One last finish!

I couldn't tell you where the month of December has gone! It has been an upsy downsy month with flu (the entire family!), bulging disk in my back, lots of birthdays and the mad Christmas dash that always seems to happen no matter how well I think I have everything in hand. 

I've been absent here and online as home life, work and getting the secret sewing done has taken over and I haven't had a minute to myself except for last week when the back gave out and I had no choice but to find a comfy spot on the sofa and read and knit and not try to do anything that required brain power!

Still, I got one last quilty make done.  You might remember this when it was just a flimsy?  I finished it for my Friend's new baby for her first Christmas!  As my friend reads the blog from time to time I didn't want to show too much but now it's been gifted I can share away! 

Indoor photos only as it was miserable weather before the Christmas!  Rained most of the day Christmas day too!  The quilting is inspired by Patsy Thompson's Craftsy Class called Ultimate Free Motion Quilting where she teaches a technique of layering quilt lines called Hyperquilting.  I have been wanting to try it our for ages so using 2 different colours of pink aurifil thread I managed to quilt in some butterflies and flowers. 

I had a lot of fun with this and a small throw quilt like this was a great size to try something new.  I'll definitely be doing this style of quilting again.  I love the texture it gives the quilt after its first wash.

I showed it unbound at our branch of the Irish Patchwork Society meeting in December and the ladies asked me what colour I was going to bind it in.  When I said a very pale blue there were some funny looks but I think it works really well.  The background fabric is Kona Smoke and I can't remember the pinks but think one might be Rose.  The off white is PFD bleached white.  I think the blue might be Sky.

I'm glad it worked out very like I imagined and am happy to have to have one last finish for 2017!  I know there are a few days yet to go but it's unlikely I'll get a quilt top basted and quilted by New Years, though I have a chance at finishing another knitted hat!  Made 3 this month so far and happily today the rain has stopped, it's turning frosty and I may get to wear one out walking the dogs!

That is if we can get them away from their new toy.  Well it's meant to be Maggie's toy but Charly has other ideas and it has been a constant battle between the two of them for ownership!  We've had to hide it twice, so far Charly has found it every time.  Can't fool a Jack Russell, a Basset on the other hand...

Hope everyone had a happy Christmas and wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

So... the class went well!

Last Saturday I had my first class running a workshop with the Southern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society in Cork!

I was nervous enough about it as I had done demonstrations at our own branch but never before developed a class, class materials and created a lesson plan!  There was a lot of work in it but I'm really glad now it's happened that I took on this challenge.  Having written and published 2 patterns helped a lot in making the block directions.  Writing practice weekly on the blog here has left me happy enough to just start writing on a blank page and I filled up 18 pages about ways to play with traditional blocks in no time.  At the end of the process I had 3 quilt patterns and 14 block patterns!

Editing it was more work than the writing and I am very grateful for my blogging friends who proof read and pattern tested for me.  Thanks again to Serena, Anja, Abigail and Sandra!  I had really good advice from Paula Rafferty who has been teaching for many years.  The most valuable thing she told me was to have lots of step outs for each block showing how it is put together.    I chose 4-5 blocks out of the 14 and made step by step samples and these were better than the written instructions on the day!

It was a really fun day out starting with the branch meeting and a bit of shopping at the Patchwork Plus pop up shop.  Moya's shop had been to our own branch the night before in Limerick and I had bought some half metres of fabric and seeing it all on display again, I tried very hard but eventually gave in and bought a little bit more!  Though in my defence I did need to replace that 6 1/2" square ruler that I had chipped the corner off so, had to be done!

The branch meeting space is lovely and light in the hall of the Sacred Heart Church on the Western road in Cork.  I had great fun at the meeting socialising an hour before the meeting started, with tea and homemade buns!  Sandra @Sew of Course popped in to say hello and it was brilliant to meet her  and thank her in person for all her help proof reading and checking measurements on the class materials I had prepared!

At the end of the meeting, I gave a talk on Modern Quilting to the branch and after lunch, 13 of the ladies stayed on to do the workshop, Traditional Blocks Made Modern.

Between the group, 5 different blocks were made in the space of the afternoon!  Some very speedy sewers.  As we only had an afternoon for the workshop, I had sent on the dimensions to pre-cut fabric in advance and that helped immensely.  We made the Modern Economy, Offset Log Cabin, Wonky Star, Modern Churn Dash and I think the block that people liked the most was the Wonky Bento Box block.

Everyone's fabric choices were so different.  It was really brilliant towards the end of the day to see the blocks being added to the design wall, one by one.

I had serious fabric envy on the day looking at the ombre effect fat quarters Moya was using.  I love her choice of grey as the accent colour in the wonky bento blocks too!

And her very creative arrangement of the blocks.  Can't you just see a whole quilt made with these?

The design wall was a big hit!  I bought this on Massdrop last year thinking it could come in handy for photographing small quilts but this was its first proper outing and it was brilliantly easy to use!

This is the largest size 72" x 72" but it folds up into a small black bag about a foot long.  Clipping the support bars onto the frame is the hardest part, as you need a bit of finger strength to get them to pop in place!  Erin helped and we had it assembled in about 5 minutes, even less to take it down!

I think it really helped to close the class on a high note as we all got to see how productive everyone was on the day. And also to see how the different fabrics people were working with looked in the block designs.  Strangely I found myself pulled to the warm traditional creamy browns!

Oh, and I came home with an embroidery machine too!

They are a very generous bunch in the Cork branch.  Unwanted fabric was donated to whomever wanted it and one lady offered up 2 unwanted embroidery machines, older models that would only run on Windows XP.  I said if no one else from the branch claims it I'll take it.

I've spent the last two nights trying to get it running on windows 7, even found instructions on the net to make it work but for some reason the software will work but the driver for the machine is missing and the software can't detect when the machine is plugged in.  So I bugged Gordon to borrow an XP machine and after a long time looking at the swirly circle, it installed and recognises the machine, a Husqvarna Viking EM10.  Hoping to play with it tonight and stitch something out!

No idea what to do with it after that - just couldn't bear to see it unloved or on its way to dump!  So all that has left me a week behind my own QAL!  Instructions are up on Modern Quilters Ireland for week 3 - piecing the corners!  It's not too late to join if you like.  You can link up any progress on the Rainbow Rose block to win a prize of fat quarters.  Thanks a million to all of you are Quilting-a-Long.  It's brilliant to see all the gorgeous fabric pulls!  I'll be catching up this week on piecing the middles and getting cracking on the corners!  Links to the blog posts are in the tab above called Quilt-A-Long or on the Modern Quilters Ireland Blog

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