastes 3:11...

It would be due at the start of November.

Well, I told you it was insane!

...so maybe I won't use every Kona Solid under the sun (apart from being ruinously expensive, it'd undoubtedly get tricksy, what with the subtle shades and all). But I have the better part of three FQ packs in my collection and I could mix those in with the rest of my stash...

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

WIP Wednesday: the one with finished long-term projects!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Finishes, WIPs, plans, fabric!

Finishes

Do my long-time readers remember the quilt I named "Go Back To The Mountain, Turn The Quilt Around"? It was so named because it was originally intended to be a backing for the Central Park Boxes quilt, only the quilter thought it would make a nice quilt and so I agreed to turn it into a quilt top?

Go back to the mountain, turn the quilt around...

It has sat on my 'to bind' list for, oh, four months. At least.

I bound it on Saturday afternoon. To give away Saturday night to a childless Uncle and Aunt who were coming around for dinner with the parentals for Father's Day.

However, my Aunt actually preferred this really bright harvest fabric that was backing my Hidden Harvest baby quilt. Oops!

disappearing fall all

So I'm making them a bed runner out of what I have left of it, because all she wanted was the fabric, plain. I might do some piecing on the other side, though. *whistles innocently* I know some people make exquisite wholecloth quilts, I'm just not one of them.

And, uh, I didn't get a pic of the finished quilt. D'oh!

Mum's ImpStar

It's only been waiting for binding since April.

Mum's ImpStar with feline approval.

And now it's done!

Mum's ImpStar finished

Finished last Friday night at the Sydney Modern Quilter's Guild meetup at City Extra.

Photographed at Penny Poppleton's house!

Mum's ImpStar

Along with a raft of quilts and her daughter!

Quilts and small curious children

WIP

sewing room

Still trying to work out how to sort the sewing room.

Fabric!

Do I sort fabrics by colour or collection? A mix of both? What about my collection of solids? And the charm squares, jelly rolls, and layer cakes I've purchased separately?

Haberdashery shelf

But it's a really good space for working in!

Stepdad's Father's Day Present

Yeah, I missed the Father's Day deadline. *guilty look*

But we gave him a nice light spring jumper and a garish Hawa'iian print shirt instead! I was quietly hoping to get an "oh no" from my mother at the print shirt, but she just laughed.

Pillow cover the second

This is the layout for pillow #2, which I haven't finished sewing. (Haven't had time.)

Anyway, I've finished the top of one pillow and am pondering whether to make the back a very staid flannel - pretty on one side, comfy on the other.

Handsewing

A little progress on my 60degree diamonds:

Hand sewing

It's kind of painstaking making these! But I guess that's how handsewing works, isn't it?

In The Works

Kate Spain's Terrain Challenge

Penny Poppleton and myself are doing a quilt challenge - finish a quilt top made of Terrain (plus 2 solids) by the end of September.

I have plenty of Terrain!

Now I just have to work out how I'm going to put it all together!

Bee Blocks

Oh, I need to catch up on these. And my Birthday Blocks, for which I am backed up as far back as May. Now that we have sewing space, there's a little more hope!

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So that’s me done. Time to go out and Linky Party! (like it's 1999?)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Plans to prosper and not harm you...

Because I'm drowning in fabric right now, I need to make some plans!

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1. A Land Of Summer Skies
This is going to be an Australian flag quilt, using Australian-made shot cottons.

My Instagram

Terrain
2. Terrain Challenge with Penny Poppleton.
Any quilt design we like, using Terrain and 2 solids of choice, at least 60" square. Top to be done by start of October, whole quilt to be done by December.

Ooh la la
3. Tula Pink quilt with Ooh La La collection
I borrowed this book off Penny (she's basically my quilt book lending library) and really love the instructions and ideas in it. I'm thinking of doing something based around Beanstalk right now, but that could change.

Aviary
4. Quilt with Aviary 2 fabrics.
I've had this fabric for far too long. Originally I thought I'd make some messenger bags out of it, but now I'm thinking that a subdued, stylish quilt would be perfect for the more conservative of my friends. :)

Layer cakes
5. Baby Bag for friends.
They've got an about-to-be-newborn on the way, and she really loved the wedding quilt I made for mutual friends. I'm thinking that the Sunkissed Layer Cake would be perfect for this. I've had it lying about for at least a year. And I might make a second one from the Makelife cake... :)

Cuzco
Then there's the design idea I have for this bundle of Cuzco...

There are also several things on my to-do list:
- stepdad's pillows
- all my birthday blocks - both for the Books and Blocks bee, and for my LJ Birthday Blocks challenge (which I'm backed up from May right now)
- le Petit Poulet
- borders for Build Me Up Buttercup (and the Modern French Maze)

⅔ of the year gone, ⅓ to go! Let's see just how much of this I can get done!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

WIP Wednesday: The One With Quite A Variety Of Stuff

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

I didn't get my WIP Wednesday in last week - too many things going on, too much happening, not enough time to write up a post.

This week, things are no less crazy, but I'm a little better prepared. :D

Finished

The Snowflake Block Tutorial!

Design by Madame Parfait
Tutorial by Sel @ The Mad Quilter

snowflakeblock

I really have to make an entire quilt out of these. They may be tricksy fiddly to make, but they really are stunners.

My Sewing Space!

I finally have a sewing desk with the ironing board right beside me! I have a cutting table with lots of light! A fabric stash! A haberdashery and 'other things' space!

