New York Beauty

The Wombat Stew paper piecing bee is rolling on for 2014.  February is Gemma's turn as Queen, and after much thought, she threw us a curly challenge!  A slightly open ended one at that.  Gemma asked us all very kindly if we would make her a New York Beauty block............. 

 **crickets** 

After the initial shock, horror and gasp - we all agreed.  Then hit Pinterest!  I found a multitude of amazing blocks, in all shapes, colours and sizes.  Then stepped away cross-eyed and anxious.  I mean, they're a pretty full on block to tackle!  Anyway, I took a deep breath and decided to choose THIS ONE.  But knew it would look completely different!  Gemma gave us a colour palette to work with, so I drew from that and spent over an hour pulling fabrics, putting fabrics back, re-visiting fabrics and then walking away.  Another deep breath and I jumped in!

And a few days later, this is the result.....

Isn't she lovely?  Now, it's not perfect, but damn I came close!  I basically managed to match all of the seams except one quite obvious one!  And I'm too scared to unpick it!  So I shall leave it for Gemma to ponder :)

I chose the orange, purple, pink and reddish floral first, then threw the yellow in for POW factor.  I think it worked?  The turquoise Art Gallery print was added after some consultation with Gemma.  Blue wasn't in her colour palette, but when i think of Gemma, the first colour that comes to mind is turquoise! I think it works perfectly.  The next stressful decision was the centre circle.  I spent a considerable amount of time auditioning fabric, before once again handing the choice over to Gem!  I think her choice is spot on.

After working myself up over how difficult this block was going to be, I have to be honest and say that it really wasn't bad at all!  In fact, it's all rather straight forward paper piecing.  The curves had me worried, but turned out to be not so bad after all!  The tricky(ish) part is putting your four quadrants together.  Matching the seams is daunting, and I had to make sure to use quite a few pins, which for someone who doesn't usually pin - was quite amusing!  The lining up of the text wasn't really a fluke, I made sure when cutting the wedge shaped pieces out, that I cut them around in a circle.  The part I am most proud of, is the matching up of seams on the "sun rays" at each quarter!  They are perfect-o!

Soooo, where to now?  Well, I must say I am keen to get my New York Beauty on again!  In fact, I'd LOVE to have a bit of a sew along.  Make sure you check back here in the very near future, and I will have some more info to share!

Have you ever wanted to tackle a New York Beauty?  Want to join me?

I'm linking up - You can too!

An Isosceles Puzzle - Tips for Making a Triangle Quilt

 When I was asked to make my Isosceles on Point quilt, I was very helpfully pointed towards THIS tutorial/pattern.  This was the inspiration Larissa had found - which was very helpful indeed!  It was great to get an idea of what I was in for, however, it was  quite basic, and didn't really answer all the questions I had in this new triangle world I found myself in.  And it seems that I'm not alone.  A lot of you asked for tips and told me how scared you were of tackling triangles, so I took a bunch of photos throughout the process, and will hopefully make some resemblance of sense!

In terms of fabric yardage required, I can only tell you how much I used for a king single size.  I bought 1.25metres of each fabric, and when it was finished, I think I had about 20cm of each leftover.  The backing fabric was I think 5 yards.

The template that came in the above tutorial has a flat tip on the triangle.  Now this may make sense to some of you - but it had me stumped, and I could not for the life of me figure it out - no matter how much I googled and asked Yahoo!  So after sewing two rows of flat tipped triangles together, and noting that they were a big fat fail, I altered the shape myself.  It ended up being 5 3/4" across the bottom and 8" high.  If you print out the template from above link, you can trim it to the point!  To cut the triangles out, I cut rows of fabric 7.5" high by the width of the fabric.  Then use the template to top and tail your triangles.  I actually placed 6 layers of fabric on top of each other and cut through them all in one go - because I'm super impatient!

For the end half triangles, I cut half triangles as instructed.  BUT, if I were to do it again, I would just start and finish each row with a full triangle, and then once the quilt top was completely put together, trim it straight down each side.

Le Template trimmed.

