I really enjoy hand piecing. For some time, I have been searching for the right tools to help me make a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. I wanted to be able to simplify the English Paper Piecing method so that I didn’t have to do any basting or whipstitching, and wouldn’t have to remove the templates afterward. I wanted the stitching to be invisible from the front. I did not want to have to mark the fabric with a stitching line, or do any running stitch to sew the hexies together. Impossible? I thought so, for a long time, but finally have found a collection of products that will make my hand piecing dream come true.

The template material was the most important consideration. Since I didn’t want to have to remove it, I started evaluating different types of wash-away stabilizers. Some were not stiff enough to be used as templates, some didn’t get soft after washing. The one I finally settled on? Ricky Tims’ Stable Stuff poly (sorry about the camera flash).

It comes in standard size sheets, so it will go through my computer printer. That’s important because I use software to print my English Paper Piecing templates.  It is stiff enough to substitute for paper, and when it is washed, inside the finished quilt, it becomes soft and flexible so that the quilt is not stiff.

In the photo above, you can see how English Paper Piecing is done. The hexagon shape is cut from the white stabilizer. A piece of fabric is cut, approximately 1/4 inch larger than the template on all sides. Normally, that excess fabric would be folded to the back of the template and stitched in place temporarily, through the stabilizer. Instead, I use fabric glue to stick the seam allowances down. The 4 hexagons that I stitched together on the left are a sample I made to test different types of stitching. I found the best results came from using a small curved needle and ladder stitching the hexagons together from the wrong side. The stitches are invisible from the front. If you click on the photo, you can see the needle resting on the white hexagon template on the lower right.

Just to be sure that everything would wash up nicely after piecing, I made a rosette from 7 hexies and then layered it with batting and backing, quilted it, washed it, and let it dry. It’s just as soft as if there had been no stabilizer under the fabric, and it was much faster to put together than if I had needed to remove basting stitches and paper templates before quilting. The experiment has been a success, and now I can begin the actual quilt!

Now there’s a subject that can provoke a quilter!  We all have our individual opinions about whether one should wash fabric before using it to make a quilt.  Do I prewash?  It depends on the quilt, and I thought I would share my own take on the subject, since I will soon be starting this:

Vintage Valentine, a pattern from the Vintage Spool.  Yes, this is the block of the month program that I was so eagerly awaiting.  Why did it take so long to reach me?  The package envelope got torn in transit, and Canada Post placed it in a plastic bag before forwarding it to me.  This, apparently, takes a week to perform.  I feel better about my own productivity now.  I did NOT order this from the Vintage Spool, it was another online quilt shop that I’m still not going to name because of their indifferent customer service.  Anyway, we were supposed to be talking about washing fabric, so here are my guidelines:

1.  If the fabric is Indonesian batik, I always prewash.  Most of these fabrics are colourfast, but every once in awhile there’s a bad apple in the barrel.  Better to wash it and not worry.

2.  If I am going to do hand applique, I always prewash.  This is because I use a wash-away stabilizer under my applique pieces, which I will have to wash out at some point because it contains starch (which attracts some insects).  Prewashing the fabric allows it to shrink before I make the block.  Then once I wash the completed block, further shrinkage will be minimal, and the applique work won’t pucker.

3.  If I’m using a deep red or green fabric, I will pre-test a sample.  Swishing a small square of fabric in warm, soapy water and then drying it on a white paper towel will reveal any tendency to bleed colour.  If it’s colourfast, and I’m making a pieced quilt, I will use the unwashed fabric.

4.  For any pieced quilt with fabric I am sure is colourfast, I don’t bother prewashing.  I like an old-fashioned, aged look to my quilts, and I don’t prewash my cotton batting, either.  Once the quilt is finished, the whole thing gets washed, and the shrinkage of the fabric and batting gives the quilt an attractive texture.

I’m glad that I wrote this down.  Now I can purge it from my short term memory.  I’m pretty sure it was taking up the space I need so that I can remember where I put my keys.

I’m constantly impressed  by the quality of some of the free quilt patterns I’ve found online.  Here are a couple of new or soon-to-be-starting block of the month quilt patterns that you can collect at no cost.

Beth Ferrier of Applewood Farms has a lovely pieced and appliqued quilt called “Now and Forever“.  The fabric requirements are listed now.  The first block is available on Valentine’s Day.  She keeps each block pattern online for a month, and then it is replaced by the next block, and so on.  If you miss downloading one of the parts, you can buy it later.  Usually, after the BOM has run its course, she makes the entire pattern available in book form at her online shop.  Check out her blog, too, it’s interesting.

Baltimore Bliss, from FatCat Patterns, is a 12-block applique quilt in the Baltimore Album style.  Very girly and pretty (right up my alley).  The first block is available now, and the free downloads are available for two months at a time before they disappear.  If you just can’t wait, you can order the PDF file for the entire pattern for a reasonable price.  If you’re patient, you can collect the patterns for free.  I’m frankly amazed that something this beautiful can be had for nothing.  Thank you, generous designers!

I’ve been dying to share this little quilt, but I couldn’t until now.  It was a gift for one of my fellow Quilters’ Workshop members, and I didn’t want to risk her seeing it on the blog before Wednesday’s gift exchange.

This was way outside my comfort zone!  I’m a pink-and-girly fabric kinda quilter, and brown just isn’t in my usual colour scheme.  Paulette seems to like it, though, and that’s the goal.  There will be more to share in the coming days, since our city is suffering through a transit strike.  I’m spending more time at home crafting and less time out shopping.  I usually take the bus when I want to go to Michael’s or the quilt shop, and I’m really missing that convenience.  I support the drivers’ position, though, so I shouldn’t complain.  Here’s hoping that Saturday’s mediation bears some fruit!

Indeed, I still make quilts from time to time.  My machine quilting skills are not the greatest, so once a top has been pieced/appliqued it sometimes languishes before (and during) the quilting phase.  The Japanese Wedding quilt is from a pattern published in Quilter’s Newsletter magazine (one of the 2007 issues, I think).  I changed it marginally, cutting the floral fabrics in squares.  In the pattern, each floral square was made up of two rectangles.  I wanted to use squares instead, because some of these fabrics are larger scale and I wanted to see more of the design without chopping it up.  I’m about a third of the way through quilting it.

Most of the indigo fabrics are from Japan, but some are asian-inspired American fabrics.  The florals are all American quilting cottons.  I’m quilting it with King Tut cotton quilting thread in the “Lobelia” colourway, which is variegated but looks almost solid on the cone.

I’m thrilled to have been able to use those indigo fabrics together.  I collected little bits and pieces for years to have enough to make a scrappy-looking quilt.  Perhaps I will finish it before the end of the year!

Just a quick note to point to the new issue of CQMagOnline.  If you’re a crazy quilter, this freebie is absolutely full of inspiration and you shouldn’t miss it.  Some of the best-known quilt artists contribute to it, including Pat Winter and Barbara Blankenship.  I am constantly amazed at how many people are willing to share their art and techniques without any monetary compensation.  My gratitude goes out to them and to the people behind the scenes putting this online publication together.  Many thanks!

I’ll be teaching my fabric covered box class at Quilty Pleasures next month.  If you enjoy hand sewing, join me on two Fridays, October 17th and 24th from 10 a.m. to noon and I’ll show you how to make one.  The small, hexagonal box pictured above is about 4 inches deep, and 7 inches wide, measured between opposite sides.  The class fee of $35 includes precut cardboard support pieces.  I do that so we can spend as much time as possible on sewing, and I will also give you instructions for cutting your own pieces so you can make more boxes later.

I use mine for holding sewing supplies, but they make great gift boxes, and look lovely covered in Christmas fabric.  If you’d like to see one in person, there’s a box on display at the store.  They have an amazing selection of quilting fabrics and supplies, too.

Thanks to a little tendonitis flare, there’s not much to show on the knitting/quilting front this week, short of posting yet another picture of the Fleece Artist sock in progress (the heel is turned!)

Browsing the blogs this morning, I came across a photo of the perfect, food-stylist ideal fried egg, and it reminded me of something I saw on a cooking show years ago.  The host was in Jamaica, I think, and sampling the local cuisine.  The program also explored some of the local culture, and this show featured a surrealist painter whose subject was fried eggs.  There was one painting of a woman hanging laundry on a line.  The “laundry” was fried eggs.  There was another painting of a rainy scene.  It was raining fried eggs.  Little, perfect, yellow-yolk-in-the-middle fried eggs.  I wish I could remember the artist’s name, because I am dying to recreate one of these scenes in fabric, and I want to give proper credit.  Crazy?  I guess I had better not admit that it wouldn’t be the first time I made a quilt with a fried egg on it.  And bacon. 

While searching for fried egg art on Yahoo!, I found this:

Henk Hofstra’s sculptural breakfast, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.  See more photos here.

Sunny side up!

I heard on the radio that we had 22 days of rain in June.   July was pretty humid as well.  Every time the sun shines, and we’ve had a bit of sunny weather lately, I get out with the dog to enjoy it as much as possible.  The rain has given me plenty of time for needlework, so it’s not all bad.

That Patons sock yarn was calling me.  I cast on a toe-up sock and started knitting.  Oh, dear:

It looks like pink camouflage.  What a disappointment.  The yarn itself is so springy and soft, I love the way it feels.  Maybe I’ll try again later with another colourway.  I will be frogging this one, and pretending it never happened.

Working on the crazy quilt block has been unexpectedly difficult.  I painted some lace and began attaching it to the block with french knots.

I didn’t realize that stitching through the fabric and fused interfacing on the back would aggravate my tendonitis…I could hardly sleep that night from the pain.  I am finishing this block with great attention to how much stress I’m putting on my fingers, and the next block will not be interfaced!

Luckily, knitting uses completely different hand movements, and I knit loosely, so I can still enjoy it.  Trying to get the recent sock disappointment out of my mind, I grabbed some Fleece Artist merino from stash and cast on.

Ahh, that’s much better.

Oh, have you seen the Twist Collective?  Very stylish, and nice sock patterns are available.  Not a freebie site, but the prices are reasonable.

Finally, I stopped dithering about which quilt to start, and pieced this crazy patch yesterday.  It will become part of a small wallhanging.  There will be 12 crazy blocks, and an embroidered centre block, probably roses or some other floral design.

This quilt is going to be heavily embellished with beads, buttons and charms, so before I do any of the hand stitching, I’ll iron on some fusible interfacing on the back of the block.  This will help keep the finished quilt from sagging under the weight of the embellishments.  This block is more than 10 inches square right now, but will have a finished size of 9 inches.  I’m making the block larger because I tend to stitch at a tight tension, and I expect shrinkage.

There’s also progress on the knitting front:

I’m knitting an actual fitted garment!  This is Noro Silk Garden #244, and it will be a polo-style pullover for my husband.  I’ve finished the back, and have started the armhole shaping on the front.  Those of you who know my knitting habits, please sit down:  I knit a gauge swatch and washed it and measured it before I started the sweater. 

My dog just wants to know when Mum will get off the computer…it’s playtime!