Argyle Chain Quilt

I've been through a bit of a manic phase in the last few weeks, no time to blog and nothing to show anyway as I have been sewing magazine commissions like crazy! I'm just about through a bit of a backlog (phew!) and have a quilt in the latest issue of Today's Quilter to share with you.

I'm calling this one Argyle Chain as it reminds me a little of an Argyle plaid but it's actually made from two different Irish Chain blocks.

And it is blue! This is VERY unusual for me as I don't actually like blue very much. I love turquoise and am okay with indigo but rarely use blue.

So settle down and I'll tell you the story of this quilt...

Earlier this year when I was at QuiltCon in Savannah, I visited the Michael Miller stand to say thank you to the lovely folks there for being Stitch Gathering sponsors. Last year they had sent some gorgeous fabric for the goody bags but I hadn't really paid much attention to the designer. It turned out it was by Sarah Campbell. 

As we chatted on the stand and they showed me more beautiful Sarah Campbell fabric it became apparent to me that they assumed I was familiar with Sarah as a 'famous British designer' who used to design for Liberty. I was as vague as possible without revealing my ignorance, and when I got home I googled Sarah Campbell and was amazed and delighted to find out about her long career in surface design and the famous book she wrote about design with her sister.

How had I missed her? Turns out all the quilters I questioned had somehow missed her too. So I contacted my friend Jane Rae (who also happens to be feature editor of Today's Quilter) to suggest she wrote about Sarah in the magazine and I would make a quilt with some of her fabric.

I chose the wonderful Sandpiper collection - with all that blue!

Why choose this when I never use blue? Well around this time I had been teaching a course at myBearpaw to make my Starlights quilt. This is primarily made from a wide range of greys with a few bright solids.  One of my students, Sally, chose to replace the greys with a wide range of blues. Initially I was a little sceptical, but I absolutely loved the finished quilt! In fact I preferred it to my original!

So I decided to come out of my colour comfort zone and embrace blues! Obviously not just blue, there's yellow and orangey-red too, I haven't gone completely mad!

The fabric was so beautiful to use and I really fell in love with it. Finishing the quilt coincided with one of my Scrappy Improv workshops, so I used the scraps for class samples and then made them into these two panels.

 
After adding my usual combination of matchstick quilting with a variegated Aurifil thread and hand quilting with cotton perle #8 I turned it into one of my project pouches and it was sold in aid of the Makers For Grenfell fund (and blogged about a few months back, so don't worry if you are getting a case of deja vu!).



Back to the quilt which was quilted with my current fall back overall FMQ pattern of a sort of curly mussels variation. The wavy lines and almost fishy shapes seemed to go well with the seashore themed 'Sandpiper' fabric. I used Aurifil 50wt in a turquoise shade, number 5017.



I love the yellow feather print that I used for the back.

The quilt was finished at the deadline (of course!) and the weather was awful, really wet and windy, which meant I couldn't get my usual outside shots. It was way too dark in our house so I took it into the Tiny House and hung it from the sleeping loft!

It goes really well with the colours in there so maybe it might end up on the Tiny House bed when it makes it's way back to me.

I hope you enjoyed this quilt story! Meanwhile do your self a favour and buy Today's Quilter issue 27 so that you can find out all about the amazing Sarah Campbell too!

Tendrils quilt

It's a long time since I made a quilt with Kaffe Fassett fabric and I had forgotten what an uplifting joyful experience it can be!

This quilt was destined for the issue of Today's Quilter that coincides with Festival of Quilts so it always need to be a bit of a showstopper. And what better fabric than the Kaffe Fassett Collective to obtain that effect!

As you can see it made the cover, as well as the magazine exhibition stand (see my last post for a photo!).

I've been playing around with the idea of appliqueing leaves over patchwork for a while now and had already made this mini with leaves and stems sewn by hand. But that wasn't going to work for me (and my dodgy hands) for a whole quilt.

So this is when I developed my Tendrils Technique that I have been using on a smaller scale for pouches recently. It's what I demonstrated on the Aurifil stand at FOQ (you can still watch that here).

I basically created a patchwork brick wall with the Kaffe fabric and then let the leaves climb up it!

