Perpetual WIP: cross stitch travel map

As you may already know, my first foray into textiles was when my mother and grandmother taught me cross stitch at the age of about 7.  This may be why I still enjoy hand quilting more than any other part of the quilting process. I recently bought myself this awesome cross stitch map for my birthday. How cool is this? I have a grand plan to colour code my travels by year as far back as possible. Airport stop overs don't count!

World traveler map: 2014 and 2015 done

The map came with a slightly annoying wooden frame on the top and bottom, which I've removed. My grand plan is to have it properly framed by the framer down the road, making sure that I can take it out to update things whenever I like, which might be a bit tricky.

Here's my travel list:
Pre 2013: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA
2013: Morocco (+ Austria, Germany and the Netherlands)
2014: Cyprus, South Africa (+ Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and USA)
2015: Ghana, Spain (+ Germany, Greece, Russia, and Switzerland)
2016: Estonia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE (+ Austria, France, Germany and USA)
2017: Jordan, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar (+ Austria, Germany, Italy, Mallorca, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE)
2018: In the diary so far: Cyprus, France, Germany, and tentatively Australia

I hadn't realised that most of the places I travel to are countries I've been to before (although there have been some new and exciting ones this year as I'd never been to the Middle East). My new plan is to travel to at least one completely new country every year, which should be entirely do-able. Australia is on the cards next year for a friend's wedding but unfortunately my New Year's Japan plans have just fallen through. Maybe Madagascar...

Started: October 2017
Finished: the day I die
Size: 59 x 45 cm (23" x 17.5")
Stitching: Hand embroidered with DMC embroidery floss (4/6 strands)
Label: none yet

Sewing love,
me x

P.S. Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Finally finished: Tiny's quilt(s)

So, remember how I was working on this quilt for a special little lady who was due to arrive on May 23rd? Well, she decided that she couldn't wait any longer and came 3 weeks early!

I saw her briefly in hospital but am going over for a proper visit this coming Sunday. Her quilt isn't quite finished (if you remember, it got a little out of hand), but I've made her a proper baby quilt instead, which I finally finished last night.

Finally finished: Tiny's baby quilt
Miserable weather - need to get a photo in better light

Started: May 2016
Finished: May 2016
Size: 110 x 110 cm (approx. 42 x 42")
Quilt top: Patty Sloniger Les Amis in coral, white sashing from RayStitch in Islington
Backing: Old duvet cover from my grandmother's house
Binding: Patty Sloniger "Les Amis" Star Pods in coral with scrappy top section made from off-cuts of all Les Amis coral fabrics
Batting: Cotton
Quilting: Machine quilted in offset squares (YLI machine quilting thread 40/3 in white), with randomly placed, hand-quilted hearts (YLI glazed cotton hand quilting thread in white)
Label: Sublime stitching "Kurt Halsey / Best Friends" embroidery pattern

The design couldn't really get much simpler - one big piece of fabric with some sashing. It's possibly the fastest quilt I've ever made; I managed to cut, piece, baste, and quilt it in a single afternoon (because what are you going to do while your sister is in labour - sit at home and quilt for your new niece, that's what!)

I hand-stitched the binding on the train on my way to see the little lady in hospital and then decided to spend a little more time making her a pretty quilt label. I'm really pleased with how this turned out (and really hoping her black hair isn't replaced by, say, blonde like her Mummy's, when it falls out)

Sublime stitching quilt label

I embroidered straight onto the finished quilt, which was a massive faff! I really struggled to bury my knots in the quilt sandwich and was really worried that it would all come undone. I've washed it twice now though and everything seems to be fine. The markings have almost all come out as well - a couple more washes and some baby vomit ought to do the trick.

I then decided that it was a bit too boring and decided to hand quilt some random hearts into the squares. There are about 12 of them in total.

Hand quilting: getting more consistent

My hand quilting is getting better - I can comfortably load 6 or 7 stitches and they're becoming more consistent in length. Now if only the back were as pretty as the front is.

Finally, here's a photo of the scrappy binding I made - it's actually the coral star pods fabric from the same fabric line as the quilt top on three sides of the quilt. The fourth edge has an insert of these scrappy offcuts I ended up with from the original quilt. While I really like this style (I trialled it on the Charity Auction baby quilt), I think it'll look better if I make my binding a bit wider. I think I'll try 3" or 3.5" double fold binding next time. What do you think?

