Quilt Qwazy Queens

Hi everyone, it's great to have you visit for a while. Come in and sit down, maybe make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and let's talk about quilting. Many thanks to  Marion from Seams to be Sew for coming up with the idea for the hop and for doing all the organising. 

Many years ago my mother taught me to sew, both hand sewing and using her hand cranked Singer machine. Most of the sewing we did was dressmaking and as a teenager I would use the money I earned from my Saturday job at the kennels to buy fabric to make myself up to the minute fashion items. One day she showed me how to do english paper piecing and I spent many months sewing together hexagons to make a quilt top. During this time I moved to London to start my nurse training and when finished the top sat in a cupboard for a few years as I couldn't work out how to do the quilting. In the end I turned it into a duvet cover rather than a quilt. I loved using the cover as the fabrics were all left over scraps from dresses I'd made and I knew at some point in the future I would make quilts. I continued sewing, making clothes for myself and the children when they were younger but as they grew and my working life got busier this tailed off.

Now fast forward to October 2011 and I decided I wanted to try and make more time in my life for sewing, knitting and other needlecraft. My quilting journey started with this quilt kit that John bought me from the Stitching and knitting exhibition.

The quilt on display at the exhibition looked fabulous and I was sure it would be easy to follow the instructions. It took until February 2013 to make the quilt and I learnt a lot along the journey. When I first read the pattern it was very confusing as there were many new terms to get to grips with. From dressmaking I'd learnt to read the pattern through and make sure you understand it all before you start. I employed the same theory and so the first few weeks were just spent making sure I understood the instructions until I was finally ready to get cutting and stitching. I love the quilt and it lies along the back of the settee ready for snuggling under when needed.

In April 2012 at Guides we started a project to make rem baby quilts and we extended the project to include the younger girls. My love of quilting grew as we taught the Guides how to make the mini quilts. The Rainbows designed their quilt and they also learnt to use the sewing machine. The quilt was donated to project Linus. Scamp is posing on the Rainbow quilt in the header photo and the photo below is of the top part of the quilt.

Part of my delight in quilting comes from being able to turn scraps into useful and pretty quilts.  This one was made for the Tetris quilt a long run by Melissa at Happy Quilting. I won a jelly roll as one of the weekly winners

Here's the Christmas quilt made from the jelly roll.

The internet is a great source of quilt patterns and I followed the block of the week to make the Votes for Women quilt. Quilts are fabulous because they can help celebrate events. This quilt was made in the colours of the suffragettes to celebrate my paternal grandmother, I enjoyed making the blocks and learning more of the movement across the world to secure votes for women. Putting the two hobbies together, quilting and history is a great idea. Some of the blocks were very challenging to make and involved learning new techniques. If you want it to, quilting can challenge you and push you to increase your skills.

Quilting lets you make the perfect gift. My son is a Star Trek fan and his quilt went down a storm 

This quilt gave me the opportunity to practice circles using free motion quilting. The meander was mastered a little earlier. I was also able to finish the quilt on my home machine although it is 90 by 90 inches. So this really is a hobby that you can do at home.

Of course quilting isn't just about the big pieces, it's fun creating smaller items,

 Mug rugs are fun to make and are perfect as presents.

Several friends asked for tea cosys

It's fun making book and folder covers.

An original piece of quilting made from a drawing done years before.

Finally I love the historical aspects of quilting. It was very interesting seeing the quilt produced by Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit now you need to visit the other blogs on today's hop

March 25
Just Let Me Quilt
Sew Many Yarns
Quilting Queen Online
Jane’s Quilting

There is also a giveaway for you. This will remain open over the weekend. I'm away on holiday and I'm not sure about the internet access so Marian is going to notify the winner. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today I'm going to be catching up with my visits to the participants of this hop. I've visited several of the blogs and it's been fascinating reading about the various quilting journeys. Today I'm not working and I'm having a little me time. Mmm a nice cup of tea and reading some blogs. Sounds like a perfect morning.

Lyndsey

Results of December goals.

December was rather slow for goals but I did complete one item.

1. Complete the advent calendar for Kathryn.
I finished the advent calendar but I didn't finish in time for it to be used this year, but it's all finished and ready to use for Christmas 2016. I also forgot to take a final photo before it was gifted so this will have to do.

2. Baby quilt for baby Lucas

Not completed  I chose this pattern from Today's Quilter issue 3.

So far I've made one block but I'm going to work on this tomorrow.

3. Quilt for Buddy
This is still at the thinking about stage. I will get it started in January. I bought him treats for his Christmas present instead.

4. Finish the hexie quilt top.
The top is still short of its outer border as  I need to purchase the fabric.

I'm linking my dismal finishes for the month with A lovely year of finishes for the final finish party of 2015. I hope you achieved more than I did this month.

Lyndsey

November stitching

November has been a good month for finishes and I'm feeling really happy. My goal for 'A lovely year of finishes' was to complete and post the quilt for baby Ella.

It was quilted as an all over meander with variegated sulky in shades of pink. The backing was a small pink on pink print and I used my pink polka dot for the binding.  My colleague wanted a girlie and pink quilt and I think this fits the bill.

One of my students and his partner have just had a baby boy so now I need to make a baby quilt for Lucas. I do like making baby quilts as they are a very manageable project to make and can be completed quite quickly.

My second goal was to finish The turtles. My son Richard screenprinted this fabric several years ago whilst still at school. It was part of his school art and design coursework. The fabric hung in the school art showcase for several years after he left but we eventually got it back thanks to his sisters who went through the same school.

Originally we decided to leave the outer border unquilted but I may add a meander. I love the shapes on the back of the quilt. If you're part of the quilt police don't look too closely at the stitches as they just aren't of an even length but I don't care, I'm happy with them.

