Royal Wedding Bunting

At last my Union Jack fabric has arrived and I intend to use every last scrap of it.  Here is a picture of some bunting that I made, in fact I have made three sets, but here is just one...

I am also in the process of making a Royal Wedding wall hanging - it was an idea I had that turned into quite a big project!  I started it on Sunday and it is nearly done, but I think I have worked myself too hard this week and given myself an almighty headache so I am having the night off and vegging in front of the telly and getting an early night!  Progress is good though and I hope to post a photo of the final thing really soon.

If at first you don't succeed...

It certainly has been a case of try and try again today with this sample that I have been dreading, incorporating...curved seams!  This sample is known as 'Drunkard's Path' and the curved seams certainly proved themselves to be somewhat problematic.  I have found that the one major flaw with distance learning is there is no-one to guide you and point you in the right direction and you have to quite literally learn from your mistakes.  

The instructions for this sample were fine but there was no information on how to create the templates.  As it turns out, one of my templates was the wrong size, because I didn't allow a seam allowance on the curved edge (I did on the straight edges.)  So when I painstakingly pinned and machined, the final result was a complete disaster.  And so I kept trying, over and over, and also by hand, to no avail.  I was getting desperate.  So I went back to the drawing board, and that's when I realised what the problem was.  

So with the new template drawn up and two pieces of fabric the right size, I found pinning SO much easier!  And because I couldn't face it going wrong again  using the sewing machine, I opted for hand stitching, and finally it worked out! So then I was able to complete the sample, in less than half an hour, (including putting Freya to bed) after the best part of a day tearing my hair out. 

You would never know of all the fuss from the picture below,  as it looks very plain and uninspiring, but apperances can certainly be deceiving...

Drunkard's Path

And in case you are wondering when you are going to see a whole quilt, (given that this is a quilting course) I think the answer is not for a while.  Being a City and Guilds course, there has to be evidence of lots of different skills, patterns, designs etc. first, before you start making whole projects.  But I had planned on making a 'quick' quilt out of my 4 lovely nautical fabrics, so as soon as I have done so I will post a picture.  

As for the Union Jack bunting, I am still waiting for the fabric to arrive, hopefully it will be here soon. 

Samples for Module 2

I have been working hard this week on module 2,  and  I have finally managed to complete two quilting block samples.  

The first example is called an Ohio Star, and it is my rotary cutting sample.  (I always use a rotary cutter, but for the purposes of the course I have additional photographs illustrating the rotary cutting process to go with this sample.  Not shown here as not very interesting!)  I think the Ohio Star is really effective; 

Ohio Star Block

My next sample is a block that I designed, based on one of the photographs that I took at Chatham Historic Dockyard. 

Own Design Block

I am looking forward to doing the next sample, but this time it involves curved seams, so I am feeling very nervous about it as I don't think it will be as straight forward.  We shall see how I get on, and if it's not good enough I will just have to do it again. 

Other exciting news today is that I have purchased myself some vintage style union jack fabric to make bunting for the Royal Wedding.  I have to own up and say that I was completely inspired by Lisa Carey (I hope you are reading this Lisa) who has done a fantastic job of making bits for said wedding, and I felt that I had to rise to the occasion as well.  The fabric is from ebay, so it will be a few days before I have the chance to get making, but I can't wait!

Freya and Evie model their aprons and play kitchens!

Here they are at last, the two gorgeous girls, in their aprons, having fun...

And now it's time for some real focus on my current module; I plan to get lots done this week so watch this space.  I'll also post some of my favourite pages of my portfolio from Module 1 later on in the week. 

An Apron for Freya

Well I have finally managed to make Freya's apron (pink of course) and here she is modelling it for the very first time - I think she likes it :-) 

There is also a matching apron for Dolly, who is also modelling it beautifully (she didn't run towards the camera when I tried to take her picture, unlike Freya!)

Now we just need to see Evie and try and get a picture of the two of them in their matching aprons together - that will be fun! 

More Quilting Samples from Module 1

For today's post, I thought I would put up some more pictures of my quilting samples from module 1;

Now it's back to work on my designs for module 2, and I've also bought some card to make a backup file to go with my portfolio so I'll be making that this weekend too.  Not to mention an apron for Freya.  No rest for me!

An Apron for Evie

Today I have managed to work on some design work for my shape portfolio, but it's not complete so I can't post a photo, and I want to wait until I have completed all of module 2 so that I can photograph everything at the same time and in the same light.

But I have also been busy on another 'quick' project - I promised Freya and her friend Evie that I would make them a little apron each, to go with Freya's play food and saucepan set.  So after a minor disaster the other night (don't ask) I started over and made Evie a little apron and once I have got some more fabric tomorrow I will make Freya's.  I might make matching tea towels as well, so that they have the complete set of accessories :-)  Watch this space, I will post a picture of the little angels in their new 'designer' kitchen gear soon!  

My Entry for the SST Royal Wedding Competition and More

The School of Stitched Textiles has launched a competition asking learners to email photographs of any textiles work they have made with a wedding theme, to celebrate the Royal Wedding.  Naturally, I completed a cross stitch to celebrate when Pete and I got married back in 2007, and I thought that this would be perfect for my entry.  It's a 'Lizzy-Kate' design that I personalised, so wish me luck for the competition! 

I also came across some of my other work when I was looking for this piece;

I realise that there is more cross stitch on this blog than quilting!  So I really must crack on with my quilting samples and I'll put them up soon.

An aside - A Cross Stitch for May

My lovely friends Gemma and Ben greeted the arrival of little baby May last month, and so true to form, I couldn't resist creating a little cross stitch birth sampler for her...

Of course Freya wanted to join in the fun and celebrations, so we worked together to make a card from Freya as well...

(Sorry, can't work out how to rotate it.)  Needless to say, I think May was pleased with her home made gifts and we are really looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Welcome Aboard!

Hello and welcome to my brand new, shiny blog!  I am very excited as this is my first blog entry and my first experience of blogging, but so far it has been relatively straight forward and painless, and I have not had to call upon Pete's expertise.

Anyway, enough rambling about boring computer technicalities, first I would like to show you a few pictures of my work from Module 1 - Line.  They are samples of different types of block.  

As I am already three months into the course, there is quite a bit that I can post, so my next few entries will be playing 'catch up' before I get up to date with what I am doing now, which is module 2.