AROUND THE WORLD BLOG HOP.....

The Makings of An Autumn Triple Star!!

I have been tagged in the Around the Blog World by my fellow Bee member Pam, over on Sewing Wilde all the way from Western New York. If you haven't yet seen Pam's blog make sure you check it out, she has some wonderful tutorials on there and many inspirational projects to keep you entertained over these horrid cold evenings!!

As I didn't get any responses back from the people around the world I asked if I could tag, I am going to have to bully my quilting bestie Kerry Q into it, since I know she has some fab projects on the go right now....she's going to kill me, so this will probably be my last post!!

Ok, here we go

1. What are you working on?

I have a few projects on the go right now, as I always do because so many things catch my eye that I simply can not focus on one project at a time, from start to finish. I have three baby quilts on the go and another one that needs starting, a really cute advent calendar (dear Lord it's almost that time again), an idea for a macho man quilt and a multitude of Bee Blocks.

This month is the turn of the lovely Gemma, who is currently suffering from baby brain, to be Queen Bee. She chose the Triple Star as her block and sent out a fab array of reds, beiges and browns for us to use.

Once I had cut down the fabrics to the sizes and shapes that were needed, each beige square had to be sewn to a red or brown square depending on where in the star it was going, thus forming a multitude of half square triangles....

The squares then need to be trimmed down and sewn together in order to build up each section, eventually forming the points of the stars.

2. How does my work differ from others?

It is entirely made up of fabrics, colors and patterns that I like, even if I am making it for someone else!?! I have to say I am not very good at following a pattern, I do tend to start at the bit I like the most, even if it is in the middle or in fact the end of the instructions. And try as I might I simply can not move away from turquoise! So you will know it is my work because without fail there will be some turquoise in there somewhere....even if it is pink and girly!

3. Why do I do what I do?

To stop myself from going completely mad, to hide away from the rest of life which isn't always very nice! I just love to be creative and make things, I have a real disease when it comes to fabric, so really quilting is just a disguise. I enjoy the challenges quilting presents, although I don't always come off the better for it!

4. How does my creative process work?

It's very simple really, I find something that makes me go "ooooooooooooo" and I go from there, it could be a pattern or design, a color palette, a piece of fabric or collection of fabrics or a person or occasion. I think the most important thing is to be inspired by what you are doing, to have something constantly on your mind that you just can't wait to carry on with or develop further.

Usually my process starts with finding "that" fabric.....you know the one!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

SLOW PROGRESS.....

Borders and Fillers

It's been an aaaagggee since I have had some spare minutes to sit down and update you on the various projects I have been working on. Life just really got in the way over the last few weeks, I have had some big life changes and upheavals which have really knocked my sideways - Oh and Festival of Quilts squueeeellll- but I am feeling much happier and getting back on track, so here we go.......

You may recall I have been working on something special for my wonderful Daddy who turned 50 at the beginning of August, unfortunately I am still working on it, hence this posts title!!

As this isn't a set pattern I am following but rather finding inspiration here and there, then putting together my own design I was finding gaps and spaces between some of the sections already quilted, that I really needed to fill. So I headed back to a previous quilt I had started as part of a class and took on the mighty chevron border!!

It looks very technical but in reality it is very straight forward and is extremely effective when finished.

The first step is to cut a pile of strips 5 1/4in in length in a variety of fabrics. I tried to get in as many of the fabrics I had been using throughout the quilt top for continuity's sake and also chose to cut mine in widths ranging from 1in - 2in to create a more visual border. You can of course use just one or two fabrics and stick to the same width.

(picture 1)

The fabric strips simply get placed on top of each other, one at a time, and stitched along the longest edge, alternating sides with each strip. With the exception of the first pair which is attached along the shorter edge (picture 1) The more you add, the longer it gets!!

So that was a few borders taken care off, now for some fillers...

At last months quilt group meet up, Carrie was cutting and stitching copious amounts of Pin Wheels, which looked ever so lovely and she assured me were very easy to make......lies!!! After a few of them took a dive out of my quilt studio window I found a method that worked for me and here it is in pictures.

And here are both these bits partially in action.....

Happy Quilting 
Kerry xx

BEE-UTIFUL STACKED WINDMILLS

Tricky Business....

