My latest quilt

I've completed my second quilt. This one was a much easier one than the first,  as instead of blocks,  I went for a simple patchwork.

Again it was all done by hand - apart from the attachment of one side of the binding. I like hand sewing - but have to admit that this one was a lot more boring than the traditional block quilt - especially the actual quilting. I've put a little tutorial on the website on binding a quilt.

The quilt is long  and narrow as I wanted it to use as a throw across the end of my bed. I was still nervous about undertaking a full size one - fearing I'd get bored before the end, but now that I have two under my belt and enjoyed making them both I think that's unlikely. If I were to do another simple patchwork one like this I think I might succumb to the sewing machine - at least for joining the long strips.

I'm not sure what my next project will be - I may try a jellyroll quilt and take advantage of the gorgeous fabrics I have accumulated in my stash.

Clare

MIAMI in Somerset

I stopped off in Somerset, en route to Devon for a week in the rain to see my friend Joan Taylor. It's always inspiring catching up with Joan, seeing what projects she has on the go and admiring her horticultural and sewing skills.

When I last visited her, this chair was an upholstery work in progress. Joan is a real perfectionist and she spent hours fiddling about with different fabrics and re-doing her work if it wasn't up to her discerning eye. The final result is a really great patchwork-style chair. This is a great way to use up those odd pieces of fabric and creates a completely unique bespoke piece.

Joan has been working on a small quilt. She meets with a group of friends to do sewing projects together and they decided to try convergence quilting in their session last week. This machine quilting technique involves sewing two or more strips of fabric together, then these are cut and pieced again. She's going to send me some instructions, so when she does I'll share them with you on the main website.

I also enjoyed looking around Joan's garden. She's self sufficient in vegetables from her large veggie plot, which provides her with plenty of fruit and veg to freeze, eat fresh or preserve in her delicious jams and chutneys.

and she also has a lovely cottage garden, full of flowers, shrubs and herbs. She wasn't happy that I took this photo as the lawn has been suffering from the lack of rain recently. Let's hope it's greening up again nicely now - it certainly poured while I was in Devon.

I look forward to having a go at convergence quilting myself soon.

Have you visited our main website? www.makeitandmendit.com

Clare F

My first quilt is finished

Making my first ever block sampler quilt didn't take very long at all - but getting round to finishing it off took for ever!

This weekend I finally added the binding. I sewed the final stitches while watching the American version of the Killing (Forbrydelsen) - and reflected that a lot of the quilting had been done while watching the original Danish version. As it was all subtitled it's amazing I managed to get any sewing done at all.

I'll be posting tips on doing the binding on the website, as well as instructions for the other blocks I used - but meanwhile I'm getting ready for my next quilting venture. I want to make a quilt to use as a bed throw - so will be doing a long narrow one. Here are the fabrics I've chosen. I haven't decided yet what design to go for - but it will likely be one repeating block. Any suggestions?

Clare F

Update on my quilting progress

I haven't posted anything recently about my efforts at making a sampler quilt - but I'm still at it and really enjoying it.

I've completed the sample blocks, sewn all these together and today started the slow process of doing the quilting of the three layer "sandwich". I've decided a thimble is definitely in order - I never usually use one but pushing the needle through the three layers can be painful work.

So far I've just quilted one block so I think it's going to take me a while to finish. I'm glad I'm only doing a small nine block quilt as I'd be at it for ever - I'm doing it all by hand.Rather than tacking the layers together before quilting i used curved safety pins - it makes it very quick and easy.

I'm going to put up some instructions for making the quilt sandwich on the website - and there's also instructions for the Rail Fence block and instructions and template for Maple Leaf. Hilary and I plan to publish instructions for all the quilt blocks featured in my quilt on our main website - but right now I'm too busy making it!

Quilts glorious quilts

We'll have the next quilting block up for you shortly, complete with step by step instructions. We hope you'll take the opportunity to quilt along with us and share your results on our Facebook photo page 

Meanwhile I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some examples of the kind of sampler quilt we 're working on. Hilary, my very skilful "Quilting Mum" made these beauties.

Instructions for our first quilt block - Rail Fence are on the website

Clare F

Additions to my quilting stash

One of our Facebook friends warned that once you get your hands on some fat quarters they become an addiction. I told myself I wouldn't let it happen but would stick to remnants. They are however strangely seductive and I felt in need of some other patterns as I build up my quilt blocks.

Not sure about the owls but I think the colours will work with what I already have. We'll see...

Join me in my efforts to learn quilting - see Join me in my first quilting lesson on the website

Clare F

Quilting is easy and fun

Following my earlier post I thought I'd update the blog on progress so far. Hilary has helped me get off the ground and we had an enjoyable day cutting out the pieces for my first three blocks.

I've posted the instructions on how to do the first one, Rail Fence, on the  main website and we'll soon be following this up with step by step instructions and templates for the others.

This is Rail Fence - which consists of simple strips and so is easy to cut out and to sew - a good one for a beginner like me to kick off with.

This one is called Card Trick and consists of lots of triangles - it requires a bit of fiddling and juggling but I really enjoyed doing it.

And here's number 3 which is called Wild Goose Chase.

I followed Hilary's advice and did all of these by hand - it's only running stitch so very quick and easy and as she pointed out the pieces are so small that using the machine is probably more trouble than it's worth. It also means you can do it anywhere anytime.

So I've lost my quilting virginity so to speak and am surprised at how relaxing and easy it is. If you haven't tried give it a go. You don't have to do a sampler of all different blocks as I'm doing - you can choose just one block pattern and stick to that. The possibilities are endless.

Here's how to do the Rail Fence and get started A First Lesson in Quilting

Clare F

Making a journal quilt

We came upon a delightful photo blog by a woman from the USA, who decided to create a quilt to celebrate her sixtieth year. The idea is to do a square of the quilt during each of the 52 weeks, to record something particlar to each week.

As a result it is an amazing collection of memorabilia: marking family gatherings, holidays, her quilting experiments, retirement lunches,the passing seasons, anniversaries, birth of grandchildren and many other incidentals of this lady's life.

The results, an incredibly varied and fascinating commemoration of a landmark year, were revealed on her 60th birthdays. Check it out at Quiltingmom
We'd love to hear about other examples like this.