Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

Seaside Town - Month 3 - Seaside Garden

12/8/2017

Month 3 of Seaside Town - "Seaside Garden" - had been sitting in my sewing bag for simply ages - and consisted of lots more foundation pieced cottages! The first two foundation pieced cottages are only 3" in size, and were a little bit trickier than the previous 4" ones. I struggled with using the Paper Solvy, as I found despite using a much smaller stitch length, it was tricky to remove the paper and the cottage was very stiff. So I tried using applique paper instead - as this is very soft, it really was much easier to work with. I didn't try to remove the paper, I left it in place (as it is semi water soluble it would be easy to dissolve it if necessary) and the cottages were easy to piece together...

...thankfully the remaining cottages were back to the 4" size, so I used Paper Solvy to print the templates on and made them exactly the same way as I'd made the cottages for month 2. Lynette suggested using blue fabric for the sky in these 2 extra blocks. The Sea side Garden was traced using a Mircon Pigma pen and a light box, weaveline (a lightweight soft woven interfacing was fused the back of the background fabric, and the embroidery was completed using a selection of variegated Valdani threads (I've used 2 strands in the colours recommended by Lynette). I absolutely love the soft variegation of these threads, although they do tend to be a bit "dry" so I prefer to condition them with Thread Heaven before using them, and a good quality applique needle so the threads don't snag...

...the smaller 3" cottages were joined together, and the embroidered garden added to the lower edge. A final press, and it was ready to be photographed. The cute carrot hand painted wooden button will be stitched into place once the quilt has been completed. This mystery button club by Lynette Anderson Designs is so pretty. Month 4 is still lingering in my sewing bag, and I'm sure it won't be long before block 5 arrives!

Blue Sky Fabrics

12/8/2017

With all the drama that was going on last weekend, I completely forgot to share a picture of the wonderful parcel that had arrived earlier that week from Julia at Cross Patch. This fat eighth bundle of "Blue Sky" fabrics by Laundry Basket Quilts are simply gorgeous! And they'll be perfect for a hand applique project that I'm hoping to start soon. I thought a nice, relaxing hand sewing project would be perfect for my initial recovery period following surgery! Julia's customer service is absolutely brilliant, and I'm planning to make a purchase or two from her stand at the FOQ on Sunday!

Seaside Town - Month 2 - Peacock Cottages

11/8/2017

Month 2 "Peacock Cottages" was the next installment of the mystery button club "Seaside Town" by Lynette Anderson Designs. Although this block arrived back at the beginning of May, I'd only made a start on it at a few weeks ago. The cottages are made with foundation piecing, a technique that I hadn't done before. Lynette has written a useful tutorial for foundation piecing which is on her website. (I made a practise block a few weeks ago, and used that block for the centre of a journal cover). I used some Paper Solvy to print the foundation pieced templates on, and was very pleased with the results. The first cottage was rather time consuming, and took about 3 hrs to make...

...I didn't want to admit defeat, and the next one was completed in just under an hour! Well I couldn't stop at just 2, and a couple of hours later 2 more cottages were also foundation pieced ready for use later in the quilt. I used Aurifil 50wt thread for piecing as always, and used a Superior Titanium Microtex size 60 needle for the piecing. I'd bought a couple of packets of these needles to try out from Barnyarns a few months ago, and they really do stay super sharp. The paper Solvy is quite thin, and a shorter than usual stitch length means the paper tears away quite easily...

...these 2 cottages were joined together, and the stitchery designs were traced using a lightbox and a Micron Pigma pen for the peacocks on the roof, and a Sewline white pencil for the flowers and birds on the grass. Valdani variegated threads were used for the hand embroidery. The variegation is very subtle, and prevents the colours from looking "flat". And here is the completed "Peacock Cottages" - those birds perched on top of the chimneys reminded me of our holiday to the Isle of Wight back in April, when we visited a very quaint little village that was full of thatched cottages and a very proud peacock was strutting around the village! The cute wooden hand painted button will be stitched in place once the quilt is completed. The next installment has some more foundation pieced cottages that are even smaller that these ones, so that will keep me busy!

The Songbird's Garden - The Collection

8/8/2017

Now all the 3 parts of this gorgeous collection are completed it's time for a photo shoot! This pattern is "The Songbird's Garden" by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson. As much as I love making quilts, sometimes it nice just to sit quietly with some hand sewing and make smaller projects. This one is so pretty and really useful! You can never have too many needle cases, and I'm often mis-laying my embroidery scissors, so now they've got the perfect home! This gorgeous pattern and the hand painted wooden button is available from Lynette's online shop Little Quilt Store, and if you're here in the UK Julia at Cross Patch has made some kits using gorgeous Tilda fabrics which she'll have on her stall at the Festival of Quilts.