This block is fast becoming a favourite in the Quilting Bee community, so far it is the most popular block to be chosen in both of my current Quilting Bees, bringing my total made to 4!! I do love making this block and each time seeing the differences that fabric choices and placements can make.

First up was "Radiant Orchid", Pantone's colour of the year and Rachel's colour choice of the month, the rest was completely up to our own imagination and creativity....pink, grey and floral what's not to love??

I had a few hiccups with the centre of this one, trying to get those blessed points to match up, hence the unpicked stitches....grrrrrrrrr

But I got there in the end. So feeling confident and some what pleased with myself I thought well why not crack on with the other one?? If I had known how much this second one was going to misbehave I would have invested in a good bottle (or 3) of Rose before I started. 

The recipient of this block sent across her own instructions and asked that we use those instead of the book, she sent very clear links to various websites, which were easy to navigate, but for some reason I just could not get on with this one.

A square within a square...simple enough concept, cut a big square, cut four smaller squares, sew them in the corners cut off the excess leaving 1/4 seam allowance. I could get this far then all sense appeared to leave me....

I managed to do this 3 times!!!! Before sense found me again

A multitude of half square triangles, colourful language, blue smoke and wasted fabric later things were starting to take shape

I played around with a couple of colours for the 'center ring', originally I had florals but it was just to much, a darker blue really changed the whole look of the block and wasn't what Isobel was after so in the end I decided on the very pale green with a subtle leaf design. This is the end result an English Summer Garden for a very worthy cause, the intended friend this quilt is going to recently lost her husband to tragic circumstance, hopefully this quilt that Isobel is putting together will go a little way to making her feel better.

Something else I really enjoy about creating the same block is fabric choice and placements, in both blocks I used Robert Kaufman Modern Bliss in grey you can buy yours here, it really is such a great fabric to work with and so very versatile as well. It lifted up the pale florals in the English Garden block, yet made the bright pink pop in Radiant Orchid! You may have noticed that I have also been using it in some of the blocks I have done for the Nautical Quilt.

As always we love to hear from you, please leave us comments or email us with your thoughts, feedback and guidance.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

A PAINTER'S PALETTE - PART 2

A Challenge Met!

I had such fun creating this original design for Gina, I have to be honest and say I really wasn't taken with it at first and put it off for quite a while!! BUT once I decided to accept the challenge of making all the 5" squares a different design rather than a flat color block I really got into it.

The next step is to attach the background fabric triangle edges, this is done by adding 2" squares to each corner of each square - 24 in total and cutting off the excess. They should still finish up being 5x5 if all goes according to plan.

The rest of the background fabric shapes are cut and then added on, there are a variety of rectangles - some fat, some thin, some long..... resulting in 3 rows of lovely color wedged between sparkling Kona white in this case!

Although the outer edges currently look a wee bit squokny, they will be hexagonal in shape when other blocks and/or borders are added on.

Next up is 'Come Together' and a variety of calm, beach themed fabrics have been requested!! Heaven only knows what I can pull together for this one! 

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog so far, I am very close to 2000 views, something I really didn't think I would see when I started out doing this as I am/was a complete blog virgin. To make sure you don't miss out on my latest shinanigans you can follow me on Bloglovin', simply click the button to the side of this page.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

WEEKEND REVIEW

Quilting in the Surrey Hills

Saturday was a great day, so hot and sunny, the birds were really chirpy, the flowers looked so lovely in the sunshine and best of all a whole 4 hours dedicated to quilting with some wonderful friends!!

Val started some gorgeous Log Cabin, Caroline was working on a bag project and Kerry Q is adding the finishing touches to a lovely sea creature themed baby quilt. 

I however took the plunge and make a tentative start on the wonderful Green Tea and Sweet Beans by Jen Kingwell. As usual it took me the best part of 3 days to decide which fabrics to use, I was trying very hard to be brave and not go for my usual 'perfectly matched and newly bought specifically for' fabrics and instead pick things out of my stash. Feeling very pleased with my bravery I thought why not keep going and lets the ladies make the final choices.......

All the blocks for this quilt are soooo gorgeous I really didn't know where to start, eventually I settled on the clam shells, a shape I  have no experience with but have always wanted to try out!!

So far so good, I will keep you posted.

Kerry xx