SCRAP BUSTING

No Scrap Left Behind

This is something I actually started quite a while ago, the center or main body of the quilt is a simple Jelly Roll quilt but is a very effective and rather quick way to rustle up a fairly decent sized quilt in a couple of hours.

You will need a full Jelly Roll, unroll it and layout all the pairs of colours/prints so you can easily see what you've got to work with. Then sew every strip end to end so you have one extremely long, continuous length of fabric measuring 2.5" wide. Fold in half along the 'short' edge and sew all the way down one long(very long) side. Cut the short edge open along the fold so you can now open out your sewn jelly roll and lay it flat - it should now measure 4.5" wide. Repeat until your have reached your desired quilt top size/width.

It's dawned on me as I'm writing this that more pictures probably would have been useful - so I'll try to get a tutorial up here soon.

But back to Scrappy business and those border blocks. They are based on the concept of 15 Minutes of Play a brilliant idea by the fabulous Victoria Findlay Wolfe, she actually has an entire blog dedicated to it. 

It really is a great concept that is quick an easy, the results are practically instantaneous - something I particularly like! The idea is you start with a 5 sided shape, the wonkier the better, and then you add to each side almost in a Log Cabin style, growing your block one scrap at a time.

The starting shape doesn't always have to have 5 sides, as you can see from mine they all varied and each one took on a life of its own. 

No scrap was left behind, no matter how small! I found that this made the shapes, fabrics and colours far more interesting and really highlighted the 'scrappiness' of them.

I made 44 blocks in total all measuring 6.5" square for the borders of this quilt, then sewed them together in strips - 2 with 10 blocks each and 2 with 12 blocks each and attached them to each side making a happy scrappy border.

I then had the monstrous task of attaching the binding and finishing it off by hand, I wouldn't go as far as saying I enjoyed it but there does reach a point with sewing binding that becomes quite therapeutic.

This quilt was a present for my Gramps who turned 80 on Sunday, the scrappy blocks were made from fabric used in every quilt I've ever made for our family members, so he always has a piece of us with him.

If you follow me on Instagram you'll see a few more pictures of this quilt, along with all the other things I'm currently working on.

Feel free to get in touch, it's always lovely to hear from you all.

Happy Quilting
Kerry xx

TIME FLIES

12 Months On

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last wrote a blog post! I was walking around Festival of Quilts a little over a week ago thinking it's been a good few months since I've blogged and I quite miss it, only to log on and realize it's actually been more than a year  - how time flies!

So much has happened since my last post it'll take all day to catch you up but in brief we got the dream house and said room is filled to bursting with fabric, we got married 6 weeks ago - can't say it's quite sunk in yet but I'm loving wife life,we've got 2 little fur babies keeping us very busy and 30 sleeps until honeymoon! And in between all of that I've been quilting up a storm.

There were so many gorgeous quilts on display at FOQ this year I couldn't possibly pick 1 favourite but this one really was so beautiful to see in real life  - it was huge! I don't do a great deal in solids, I'd really like to get better at that and actually have a few things in the pipeline that are going to be predominantly solid based, but I am such a sucker for a good print, especially if it can be fussy cut!

Everything about this quilt was just gorgeous, the actual quilting of it was breath taking and certainly something to aspire to. It's one of the many things on my list to practice and improve on, I'm good at free motion embroidery and have got years of experience in doing that, I just need to get my act together and modify those skills to use in a quilting capacity - she says.

There were as always far to many quilts to take photos of and inspect as closely as I would have liked - I'm seriously considering going for 2 days next year, but here are a few that caught my eye.

A whole range of styles and techniques, some of which I have tried and continue to use and some that I've only admired from a far but are definitely on my wish 'to do' list. I liked all of these for different reasons, colours, shapes, design they all offered something unique and were all so very different. I'm considering entering something in next years show, I might start smaller though with a more local show maybe to build up my confidence as this would be completely new to me.