The Songbird's Garden - Scissor Keeper

7/8/2017

Saturday mornings are often spent as a Saturday morning sewing session at a local quilt shop, KIS Quilting Ltd. It's a chance to sit and chat and stitch in a lovely calm atmosphere, and get inspiration from not only the projects that the other ladies are stitching, but from the beautiful fabrics surrounding the working area! Anyway, part of my stitching project a couple of weeks ago was to finish the applique for this scissor keeper. Once all the applique and embroidery had been completed. cardboard templates were cut out, and wadding applied to 2 pieces. A Pritt glue stick was ideal for this, and then the templates were covered in fabric ready to be joined together...

...Valdani threads have a beautiful soft variegation, and were perfect for the embroidery, and these colours blended so well will these fabrics from the Stonehouse Garden collection. I really couldn't bring myself to use my precious Valdani threads to make the cord and tassel so used DMC threads in co-ordinating colours. One end was glued in place between the 2 layers of the back of the scissor holder, and a tassel was attached. The cord can then be looped onto a small pair of scissors, so the scissors can be safely stored away...

...this really is such a pretty design, and the scissor keeper is so useful! The pattern is "The Songbird's Garden by Lynette Anderson Designs - I'd bought the pattern last year from Lynette's stall at the Festival of Quilts. I wonder what goodies she'll have there this year that will tempt me!

Missing in Action

6/8/2017

Obstructive jaundice isn't much fun, it's made me feel very nauseous and is extremely painful - and unfortunately I'm currently experiencing life "on the other side" after being rushed to hospital on Saturday evening. Nurses really don't make very good patients. Thank goodness I'm getting rid of those blasted gallstones next week!! Not sure how long I can survive on an IVI and clear fluids and no sewing projects!

The Songbird's Garden - Needle Case

6/8/2017

The Songbird's Garden three-fold hexagonal needle case also has an appliqued hexagon on the front, just like the journal cover that I'd posted about yesterday. Instead of a wooden hand painted birdhouse button to embellish it, this one has an embroidered birdhouse. There is a very gentle variegation to Valdani threads, and these work beautifully with Lynette's fabrics. Once the embroidery and applique was completed, it was time to make the main part of the needle case. I used template plastic to trace the hexagon from the pattern, and cut out a selection of hexagons from the fabrics I'd chosen from my "Lynette" fabric box...
* I've got an old rotary cutter that I used to cut out the hexagon from template plastic - my Karen Kay Buckley perfect scissors are just for cutting fabric!

...as you can see below, I used a wooden raw wood button "stitched with love" onto the woolfelt needle keeper rather than make a Suffolk Puff that's in the original pattern. Inside the needle case there are 2 pockets which are ideal for storing packets of sewing needles - 1 pocket is trimmed with a hand embroidered strip, and the other pocket is trimmed with some tape measure ribbon...

...two fabric ties were stitched into position, before the front and back were stitched together. I think the trickiest part was turning the needle case the right way through once I'd stitched all around the outside. The opening was then hand stitched together using ladder-stitch, and the seam is almost invisible! This cute pattern is by Lynette Anderson Designs, and I'd bought the pattern from Lynette's stand last year at the Festival of Quilts. Thank goodness I've been able to complete it before FOQ this year! Now I won't feel too guilty if I get temped to buy some more of her gorgeous goodies when I see her on Sunday!

The Songbird's Garden - Journal Cover

5/8/2017

Last year at the Festival of Quilts, I'd bought The Songbird's Garden pattern from Lynette Anderson's stall. Unfortunately she'd sold out of the cute birdhouse buttons to embellish the journal cover, but I ordered one from her online shop Little Quilt Store in Australia, and it quickly arrived in the post. I was a bit busy with other projects, so this one was put to one side, waiting for the right time to make it. Well, as it's nearly time for the FOQ this year, I thought I'd better hurry up and get it started! I pulled a few fabrics from my "Lynette" box, along with some tape measure trimming, and I was ready to make a start...

...I traced the design using a Micron Pigma pen and a lightbox, fused a lightweight interfacing to the back, and used Valdani 6 stranded embroidery thread for the stitchery. The main body of the journal is very simple to make, and was quilted in a cross hatch design using a variegated black/brown Kingtut quilting thread. Once the quilting was completed, the appliqued hexagon was stitched in place with Aurifil 80wt thread, and finally the cute hand painted wooden button was then stitched in place too. I used a pretty floral print from Lynette's "Stonehouse Garden" collection for the lining of the journal cover. I made the journal slightly different to Lynette's instructions, and used a notepad that I'd bought from my local supermarket to slip inside...

...and here's my completed journal cover, all ready to use for making lots of sewing notes and lists and general bit and bobs that I don't want to forget!

Ticket Giveaway

2/8/2017

*UPDATE... sorry these have all now been allocated! I couldn't believe how quickly they got snapped up!
Do you remember I shared on here that I've been offered a press pass for the FOQ? Well those lovely people at The Festival of Quilts have sent me some complimentary entry tickets for a giveaway! The Festival of Quilts is at the NEC, Birmingham, and is on from 10th-13th August. These tickets are valid for any one day. If you'd like one, please comment below. This is also shared on my FB page Nicola Foreman Quilts and on my Instagram account!