Cushions!

My old string cushion project is nearly finished!


The front and back are completed and now all that remains is to insert a zip and finish the cushion off!


This is how they last looked....

This is how they look now...

I have machine stitched along the strings in my precious Aurifil 28 in a luminous golden shade!  No problem there and it looks lovely....a few wonky lines but that is the wonkiness of the strings rather than the stitching!

The other side is part machine stitched - in the string part - and part handstitched with large stitches in a variety of cotton perle colours!

So what do you think campers!?  






I am pleased with the textured result of the machine stitching and am thinking of using the same on my Brit Quilt Swap Cushion either in grey, green or blue??

I am working on the other side of this cushion now with a slightly brighter palette and a choice of backgrounds.

This is the linen I used on the front....

Or I could give it a brighter feel with a white background and just a border of the linen!

I think I am favouring the second option but your views would be very welcome....as ever!  Keep me on the right path people!

I'm hoping my partner will be able to enjoy her cushion all year and even at Christmas!

My first string project!

While making my cushion for the Brit Quilt Swap, which is string pieced, I remembered an old project I started in 2009 which was my first ever string piecing project!

It was on a workshop with Carolyn Forster called Strips and String Quilts (you can tell I like workshops with Carolyn can't you) and looking at the bag I found  it in I had every intention of making a quilt....!  Hmmmm!??


Well, I think it will make a great cushion cover and like Emily at the Strawberry Patch I can practice putting in a zip or whatever closure I decide to use on my cushion so that hopefully my swap partner's will be that much better!




So here is the front .....

and the back or vice versa...

See that pretty pile of perle - I have every intention of using it to quilt in that otherwise bare spot in the centre of the spiderweb!  

You may need your sunglasses looking at this 'cushion to be' - I am finding it rather bright even for my liking and am not sure what possessed me to chose this colour scheme but maybe I was channeling some Californian or Ozzie sunshine at the time - it definitely brings a bit of heat to my sewing room!


I may yet put this UFO project to bed, on the bed!

Scrappy Swap!

I joined Kat's Scrappy Swap (Flickr Group here!) full of excitement and anticipation !

I have posted a photo on Flickr of the scraps I am sending and some people have commented favourably!

I have now finished making the goodies to go with.  Well I said I was going to make a postcard of London - but got cold feet about whether that would go down with my partner or not - she didn't ask for 50's art in solids!

She likes small florals so I searched my scraps for them 

and then saw Ayumi's tutorial as part of the 12-gifts-of-christmas-blog-hop to make a long fabric organiser basket for cutlery, crayons or even cotton perle.  It looked easy enough and it was.  Only problem - it wasn't scrappy!

I got out a piece of paper and did some string piecing then realised I could have sewn it straight onto the wadding - duh!  But no matter it was just an extra step I could have missed out!   

I chose to use a binding on the top to increase the scrappiness rather than sew right sides face to face and turn out as the tutorial suggested.  I also top stitched down the short sides (suggested by Ayumi for extra sturdiness) and also along the bottom to increase the boxiness of it.

So here it is small floral scrappiness inside in blue and green with hints of red and yellow and then yellow and blue flowers on a red background on the outside, bound in another red fabric!

And here are some things you can fit inside it...

7 reels of cotton perle.....

20 + colouring pencils....

cutlery for your table...

The 12 days of Christmas tune is going through my head at this point...hehe!

Another little goodie will be sneaking in as a bit of kitschy fun as suggested by my partner in all things swappy Helen (aka Archie the wonderdog ).  She told me to do it partner!  Honest!

But I kinda like it - weird huh!  Well partner you should have a well dressed bottle at your table. 

Now the original tutorial was for your washing up liquid bottle - but as I don't know what size yours is I made it to fit a wine bottle as they are fairly standard in size worldwide!  I hope it fits whichever bottle you decide to decorate and that you appreciate our (Helen and my) sense of humour!

I used some of the fabrics from the basket for vertical stripes like a butcher's apron and a navy polka dot on white for the reverse.  The straps and ties are made of a cute braid in green with white daisies on...hope you like it!  


On your wine bottle it may help drips from landing on your table - I think this could really become the fashion for bottles this year don't you?  Haha!

Bottle says:  Does my bum look big in this??


And I have carefully taken a photo in my kitchen which doesn't show the mess but does show my love of green - love that green glass splashback! 


Phew! 2 swaps down - two and a bit to go!  Got to crack on....

Plaid String-along! going strong...

I have been beavering away in the background with my string plaid blocks lagging behind the very quick Juliekquilts - she has probably completely finished her quilt by now.


Here is my first block  

 I then went onto make five more blocks along the same lines.  So far so good!  On my list of things to buy at the FoQ was some pale yellow for my sashing.  I did find some

But I also found that yellow and grey fabric... and so looking again at my plaid string blocks I decided I didn't like the cornerstones fabric I had sewn into six blocks in this quilt.  So while watching a film I unpicked all six cornerstones and have been putting the yellow and grey fabric in instead!  Grrr!




At this point I just needed six more quarter blocks to finish.  How could I resist the challenge?  I find the fairly mindless activity of string piecing quite therapeutic as I listen to some radio book on my laptop, cup of tea by my side and cat asleep on the bed!


So this centre section of the top is finished!  Yeah!  

Here is the back of the quilt - you can see I am using telephone directory papers as my foundation!  Wonder if the children or cats will help me when it comes to removing those?  I have removed them from one block but found that one so stretchy that I left the others in.  

When is the best time to take them out?   I was going with idea of taking them out when everything is sashed round all the edges so a narrow grey sashing might be my next move.

But what shall I do for borders???  The original quilt had a piano key border followed by a repeat of the sashing.  


I think I need to consult my latest second hand book as recommended by no less than the lovely Lynne from Lily's Quilts:  Pieced Borders, the complete resource by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey! 

 Unless you have any suggestions....?

Plaid String-along!

I signed up to participate in another QAL.   I guess you could call it a string-along!


The host is Julie of juliekquilts,  who made the original lovely churndash nine-patch quilt I have been trying my hand at in the last couple of days.  She has fairly ripped along with the QAL instructions and is just about finished her quilt if not actually finished.  


Julie's quilt is in plaids and very scrappy.  She has also featured a reader's quilt on her blog which was made of prints.  Both are lovely!






By contrast I have been a real sluggard and slow poke to get started but now have four blocks done and tried out fabric to set my blocks too.




But first here is my pile of plaid strings 

I have set my blocks in a similar way to Julie but instead of a nine patch cornerstone I have a simple print one.

I think this will either take hold of me and I will get my blocks done quickly or it will be done at a leisurely pace - a lot depends on the children as two are on holiday and one is in her last week at school.  Both she and I will be leaving our local Primary!  She has been there for seven years and I have been there for 12!  It will seem strange not to be standing in that playground... 


I am trying out a different colourway for me - you can probably tell from previous quilts that I love green.   For this quilt I thought grey would go with all the fabrics and then I added pale yellow so the sashing wouldn't be too gloomy.  I think I need more blocks to tell whether it will work or not...


Which colours are you drawn to and which do you avoid?   Fess up all those pink lovers - you know who you are...heehee!


As for me  -  I've told you I love using green and I don't much like taupe! 






Nicky







Block size 6" square finished
Sashing in Kona Coal from Mandy at Simply Solids and yellow scraps

Inspiration Julie of juliekquilts