Once I had a pile high of triangles, I then needed to figure out fabric placement.  I am still yet to have a design wall, so I was very lucky indeed to have a very organised customer/relative who had done all the hard work.  Ok, well, the first bit of hard work…..

Larissa drew up a grid of triangles, and proceeded to get her crayon on.  This was extremely helpful when it came to fabric placement.  And as you can see, I had to add an extra piece of paper and draw some more triangles.  Clearly I am not an artist in the drawing sense!  But it worked.  I used 7 different colours/hues in this quilt, but you really can use as many or as little as you wish.

Once you've got your fabric placement sorted, you need to panic get prepared to sew them together!  Make sure you have some time and patience.

Begin by taking your first 2 triangles.  Place them RST (right sides together) as shown in the photo below….

(I realise this is not the first two triangles together, but have no photo of  that!)  You want the tip of your triangle to be peeping out at the other end.

You want your little overhang to measure 1/4".  Because where that 1/4" point is, is where you start sewing your 1/4" seam.

With your 1/4" foot on your machine (or if you don't have one,  make sure you have a mark on your machine to follow) put the point of your triangle in.

This photo shows that each time you put your triangles in to sew, the needle should line up with where your overhang begins.

Sew all the way down the triangle, when you get about half way, put your needle down and get the other pointy end of your triangle and align it all together, making sure you again have a 1/4" of triangle peeking out at the end, like in the above photo.  Your stitching should end just like that.  I found it easiest to hold the little overhanging bit at the end so it didn't slip away!

This is what your triangles should look like at the end of each one.  You should have an "intersection" which forms a neat little triangle seam, with overhanging bits.

And once you've continued on adding triangles to your row, press all the seams to one side.  You will have rows of neat little triangles!

When you've got your required amount of rows completed, it's time to sew them together!  This is where some of the things I've noted earlier will come in to play……

Take two rows to be sewn together, and place them RST.  Remember which edge you will be sewing together - otherwise you will find that your fabric placement will be wrong - don't ask me how I know that……..

Get your first "intersection/point" of each row, and line them up.  The most accurate way I found, was to try and line up the points on the inside as pictured.

Once you have the points lined up, pop a pin in right at that point.  When you get to sewing it together, you will know to stop about an inch before that pin to make sure it all still lines up.

Don't worry if your points meeting up means that your top seams are out of whack.  The seams don't matter even half as much as the points!  Pin at EVERY. SINGLE. POINT/INTERSECTION.

When it comes to the actual sewing of the rows together,  where your points meet "should" be around 1/4".  However, do a little measure before you sew, then you can adjust your seam allowance accordingly.  I had to move my needle over one notch to the left, as my points were just over 1/4".

Now you just literally sew!  As you approach your intersections which have been pinned, make sure they are still lining up and that you don't have any "give" in your two triangles.  If you have to ease the fabrics together a little to ensure your points will still meet, then do it!

It was VERY hard to get a photo as I sewed across the intersection!  But you basically want your needle to run JUST across where the point of your intersection is - see photo below.

This is a great example of getting the row of stitching right across the tip/point of the triangle intersection!

And this one too!

When you manage to get the stitching really right, as in the previous two photos - this is what your points/intersections will look like on the right side - PERFECTO!

There WILL be times when you won't get it perfect - but hey - the points are still there…….  See photo below.

See - you still get the points, but there's just a little, little bit of space above and below each one.

Once I had all my rows sewn together, I trimmed off all the overhanging dog ears.  You don't have to do this, but I find it just takes away a little more bulk when you're quilting.

I also like to press my seams apart for the same reason.  

When you have it all pressed, you can feel very VERY proud of your hard work and ALL THOSE POINTS!! 

And one last photo.  I had a few peeps on Instagram ask me about my basting process when I posted this photo.  I have learnt that I can do it standing up, on my dining table (Ummmm, that sounds a little wrong, but you know what I mean!).  It saves my knees and my carpet (and again, sounds wrong).  Here's a quick explanation of how I do it….

