I was airing some quilts yesterday, and discovered that I had never actually made a label for the "Butterfly Garden" quilt that I made back in 2010. This quilt was a BOM designed by Leanne Beasley, and she had some great ideas for quilt labels in part 10, and included some stitchery designs for this purpose. I'd got a scrap of fabric left over from the border of the quilt (a pale green floral, by Lecien), traced the quilt label and added a few words - just the name of the quilt, my name, and the year it was completed. I embroidered this using 2 strands of DMC thread... ...once the embroidery was completed, I marked an outline of a square half an inch away form the stitched border with a Clover Hera marker, folded in the sides of the square, and gave it a good press. A square of steam-a-seam- lite was added to the back of the label and fused into place. Peeling off the backing paper, the label was carefully positioned into place, and fused to the back of the quilt. Finally, I stitched all around the edges of the label with a very fine silk neutral coloured thread. I wouldn't use a stitchery label for my "fast and fun" quilts, but it's the final flourish a special quilt like this one. Oh, and if you haven't seen them before, here's a slide show of all 9 blocks of the quilt, and finally the completed quilt too.
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I've been sorting out some of my smaller projects that had been packed away in a cupboard for years, and came across this pretty little wall hanging that I made back in 2008. It's a design by Natalie Lymer (Cinderberry Stitches) called "A Little Shabby" and was made using some "Simplicity" fabric by 3 Sisters for Moda and was one of the first stitchery designs I did, once I'd discovered the wonderful work of the Australian designers (Lynette Anderson, Leanne Beasley, Rosalie Quinlan, Natalie Lymer, Gail Pan - the list is endless!!)... ...the stitchery panel was completed using an assortment of embroidery threads, then trimmed to size, and strips of fabric added as borders. Two small tabs at the top are for hanging it on a rod... ...this was quilted very simply, using "stitch-in-the-ditch" and bound with a stripey fabric from the "Simplicity" collection. And how did I remember this was made in 2008? Well I'd embroidered by name and the year on the backing fabric before the binding was sewn on! The font and needle design I used was inspired by Leanne Beasley, and is a great way of "labelling" projects!... ...now I just need to fix up a rod and hang this somewhere - I wish I had a sewing room to hang it in - maybe one day once the girls have their own homes I can convert one of their bedroom. Shhh - just don't tell them!!
I've recently finished the quilt top "Down In The Garden" and had quite a few scraps left over, and decided to put them to good use to make another cushion. Using the "Butterfly Bouquet" stitchery pattern designed by Leanne Beasley, and the left-over embroidery threads from DITG I set to work. This pattern had an iron-on transfer as well as a traceable pattern. I've used this pattern a few times already, (I made a cushion for my mother-in-law and also one for my colleague, Emma, instead of a real bouquet of flowers!), but still managed to get another copy out of the iron-on sheet. This was much quicker than tracing it onto the background fabric... ...stitching early in the morning is my favourite stitching time, and it's surprising how much I can get done without any of the usual daily distractions. I was able to take this picture once the stitchery was complete in MY garden amongst the sweet peas (I ccould smell them while I was sitting stitching in the conservatory)... ...appliqued butterflies added the final flourish to this project. Scraps of fabric were then cut and pieced and quilted very simply. I used my favourite white Aurifil thread for this project, a Schmetz Topstitch needle, and a longer than usual stitch length. In no time at all I had a lovely textured piece, ready for the next stage of sewing. Wool wadding was used for this project, and it quilted absolutely beautifully. I used a piece of the feature fabric (Grandmothers Flower Garden by Rosalie Quinlan for Lecien) for the back of the cushion cover, and used a concealed zipper fastening. The cream fabric is left-over curtain lining, and was also used for the stitchery background too... ...I found a red/white spot fabric in my stash that was just right for the binding, and added one of my labels into the side seam - and hey presto - a new cushion! Here it is tucked among the plants in the garden. This is a present that will last a little while longer than a bouquet of real flowers, and is for someone special who really likes handmade gifts.
Well I thought I'd try something different on my blog! Here's a slideshow, showing each completed block for "Down In The Garden" designed by Leanne Beasley. This was a 10 part BOM that I bought 4 years ago from an online quilt shop called Buttonberry, that has since closed down. There is a list of stockists pf Leanne's patterns on her website if you want to make one too. I initially started this quilt last summer, and it's been a real treat stitching these blocks. Once this has been quilted (it's going to J-Quilts soon for some custom work) I'll show some pictures of the finished quilt. As soon as Block 9 of "Down In The Garden" (designed by Leanne Beasley) was finished, I was really keen to get the blocks all stitched together, ready for the borders. The feature fabric used in the border is "Grandmothers Flower Garden" by Rosalie Quinlan, and the red/white spot will be used for the binding. I used a neutral coloured thread for piecing the blocks together, and used the same thread for sewing on the borders too.. ...a narrow cream border frames the blocks, then a wider border in the feature fabric is added, and finally another cream border. This feature fabric is used in the blocks, in the yellow and pink colourways, and here it is in green... ...and here's the completed quilt top, photographed in MY garden! It was quite blustery yesterday evening when I took these photographs, and this was the best picture I was able to take! I've decided to get this one custom-quilted by Janette as her work really is simply stunning. There are quite a few scraps left over from this project, and I have the perfect project in mind for using some of them up. I'll share pictures of that at the weekend.