When the Aves Quilt was all the rage I signed up to that and have all the patterns for it, they are all beautifully saved in a folder on my computer and that's as far as i got with it. I've followed a few people on Instagram who have been religiously sticking to the block a week program and some of them are really good, but this one at festival was on a whole other level! Not only is the quilt gorgeous as it is, but the secondary pattern of the kingfisher is just something else.

Breathtaking right? 

Those of you who are familiar with my work and me will know that I have a serious problem when it comes to fabric, I didn't disappoint at Festival and my usual trick of saving from the very next day in my special Festival only pot worked a treat again! I bought far to much to list in this post but will definitely be referring to those purchases in future posts - and yes I'm going to work really hard to make sure there are more frequent posts - this year!  

I hope you've enjoyed hearing from me again and if you're new thank you for stopping by, I hope you will do so again.

Happy Quilting
Kerry xx

PAT BRAVO "THE MINIS" TOUR

Bravo!

As many of you know I spend hours of my life on Instagram, it's literally the best invention after chocolate, and quilt fabric, ooooooo and David Beckham! It was on one such "research" mission that I came across a post from the super fab Pat Bravo, (if you don't know who she is, Pat design delicious fabrics for Art Gallery Fabrics ) where she basically said 'I have designed two new lines of fabric, I want to give them to you and let you make pretty things, who wants to play?' Uuuuuuuumm me! So I put myself forward along with a large amount of others and kept my fingers crossed.

And as I'm sure you've guessed by the title of this post I was chosen, whoop whoop! In total there are 30 people from around the world who were sent a selection of fat eighths from Dare to be Bold predominantly navy and shades of blue the designs to me look like a modern take on the theme of geometric electro pop, whilst Essenials II  in Blush has a much more feminine, soft vibe to it. You can read all about Pat's idea behind The Mini Tour here.

I practically pounced on the poor Postman every day until my fabrics arrived and I was thrilled to ribbons when I opened the wrapping and found these....

I have to admit that for the first few days I just wandered in an out of my studio stroking them, well come on look how pretty they are!! I wanted to make something that showed off the various designs of the fabric, which in itself was a challenge for me as "modern" is very outside of my comfort zone, I had look in several of the quilt books I have and picked out a few blocks that I thought could work with what I had in mind. I started with the blues and geometrics of Dare but it wasn't going well and just didn't work at all!! I had had an idea for a repeat block that I'd been doodling, so I thought why not try and make this happen?? I got out my graph paper and set about drawing it out, I am a bit old school that way I can't just go straight to the computer but I get there in the end and a few hours later I had Bravo!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that paper piecing/ foundation piecing is my most favourite thing, bit it is and that was the method I chose to create this mini quilt in. 

There are a couple of points that don't quite match exactly and a few other little niggles I need to work on, but overall I really pleased with how my first ever original block design has worked out.

There are endless possibilities with this block depending on fabric choices and placement, the size of them and the repeat options that can be created, I am really excited about trying these out but for now I am very happy with my little Bravo! who measures 12" square when finished. I added on a border, log cabin style just to finish it off and the backing is simply three panels of prettiness.

I have had such a wonderful time being a part of this Mini Blog Tour, there have been so many talented people involved and such gorgeous things made. If you have missed any of it the full line up is listed at the end of this post, be sure to check them all out and prepared to be inspired. 