As I'd chosen a mixture of warm and cool fabrics from the range (by Free Spirit) I thought it would look good with a 'temperature' colour wash.

Here's a shot from the magazine. I love how the leaves seem to grow out of the carpet here.

I quilted it with a trailing feather overall FMQ pattern in a neutral shade of Aurifil 50wt. It is so busy that I didn't need the quilting to show up too much, but I love the texture that a feather pattern gives.

I made a mistake with the dimensions and it ended up bigger than I planned at 80 inches. I was annoyed at the time but it actually fits my bed perfectly so I think this may be my new bed quilt for the winter. It is certainly one of my all time favourites already!

Shangri La Farm Sherbert Quilt finished!

Last week I showed the top for this quilt when announcing my new Aurifil thread collection, Sherbert Dip. I am pleased to show you the finished piece!

I made this to accompany the thread box and to hang on the stand at Festival of Quilts. Here's a little reminder of the colours from the box...

I think I got them all in! I mainly used Kona Solids with some matching prints for the quilt.

The original idea came for this piece after I returned from QuiltCon Savannah earlier this year. I had been to a lecture there on minimal quilt design by Season Evans and I fancied having a go at some minimal quilting myself.

We have a long line of poplar trees that border one side of our land towards the west. We often get spectacular sunsets behind the trees and this happened on my return from QuiltCon. Initially I was envisaging a much more minimalistic interpretation with just vertical lines for trees and horizontal lines for the landscape.

But it turns out I can't really do minimalism - at least not yet! Maybe I will have another go one day...

When I found out that my Aurifil thread box would be launching at FOQ I decided that I would make a quilt to hang on the stand and that this landscape idea could work perfectly with the colours I had chosen for the box. 

Here is my initial sketch. I tend to work everything out in my head but still like to put pen to paper just before I start something.

It turned out to be one of those projects that works perfectly first time. It took me an afternoon and evening to finish the whole top! The whole thing is improv pieced with wonky curves. The only time I used a ruler was for the tree 'trunks'.

I don't have one of my Aurifil boxes yet as they are only just ready in Italy now, but I have most of the colours here as I use quite a few regularly and others I ordered while picking shades for the box, to 'audition' in the flesh.

As it is not a large piece  (44 x 31 inches) and as I wanted to include as many of my collection shades as possible I really went to town on the quilting. I used a mixture of FMQ, matchstick quilting (some straight line with a walking foot and some with my FMQ foot) and hand quilting. There were a lot of ends to thread in!

How amazing does the back look?!! As it is was always going to be a wall hanging I just backed it with an old duvet cover without much thought, but it's plainness  works well to show off the 'landscape of stitches'. Those blobby shapes are butterflies which is also kind of appropriate.

As soon as I finished the top I turned some of the scraps into these two improv panels, destined for some more of my 'Project Pouches' (large zippy pouches, perfect for storing your latest portable project!). But then I took delivery of a new laptop and so I decided to make them larger and make a laptop case with them.

I matchstick quilted them and then spent Saturday evening (I know it was a Saturday as this photo has a #saturdaynightcraftalong hashtag on Instgram!) handquilting some extra lines.

My plan was to just make a longer version of my project pouch and so I measured the laptop, adding plenty of extra for seam allowances and so it wasn't too snug, but I totally forgot about the zip opening being smaller than the sides! Duh!! So of course when finished the laptop wouldn't go through the zip aperture. Sigh...

So I cut the bottom off it and made a zippy pouch after all!
Here is one side...

....and here is the other. It has left me with two more smaller panels that I can make into a narrower pouch as well, so two for the price of one! I will need to think again about the lap top case.

Meanwhile as I was in a zippy pouch mood I thought I better finish off the class sample for my Stitch Gathering applique class by turning it into yet another pouch! I used more scraps from the quilt for the other side of this one too!

AND I still had enough scraps to make two more panels for yet another pouch. This one will have added applique 'tendrils'. This is a technique I have perfected for machine appliqueing stems and leaves over patchwork (with no raw edges).

I will be teaching a demo for this on the Aurifil stand (C1) at FOQ on Friday at 2pm, so if you are around then come along and watch me! If you can't make it then it will also be recorded as a Facebook Live demo on Aurifil's FB page. I will post more about this on my return next week and provide a link (and show you the finished pouches!).

