Days by the Sea Quilt!

So this is pretty exciting guys but I have a tutorial on the Hobbycraft website! 

Basically the Craft cotton company got in touch with me saying they had a new line of fabrics out and would I like to make a quilt and well nobody has to ask me to make a quilt twice!!! So I drew up some ideas and in time honoured tradition they picked the most difficult one!!! 

The quilt is made up of five simple blocks and uses a 1.5cm seam allowance mainly because it a great introductory quilt for people who have previously done dressmaking and secondly because I find larger seams are easier to work with! 

The fabric itself is from the "days by the sea" collection by the craft cotton company and is full of gorgeous sea side nostalgia!

Anyways this is probably one of my proudest makes ever! So please go and take a look and make one for yourself!!! Its the perfect size for kids to snuggle up under although I've been doing a fair amount of napping under it myself!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx 

Raw Edge Hexagon Quilt

Its hot, like really hot so posting about a quilt I finished seems a bit wrong!

But its finished so here we go!

Lord knows I love a hexy quilt but after doing two hexagon cushions recently I just couldn't be bothered with the whole paper piecing thing, so I had a lil look on pinterest and low and behold I saw a hexagon quilt where the hexagons were stitched down corner to corner. Now they had turned under all the raw edges but I'm lazy so I kept my edges raw in the hopes that the more its used the more of a shabby chic vibe it'll get.

So basically I sat and cut out LOADS of hexagons out of scrap fabric. I used a plastic template that I got free with Love patchwork and quilting magazine but you could easily print one of and make one out of cardboard!

Then I put them in a shoe box and ignored them for a while! Finally I pulled it back out and started to layer it up. first I put down a layer of fleece fabric [Mine was a blanket from Asda that I got in the sale!] Next I put down some backing fabric and smoothed the whole thing out [My backing fabric was some sort of upholstery weigh thing.] Then I sat with a slightly larger hexagon template and drew out a hexagon grid. And placed one fabric hexagon in the middle of each hexagon. Technically you don't need the grid you could just eyeball it. But I wanted to make sure I had some form of even spacing going on [As it goes its a bit squiffy on one side!] Yet again I used a slightly larger template free from my magazine subscription.

If your gonna make one of these yourself there's two important things to remember! 1. Your hexagon template for making the grid needs to be larger than the one you use for cutting out or you won't get the gap effect and 2. you need to use a pen that disappears to draw your grid on the fabric. I use a frixon pen because they disappear when you iron them but you could also use a water soluble one! 

So you sit and pin every single individual hexagon, which takes ages! I just pulled mine out of the box as they came and didn't worry if I had two the same sat together! Then I sat and quilted corner to corner for what felt like hours! [funny story, my new quilting mag was delivered and I said to myself I wont read it until I've finished quilting this and then lo and behold! It only had a pair of quilting gloves as the free gift!]  

The more I look at these pictures the more I think the quilting on the back is my favourite part I just love how cool those lil triangles look together!

That said I can't wait to wash it to see how cool and distressed it ends up looking!

Its bound using some of the flower strips my friend gave me ages ago! I actually think I'll be using this to bind my quilts for the rest of my life!! 

The quilt itself is lap sized which is nice for snuggles on the sofa but I really do need to start making some bigger ones! 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now I'll probably put it in the air cupboard until winter. Rikki actually did a lil eyebrow raise when he saw this one and mutter something about the amount of blankets we have. But then I gently reminded him that we can use them in winter to keep heating costs down and he soon shut up!

Plus I think its always nice to be able to offer people homemade blanket if they stay over.

In other news I am toasty as hell! 

And I'm still doing me made may but I keep forgetting to take pictures! So I either post them late in the day or not at all! I'm also struggling not to repeat things because I love to wear my favourite clothes!

Anyways!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Vintage Patchwork Picnic Blanket

We needed a picnic blanket and I needed something to occupy my time whilst my iron was broken. Using the cheats method of making half square triangles seemed to do the trick.

The fabric used for the HST was upholstery and curtain remnant fabric that was given to me by a friend, no piece was bigger than a4 so it lent itself to patchwork.

I pieced the HST randomly so they were all going in different directions, I like that it sends your eyes on a crazy trip trying to find patterns. And it makes for quick piecing, no messing and checking which ways which, just pick two and sew them together, then sew your twos to twos, then fours to fours etc etc. I'd love to try this technique in solids or low volume prints for a really modern look.

I added the centre embroidered square because I only had 8 HST blocks. I like the effect though, I love it when a disaster turns itself around. 

The embroidery was from a really old project in fact it was one of the first things I wrote about in 2014 . Its been gathering dust in my sewing area since it was finished.

I applied it to the red floral fabric using a zig zag stitch. Technically I should have turned all the edges under and made it really neat, but at this point I wasn't loving how it was looking.