Whoohoo!! Block 9 of "Down In The Garden" (designed by Leanne Beasley) is completed! This was bought as a BOM 4 years ago from an online quilting shop here in the UK (no longer trading unfortunately - I do miss those Buttonberry girls) and each moth a pattern arrived in the post, beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a ribbon. This block is made up of several mini-blocks and combines piecing and applique and stitchery. The churn dash blocks were all made when I stitched the first block, and these dresden plates were applqued next. I chose to stitch a Suffolk Puff in the centre as my own twist on the pattern (Leanne used a fussy cut circle but that just wasn't doing it for me!)... ...buckets of herbs were next and an appliqued heart was hand stitched into place and finally another pretty birdhouse, with embroidered vines and flowers. A skein of "Larkspur" variegated hand dyed "Cottage Garden Thread" was included with this BOM and it is absolutely gorgeous... ...and here it is - Block 9. The borders will be next, using some of the beautiful feature fabric "Grandmothers Flower Garden" by Rosalie Quinlan. That's next on my list of crafty projects, and I will share pictures of the completed quilt top at the weekend.
The final block of this quilt "Down In The Garden" (designed by Leanne Beasley) has been prepped and is ready for the hand stitchery. After sorting out the fabrics the stitchery designs were traced - I use a brown coloured Pigma Micron pen, and yes I'm LOVING my new lightbox!!... ...and then the mini blocks were pieced together, ready for stitchery and applique. This block has some lightweight fusible interfacing (I use Vilene H180) fused to the back to give it some "body" - and now I'm off to make a cuppa and settle down in a comfy chair with my new glasses and make a start.
Block 8 of "Down In The Garden" (designed by Leanne Beasley) was still in it's packet, and I was waiting for my new glasses before I made a start on it. Then I decided I really couldn't wait another week, so yesterday morning, bright and early, I sorted out the fabrics and cut up the pieces ready for the mini-blocks, and fussy cut the feature fabric... ...I'd got a busy day planned, so getting the fabrics cut to size was all I had time to do. This morning I've traced the designs onto the fabric, pieced the mini-blocks together, and ironed the fusible interfacing (I prefer to use Vilene H180) onto the back of the block... ...and now I'm ready to make a start - hand-stitchery is very relaxing (although I haven't yet felt the love of hand quilting!) and plan to spend the afternoon stitching while Mr F is busy playing cricket.
Block 7 of "Down In The Garden" (designed by Leanne Beasley) is completed, and I've only got 2 more blocks to stitch before the quilt top is ready for the borders. I spent a very rainy afternoon last Sunday curled up on the sofa with my daughters watching a film and made a start on the stitchery - actually if the film hadn't been so good, I probably would have finished this all in one day! The churn dash blocks had been made last summer when I first started this project... ...appliqued onto another mini-block is a pretty dresden plate with a Suffolk Puff centre, (made with a scrap of Lecien fabric from my stash), and finally a little bit more stitchery showing a beautiful bird house. There are 4 different bird houses on this quilt, and they all have pretty vines and flowers trailing around them... ...I can't believe I was able to finish stitching this block so quickly - it's amazing what you can accomplish in the early hours of the morning when you can't sleep! Anyway, here is the completed block. Now there are only 2 blocks left and then the borders to add to fish it off, then I need to decide on the quilting - whether to do it by hand or whether to take it to Janette, who does some wonderful custom quilting. I actually started this quilt last summer on 6th August 2013, and if I carry on stitching with a passion it looks like I just might have the quilt top pieced together by 6th August 2014.
Block 7 of "Down In The Garden" has been prepped and is ready for the stitchery. It's so much easier tracing the stitchery designs before the complete block is pieced together. I've used a Schmetz Microtex needle size 60 for all the piecing, and a smaller than usual stitch length, together with a neutral coloured Mettler fine embroidery thread. I used a very fine Micron Pigma pen to trace the stitchery patterns, and then ironed a very soft fusible interfacing onto the back (my favorite interfacing for stitchery is Vilene H180)... ...this is one of my favourite projects (and my quilting friends know that I've made several designs by Leanne Beasley) as I really enjoy the relaxing time spent on the hand embroidery. These mini-blocks piece together very quickly, and these churn dash blocks were made last year when I first started this project. My friends Linda and Helen persuaded me to make a start on it, as it had been sitting in a box for simply ages, and I can't think why I hadn't started it earlier! Well I'm off to make a nice cup of tea, then I might just make a start on this block!
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July 2023
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