Also look out for a quilt using this method coming up in next month's Today's Quilter magazine!

Meanwhile Shangri La Farm Sherbert Quilt is going along to the Edinburgh MQG meeting tonight as my Show and Tell. After FOQ I hope it will end up in Alex Veronelli's  Aurifil Designer Quilt Collection which tours around quilt shops with him.

In between you can check it out in person at Festival of Quilts if you are lucky enough to be going this week.

And just to confirm that my Sherbert Dip thread boxes will be availabel to buy from the Aurifil stand at FOQ. By the end of August I should have them in my Edinburgh shop and online store for everyone to buy!

Linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday!

Almost Black Quilt

Presenting 'Almost Black', a new finished quilt and a bit of a departure for me.

This got sent off earlier today to Festival of Quilts as my entry to the Modern Quilt category.

I've been thinking for a while now about how to make applique look more modern and minimalist.

My recent mini (for the Pantone Challenge) 'Greenery Shoots' was an initial experiment which I have extended here.

I started off using just dark grey, charcoal and black fabric and making panels of what I always call 'scrappy improv', basically lovely playtime in my sewing room!

The first few had too much contrast so I started using just black and charcoal.

Folks were very encouraging on Instagram and a slowly pieced together bigger and bigger panels. It's a bit like working on a giant fabric puzzle.

I even asked for some suggestions for blocks that I could 'improv-up', and Tatyana Duffie suggested a churn dash and Cheryl Arkison suggested some wonky letters, so I created the word 'night' which was a bit of an indication of the design I had in mind.

When I posted this photo of the finished top, quite a few people wanted me to leave it like this and just quilt it, and I did consider it (briefly!). But anyone who knows me would understand that not including ANY colour on a quilt is just not going to happen.

My plan all along was to applique different coloured circles in lines that would appear as coloured 'fairy light' against a night sky.

I prepared three sizes of circles and spent time appliqueing them in three rows (some nice summer weather luckily coincided with this hand sewing!). Using Aurifil 80wt really helps stitches disappear!

I did think about just one or two strands but, after consultation with my quilty advisers (Lynne and Karen) I decided to go for three, as odd numbers are always best (according to Karen!).

Can you see that I have left a gap in the top strand of lights? I do like a little 'oddness' (like the one pink leaf in Greenery Shoots) and I decided to leave a space as if a bulb had just blown, and to hand quilt an empty circle there. But someone on Instagram (Kim Moran-Jones) suggested appliqueing a grey circle instead and I loved that idea (thanks Kim!)!

I really agonised over how to quilt it. I wanted the dense texture I had achieved with matchstick quilting on my Greenery Shoots mini, but didn't want to do straight line quilting (my Pfaff machine, though wonderful at FMQ, really struggles with straight line as the integral walking foot isn't up to it). So I ended up with this kind of woodgrain type thing, wavy lines but all done with FMQ. 

I didn't want to quilt over the circles at all, I love how they stand out when quilting happens around them. Somebody asked me if they were padded the other day. The answer is no, but they do look a bit like they are!

I used a variegated grey Aurifil 50wt for the FMQ, one of my favourites, number 4670.

When I had finished all the machine quilting I hand quilted around each circle with a pale yellow perle cotton 12, to give the appearance of a 'glow'. The blown bulb, now an appliqued grey circle, has a very faint glow (it's very recently blown!) achieved by using Aurifil 80wt in cream.



I had deliberately left space between some of my quilting lines to add some hand quilting. It's quite subtle as I used an ecru perle cotton number 12, but I really think it adds to the texture and interest.

I love the fact there is so much to look at in this quilt, even though the background is kind of dull. I think that makes you notice more because there is so little distraction.

I used a scrappy binding made of the same blacks and charcoals, I just wanted something to blend in really.

I'm really pleased with how this worked out, it's pretty much as I saw it in my head when I first conceived it. Actually it's a lot better!

And I have more ideas for this sort of 'applique on improv' look, so watch this space!

Oh and do any of you recognise the reference (from a British sketch comedy show) in the title?! It's a family private joke in our house and what my husband said when he saw me working on this!