It's a quilt top finishing weekend

An email reminder about my guild's annual charity sew-in popped into my Inbox this week. It prompted me to search the studio for any blocks or tops that could be readied for next weekend's group-baste session (an extremely expeditious way to get quilt tops basted).

Two completed Cuddle Quilt tops ready for basting.

The search for tops and blocks

One top made with orphan blocks and the disappearing cutting technique that was finished this January was ready for basting. 

A stack of retired fabric samples from a Poppie Cotton fabric collection (Hopscotch and Freckles) was transformed into this second Cuddle Quilt top.

Cuddle Quilt top ready for basting. 35" x 43"

One for the kids, and one for the kitties

Combining the remaining Poppy Cotton fabric swatches, a handful of improv blocks, and other scraps, I got a second, smaller, quilt top for a kitty quilt.

Improv scrap blocks in a kitty quilt top.

Improv scrap blocks.

This scrappy little kitty quilt top went together quickly.

Kitty quilt top combining fabric swatches and scrap blocks.
29" x 25.5"

And a UFO 

And this quilt top that was patiently waiting on the design wall got its borders attached! The blocks are from my 2021 100 Days 100 Blocks Kinship Sampler quilt-along for which I used my favorite Australian aboriginal prints from M&S Textiles Australia.

Twenty-five blocks from the 2021 Kinship Ssampler with M&S Textiles Australia.
58" x 58"

I'm targeting this sampler quilt to satisfy my second "UFO finish" prompt for Make Nine 2022. I just have to pick a backing fabric and then clear off the tables in the workroom for pin basting.

3rd Make Nine finish: the Fast and Fun prompt

My third finish for Make Nine 2022 is pillowcases—for the Fast and Fun prompt. My resident fisherman is the recipient of this project.

Pillowcases made with Kingfisher Camp by the River and Gathering by the River (cuff)
from M&S Textiles Australia.

He spotted the Kingfisher bird

While sorting and updating my fabric headers for M&S Textiles Australia, L noticed the Kingfisher Camp by the River print. He said he was familiar with the Kingfisher bird as he sees and hears it frequently when he's out fishing. "I would really like something made from this fabric," was his comment.

"Pillowcases" is a good response to that request. With minimal cutting, a little pressing and all straight line sewing, they are quick and easy to make.

Sweet Home Quilting filled the order. You can see the note on the order that they agreed
that Kingfisher Camp "would make awesome pillowcases."

Insights from the fabric designer

According to Nambooka, the Australian designer of the Kingfisher Camp by the River design, "the Kingfisher teaches us about alertness and opportunity. We must first look and then decide if it is the right choices for us to benefit our lives." 

The choice to make pillowcases is most always a "right choice"! Pillowcases are functional, can be personalized, are fun to make, and one size fits all.

Make Nine 2022 worksheet.

Thanks to the beautiful Kingfisher bird and the fabric that honors him, my third project for Make Nine 2022 is finished.

2021 Stitching Success Tracker and My Year in Review

2021 has come to an end and my Stitching Success Tracker was 100% colored in—meaning I did some kind of stitching, patchwork, quilting or related fiber art each and every day in 2021. Some days could be as little as a few embroidery stitches on a sampler or basting one 3/4" hexagon to the free-motion quilting marathon for this year's guild Challenge entry. 

December 31, 2021: Stitching Success Tracker.

I'm feeling good about the projects that were completed this year—some new, some unexpected and a few that were languishing in the UFO pile for quite some time (4 decades for one of them). The photo montages below tell about my year in fabrics and stitching.

Online Challenges keep me motivated

Motivation throughout the year was provided by several online Challenges I participated in. The 100 Day Project (I did two different practices), September Textile Love, 100 Days 100 Blocks, the Dropcloth Picnic Sampler stitch-along, Make Nine 2021 and a Quilting Success Bingo game issued by my local quilt guild.

Online Challenges: The 100 Day Project, Picnic Sampler stitch along, 100 Days 100 Blocks,
September Textile Love and Quilting Bingo

One of the successes from the September Textile Love Challenge was documenting a garment I'd made in 2015. The prompt was "repurpose" and my Tablecloth Jacket was the epitome of upcycling and repurposing. I'm glad to have this special garment documented.

Useful items for family, friends and community

The practical side of me likes to make things that someone not only appreciates, but uses. I made several sets of pillowcases for family and friends, charity quilts and kitty quilts for our pack of tuxedo kitties.

Pillow cases and charity quilts.

Shop samples serve as inspiration to others

For my job as a fabric strategist and sales representative, I support my clients by providing ideas, projects and patterns that can be made with the fabrics I rep. Surprisingly, I made six quilts showcasing one of my favorite fabric lines, M&S Textiles Australia. 

Quilts and projects made with fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia.

