2023 - No Craft Spending - I WILL bust my stash and make pretty things!!!!!

daisy_1571

for @Moorviews



This is the book I found on my shelves.   The majority of 8t gives ideas for the design of the front of the blocks.  At the back is 3 similar ways of creating the whole quilt.  Basically you can have front plus wadding and quilt this together then method 1 for joining is simply sewing a block to a block.  Method 2 you join a strip to a block then another block to that joining strip.  Once you've done either method you need one backing fabric and since the front of the blocks are secure to the wadding, you only need either a few hand stitches or simple machine sewing to keep the backing from moving.

The third method is what I used.  You join a front, wadding and a backing piece.  Quilt that as much or little as you want.  Then take 2 strips and sew them to block 1.  One right sides together with the block, the other right sides together with the backing.  You then align another block, right sides together with the front joining strip and machine sew.  She tells you to then flip it over, turn under a 1/4 inch on the joing strip and sew down with the machine.  This way the raw edges of the block are now completely encased between these 2 joining strips.

I didn't like that last step as you end up with a visible line of stitching on the front of your quilt.  So i hand sewed this last edge down.  Heres photos of the relevant pages but they probably won't be quite clear enough to work from.


Pile of blocks, quilted, squared up.



The back of the quilt if you join a block to another block, no joining strips - method 1



 method 3. A block with the joining strips front and back, top joining strip has been pressed towards the seam allowance.  I had to squint at this a moment as its not very clear in the pic.  She is resting her hand on the front of the block.  She's sewn a pale joining strip to the front and pressed it to the seam allowances it sticks out beyond what looks like a pinkish flowery strip on the underside of the block.  This is the wrong side of what is quite a dark red flowery fabric, not been pressed so still lying as she has sewn it with 1/4inch seam allowance and the other 3/4 of the inch wide joining strip still loose but lying right sides together against the back of the block.



Shows method 3 when you sew the final seam by machine.  I didn't fancy that line of stitching on the front.  You can see she now has the right side of that dark red flowery fabric being flipped over and turned under showing how strong a colour it is.

daisy_1571

The clever part is you have a block with wadding right up to the edges.  Joining strips are cut at 1 inch.  When you sew the joining strip, you sew at 1/4 inch seam allowance.  By sewing the joining strip to the next block, also at 1/4 inch, you end up with 1/2inch strips between the blocks and underneath the two 1/4 inch seam allowances fill that half inch gap between the blocks.  It really is very neat. 

I also liked the fact I was only dealing with squares.  Easy enough to join them in the machine and not have great rolls of quilt to maneuver as you would with a traditional quilt.

One last thing to bear in mind.  Things like this look terribly complicated written down.  Dont be put off.  Trust the process and it will all come together in your mind as you do it.  Good luck when you come to do it.

Daisy xxx

plumduff55

@old_fogey your cards are beautiful. Card making is something I've never tried. Maybe I should think about it.

@daisy_1571 I always buy myself a book for Xmas and put it away as soon as I buy it without even peeking 🫣 . I'm going to order this book for my Christmas this year. I've done a bit of qayg before but only small projects.

I have finished dgd's cardigan - picture will follow soon. I'm now on to Barbie doll's clothes. I've bought dgd a Barbie doll for preschoolers for her Xmas. It's slightly bigger than the usual Barbie so I'm adjusting the pattern to fit. 

I'm also spending every spare minute on the wedding present quilt. I will finish it by next Thursday - I know I will 🤞

daisy_1571

Plumduff I hope you enjoy the book when santa pops it under your xmas tree   

Daisy xx

Pink12345

Thank you everyone for your kind comments.

@plumduff your quilt is fabulous you are a very accomplished seamstress, that narrow border around the quilt took some doing, and the different styles of quilting.  There is nothing like putting yourself under pressure, you will get the wedding present quilt done.

@old-fogey Your cards are fabulous, I love the green one best of all.

@daisy_1571 I have looked many videos for quilting as you go, I cannot cope with large amounts of fabric to quilt, as I would often quilt pieces that should not be together.  Also, no matter how many times I would machine sew a border on both sides the lines never matched.  But your idea is fantastic, hand sew the back, I would have absolutely no problem doing that, thank you, brilliant idea.  I have a few more projects to do and then time to experiment.

 

I have been getting in the mode for Christmas, I did not get any Christmas paper in the sales after Christmas, so this year everything will be wrapped in brown paper tied up with ribbon or a draw string bag. 

Brown paper was packing from Amazon, ribbons from my stash, I used 3 different ribbons on one of the parcels.

Now I have seen the photographs of the bags, maybe I should have lined them, they are easy to do but it took me a while to figure out how much fabric to cut out for the different sizes.  I have now written this info in my diary, so they will be a lot quicker to do, for when I buy the rest of my Christmas gifts.

The cutlery pouches are for my DD, to go with everything else I have made her.  I just want to make her oven gloves, and fabric will be all gone, except for scraps.  This is where I confess, I bought bias binding from Amazon to bind same, £7.45, my first spend on crafts this year.

A few years ago, I cut out the Tinkerbell triangles, and when cut decided they were just too pale.  So after going through my box of UFO’s  I decided to trim them with ribbon from Flying Tiger shop. The quality of the ribbon Is very poor, so I was unable to hand sew the peaks, so cut out the flowers, sandwiched the flowers together with bondex and then sewed a button on.

greentiger

As I said, I've had an unproductive few months.   In September I produced 3 wee butterfly scarves, a Golden Wedding card and a whisk dragonfly.   I helped my 5year old granddaughter make the whisk as a birthday present for her Mum.

greentiger

October was a bit better – because I made more cards!

There are 2 Hallowe'en cards, a sympathy card, 3 birthday cards, 11 Christmas cards and 1 gift bag.   

BTW My 5 yo granddaughter pretty much made that dragonfly card by herself.   She looked through some of my stash and chose the dragonfly topper to go with her whisk dragonfly.    She chose the card base and used a scoreboard to fold it.   She wanted the curved embossing but she couldn't manage that, so I did it.   She chose foam pads to stick on the toppers and persevered to remove the backing tape.   She positioned everything on the card by herself.   She has definite ideas about what she wants to do and I always am amazed by her colour awareness and concentration when she's crafting.   She's not interested in sewing yet 

Moorviews

@daisy_1571 - thank you so much for the wonderful detailed post on quilting as you go! You have explained it so well that I can now understand exactly what to do. I agree that your hand sewing of the joining strip gives a much nicer finish than the line of machine sewing. I have spotted the author’s previous book in the Kindle library so I shall also have a look at that while I still have the subscription. 

plumduff55

@daisy_1571  I've ordered the book from World of Books. It's used but very good condition and cost £14.70. My idea every year is to sit leisurely on Christmas morning and read my book. But it's usually Boxing Day or the 27th before I get a chance to open it 🥴.  Looking forward to using some of my stash with a QAYG project. Thanks xx

daisy_1571

fantastic, very glad to help.  I agree its a lovely feeling opening a new and a new to you book, enjoy.      looking forward to seeing some photos when you start to work with the fabric   

Daisy xx