Flash Quilt

There's always something to celebrate. Last Saturday was the
third Saturday in March therefore it must be International
Quilting Day. I first learned of it here and it set me thinking.
Last weekend was also free entry at some National Trust
properties = lots of people. I got permission to sit and stitch
at Calke Abbey with a friend to raise the profile of quilting.
We sat outside Sqiurts Stable, in the sunshine, for 3 hours.
We stitched, listened and chatted.I kept wanting to call us a
'flash mob' but as there were only two of us it was a bit daft
so I called it a 'flash quilt'.
People were interested. We were asked questions by
people who were stitchers already. We hopefully encouraged
those who had ufo's hidden away to finish them; some started
by mums or themselves. Some were interested in work that
was hand stitched only and some were interested in machining
techniques.
This has set me thinking for Quip Day in June.

More Journal Quilts

After finishing last years JQ's that I'd started I decided
to fish out the 2009 JQ's. Yet again not much needed
doing some quilting and edge finishing. I've been taking
photos of foot prints, tyre tracks and animal and bird tracks
for some years with the intention of putting them into
textiles. The JQ's were the perfect opportunity to get started.

Contemporary Quilt

I belong to a group called 'Contemporary Quilt' and
each year a challenge is issued to the members to
produce a journal quilt every month for a year. I
I always begin the year with good intentions and make
a start but something always happens to stop the
creative flow. After making, and finishing, the raggy
quilt I decided to finish some old journal quilts. Not
much needed doing really - little bit of hand stitching
and some edge finishing.
I like taking something ordinary and using it in a different
way. These four were a series based on buttonholes.

The fabric was an old, hardly used linen tea towel

from an army surplus store, a finer cotton fabric

for the binding and the backing was my OH old work

shirts. The wadding was the thinnest I had. I used two

types of thread - an ordinary polyester sewing thread for

hand and machine stitching; a thicker silk thread for hand

stitching. The silk thread is a pale duck egg blue and this

dictated the colour of the lino print. Polyester organza

was used to suggest buttons.

I've made one!

I've made a quilt..................
I decided a few years ago that I wanted to make a
quilt though it was no good me piecing a top then
hand or machine quilting it. It would never be completed.
I began keeping my eyes open for a technique that would
suit my needs. I found it at the Malvern spring quilt show
2 or 3 years ago. I probably had seen it before but never
cottoned onto it. The 'Raggy' quilt was the technique for me.
I sorted my stash and filled a bag with fat quarter and
dressmaking leftovers. There were also some Liberty prints
I bought from someone who used to work in a factory making
boxer shorts (the money she made went into her embroiderers
guild kitty) - included were offcuts of my favourite Liberty
print, Ianthe.
The technique:
Wadding - I used supermarket fleece blanket! cut into 6''
squares.
Fabrics - cut into 7'' squares.
Threads - I used lots of ends of reels of ordinary polyester
thread.
The blocks - a sandwich of a wadding piece in between
2 fabric pieces then free motion stitched with 1/2'' seams.
I used a daisy design though I did start playing with
different ideas.
After all the free motion quilting was completed and all the
blocks were stitched together this is what I ended up with.
The binding was made up of some of the leftovers as I
didn't want anything left at all. In this photo (below) the seams
still need snipping. I sat down one afternoon and snipped all
the seams whilst watching Love Actually! All that snipping makes
your fingers ache but it's worth it.
So, I've done it, I've made a bed quilt. Am I a real quilter now?