Annie’s Quilt

I made this quilt for my friend’s baby, and I definitely learned a lot while making it. For starters I didn’t use a pattern for this one (I know, get me, I made one other quilt and then thought I’d learned enough to just do what I liked. Not the case really). In future I think I will follow some sort of guide at least, but since this was just basic squares it seemed simple enough. And it was, I just should have paid more attention to my seam allowances. I ended up unpicking rows of squares a couple of times to make the lines match up better, but in the end they still weren’t right. Lesson learned. I like to think Annie won’t mind too much, and maybe even when she’s older she will like it all the more for its imperfections.

Anyway, here are some pics.

This is when it had been pieced together but no wadding etc. You can still see the masking tape along the sides to tell me which row went where. I did spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to get the squares ‘just so’, to give it the best arrangement, but I don’t know if I managed it.

Artfully thrown over the chair.

Now with wadding! And pinned ready for quilting.

Quilted and trimmed. Another lesson learned: don’t sew too close to the ends, because when you trim you will cut off your nice tied ends and the thread will unravel, and you will have to sew it again. You would think this would be obvious, but not to me. D’oh.

Now quilted and binding done. I decided to do some little squares for the corners, for no real reason except I loved that fabric and wanted to use it, but I didn’t have enough left for a full sized square. I do think I will do a little square quilt one day, with my left over fabrics.

Finished!

And the back view. Again, if I had remotely thought it through, then those squares on the back would have been in line with the ones in front. Then the quilting lines would match. Ah well.

Still, I am quite proud of it, and happy to see the finished result. This quilt was done entirely by hand, but I have just bought a sewing machine, so it will be interesting to see how I feel about quilting when it’s done a bit speedier. I do like sitting in front of the tv happily sewing though, even if it is slow going.

Hey There 2013

2013 seems like an insane concept, so I am ignoring it and how old I am.

Am I making any resolutions? No, I don’t think so. There are things I would like from 2013, but then if I don’t get them I’ll probably just feel bad. Although I’ll probably feel bad anyway so…I’d like a new job. I would like a job where I look forward to going everyday instead of just getting through it so I can come home. And I am very lucky in some respects, especially with the people I work with, but it’s more than time I did something else. I have some possible projects brewing this year that make it more likely I’ll be doing something else by the time 2014 (oh god) rolls around, but there are no guarantees.

I’d like a really good holiday. I owe Max an adventure, so hopefully we’ll come up with something we can both enjoy.

I need to get creative with words and not just crafts, although I do intend to carry on quilting. I am going to buy a sewing machine to help with that, and my next project is a quilt for my niece. I also owe a post about my last quilt, and I’ll do that soon. But I really do need to spend more time writing, I’m trying to get back into that. Only by doing will I…well, do it, and will it feel easier to do it, so I’m trying. I should be doing that now but this sort of counts. Maybe.

Then there’s roller derby. I missed a lot of practice at the end of last year due to life and bad toes and other stuff, so I need to get back into a proper routine. I am not really feeling it at the moment though. This sort of slump happens when people move up to main league and I am left behind, it takes a while to feel right again (not helped by my absence, obviously). So I need to put some effort in and fall in love again. If for no other reason than I got five pairs of derby socks for Christmas! Also, new wheels, hurrah!

I also need to get a new laptop, since my current one is over six years old and you can get iPhones with more memory. It is very slow. I don’t need it for much, just internet use and Word. Oh and iTunes. So I don’t think I need to break the bank, I just need something that’s reliable. This one has been pretty good, given its age.

There you go, not really a plan or resolutions but just stuff that needs to get done.

 

Finished!

It’s only taken me about nine months, but I have finally finished my quilt! I am very pleased with it. OK, there’s some dodgy stitching going on in places, but overall it’s lovely and I think I’ve done a good job for my first try. Here are yet more iPhone photos:

It’s now on our bed, since it’s dropped cold these last few days. It doesn’t quite fit the king size bed, but it still looks very nice. So, a successful first attempt!

Almost There

The quilt I started in January is almost finished. I have pieced the second half together, basted it, quilted it, and now I am making the binding and once that’s done, and sewed, that’s it! I am all kinds of impressed with myself. It is definitely not a perfect quilt, but I’ve done this all by hand and with the help of online tutorials, so I think it’s ok to be a bit impressed. I was expecting lots to go wrong and have to rip out stitches and all sorts, but actually it’s been pretty smooth. I am sure I’m jinxing myself now, but never mind.

Who wants to see bad iPhone photos of the quilt so far?

This was pre-basting.

And during the quilting. I may have stabbed myself a million times doing this.

Here’s an attempt at a close up after quilting.

And another.

And its current state.

So there you go. I think it’s safe to say I’ve got the quilting bug. However, my next attempt will be much smaller. As much as I’ve enjoyed this, it’d be nice to get one finished in less than six months.

