Look Who Finally Came Home

After spending the summer with Michael and Julia Oakshott and attending the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, Colour Shot came home to roost.... is it possible to be jealous of one's own quilt?

Look at the wonderful post cards Michael made up of my quilt....I'm quite thrilled he sent me a stack.

Guess what else came home with my quilt.....Thanks so much  Michael and Julia!!

The Oakshott Booth at the Birmingham Festival of Quilts. 

Can you see Colour Shot hanging out with all the other fabulous quilts? What a fabulous opportunity.

Still Fusing....

Alright, this is just downright addictive.  

I Feel Like I'm Back In Kindergarten.......and loving it.

 I've never been much for fusing, but why not give it a shot, with some Oakshott Cottons. 

I've been wanting to do lots of skinny strips running through circles, for a while, but I've just been a bit lazy, I mean all that piecing.

 One of the reasons I don't care much for fusing is how stiff the fabrics often feel, but with the shot cottons being so light weight, I thought I would give it a try.

How fun is this....I feel like a kid again! 

 It reminds me of playing with bits of brightly coloured construction paper....I always loved that construction paper, so many colours,  I was a colour junkie way back then.

They usually tell you to pre-wash before fusing but that's not going to happen around here, there's that lazy gene again....you know the one that stops me from mending.

The instructions said, I could just iron the fabric with a steam iron so that's what I'm doing. I'm not really worried if things don't adhere perfectly, since there will be some heavy quilting involved ...I think.

Bethan Ash's fabulous book Vibrant quilt collage arrived in the mail this week and gave me the push to go downstairs a play for a little while this evening. I'm so glad I did.

I'm Thrilled/What Next??

I'm thrilled!!!  Colour Shot won favourite in the Pieced Quilt Category, in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival this year.  This quilt was a joy to work on, from beginning to end. 

Thanks so much, to all of you, that took the time to vote and most of all a huge thank you to Amy, for putting on such a wonderful event. 

There were so many truly amazing quilts, in the festival.....I'm honoured that Colour Shot was one of the winners.

What to work on next??? 


I always feel a little lost after a large project....not quite sure what to tackle next and what direction to take.

This amazing block from Penny of Sewtakeahike arrived last week.....meaning all my Free Bee Blocks are here!!!!!


Time to start playing......

Photo Shoot of Colour Shot

 A lovely day for a photo shoot of Colour Shot. The Oakshott Project is complete.

I'm kind of sad I'm finished...we've had so much fun together these lovely Oakshott Cottons and I.

But no worries, we'll be friends for life.....that just means more Oakshott Projects.

 

 

It's All In The Touch/Label On The Binding

What's the most difficult thing about machine binding? I think it's the fact that you are sewing blind....you can't see if you are catching the binding as you sew, and who wants to use multiple pins that just seem to make matters worse.

 The answer is in the tips of your fingers...sort of like touch typing. 

This isn't a full on binding tutorial, but just a little tip that I read somewhere, that makes all the difference. 

When everything is pressed, including corners....something I don't do for hand-binding, I stitch in the ditch on the front of the quilt.

As I'm slowly stitching, I run of tip of my finger (left hand), in the ditch....and trust me, you can feel the edge of binding on the back of the quilt. You can now feel what you are doing, with your fingers. For me this makes all the difference....give it a try, it might surprise you. When  I first read this, I thought what????? Then I tried it and haven't done any hand-binding since.

I don't know about you....I get lazy when it comes to labeling my quilts. Sharon Pederson in her book, More Reversible Quilts, has a nifty way of labeling  and since  I was already trying something new, with the reversible binding, I gave this a shot as well. 

You can put the info right onto the binding....how nifty is that!!!

Now let's get this quilt clipped (you know all those pesky little threads that come from who knows where) and washed. 

Let's Quickly Join.......Let's NOT.

Your blocks are made and quilted....all ready to join. The temptation to "quickly" join the blocks, in order to  finish is high....don't give in. The are many parts of QAYG that are quick and fairly forgiving, joining the blocks is not one of them. I really don't mean to scare you off, it's just that you've worked so hard, to make these beautiful blocks, you want them beautifully joined as well. Take your time. Here are some tips that really help me.

 Pin and pin some more. I'm really not a quilter, that pins very much, but when joining the long strips I find it's a must. I pin at every intersecting block, so that everything meets where it should, and then some pins in between.

 Put your ironing board beside you, in order to support your quilt...as you add the rows the quilt gets heavier and starts to pull, resulting in crooked seams.

 

Press and press some more. I place an ironing pad on my cutting board so that I can lay the quilt flat.

 I press the join at the back, first.

Just look at the fancy new iron, I bought a few weeks ago....it's fabulous.
 You can leave it sit, just like that, it has an automatic lift so it doesn't burn anything, when it rests.

I turn the quilt over and press the join from the front. 

 

Then I press the joining strip to one side and pin some more.

 All ready to stitch down...I prefer to stitch this down with my machine, rather than by hand....this is where I like to save time.

Here is half the quilt, on the banister.......the rest is  in the  sewing room waiting to be joined, carefully.

And the Joining Begins.....

As you can see, I've decided against using the stripes.

Making progress.

A little improv joining going on.

I would like the joiners to blend into the quilt, rather than be an obvious design element .

  

A close-up...can you see which strip is the joiner? 

Blocks 11 & 12.....And That's It!!

Here are blocks 11 and 12, of the Oakshott Project and to borrow one my little granddaughter's favourite sayings, for the moment....and that's it. She loves it use it when she wants another turn of anything. "One more time" she'll say "and that's it!"...knowing full well she'll probably get a few more. It's those dimples and big blue eyes that will do it every time. 

Seriously for this set of blocks....that's it!
Now to join them all together. 

Just in case you missed it, check out yesterdays give away here.

Silly Me...Lucky You or My first Give Away

I was so excited when the book Quilting Modern by  Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson came out, I did what any good quilter would do......I pre-ordered, not just once, but twice. (I'm sure this never happens to any of you.) So guess who has an extra copy of this fabulous book?? You guessed right. So I'm going to do what any good blogger would do...I'm going to share it with you.

 

 If you want to try your hand at improvisational type quilting....this is the book for you. Some of the books I pre-order are a little disappointing when I receive them....NOT THIS ONE. The quilts are stunning and the workmanship is exemplary. And the quilting...ah the quilting is exquisite. A number of the quilts are quilted by the extremely talented Angela Walters.

But this is not just a book full of quilt eye-candy but numerous techniques with clear, well written instructions to go along.

If you would like to receive a copy of QUILTING MODERN, just leave me a comment on today's post, sharing what modern quilting means to you. I would love to hear your thoughts. I'll pick the winner on May 1st.
Note: If you are a no-reply or anonymous commenter please leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win.

 

  

 

 Meanwhile, I'm working on the last two blocks of the Oakshott Project.