I have quite a large dining table - it can fit 10 seats around it.  If I'm doing a quilt that is smaller in length than the table, then I place the backing wrong side up on the table top.  Making sure it is completely flattened out with no ripples etc in it, I get some thick sticky tape (cello tape) and tape the ends of the backing to the table.  I then lay the batting on top, ensuring I smooth out any ripples etc again on the backing.  I find that the batting smoothes out very easily!  Then it's time to put the quilt top on.  I fold the quilt top in half length ways, right sides together.  Then line up one end to where I want it to sit on the batting/backing.  Once I have it lined up on the end, and the sides, I place it down, and unfold over to the other end.  Again, time to smooth it all out and adjust it where necessary.

Once it's all smoothed out and where it should be, I start basting from the centre outwards, and when the whole table worth of quilt is basted, I unstick the tape from the ends, and from one side of the table, centrally, gently pull the quilt over to reveal the rest of the quilt that requires basting.  It's then a matter of smoothly that section out again.  Repeat for the other side.  And HELLO - quilt basted!

If you have a quilt that is too big to sticky tape down on your table top, it means it's usually heavy enough not to move around too much - like the triangle quilt.  It just takes a little more time to smooth out and make sure you won't have a bunched up backing!  I have to say - I haven't had any problems (yet) using this basting method!

So there you go my friends.  A sort of tutorial on how to make your own isosceles triangle quilt!  Now - go forth and triangulate?!!!?!

Wordless W.I.P. Wednesday - What I Did Tonight.

Who knew? Not me....

So I've been reading hysteria filled posts for months about the fact that Google Reader is closing down. As I read them, I thought "Hmmm, never heard of it" and wondered for a few seconds each time how I read my blog posts and why it wasn't on Google Reader??

Fast forward to a few days ago, when a lovely reader commented that they couldn't find my Bloglovin' follow button thingy, but added me anyway.  And press that fast forward button again to tonight when I finally mentioned said comment to my friend Alyce over at Blossom Heart Quilts.  She suggested that I should add the button for all the new Bloglovin' fashionistas, and to use her tutorial.  So I did.

And who knew?  Well, clearly not me - apparently all these years I HAVE been using Google Reader - in a round about fashion!  Yep, technologically challenged me figured out by signing up to Bloglovin' that when you follow all your blogs through your Blogger Dashboard, it does in fact link up with Google Reader.  Derrrrrrr.......  And I only found this out when I decided to give the "Import Blogs" button a crack.  And 334 blogs a following imported for me.  Ummmmm......

So here you have it friends - 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm working on adding the goddamn button!

xxxx

She Rises Again.....

Approximately six weeks ago, our 11 year old cat disappeared....again. Usually, on the half a dozen or so occasions she has gone, she will reappear a week later, and all returns to normal. This time, we explained to the kids that Ruby had probably left for good, perhaps gone to find somewhere to die. And they were ok with that.

Fast forward to tonight, Easter Monday. We got home from a day at the football (where a whole team of cats destroyed my beloved hawks), ate some dinner and then were beyond astounded when chelsea opened the front door and proclaimed that Ruby had returned! This was greeted with calls of "what the?"

We have now re-named her. From this day forward, she shall now answer to "Jesus".

And yes, I did have to ask my husband which day it was Jesus rose again, because I get my religious information mixed up! Lucky I'm married to a catholic school boy. Well, you know what I mean! 

Happy Easter everyone! 

Do you have cats? Do they disappear, only to rise again?

A Bag From Numbers - Tutorial (of sorts!)

Whilst I was in Queensland last month, I had to pleasure of catching up with my Tokyo BFF, and her lovely family.  Lucky for me, her gorgeous little girl also just happens to be my God Daughter!  Anyway, at the end of our weekend, after she had handed over the MOTHER LOAD of fabric, she got out her notepad and pen and wrote a little list of things her little boy required for Kindergarten.

It's been living in my handbag pocket, and survived a near death experience via Chloe's pen.....