I collaborated with a few longarm quilters to get some of these finishind and they are traveling around to quilt shops and independent sewing centers helping to inspire quilters, sewers and makers.

My Guild Challenge entry

A two-year project that I'm quite proud of is my entry for the 2020-21 Choo Choo Quilters Guild Challenge. The turn-out for the Challenge was exceptional and my quilt, "Alone Together," got the first place ribbon. One of the principles of a guild Challenge is to push oneself and try new things. I did and was very pleased with the results. My experiments and discoveries are documented here.

"Alone Together"
My entry in the 2020-21 Choo Choo Quilters Guild Challenge.

I was also on the hosting committee for the Challenge and made the four award ribbons for the winning entries.

Guild Challenge ribbons.

Guild Challenge ribbons (backs).

Garments

It must have been the year for my Australia fabrics because two of my makes—my Kangaroo Nine Lives top and my new Berwick St. tunic—were made from this fabric line (top photos).

Garment highlights from 2021.

The bottom two garments were both made during a Shakerag workshop. The Porcupine shirt was shibori dyed this year (a Make Nine project) and the Tablecloth Jacket was made in 2015 (a response to one of the prompts of the September Textile Love challenge this year).

A UFO quilt was finished!

My final Make Nine finish for the year was a UFO [unfinishing object] string quilt than spanned two centuries. It was happily gifted for Christmas.

"All Together Now" completed December 2021.

Small projects are big successes

Small projects are very satisfying to me. The time investment can be less or more than a bigger project. You never know. Three of these were made in response to the Make Nine challenge, the zipper pouch was a gift for a friend who retired, and the exposed spine artist book was from a workshop I took this year with Doug Baulos. The fabric twine was a new technique I learned and it was rewarding to find a use for skinny fabric scraps and trimmings.

Top row: needle book, fabric twine, crochet cat bed.
Bottom row: boro and rag drawstring bag, artist book, zipper pouch.

All and all, I think 2021 was a productive and well-documented year.

Good night, and Happy New Year.

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For those that asked about the Stitching Success Tracker and where to get this cool, creative project management tool, here is my original blog post and where I found this calendar.

Hand sewing the hanging sleeve

This quilt came back from the long-armer at Busy Lady Quilt Shop. It's been trimmed, a flat piped binding attached, and this week's task is to sew down the hanging sleeve (rod pocket).

Quilted top. Fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia and Northcott Fabrics.

The focal fabrics in the patchwork are from a package of 10" squares from M&S Textiles Australia, the appliquéd circles are from a fat quarter package from M&S Textiles and the background is Stonehenge from Northcott Fabrics.  

Appliquéd circles in a contrasting color.

In observance of time, I made a flat piped binding and attached it by machine. I let Jennifer at Busy Lady Quilt Shop choose the quilting pattern and I really like how the red quilting thread (her idea) accents the red piping. I also think the oval, swirly, boomerang-like quilting pattern is a great complement to the fabric prints.

Flat piped binding attached by machine.

The quilt backing is pieced. With the trimmings from squaring up the quilt, I was able to cut a hanging sleeve and align the color blocking with the pieced backing.

A pieced hanging sleeve blends in with the pieced backing.

Now, on to the hand sewing...

Hanging sleeve pinned on the back.

I think one or two TV programs will suffice for this sleeve.

Wrapping up the 100 Days 100 Blocks 2021 project

The 100 Days 100 Blocks Kinship sampler sew-along is approaching the finish line—next Friday, October 8. Over the last three months, I've been piecing the sampler blocks in batches, using fabrics from several of the fabric companies I rep. Here's a look at the journey...

Blocks from the 2021 100 Days 100 Blocks sew-along.
Fabrics from Dashwood Studio and Simply Primitive batiks from Batik Textiles.

Australian Aboriginal designs

In July, I started the 100 Days 100 Blocks program with Australian aboriginal prints from M&S Textiles Australia. The bold colors and aboriginal designs offer a lot of interest and movement. These prints definitely keep the eyes moving across the fabric. Several of the blocks have made it into the center section of a new quilt top.

Progress on the center section of a quilt top.

Felicity Fabrics bridges traditional and modern styles

The next batch of blocks features prints from the Nightfall Floral collection and basics from Felicity Fabrics. The prints from Felicity are ideal for patchwork—smaller scale prints in contemporary color schemes that maintain their presence even when cut into smaller units. The Felicity basics are familiar, tried-and-true designs that support and coordinate with a range of focal prints.

Fabrics from Felicity Fabrics.

A contemporary European flair from Dashwood Studio 

Next up is a batch of blocks made with fabrics from the UK company, Dashwood Studio. These fabrics are relatively new to US quilt shops. The prints have a continental, contemporary feel and the Twist basic line has a random seed pattern that offers subtle movement with an easy flow.