Scrappy binding insert <3

Quilting love,
me x

Completed: hexagon travel sewing kit

Finished hexagon travel sewing kit - pattern by thezenofmaking

I finished my hexagon travel sewing kit today. Yay! I used this wonderful tutorial from Haley at thezenofmaking. It was really very quick to make- Haley's tutorial is really straightforward, well illustrated, and clearly described. Also, I liked the fact that there was a significant bit of hand sewing involved because I like hand sewing. It is small enough to fit in most of my handbags, while also fitting my YLI thread spools and enough hexagon sewing bits and bobs to carry around and keep me occupied. My next plan is to make some of Haley's altoid tin sewing kits- I have a lot of altoids to get through first though!

Sewing kit with altoid tins and hexagons

The other great thing about this bag is that I didn't have to buy anything except a magnetic handbag snap for it. Making things that don't require spending money on new materials always makes me feel like I'm winning. The hexagon flowers are made from my favourite Liberty of London tana lawn: Lodden in green. This fabric is simply a joy to work with. I could go on and on about the amazing properties of Liberty's tana lawns.

The main green solid is from Kaufmann I think and it's pretty close to my favourite shade of green. The lining fabric is a blue and white polka dot which is, in my opinion, the perfect blue. Now, if only I could remember where I got it from (Kaufmann perhaps?). It's been in my stash since this quilt and just waiting for the perfect little project as there was only a tiny bit of it left. Now there are only a few scraps left but I can't bear to throw them away. I have so many fabrics that I wish I had bought more of!

                      Supplies                            

WIP bag goes travelling (on the train)

I embroidered my initials on the centre hexagons with some embroidery floss that I inherited from my great grandmother (yes, my initials are ET). Using her things always makes projects more special and, generally, I only ever use them on things that I make for myself or my mother. I like remembering my grandmother and great-grandmother by wearing their jewellery and using their crafty things. I'm currently debating whether to attach this doily which my great-grandmother crocheted to the back of the bag, which is currently just plain green. Hmmm.... Choices, choices. Oh, I also embroidered a needle and thread on the inside hexagon flower.

Embroidered hexagon flowers. Bottom right now has a needle & thread on it.

I'm so pleased to have replaced my ubiquitous hexagon transportation system, a plastic zip lock bag, with something so much better thanks to the lovely zenofmaking. Now back to the monster hexagon quilt and the five other projects that I've started but not yet finished!

Old and new hexagon paper piecing travel solutions

Love, me x

First post - first quilt

I've decided to start a blog predominantly as a record of my sewing/quilting/embroidery shenanigans. Maybe people will read it. Maybe they won't. It's the 21st century version of what my mother calls her "Quilting Brag Book". Hopefully it will mean that from now on I won't spend hours and hours on a project for someone, give it to them, and then realise that I've completely forgotten to take any decent photographs of it.

So, here's to ALL of the (mostly undocumented) pretty projects I've made so far and to all of those to come. Now all I have to do is learn to take decent photographs.

I've been embroidering and hand sewing since I was a little girl but only recently took up quilting. I am very lucky because my mother is The Quilt Queen (not the actual Quilting Queen of blogosphere fame, it's just my nickname for her when she rescues my latest project) and always seems to be able to fix my latest quilt nightmare. Unfortunately, she lives in another country so this usually results in half of my luggage allowance being taken up by some doomed sewing project or another.

I digress. Here's the very first quilt I made:

Samuel's Sunbonnet Sue & Sam Quilt

Samuel's Sunbonnet Sue and Sam Months of the Year Quilt

Started: January 2009 
Finished: June 2010
Size: no idea but somewhere around 60" long, given that I'm 5'6" tall.
Quilt top: Blocks hand pieced and needle-turn appliqued. Sashing and borders machine pieced by my mother.
Backing: Ralph Lauren Los Cabos
Binding: Ralph Lauren Los Cabos
Batting: no idea, possibly 80/20 poly/cotton blend. Whatever it was that my mother hand on hand at the time.
Quilting: Machine quilted in the ditch along sashing. Blocks hand quilted to enhance design.