The last time I made bags for these gorgeous kiddies, I looked up tutorials, and it was actually quite time consuming trying to find a tutorial that had the same measurements etc that I was looking for.  This time, I thought I would dive straight in and just make it up as I went.  Given my lack of mathematical ability, this could have turned out a disaster.  But I'm happy to say - it didn't!  Here's how I made a bag from numbers.......

I got my scrap piece of paper out and searched the house high and low for a pen.  Once found, I took the numbers from my little note and drew some very technical diagrams.  I basically worked out that I needed four sides to the bag, which are the two top drawings above, and then guesstimated how long the handles needed to be for a three year old to carry. I also needed a bottom for the bag, which I initially was going to cut another "pattern" piece, the bottom diagram.  But I sacked that idea and just went with a longer single piece of fabric, which was made up of the two main pieces and the bottom piece.  Are you still with me???

I picked out this gorgeous Japanese train print!

And these are all the pieces cut out ready to go.  Main piece 15.5 inches wide x 26.5 inches long.  The sides were 11.5inches x 3.5 inches (two).  And the handles were 11.5inches x 4inches (two).  I cut two strips of heavy iron on interfacing, 1inch wide.  And also replicated all of the pattern pieces in a navy blue poplin for lining.

I took the fabric for the handles, ironed them in half lengthways, and then folded the sides in to the middle and ironed again, making them into a large sized binding.

Popped the strip of interfacing in and ironed it on, to give it some added strength.  Then ran four lines of stitching through it to give it more strength and stability.

I was going to use batting for the main section (as my friend said these particular bags are usually quilted - who was I to argue?), however found some fusible wadding.  Fab.  Cut a piece of the same width and length and ironed that baby on!

I then found a lovely scrap piece of homespun and made myself a quilt sandwich, and used some basting pins to keep it all secure.

Then got my free motion quilting on!  I love this, so much fun just whizzing around!

Once I had the quilting sorted, I then needed to work out how on earth I would put it all together.  Possibly something I should have done earlier?  I decided to measure half way on the length, and pinned it, then took the side pieces (which I failed to note also have some heavy weight interfacing ironed on, and then ran a few rows of stitching through them) and at their centre mark, matched it up with the pin marking the centre of the quilted piece.  I secured the sections together about 1/4" in.

I then brought the sides of the bag up flush with the length of the side piece, and pinned them together.

 

Right on the corners, I just squished them flat, and stitched from one end through to the other.

And then repeated it on the other three lengths.

This is how the sides of the bag ended up looking.

I measured the centre top of the bag to work out where to place the handles.  Got out my trusty quilting ruler and spaced them four inches apart.  Then stitched them on.  A bit of backstitching was required here.

And this is what it looked like! Don't mind the mighty overhang prior to trimming the side pieces!

And I was happy when I turned it right side out and it looked like a bag!

Time for the lining!  I put the lining pieces together exactly the same way as the main bag.  Then with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER, I popped the bag inside the lining and pinned it all together, matching the side seams, and making sure the handles are sitting between the lining and outer bag.

 

And sewed all the way around the top of the bag, only leaving a few inches, backstitching at both ends.

Like so!

Time to wrestle!  Anyone who has ever turned a bag or anything out the right way will tell you that there will be a few moments of doubt, when you wonder if you will actually succeed in pulling it all out without ripping it to pieces?  It's a game of slowly, slowly.  And I promise it will end well.....

And you will exhale when you end up with this!

Push the lining inside the bag and finger press (ok, it took me a while to figure out what that meant - use your fingers like an iron!) the layers together, so your seams match beautifully and pin them.  Then sew all around the top edge of the bag, making sure the opening you used for your wrestling is tucked in nicely.

And BAM!  You have a bag!

Phew.  I hope this makes some resemblance of sense and that you have learnt even the tiniest bit from it?  I know I did, hence why I wanted to try and share!  The moral to this story is - anything can be made from next to nothing - even when all you have is numbers!

And just in case you were wondering - here are the other two requested bags!  The Japanese teachers requested thick cord so they can teach the kids how to tie bows!  Great idea!

I'm linking up today with

Being hosted by the lovely Jamie Lee over at Busy Bee Quilts!