Happy Quilting 

Kerry xx

Monday April 25

Laura Piland

Slice of Pi Quilts

Courtney Zadik

The Wholesome Mama

Tuesday April 26

Katie Skoog

The Simple Life Company

Stacey Gibson

Edens Accessories

Wednesday April 27

Amanda Woodruff

A Crafty Fox

Jessica Stewart

Snicker Doodle Stew

Wednesday April 28

 Erin Cox

Why Not Sew

Anjeanette Klinder

Anjeanette K

Friday April 29

Aimee Leptick

The Little Bird Designs

 Sharla Krenzel

Thistle Thicket Studio

Monday May 2

Christine Blessing

Cblessing0

Cat Noonan

Tincat13

Tuesday May 3

Sarah Overton

My Crowded Nest

Jyoti Haeusler
Sewn Modern Crafts

Wednesday May 4

Faith Essenburg

Sarana Ave

Lesley Storts

Storts Market

Thursday May 5

Ellen Ault

Hand Made 3d

Michelle Bartholomew 
Michelle Bartholomew 

Friday May 6

Kate Basti

Katebasti

Kate Lyons

Modern Makerie

Monday May 9

Cindy Guch

Raspberry Sunshine

Name: Lucy

Skinny Malinky Quilts

Tuesday May 10

Marija Vujcic

Marijas Fabricreations

Isabel Kelly

Lamb and Wolfie

Wednesday May 11

Samantha Green

For The Love of Fabric

Tara J Curtis

Tjaye

Thursday May 12

Samantha Dorn

Aqua Paisley Studio

Maja Wlusek

Betyipiernaty

Friday May 13

Jemima Flendt

Tied With a Ribbon

Kerry Smith

Thats Sew Kerry

WEEKEND REVIEW

Such A Clever Bunch

Regular readers will know that once a month a group of my gal pals and I meet up in the Surrey Hills for a good old stitch and bitch, this Saturday was the day and where we haven't all been together as a whole for a while, there was a whole lot of bitchin to catch up on.....don't worry there was a lot of stitchin as well.

I don't think I say often enough how inspiring I find these five, amazing ladies I am lucky to call my friends, the things they create and come up with honestly are beautiful. It always amazes me how very different we are, our tastes in fabric and patterns vary quite dramatically at times, yet there are things we are very much united in....a strong dislike for needle turn applique and a great love of cake!

This month once again we were all working on a variety of totally different projects, some of which I have now added to my quilty bucket list and some I will totally pass on but can appreciate the great work that has gone into it. 

First up Val and her Christmas Quilt,

Predominantly Log Cabin based this is a quilt kit Val picked up from Patchwork Cabin in Great Bookham, it was originally put together as a Block of the Month but can now be bought as a pattern or a kit. The pictures don't do it enough justice, it really is something to look at, the corners meet up perfectly and those little houses are just divine!!

Adorned with a variety of seasonal objects such as holly leaves and a giant Christmas trees, applique also forms a big part of this quilt. It looks like a good project if you want to try out a range of new techniques, or perfect them if you already have some experience there.

Next up Caroline and a whole lot of crazy, tiny squares, even tinier than mine so even though I may have rubbed off on her a little bit, she's crazier than me!!

The cause of these tiny squares is a Hoffman Bali Pop and a style of quilting called Bargello, the nature of it being focused on colour placement, very accurate cutting and matching of seams.

Caroline decided this wasn't enough of a challenge, so she is doing it all half size, which means her squares are only 1 inch in size!! I just can not wait to see how this will turn out. 

Kerry Q started out the day making some cushions for her lovely new house, out of this divine Art Gallery fabric we found last year at Festival, a simple quilted square with a concealed zip

And she finished the day on this darling little quilt called Robot Riot which she picked up from Creative Quilting, again last year at Festival if memory serves...

Aren't they so cute?? There are kits available but Kerry has chosen to use up existing fabrics she already has and added in some fat quarters in modern prints/colours to tie it altogether. The quilt itself is very versatile and can be put together in a variety of ways, but fundamentally it is an applique based quilt. 

Carrie was busy working on a quilt for her son, who has now got into Uni and will be going in a few weeks, so now she really has to get a wriggle on!! It is a very simple square design but the modern fabrics and colour way really bring the whole thing to life.

Sue's life has totally been taken over by Foundation Piecing, not that I blame her, it is a totally amazing way to generate beautiful patterns and designs!! This weeks adventures came out of Jen Kingwell's new book Quilt Lovely and is called Wheel of Fortune

Using Road Fifteen by Sweet Water, she's also been making these funky circles, totally can not pick my favourite colour way, I just love them all

I wasn't totally idol either, I cut out all the bits I needed to make a Mariners Compass (maybe my most fav block ever!) and a few border blocks as fillers for the medallion edges to the African quilt, 

Until next time, 

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx