An upcycling project and famous last words

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 Last year at Festival of Quilts, I attended a talk about Sylko threads and since then I have been on the look out for the wooden reels. The original shop cabinets can be quite expensive and so I've been searching for something that would be a bit nicer than the current cardboard boxes in which my reels are currently stored, but more affordable than the vintage cabinets.

I spotted a wooden box in charity shop for only £2 that had potential. It had a logo and some paint stains, but these could be removed by sanding. I found an image of the Sylko logo online which I was able to adapt to make it a suitable size and colour for the box. Adding a £1 bottle of glue, a £1.50 can of spray varnish and a couple of hours of my time resulted in a more stylish storage solution for at least some of my Sylko reels.

I said last month that I had finished all the machine pieced blocks for my Wonderland sampler quilt and only had to applique the EPP shapes onto the background square - this turned out not to be the case. After completing the applique, I went to layout the blocks and realised I was four short for my on point layout.

I was originally planning a 8x8 square layout and so had chosen 64 blocks to make from the book. However, I changed my mind and decided to set the blocks on point which required 68 blocks, but I had not updated my notes. After looking through the book for inspiration, I made 2 extra machine pieced blocks and 2 extra EPP blocks. One bonus of not being able to count, was that I was able to include some hidden cats in one of the extra blocks.

The next stage is to decide on a layout and check my calculations for the triangles at the ends of each row.

More news on the Wonderland sampler quilt

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This month I have mainly been sewing blocks for the Wonderland sampler quilt and have now completed all the machine pieced blocks that I will be making.

This set of blocks include the “diamond in a square” which I pieced using self-drafted foundation paper patterns and some flying geese blocks.

Some template blocks were pieced using the templates supplied in the book, but the nine patch based blocks used FPP for some of the components.

The final part of sewing the block is to applique the English paper piecing shapes to the background squares. I had thought I would do these by machine, but I preferred the hand stitched look and am quite enjoying a bit of hand stitching.

A renovation project and some Wonderland quilt progress

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Last month I mentioned a vintage sewing basket and contents that I bought off Ebay. The basket has now been renovated and put to use.

"After"

"Before"

Some of the wicker work was in worse condition than I first realised so I “lined” the basket with cardboard. For the main section of the basket, I made a box shaped lining from grey/lilac canvas fabric that was lightly quilted to some headlining and glued this to the cardboard. For the basket lid, I again lined it with cardboard to which I glued a panel made using six of the “origami style” blocks made last year at a Jennie Rayment workshop hosted by Waterloo Quiters. I’m pleased to have found a use for these blocks and I think they are in keeping with some of the ornate satin linings seen on the lids of vintage sewing baskets.

Good progress has also been made on the machine pieced blocks for my Wonderland sampler quilt with 18 more blocks being completed. These all included half and quarter square triangles which I cut using Sizzix dies rather than using the instructions in the book. The blocks went together well and minimal trimming was required, though I did have to make one block oversized due to the size of the dies I had, but it was easily cut to the correct size.

The next set of blocks use “diamond in a square” for which I will be using foundation paper piecing templates.

A productive start to the year

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This month started with the arrival of a vintage sewing mystery box. Last year I bought a mystery box from Barnyarns, the contents of which were not exactly to my taste or needs. This year I spotted a charity listing on Ebay for a vintage sewing basket and contents which was half the price of last year’s box. The photos gave a hint of what was inside and I decided it was worth a go as if there was nothing of use, I could regard it as a donation to charity.

The basket arrived and it was full of a mix of sewing and knitting items. The contents included a darning mushroom, 2 rag rug hooks, 7 tape measures, 2 containers of pin, 5 thimbles, a bodkin, 10 packets of needles, various hotel sewing kits, 2 needle threader, 45 reels of thread, 1 pair of pinking shears, 10 pairs of scissors, 19 pairs of knitting needles, 2 sets of double pointed knitting needles, 8 crochets hooks, 2 knitting gauges, 3 row counters and 1 stitch holder.

It appears that the original owner was also a patch-worker as there was handmade half square triangle work bag and an EPP pin cushion, as well as two embroidered needle books.

The basket interior has seen better days, but I think it will make a good renovation project.

I was very pleased with this purchase, though the combination of a talk on Sylko threads at last year’s Festival of Quilts and several vintage reels of Sylko in the basket has started me exploring other related vintage sewing items and no doubt there will be more to report on that.

The next sewing related activity was my first trip to Waterloo Quilters of the year. This was a charity sewing day and we were making potato chip blocks for Project Linus quilts. It’s a great block to make as a group activity as there are no seams to match and it doesn’t matter which way the seams are pressed so you have plenty of opportunity for chatting and swapping of our pre-cut pieces to ensure no repeats in each block.

I’ve also made some more progress on my Wonderland sampler quilt. I’m not making all the blocks in the book and am making some changes to ones that are not quite to my liking. The last of the EPP blocks from the book have been completed and I included a mini Patchwork of the Crosses block in my selection of EPP blocks.

Sewing has also started on the machine pieced blocks. I didn’t like the very first block and have changed this to a courthouse steps block; similarly, I introduced more white fabric into the log cabin block.

The next style of blocks to make are based on half square triangles, which I cut using my Sizzix dies, so it will be interesting to see how they go together.

Wonderland sampler progress and a trip to Harrogate

This month has seen a little progress on the Wonderland Sampler quilt and a slightly unexpected trip to the Knit+Stitch show in Harrogate.

I’ve completed seven more of the EPP blocks for Wonderland Sampler quilt and a couple more (not shown) have been partly completed in that the EPP part is done, but they require an additional part to be appliqued.

These blocks gave me the chance to try some fussy cutting and, as with the first three blocks I completed, I have tried to keep to the same or similar fabrics as in the book. Again, I have made some minor changes to the shapes to reduce the number of hexagon shaped blocks.

Looking back at the blog, I think it has been 5 years since I last went to the Knitting and Stitching (now renamed Knit+ Stitch) show in Harrogate. This show can be difficult for me to get to by train but one of the sewing/quilting groups had late availability on a coach trip and I took the opportunity to go.

As usual, I didn’t particularly “need” anything, but I did manage to find some bargain items that will be useful and I was able to get some Schmetz Super Universal non-stick needles for projects involving bondaweb etc. One thing I did need to get was something for the quilting group Secret Santa and after much looking I finally found something that I hope will be well received (not shown in the photo just in case anyone relevant is reading this!).

As the show also covers embroidery and yarn crafts, it does mean that once I’ve looked at the sewing/quilting stands, there is time to go into Harrogate and get some cakes from Betty’s to bring home. This year’s choice was a mocha torte and two fat rascals.

 Going as a group makes the ticket prices reasonable and I think with this show, I regard it more as trip to Harrogate with the added bonus of a small sewing show on the side.

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Sewing has finally started on the Wonderland Sampler quilt

After many weeks (or even months) of preparation, I’ve finally started sewing blocks for the Wonderland Sampler quilt!

At the start of this month, I went along to one of Alice Caroline’s pop-up shops and topped up my Liberty stash with a few fabrics for the Wonderland Sampler quilt and some small pieces of plain lawn. There were no Liberty bargains, but I did find some other bargains - 1.5m of sage green chambray with a printing fault for £10, Aurifil thread with a 25% discount, a Merchant & Mills point turner for £1 and a pack of Tulip needles for £1.

 

This month’s Waterloo Quilters meeting was a free sewing session and I took along some of the English paper piecing (EPP) blocks from the Wonderland Sampler quilt to stitch. I managed to complete three blocks during the meeting and the rest of the EPP blocks are all now tacked to the papers ready to stitch together.

As you can see, for two of the blocks although the fabrics are different I have kept to the book’s designs, but for the other block, I decided to omit the outer diamonds to reduce the number of hexagon shaped blocks.

It’s been a while since I last did any EPP, but I’m hoping I can get into the habit of doing a little stitching each evening now that the clocks have gone back.

 

 

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Giant(ish) microbes and more

There’s been a little bit of sewing and quite a lot of preparation for sewing this month.

The month started with making some felt disease-causing microbes for a work public engagement event. These were to accompany commercially-available “giant microbes”, so I guess that makes them “largish microbes”.

Next was a great morning at Waterloo Quilters listening to Maureen Crawford talk about 50(ish) of her quilts in 50 (ish) minutes. There was lots of inspiration for quilt patterns and quilting designs and it was interesting to see examples of quilts made with fabrics other than quilting cottons.

There has also been lots of preparation for my Wonderland Sampler quilt. I’ve gone through my Liberty stash and picked fabrics as close as possible to those used in the book. I’ve decided to set the blocks on point and so I won’t need to make 100 blocks as in the book and I think I have prepared kits for each of the blocks I am planning on making.

There are a few fabrics where I didn’t have a close substitute, but Alice Caroline is having a pop-up fabric shop in Port Sunlight next month which will give me chance to get a few new fabrics.

 

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If it’s August, it must be Festival of Quilts

This month started with a trip to Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Unlike last year when none of the workshops or talks appealed to me, this year I booked two quick and easy workshops (one at 8.30 am!) and one talk which meant a two day trip and an overnight stay in Birmingham.

My first workshop was a no-sew introduction to Bargello in which double-sided fusible stabilizer was used to create strip set and arrange them into a panel. Making a Bargello quilt is on my wish list and this was a great way of understanding the process and seeing how the patterns can develop.

The second workshop was early morning which meant an early departure from the hotel in central Birmingham, but had the advantage of being able to go straight from the workshop to the exhibition halls for the start of the show. This workshop was for making earrings from Dorset buttons and we were able to complete one earring during the workshop. I now need to make another earring while I can remember how.

My final activity was a talk on the history of Sylko threads and how they now have collectable status. This was interesting and amusing (how many shades of pink can there be?) and, after hearing how much some of the rarer colours can fetch, I should really check my few Sylko reels to see if any could fund next year’s trip!

I get the feeling I only took in a fraction of the quilts on display. After many years of going, I still find the quantity of quilts overwhelming, though one quilt in the 5-9 age group in particular did make me smile. The theme was “My Hero” and from a distance it made sense, but then I saw the title - the hero is not Godzilla!

Fortunately someone with a show guide was able to share the description which explains the link between Godzilla and Grandma.

As usual, I didn’t come away empty handed and my purchases this year saw bargains from the Project Linus stand (including So Fine Thread for just £1 per reel); 3m of interfacing to give a tana lawn quilt some oomph if needed (from Lady Sew and Sew) and some rings for Dorset buttons; an ombré remnant and a cat panel from Allison’s craft emporium; a free bag and some other goodies from Aurifil.

The rest of the August had been mostly sorting and preparing fabrics for my Wonderland Sampler quilt, though sewing has yet to start on it. I did manage a bit of sewing at Waterloo Quilters where we tried the Accuquilt Qube system to make some 12”blocks. It was great for cutting half square triangles as no trimming was required, though cutting squares is probably just as easy with a ruler and rotary cutter.

Trying the Accuquilt system reminded me to check my Sizzix dies and it looks as though I have the correct size dies for half square triangles and quarter square triangles that might be suitable for a few of the blocks in the Wonderland Sampler. Hopefully this weekend will see the last of the preparation and next month sewing can start.

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