Halfway There

I had two weeks off recently, but we didn’t go away anywhere. It was a very nice staycation, and I had some much needed rest after having the flu/a virus for two and a half weeks. It also gave me time to get on with my quilt, and I have pieced the rows together and added the material between rows. I managed to get half of it pieced together so that it looks like this:

The other half is also done so all that’s left to do is sew the two together to make the final quilt top. And then of course get the backing sorted, and wadding, and piece that together, and then bind it. So…almost done then.

First There Was The Knitting

After my last post about the quilt I decided to change things around a little bit (also because I’d aligned the ‘bricks’ the wrong way, and so when I moved them it threw off the layout even more). It will now look like this when put together, with a cream line between each row:

I still think there are probably better ways for it to be arranged, but then I’d be stuck on this part of it forever and it’s time to move on to the actual sewing. I grouped my rows into nicely organised and numbered piles:

And I’ve spent quite a few happy evenings in front of the telly sewing them together. I’ve still got a couple of rows left to do, and then I can move on to adding the long strips that go between the rows. But there are worse ways to spend time than on a comfy sofa with tea (and biscuits) and a bit of sewing. Yeah yeah, I am an old lady, sue me.

The Quilt Continues. Slowly

I started my New Craft Project at the end of January, and although I am still very enthusiastic about it I haven’t got very far. I managed to cut out the ‘bricks’ without accidentally slicing through the fabric the wrong way, and I have added the right hand border to each one. I did make a mistake by buying a cheap rotary cutter which didn’t really cut at all and within about half an hour had, no lie, exploded into little pieces all over the kitchen. I bought another, better, one, and found it much easier and there was less swearing from me. And fewer heart attacks from projectile saw-like objects hurtling round the kitchen.

Anyway, here is a (really quite terrible quality picture) of my quilt so far. My iPhone doesn’t do a great job capturing it, but hopefully it gives you the idea.

I spent more time than I probably should have moving the bricks around to make it look the best it could possibly be. This was harder than I thought it would be. I kept getting too much purple in a corner, and I have a lot of blue, and it just didn’t look even. I thought I had it, but looking at the photo I still see clumps of yellow and blue, so will have another go with the arranging.

Once I’ve decided on the layout I can then even up the sides and sew the rows together, then it’s adding strips of the natural cotton in between the rows and sewing it all together. Then the hard part (ha!), quilting and backing and putting it altogether so it looks nice and feels mega comfy.

I am expecting lots to go wrong with this project, but that’s ok, it’s my first one. I’ll learn a lot and be proud of whatever I end up with when I’m done. I’m really enjoying working on it, no matter how slowly it’s going.

New Craft Project

A while ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt. I have a very basic sewing knowledge and had never used a sewing machine, so I took a a class and made some cushions. Apparently I didn’t blog about the cushions, but here’s one:

I am insanely proud of these cushions, made as they are by my own fair hands. But I wanted to do something else too. And clearly I have talked a lot about sewing because for every recent birthday and Christmas I have received sewing related goods. I really need to make good on this new ‘hobby’ of mine.

So…back to making a quilt. I will be attempting (and I do stress the attempting part) to make this quilt. I imagine it will take me quite some time, and I also imagine it won’t look nearly as good as the one I am linking to, but it does say it’s a beginner’s quilt. And I will do my best. I’ve got all the kit now anyway, so…no more excuses.

The Grandmother Gene is Strong Today

Last night I went to a sewing class at Homemade London. It was a beginner’s class on how to use a sewing machine, because my lovely mother bought me a mini machine for Christmas and I haven’t yet used it owing to Fear. This may come from the fact that the last time I got any kind of sewing machine, somewhere back in the far reaches of a Christmas Eve when I was maybe about eight years old, I promptly fell on it and broke it. There I was all giddy about it and within three seconds of removing the wrapping paper I had crushed some fundamental part of it rendering it useless. I did not get a replacement and that was that. But here is my chance to redeem myself, twenty+ years later. I’m just giving myself a fighting chance with an expert’s help.

The shop was very cute and you walk in to a table full of machines and someone offers you a cup of tea. And there were donuts and other goodies, so what’s not to love about that? We went through threading the machine and winding your bobbin up, and then we were off practicing on scraps of cotton. I was going very slowly because speed seemed like a bad idea, but I mostly managed to sew a straight line. And then we started to make a little bag, complete with ironing lines in the fabric to make our sewing straighter. This worked well in theory but then I was in charge and it all went a bit wrong. I managed to rectify it a bit but there is a wonky line of stitches. Still, for my first go I don’t think I did too badly:

I also got two hours of their sewing cafe time with the class, so I can go by again with some fabric and use their machines to work on another project. I may attempt a cushion cover next, and then hopefully will know enough to try quilting. But let’s not got ahead of ourselves.