Blocks made with fabric collections by Dashwood Studio.

Aviary, Hedgerow, Habitat and Twist fabric lines from Dashwood Studio.

Mixing in primitive style batiks from Batik Textiles

The last batch of blocks incorporates prints from Dashwood Studio with the Simply Primitive batik collection from Batik Textiles. These unique batiks have a minimalist design style and a dusty, darker color palette—quite unlike what usually comes to mind when people mention "batik." The sparse designs of the batiks provide a contrast with the more detailed cotton print deisgns from Dashwood Studio. The darker colors shift the focus to the brighter prints and offer a richness and sophistication to the patchwork blocks. 

Simply Primitive batiks mixed with prints from Dashwood Studio.

I'm having a particularly good time choosing and coordinating the colors and textures of the batiks with the Dashwood Studio Habitat collection. 

The Habitat collection features animals from all parts of the world.

This is my fourth year participating in the 100 Days 100 Blocks project. It's always a fun project and it keeps one's patchwork skills finely tuned!

Ask your local quilt shop [YLQS] for these fabric lines and start your own sampler block project.

Thoughts about binding a quilt with Big Stitch

It's been a loooong time since I've hand quilted a quilt. With quilters, stitchers and makers retreating to the solace of handwork in 2020, I was inspired to add Big Stitch quilting to complement the Australian Aboriginal fabric designs in this piece. The colorful dots and dashes of perle cotton running stitches make a lovely, tactile addition to the organic Dreamtime designs. 

Hand stitched binding using Big Stitch with 5 wt. perle cotton threads.

In an earlier blog post, I highlighted the Big Stitch hand quilting on this quilt. This past week, the binding was attached and hand stitched down.  

The quilted sandwich was trimmed and binding pinned. It's ready for hand stitching.

Binding a quilt with decorative stitches

I frequently use decorative machine stitches to bind charity quilts and kitty quilts. This is when the binding is attached to the back of the quilt, brought around the edge to the front, and machine stitched down. It's fast and efficient. But this was my first "go" at using visible hand stitching as both a decorative and functional element for the binding.

Binding sewn down with Big Stitch running stitches in 5 wt. perle cotton.

Threads and Fabrics

I used perle cotton threads for the hand quilting and the hand binding stitches—8 wt. and 5 wt., mostly Eleganza from WonderFil Specialty Threads. 

Front and back of the quilt with hand quilting and hand stitched binding.

The fabrics used in this quilt are all Australian Aboriginal designs from M&S Textiles Australia.

• Sandy Creek red in the center and cornerstones,
• Sandhill red for the outside borders,
• Kangaroo Path yellow for the inner border,
• Women Collecting Water yellow for the backing and binding.

The pattern for this quilt is called Blue Girl by Villa Rosa Designs.

Sandy Creek quilt. Finished size: 50.5" x 51"

Thoughts about Big Stitching the binding

I really enjoyed the Big Stitch quilting... choosing the thread colors, following the lines in the fabric prints with running stitches, seeing the quilt come to life with the hand stitching. To be honest, although I really like the end result of the Big Stitch binding, it was more difficult and time consuming than I had expected.

Big Stitch hand quilting and Big Stitch quilt binding.

Cons:

• I found I could do only one stitch at a time on the binding. For the quilting, I could load the needle with multiple stitches before drawing the needle through the quilt sandwich. And although the hand stitching is a slower process, this one-stitch-at-a-time binding process was unenjoyably slow.
• Even though I went through the binding and only the top layer of fabric and the batting, the needle was difficult to pull through with every stitch. The effort and struggle took the fun out of the hand stitching. Maybe a 12 wt. cotton thread would alleviate this??
• I also wonder if a blanket stitch would be easier.

Pros:

• It was rather easy to keep the stitches at a consistent place on the binding. As one thread ran out, I chose a new color and continued. Just like with the hand quilting.
• It was fun to add the "Xs" at the mitered corners.
• The drape of a hand quilted quilt is quite lovely.
• The free-motion machine quilting (with blending colors of thread) and the larger, more colorful running stitches are very sympatico on this quilt. Both techniques created a cohesive and beautiful texture on the quilt and the Big Stitch on the binding carried the concept through to the finishing... and the edge of the quilt.

Sandy Creek quilt with hand and machine quilting.

Further investigation required

If anyone reading has insights or suggestions for hand binding with Big Stitch, I would welcome your thoughts! Were I to try it again in the future, I might experiment with different/lighter thread weights or another stitch design (blanket stitch?). 

This was a good learning experience for a "first try" and I'm quite pleased with the end result (just not so much with the process). The Stitching Success Tracker is counting it as a "finish."

August Stitching Success Tracker.

