I've always said if you buy something in the sales that's reduced you've only saved money if you really NEED it - and oh my goodness I really needed this quilt kit by Basic Grey. I'd been needing it for simply ages, but decided I really had enough in my stash to keep me going. That is until my local quilt shop Quilters Haven had these in their sale, and as soon as I saw it was reduced in price I raced over there and bought one. I love Basic Grey fabrics, and over the past few years I've bought several of their winter-themed collections. I've already got "Fruit Cake" and "Jovial" and "Figgy Pudding" and "Aspen Frost" and now I've got "Blitzen" to add to my growing collection!
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A couple of years ago I bought my daughter Alice a bundle of fat eighths of "Max and Whiskers" fabric by Basic Grey for Moda. She finally decided to make a quilt herself, and she decided on a simple block layout - she cut the fat eighths into 9" squares which she sewed together. Then she pin based the layers together - she has used an extra wide calico for the back, and used a polyester wadding..... .....Alice quilted it very simply using the "stitch-in-the-ditch" method with a variegated King Tut quilting thread shade 936 (Pharaoh's Treasures) and a cream Mettler thread in the bobbin to match the calico backing. She hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt and her stitching is very neat - and I'm VERY impressed with her mitred corners!.......... .....she used another Basic Grey fabric for the binding - she picked out the turquoise blue "grunge" - and it looks stunning teamed with the brown and mustard and coral in the rest of the quilt..... .....and here is her finished quilt - what a clever girl!! I wonder who she takes after! Maybe she'll start making bags next!! Alice tells me that this is going to be the quilt that she snuggles up with when she's watching TV - she still wants me to make the quilt for her room with the Bali-Pops that I bought her from Birmingham last month. Maybe she'll be able to help me! Last year I made this quilt top using a couple of Layer Cakes (Fruitcake by BasicGrey for Moda). The pattern is from the book "Schnibbles Times Two" by Carrie Nelson..... .....anyway, after I'd made it, it was far too big for me to quilt myself on my Bernina, so it was folded up, put in a box with lots of other quilt tops, and it was sort of forgotten about..... .....then along came Janette, and her longarm machine, and yet again she has created something fantastic!! I chose an all-over quilting pattern, Meandering Stars, for this festive quilt, and I am sooooo pleased with it!..... .....my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, sold this beatiful fabric last year, which luckily just happened to be from the Fruitcake range - so I used this for the background to showcase the stars, and for the inner border..... .....and as you can see, I also used it for the binding too. I cut the binding strips into 2 1/2" strips, joined the strips at a 45 degree angle and folded the binding over double. Then I sewed the strips onto the quilt about 3/8" inch from the edge..... .....I slip-stitched the binding to the back of the quilt using a quilting thread that will blend in with the backing fabric, so the stitches don't show - and while I'm sewing I'm listening to some favourite Christmas songs..... .....now the binding is on, I can use this quilt over the Christmas holidays - it will be perfect for snuggling up under on cold dark evenings!..... .....and here it is on my bed - very cosy! Merry Christmas - now, where did I put those other quilts to take over to Janette? Think I'll be keeping her very busy in 2012!! Whilst searching through my stash for something suitable for making Christmas presents, I found some fabrics that I had bought last year and had forgotten all about!!! Firstly some "Figgy Pudding" by BasicGrey for Moda yardage from Buttonberry... ...more fabric from Buttonberry and more "Figgy Pudding" - 4 Charm packs (enough to make a decent size quilt) and lastly, even more Charm packs - this time it's "Merry and Bright" by Sandy Gervais for Moda, from The Bramblepatch.
Not an actual fruit cake to eat - but I've finished the quilt top for the Schnibbles class that I taught over at Quilters Haven last week. This pattern is called "Plan C" and is from the book Schnibbles Times Two by Carrie Nelson and was made with 2x Layer Cakes from the "Fruitcake" collection by Basic Grey for Moda. I'm getting quite a collection of "Basic Grey" fabrics. (I've also got the Origins Jelly Roll, which is going to look fab once that's sliced up). It was sunny this morning when I took this photo, but really blustery so the quilt wouldn't hang still... ..and once I've got this quilted, it will hang over the back of my sofa for the festive season. This was a very quick quilt to piece together - the "Schnibbles Times Two" book by Carrie Nelson is probably the one I'm using most of all at the moment. Now I'm going to raid my stash of charm squares to make some of the smaller ones. Meanwhile, as all this sewing malarky has been going on, Mr F has been busy assembling a new fireplace - it makes the lounge look so much cosier than having a radiator as a focal point!!
Yesterday was spent over at my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, teaching a Schnibbles class. The pattern is called Plan C and is from the book Schnibbles Times Two, by Carrie Nelson. My original sample was made with 2x Charm packs, (see previous post) but yesterday I used 2x Layer Cakes for demo purposes - these are from the "Fruit Cake" collection by Basic Grey for Moda. I've had these Layer Cakes for quite a while, and was saving them for just the right pattern - and luckily the background fabric, (which is an all-over in snowflake design and part of the same range) was in stock at Quilters Haven... .....this was the view that greeted me this morning. It really was VERY chilly and infact is was so chilly that the pond was completely frozen over, and the zebra grass and stipia gigantica in the background sparkled with the frost.
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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