In fact I still don't I only really finished it because I'm working on my quilting skills. Speaking of which, I quilted around the centre square and did a triangle sort of thing on the edges, I'm not sure if you can see in the pictures and I'm not sure what to call it. It was really quick though and I think it makes a nice effect. I didn't use batting because I don't have any, and didn't think it was worth the purchase [can you tell I'm not a quilting purist?] Instead I used a piece of heavy upholstery fabric. I think it works well because this quilt isn't intended for snuggling just for eating off. The upholstery fabric also means its pretty heavy so hopefully won't fly away.

I backed it with this fox print fabric that I won in a giveaway on Marie's blog. Whilst I love the print its not the sort of thing I would use for clothes but I think it makes a pretty nice quilt back. 

I stitched the binding by hand, which didn't take long as the quilt is only about one metre square. Not big enough to sleep under but big enough to eat off.

So here's my verdict, I don't love it. In theory I should, I loved the idea of using the HST so that the floral prints would end up looking like a crazy wild flower garden. And I love that I had to use an embroidery at the centre and that the embroidery fits with my wild garden idea. But I just don't like it.  I showed it to my sister and she commented its not in my usual quilt style were I tend to go for a very modern look like here and here.

In fact when I've gone for a slightly more "twee" look Its still not looked quite as vintage as this.

So now I think I need to make a new picnic blanket in my style and work out what I'm going to do with this one!

Anyone want a picnic blanket?

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Finishing Projects - Hexy Quilt

Its been a few days since I've last posted, mainly because I haven't really done anything due to a complete lack of motivation. I'm not sure what my funk is but I'm hoping to get out of it soon, I'm wondering if its because I've churned out some pretty big projects recently and my mind just needs a rest. There's been more sorting out going on though which has brought several unfinished projects to my attention including my hexy quilt! Which according to instagram I started 48 weeks ago!

Which I have decided to finish and I'm scrapping the quilt idea. I love the idea of having a hexy quilt, but we are hoping to move in the future and I plan on having a quilt in every room but I want them to match the decor and I'm not sure this will work. So instead I'm going to turn it into a large floor cushion. Something i can stow away in a cupboard but bring out when I need an extra seat or want to build a blanket fort or do some reading in the garden.

So I've decided this will be my last full row, and then I'm going to do a row of white cut down Hexies to give me straight edges. I think It'll be nice to have something finished again and I can see it being very useful.  

I've also been doing a bit of knitting, I've started on the sleeve of my miette cardigan and I'm struggling with how my circular needle I have, everything seems a lil stretched. I'm hoping I can bust out the two sleeves very soon because I think the cardigan will be awesome for the summer.

I also started this lil pair of booties, 

But they look a bit small at the moment so I'm going to rip it back and start again on bigger needles.

They are going to be grey and white striped, which I'm hoping will look super chic!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Second Baby Blanket - Spotty Spiral

This is my second baby blanket for a sprog that's being born this year. And i can take no responsibility for the crazy fabric choices, I pulled some very neutral colours from my stash for this quilt, and then Lil man came over asked what I was doing and who the quilt was for and he decided because they have a spotty dog, they must have a spotty quilt and then picked out every spotty fabric I own. 

And then I pulled a few solids and an owl fat quarter and the Spotty Spiral quilt was born!

For the piecing I cut all my fabric into strips the same size and joined them together. so i had one bit long roll of crazy spotty ness, kinda like a jelly roll.

Then I started with my gingham centre square [yeah I put gingham in the mix too!] and added a boarder to each side in a spiral and there you go!! Genuinely some of the most relaxing piecing I've ever done. Sew strip, Cut, Turn, Sew strip, Cut, Turn very therapeutic!

In the end I had to add a solid boarder to balance the quilt a bit more [And its ombre and my awesome matching skills means it goes from dark to light to dark to light perfectly!]

I backed it with white fleece fabric and quilted it in a very simple spiral pattern that I think looks super cool. This was also very relaxing, however I still hate wrestling a quilt under my domestic machine! 

Because of the nature of the project this turned into quite the little stash buster! And although its crazy because of all the prints I think it looks really fun!

And I really love that there's so many different sizes of polka dot! 

The mustard binding really ties the whole thing together, I machined the back and hand stitched the front for a nicer finish. In fact I think hand stitching the binding might be my favourite part of quilting.

I'm pleased with how it all came together especially seen as I didn't choose most of the fabrics and I went for a really simple piecing method! Now both of my baby quilts are finished I can focus on my quilt again! Yay! That is unless someone else decides to get knocked up!!!   

In other news , lil man has been getting up really early which is brilliant obviously [insert copious amounts of sarcasm here]. 

And I've started a full house clean, so far I've done the bathroom and airing cupboard, lil mans room and the kitchen. Just have to do the hallway and its cupboards, the pantry [sobs, there's always spiders in there] and then the living room and the dining/sewing/dvd/guinea pig room! And then our room! Its exhausting but It'll be worth it when its done. So far I'm using the if we don't use it bin it rules! And were putting a lot of stuff up the loft too.