Hand quilting with Eleganza perle cotton and Big Stitch

Have you ever tried hand quilting? How about with 8 wt. or 5 wt. perle cotton?
This is Big Stitch quilting... and I've been working on a quilt with both Big Stitch and free-motion machine quilting.

Big Stitch quilting with 8 wt. and 5 wt. perle cotton threads.

Big Stitch quilting

"Big Stitch" is exactly what it sounds like—running or quilting stitches that a longer (bigger) than what we generally think of for hand quilting. Big Stitch is kin to its predecessor, "utility quilting," which is a faster means of finishing a quilt by using bigger hand quilting stitches as opposed to the traditionally prescribed 12, 15 or more stitches per inch of fine hand quilting. 

In today's quilting world, there are so many lovely, big, fat, decorative threads available, that using them with Big Stitch can add color, dimension and design elements in addition to the functionality of quilting. What fun!

Big Stitch and free-motion machine quilting combined.Fabrics and marking 

Threads and needles

The threads I'm using are mostly Eleganza 8 wt. and 5 wt., a perle cotton from WonderFil Threads. A chenille needle, crewel needle or other large-eyed needle with a sharp point works well for this style of quilting. 

Note: some needles used for needlework such as needlepoint have a blunt point that works well for canvases, but not as well for stitching through the tighter weave of our quilting cottons.

8 wt. Eleganza perle cotton thread from WonderFil Specialty Threads.

No-mark quilting

The fabrics in my quilt are Australian Aboriginal designs from M&S Textiles Australia. By echoing the motifs printed on the fabrics, I've not had to mark the quilting/stitching lines. And I hold the quilt sandwich on my lap to hand stitch. I'm not using a hoop.

Following the designs on the fabric for Big Stitch quilting.

The quilting on this quilt is almost complete. There is a combination of hand [Big Stitch] quilting and free-motion machine quilting. And once I audition the binding fabric, the plan is to big stitch the binding as well.

Hand and machine quilting.

Attaching a quilt binding using Big Stitch will be a new process for me. 

The Nine Lives top with Kangaroo Path

Do Kangaroos have nine lives? I don't know, but my new Nine Lives top [pattern by The Sewing Workshop] uses the lively yellow Kangaroo Path print from M&S Textiles Australia and I just love it! Paired with the smoky blue-grey Lillup Dreaming (ash colorway) print [M&S Textiles Australia] and my repurposed vintage buttons... it's perfect in every way.

My new Nine Lives top with fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia  and repurposed vintage buttons.

The Kangaroo Nine Lives top: details and modifications

I've made the Nine Lives top several times. With only a four basic pattern pieces, it offers plenty of potential for customization, modification and embellishment. My "kangaroo" version has these mods: 

• a front patch pocket,
• an appliqué accent at the shoulder,
• a side vent,
• high/low front and back hems,
• straight hem.

Design details: appliqué on right shoulder and a left breast patch pocket.

The blue ash color of the Lillup Dreaming fabric print is what initially inspired me to make this top. The golden yellow Kangaroo Path was a serendipitous accompaniment.

Back view of the Kangaroo Nine Lives top with ash colorway of Lillup Dreaming

I'm particularly fond of the contrast fabric on the breast pocket. It balances the appliqué on the right shoulder. The contrast fabric collar, pocket accent and appliqué bring the back fabric to the front of the garment.

Details: side vent and high/low hems.

The vintage buttons—a wonderful find at a resale shop—added another complementary detail to this top's color story.

Repurposing vintage buttons from a resale shop.

Close-up of the vintage buttons.

By hand and machine

Lately I've been enjoying a lot of hand stitching—big stitch quilting, kantha, and garment finishing techniques. The handwork on my Kangaroo Nine Lives includes:

• an appliqué embellishment,
• finishing the front and back hems.

The machine sewing includes:

• the garment construction, 
• patch pocket, 
• buttonholes and attaching the buttons,
• the seam allowances were finished with a serged edge.

Nine Lives top with the Valencia pants.

A me-made garment for August!

I am quite pleased to start off the month of August with a new me-made top! The summer weather is still upon us, so I foresee many opportunities to wear my kangaroo top. In the above photo, I'm wearing the Valencia Pants [The Sewing Workshop pattern] with my new Kangaroo top. In "kangaroo" style, both the pants and the top have had pockets added! (wink, wink.)

The Nine Lives Vest pattern [The Sewing Workshop]
and Kangaroo Path fabric from M&S Textiles Australia.

This is the fourth version of the Nine Lives pattern that I've made. My first Nine Lives top was made as the pattern instructed with an assymetrical hem. Alas, this version is not documented on my blog.

Version 2 was made with a pintuck fabric.

Version 3 was made with cotton embossed fabric.

Dare I make 5 more?