And...*drum roll*...a design wall!

Design board

Not a lot of space on it, so I'll have to be judicious about what goes up there. And it needs better stapling down along the top and sides and bottom. I ran out of staples along the way.

WIPs

Father's Day gift for Stepfather

My mum asked me to make a couple of body pillow covers for the stepdad a couple of years ago. ...and I only just started on them in the last week.

Stepdad pillow covers

The goal is to have them done for Father's Day on Sunday. (In Australia, Father's Day is in September, which I rather like.) Although, technically, our Father's Day celebration will be on Saturday since it's easier on our schedules.

Stepdad pillow covers

I'm not convinced of the triangles as a suitable block to work with the flowers-and-fans. I borrowed a Marti Mitchell quilt template off Penny Poppleton (and had to return it so she could get her Modern Patchwork "Honey" quilt for Greta's Handcraft Centre done before Saturday!) Maybe they should have been smaller? *grimace* I hate the indecision of making something like this.

Still deciding about whether I want to quilt it or not... And then there's the question: to add a ruffle, or not to add a ruffle?

The Stash

Sorting, arranging, displaying...

Hauling out the stash

By colour...

FQs by colour

And collection...

Reece Scannell

Oh! And look what arrived this week: Mendocino Mermaids!

Mendocino mermaids

I blame Penny and Pinky for introducing me to Mendocino Mermaids. Yes. Yes, I do.

I think these will be used a la Quilting Modern's "To The Point" quilt. Because that's a wonderful, effective way to work with scraps.

Other Things

sydmodquiltguild

The first meeting of the North and Eastern Sydney MQG was small and intimate and cheerful.

Sydney MQG

But there are big things moving in the works. Big Things!

There's another sew-in this Friday night, City Extra, Circular Quay, from 5pm. If you’re in the area, we'd love to see you there.

And that's it from me. What about you? Don't forget to head over to the linky party and leave your links, check out what other people are working on, and comment for the love!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Snowflake Block: Part 3 - Putting It All Together

Tutorial for the Snowflake Block
(a.k.a. Rainbow Blossom block)
Designed by Madame Parfait
Tutorial by Sel @ Mad Quilter's Disease

snowflakeblock

Master Post
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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I apologise for the lateness of this tutorial - I know I said I'd post it on Monday, but I spent the weekend making up a second block to check my instructions and it completely fell apart. However, I had no more time to spend to unpick and remake it on the weekend, and the week has been pretty hectic until now! Thanks for bearing with me!

Part 3 Assembling the Block

At the end of the last section, you should've been left with the 6 segments for your snowflake block.

IMAG1280

We're going to attach three together for one half, three together for the other half, and then join the two.

Lay out the pieces in formation, as in the pic above.

Take one of the remaining ¾" strip and lay the bottom centre piece, and the bottom left piece and lay them on top, lining up the edges. Pin and sew.

IMAG1374

Do the same with the top centre piece and the top right piece.

Press seams towards the white fabric.

IMAG1404

Now, this is where things get a little tricky! We actually want the finished points of the triangle segments to be a bit up or down from each other, which complicates things. I originally designated ⅛", but you might have to do a bit of eyeballing here!

IMAG1405

You may also want the unpicker handy! (I certainly needed it: if some of the pics show a row of needleholes...uh, yeah, that's when I had to unpick it all and redo it.)

Take the bottom centre piece and the bottom left pieces, and lay them exactly over each other, good sides together.

IMAG1407

Line up the sides perfectly:

IMAG1408

Now, move the top piece down and to the right (the direction of the arrow) so that the right edges of the segments remain aligned, but the left edges have a ⅛" gap:

IMAG1409

Sew the right-side (aligned) edges together. Press the seams towards the white.

Ideally, if your seams are accurate, the 'branches' off the middle stripe should be at the same level.

IMAG1410

As you can tell, my seams are not terribly accurate!

Attaching the bottom left segment is much the same process.

IMAG1411

Line up the left side edges and more or less line up the right side with the edge of the white divider stripe. (I say 'more or less' because my segment doesn't have a perfectly straight edge.)

IMAG1412

Now move the top piece up and to the right (the direction of the arrow) so that the left edges of the segments remain aligned, but the right edges have a ⅛" gap. It will be harder to see the ⅛" because the line of the divider stripe on the bottom piece will be hidden under the top piece.

IMAG1413

Sew the left-side (aligned) edges together and press seams towards the white.

Now you have half a hexagon!

IMAG1414

Repeat the process for the three 'top' pieces of the block: simply rotate them so they're now the 'bottom' pieces (points facing up).

Take the remaining ¾" strip, line up one of the half-hexagons along the edge, sew, and press the seam towards the white.

IMAG1415

Take the half-hexagon without the strip, lay it on top of the half-hexagon with the strip, and check that the points are more or less vertically in line with each other. Sew, and press seam to the white.

IMAG1416

TA-DA! We're done! One snowflake block, all stunning and ready to go in your next quilt!

IMAG1419

Madame Parfait actually made it a square block by adding extra white fabric around the edges, and that's certainly an option. However, I rather like it as a hexagonal block - imagine a whole quilt of these!

You could certainly ‘production line’ quite a few of these if you got yourself organised. I might try it someday when I have a bit more time than right now!

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I hope that my directions have been clear - if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Finally, I've created a Flickr group for all blocks and quilts made from my tutorials. (Okay, so I only have the one at present, but I'm working on it!)