So having finished my main goals I also finished the 'It's a dog's life' quilt top. All the stitcheries were fun to do and I think the top looks fab.

As the top came together all my concerns about the fabric melted away. I had thought the patterns together were a little over the top but it really works well.

My finishes didn't stop there as I turned the 9 patch blocks from last years rainbow scrap challenge into a top.

This top is just so clean and cheerful looking, I love it. I'll quilt this in the new year.

I also almost finished the top for the hexi quilt blocks from the 2014 rainbow scrap challenge. It still needs its outer borders . I love this quilt too. I will be keeping one of these for myself but the other one may go to my younger daughter Lucy.

All of that leaves me doing a very happy dance. I think that's the most sewing I've done in one month all year. With December 1st tomorrow I need to think about what I want to get finished before the end of the year.

I'm linking this post with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs for the November link up party. I love checking out what everyone has been busy finishing. I hope your November has been productive.

Lyndsey

A trunkful of quilts

An online quilt trunk show, how exciting.  A chance to show off the quilts I've made and also visit others to enjoy a lot of quilt eye candy. I got into quilting 3 years ago after a very long break from needlecrafts. Since then I've had a lot of fun.

The first one, the disappearing 9 patch was made from scraps I had been given. My guide unit were making prem baby quilts for charity and I decided to make a large quilt. 

The second quilt was made for baby Isabelle. Her mom didn't want a girlie quilt and I thought this quilt fitted the bill perfectly.

I made this quilt for charity with a young child in mind. The fabrics were all left over from items I made for my own children when they were young. It was nice to think the fabric would be enjoyed by another child.

This quilt was made as part of the tetris quilt along run by Melissa from Happy Quilting. This was the first quilt along I took part in and I won a jelly roll on one of the weeks.

With the jelly roll I won, I created this Christmas quilt. I wish it could be Christmas all year round so I could keep this one on my bed.

John bought me the kit to make the dresden plate quilt when we visited the Stitching and Knitting show. The fabric is Liberty Tanna lawn and feels absolutely fabulous. I love this quilt.

I made a Star Trek quilt for Richard. Scamp is chief quilt tester and loves to get in the photos.

I made the votes for women quilt for Kathryn. 

I have also made many small projects, cushions:

Mug rugs,

and lots more. Quilting is one of my hobbies and it's a great hobby to have. 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my quilts, now either click on the button on the sidebar or click here to visit Whims and Fancies to peep inside other people's quilt trunks. 

Lyndsey

Baby quilt and scrappy top

It's time for Friday finishes and this week I'm doing a happy dance as I have two finishes, plus this is the second week in a row I've been celebrating. It's such fun as it has been a while since I finished anything.

First I put together a top with the 49 blocks made for the rainbow scrap challenge in 2014. These nine patch blocks finish at 6 inches and the quilt top overall is 58inches square.

I love this top it's so bright and cheerful it just makes me smile. I haven't had time yet to go through my stash for a backing fabric. However I wasn't planning on quilting this at the moment. I want to work on some of my other unfinished projects.

My second finish was the baby quilt. This really should have been finished a while back but at least it's done now and I can get it in the post tomorrow.

Getting a picture of the quilt has proved difficult as the weather is being most uncooperative. I tried it on my bed but the lighting is rather dim. So then I draped it over the settee with pillows to push it out abit.

The strips across were cut from fat quarters and from scraps left over from other projects. I love the different fabrics.

I thought you might like to see the backing fabric and the binding.

I'm very pleased with this quilt and I hope Charlene will be pleased with it. This also means I have completed another of my November goals. I now have to to collect my fabric for another baby quilt, but I won't be starting that until next week. 

Tomorrow I'm going to cut out the blocks for the 'It's a dog's life' quilt. I'm hoping I'll get time to stitch some of the blocks together. I also want to catch up with this years rainbow challenge as I'm two months behind 

I'm linking this post up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts Why not go and check out what everyone's been finishing this week.

Lyndsey

A Friday finish

It's the first Friday in November and I'm excited because for the first time in ages I have a Friday finish. My progress with projects has been really slow this year due to work commitments and a few family crises. I'm trying to have a more balanced life and make more time for my hobbies. 

I have two finishes this week. The first one is the little table topper I made for the halloween haunts blog hop. When I posted it on the 28th October it was just the top but before halloween I had finished the quilting and the binding.

The backing for the topper is very autumnal and so perfect for the time of year. I'm not sure why the photo is so dark. I'm hoping my camera isn't going wrong again.

My second finish is the turtle quilt. This piece of fabric was designed and screen printed by my son Richard when he was at school in year 10 (age 14/15). The fabric has been in my fabric stash and finally made it to the top of the pile to be worked on.

I got home from work after it had got dark so when I finished stitching the binding I had problems getting the photo. I'll take some more in the light tomorrow.

The turtles are outlined, there is a large meander over the cream background and straight line quilting on the sashing. I think the orange binding finishes the quilt perfectly. I still need to finish making the label for this quilt. I haven't always made quilt labels for my quilts but I want to from now on.

Yesterday was bonfire night (also known as firework night) here in the UK. This is celebrated every 5th November to remember Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot to blow up the King in the House of Lords in 1605. You can read more about the plot here Guy Fawkes was arrested and the plot foiled and we now get to enjoy lots of fireworks, parties and tasty food every year. When I was a child we used to have the bonfires on November 5th but now the main fireworks happen at the weekend. This evening the fireworks were incredibly loud and John and I went outside to see what was going on. We were delighted by a fabulous display that seemed to go on for ages. I hadn't got my camera or I would have posted a picture for you. If they are more tomorrow I'll remember to take photos.

I'm linking this post with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom quilts and Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts.

Lyndsey