Quilt back and label (WIP)

So, I started making this quilt when my friend O told me she was pregnant back in 2008 (!). I've always loved Sunbonnet Sue quilts so this seemed like the perfect excuse to make a months of the year unisex quilt. Unfortunately, little Samuel was born WELL before this quilt was even approaching finished. When I finally got it to them in July 2010, by which time I had already moved to the UK, Samuel was crawling. Erhem. Whoops.

Here are some photos of the individual blocks. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of all of them, which is, in retrospect, rather sad.

January:
My mother had to help me add a border to this one because it was much smaller than the other blocks. This is the first block that I made for the quilt. In the final version I quilted it to give it more depth and a horizon. Apart from the background fabric this block is made entirely from scraps.

January: Frosty the Snowman

February:
No detail photo, which is a pity because this is one of my favourite blocks. Apart from the snowy sky background, everything in this block is made from scraps.

March:
Again, this block was much smaller than the others so my mother helped me add a border to it. Little Samuel's mummy is Irish so there had to be a St. Patrick's Day block! My favourite thing about this block is the little net ruffle on Sue's bonnet.

March: St. Patrick's Day

April: April showers....
This block was changed quite a bit before the end- I added some rain clouds (stuffed with scrap batting to make them three dimensional and interestingly textured), a puddle, and the words "April showers...." I bought a far eighth of wood print fabric for the tree and bright yellow for Sue's raincoat. This one really reminds me of the yellow Macintosh I had for my American Girl doll when I was little.

April: April showers... bring May flowers

May: ... bring May flowers
This is the first pieced block that I made and I was instantly hooked. Apart from the green background fabric and Sue's polka dot dress everything is made from scraps, mainly men's shirts.

May: April flowers... bring May showers

June:
No detail photos unfortunately. By this time I really wanted this quilt to be finished before little Samuel could walk so the last block, June, shows Sam & Sue swimming in the lake and is quilted with ripples.

July: 
Again, no detail photos to be found at the moment. I might go trawl my flickr stream and old computer back up CDs and see if I can find some. Anyway, this block has the quintessential American little red waggon. I actually bought fabrics for this block because I wanted the background to look dry and summery.

August:
Sam and Sue go to the beach! This is the first block that I embellished and my ice cream cone and shovel turned out a little small, didn't they? By the time I realised this though there were such big holes in the fabric from the embroidery floss that I couldn't really rip it out and start again.

August: Sue and Sam at the beach

September:

Picking apples. I originally had a gorgeous block of Sue flying a kite for this one but then I found out that O was having a boy and thought I needed more Sams and fewer Sues for this quilt. The apples are little red buttons and I found some cure squirrel buttons to add some more texture. I hand quilted the sky with swirling lines for wind.

October: Hallowe'en 

Sadly, no close up pictures again. I love the orange on brown print and really wish I'd bought more than a fat quarter!!

November: Guy Fawkes

Samuel's Daddy is British so the quilt needed a Guy Fawkes block. I used metallic thread for the fireworks and the sparklers. I HATE working with metallic embroidery thread because I can't seem to get the thread tension even and it's always tangling and pulling apart, usually at the same time.

December: Christmas

Lots of embroidery on this one. Unfortunately, the red DMC embroidery floss I was using for the wreath's bow bled a bit when I washed the block. Sad embroidery panda.

December

Homeless Blocks:
This quilt generated a couple of homeless blocks as my plans for it changed. Originally, each Sunbonnet Sue/Sam was meant to be appliqued on white backing but then I discovered pieced backing. Anyway, this block didn't really fit in because I love the "April showers... bring May flowers" thing too much so, if I remember correctly, I just appliqued it to the backing. Or maybe I turned it into a cushion. I honestly don't remember.  

May V1.0

My favourite thing:
My favourite thing about this quilt is probably that about 90% of the fabric is from scraps or from my own stash of fabrics, which was very small at the time. Luckily my mother let me paw through her scrap box. Making a quilt without spending a fortune on new fabrics is SO satisfying!
I also really enjoyed embellishing the blocks with ribbons, buttons, embroidery and bits of ruffle. I love things with interesting textures! Mainly though, I was just pleased as punch to have succeeded in finishing a quilt, albeit with a lot of help from my mother.

Onward and upward!
xx E