Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

Block 2 - Louise

29/5/2018

"Louise" is completed! This is the second block of The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt designed by the Australian designer Gail Pan. Most of these GORGEOUS fabrics are from the Sequoia collection by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts for Andover Fabrics. This block has been machine pieced, and has been combined with a variety of applique techniques, all stitched in place by hand. This block is 20.5" x 20.5" and will be added onto block 1 to make the first row of a fabulous quilt. This was bought as a kit from Cross Patch in Wales, and included all the patterns and fabrics including the border fabrics and binding fabric.

Aurifil Thread Club 2

28/5/2018

Last year I took part in an Aurifil thread club by Sew Hot, here in the UK. Each month I received 4 spools of Aurifil 50wt thread - and at the end of the year, I had 48 spools of gorgeous thread. Well Sew Hot repeated it again, and obviously I couldn't resist more of my favourite machine thread - so I took part again! The first 6 months of the Aurifil 50wt thread club resulted in these 24 spools of thread that are nestling in my thread box like jewels...

...and here are months 7-12 of the thread club. These threads really are divine! Aurifil 50wt thread is perfect for machine piecing, machine applique and machine quilting. 48 spools of gorgeous threads (and yes, they are different to the ones I received last year!) - now I've got a very impressive thread collection!

Preparing more applique for "Louise"

27/5/2018

More applique has been prepared for block 2 "Louise" which is part of The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt. This was designed by the Australian designer Gail Pan, and was bought as a kit from Cross Patch in Wales. As you can see, the applique hust neefs to be stitched in place by hand - I'll use Aurifil 80wt thread fpr this. The applique shapes and the bias stem has been temporarily held in place using Roxanne's basting glue. I prefer this method rather than getting stabbed with those annoyingly sharp applique pins!

Stolen!

26/5/2018

STOLEN!! My friend Julia who owns Cross Patch had a fabulous stall at Malvern. She works incredibly hard making kits and samples for shows, and she provides excellent customer service. Unfortunately this happened to Julia's sample...
..."I had all my journal kits with me at Malvern with the samples on the front of the stand, unfortunately some lovely person 'borrowed' this sample and has failed to return it, as you can imagine I was not amused"😡

A Pieced Basket

25/5/2018

Machine piecing together pin wheels, flying geese and a pieced basket. These are for block 2 "Louise" which is from The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt designed by Gail Pan Designs - I used a neutral coloured Aurifil 50wt thread and a Schmetz Microtex size 60 needle together with a straight stitch needle plate for this precision piecing. Now these blogs have been pressed, I can get some of them pieced together with the applique blocks. More pictures to follow tomorrow!

Applique for "Louise"

24/5/2018

Block 2 "Louise" has been started! This is part of The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt, designed by Gail Pan Designs - I'm using the applique paper and glue stick method along with Apliquick tools, and hand sewing it in place with Aurifil 80wt thread. The pattern templates are traced onto applique paper, and carefully cut out on the drawn lines. The applique shapes are then fused onto the wrong side of the fabric. Using a pair of Perfect Scissors by Karen Kay Buckley, I've cut a scant quarter inch seam allowance around each shape. A fabric glue pen (my favourite brand is Sewline) is drawn along the seam allowance of the fabric, the edges turned over and then pressed in place with Apliquick tools. A few dots of Roxanne's basting glue temporarily holds the applique shapes onto the background fabric, then it is secured in place using Aurifil 80wt thread in a mid grey colour and a Clover Black Gold applique needle. The tiny stitches come through the side of the shape, not on the top of the shape, then back down into the background fabric, so they are almost invisible!

Our Very Own Miss Honey

23/5/2018

Incredibly proud of my amazing daughter! She's worked so hard to reach her dream - she's almost at the end of her teacher training and has a job offer from a school where's been so happy at during a placement. Very proud mummy moment here - Miss Foreman you will be a super teacher ❤

Linen and Batik Tote Bag

19/5/2018

These turquoise and teal batik scraps work really well with a piece of linen that I had leftover from another project. The quilt-as-you-go method was used for this, using a variegated King Tut quilting thread in shade 927, and a Schmetz Topstitch size 80 needle. I used a Clover Hera marker to mark some straight rows for quilting these scraps, and also used the edge of the walking foot as a guide for quilting inbetween the rows...

...these batiks have been mixed together to make a gorgeous pocket panel. The top stitching has been completed with King Tut variegated quilting thread shade 927, which is the same thread that I used for quilting the centre panels and the bag handles...

...this shows the inside of the tote bag (this was turned inside out for this picture) - Ttis is based on the pattern Perfect Quilted Tote by Elizabeth Hartman, but I've altered the dimensions to make a larger tote, and altered the construction of the pocket panel to make it simpler - I didn't measure any of the pocket pieces, I just used pieces of fabric that I had already cut. I also added a very handy key ring...

...and here's the outside of the tote bag. The bag wadding that I used is quite stiff, and gives the bag great structure (this was purchased from KIS Quilting Ltd in Ipswich). Cotton wadding was used for the bag handles, I love the different textures of the linen and batiks - and absolutely LOVE these colours!

Linen and Batik

18/5/2018

Linen and batik in shades of teal and turquoise teamed with a variegated King Tut quilting thread are ready for my next project. Variegated threads work well with batiks, and I've got several spools of King Tut thread in my collection. I prefer to save them for the front of my project, and just use a plain ghread of the same weight in the bobbin.

Topstitch Sewing Machine Needles

17/5/2018

Schmetz Topstitch needles size 70 and size 80 are my favourites for machine quilting. The larger eye makes machining with thicker threads a piece of cake! This box of 100 needles arrived in the post today from Barnyarns - bulk buying is so much more reasonable than buying individual packets.