In fact me writing this is me putting off tidying and cleaning 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx   

Finished Disappearing 9 patch quilt

Yay I've finally finished one of my baby blankets [Well I've finished both of them but I've not written the Blog post for the second one!] So I'm all caught up and I can start my own quilting projects again! Yay! 

So this one is for the first baby that's being born in April, or thereabouts. Its based on a disappearing 9 patch but added some borders.

These pictures are not brilliant because the wind kept blowing and I've been feeling peaky all day, so I just reached the point where I gave up and decided to live with what I've got.

Its quilted quite simply, I basically started at one corner and quilted at right angles so its like a corner quilting technique. Pretty simple but it looks cool and its all pretty flat.

Its backed with a piece of fleece, I don't tend to add wadding to baby quilts just because I don't see it as being necessary, so instead I just use a squishy fleece. This fleece came from b and ms and was part of a two pack of fleece blankets for 3.99 which is far cheaper than buying fabric from a fabric shop.

I also used fleece for the binding which I hand stitched because I'm a sucker for a hand stitched finish!

So yes very pleased especially seen as I did most of it whilst I was really tired and not in the mood for complicated sewing, actually it was quite nice to just do some really simple finishing of a project!

Aren't the owls adorable? The whole quilt apart from the backing came from my stash, although the entire quilt was inspired by the colours from the owl fabric. Mainly I just wanted to keep things really bright and fun and not fall into my usual dark colour palette.

Yeah so there's not much more I can say about it apart from I love it. I just hope the parents of the baby like it as much as I do! I think its fun and modern and doesn't look too homespun so hopefully they will.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

I'm walking on sunshine booties!

I'm still working my way through blogging all of my knitting projects from my sans internet period. I think I made these one day when Hubby was on nights [so tucked up in bed] and lil man was doing a full day at nursery. naturally I couldn't use my sewing machine and I had no internet so I cosied up on the sofa with the sopranos boxset and some knitting. Yes I'm still watching the sopranos , and I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to fill the void when Its over.

Its a pretty basic pattern which combines garter stitch and stocking stitch. Its knitted flat and then you stitch it up as the end. How lush is that wool? I have no idea what it is, my mother in law gave it to me in a lil pack of about 6 colours, I only had 25g so this bootee pattern was perfect. 

Yet again I was too lazy to make the twisted ties so I used some thin pieces of ribbon I had lying around.

I'm getting quite a collection of baby knits, which isn't a bad thing especially seen as there's going to be another baby coming in the summer!!! 

Naturally I started pulling fabric for a baby quilt and was promptly told by lil man that the ones I had chosen were wrong and it needed spots because they have a spotty dog. I guess he has a point! So I think I'll have to tell them this one is a collaboration! So far I've cut the strips and started piecing I'm doing something new so fingers crossed it looks cute and not like a scrap vomit quilt! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

But Its Cold Outside

Its hard work photographing quilts in this kind of weather. Usually I peg them to the line and photograph them like that, but seen as its been grotty weather I took these pictures inside.

So anyway I should have blogged this just before Christmas but time ran away, and then I couldn't be bothered and yeah stuff just happened really. But Ta Da here's my finished Christmas quilt! 

The centre square is hand pieced and the rest was done on my machine, its backed with blue velvet and I didn't use any wadding, It felt like a bit of a waste to use wadding on a quilt that's only going to be used for one month a year. And the pile of the velvet makes it squishy and warm anyway.

The fabric is a mixture of craft cotton company fabrics and some pieces from my grandmas stash. It was nice to use up some of the pieces I inherited especially seen as a lot of them are featured in things my Grandma made for other family members!

Here's a close up of the centre square, I used English paper piecing and it probably took me about an hour?

I quilted the whole thing on my janome, I started by quilting around the centre square and gradually turned it into a spiral!

So it spent a happy couple of days on the sofa and has now been packed away with the rest of the decorations.

Before I packed it away I did add these to the back. Lil knitwits godfathers mum makes cards with cross stitches on the front and every year lil knitwit gets two one from her and one from his godfather, anyway I can never bring myself to throw them away so they are stashed in various places around the house [I couldn't find any when I looked but I'm sure some will turn up when I'm not looking] so I thought it might be nice to add them to the back of the quilt each year that way I don't have to have them floating around the house! Brilliant right?

In other news I started watching Mad Men but I just cant seem to get into it, I'm wondering if its because I have "but I'd rather watch the sopranos syndrome". So I've been watching that and if anything I'm enjoying it more than the first time I watched it! 

Maybe I'll try mad men again when I've finished the sopranos.

I also seem to be developing a small cold which sucks and I'm pretty grumpy which I'm blaming on the January blues, but I have been cheering myself up with some sewing. There one item that I'm kinda meh about and another that I like but could be better. However photographing them in this weather is going to be an absolute brute! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx