Finished March goal: Triangle Games

At the beginning of March I set my one goal for the month at Elm Street Quilts. Of course each month has several goals, but the OMG always has priority.

This month the priority is finishing my improv triangle quilt from the sew along hosted by Nicholas Ball (#quiltsfromtheattic) on Instagram  (#improvtrianglesewalong) .

 Progress quilting lines 0.5" apart on Friday morning.

For the first time I used the quilt tacking feature on my sewing machine when layering anything larger than a shopping bag, but not entirely successfully. This feature requires the fabric to be pulled through manually, the feed dogs being lowered, but I haven't mastered that fully it would seem, and the fabric bunched up a little. Not severely, so snipping the tacking thread here and there was enough to get the whole thing flat again.

Friday afternoon I finished quilting

and this time even remembered to attach a label before quilting:

There are no prizes for guessing the origin of the backing fabric!

Tuesday 24 March I finally finished sewing down the binding and the hanging sleeve.

Triangle Games

Measurements:  68 x 65 cm ( 26.5 x 25.5 in)

I'm linking to:

Click on the button to visit more goals achieved.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Grow your blog 2015

Every night's a party night!

Join the party at:

Click on the picture for an direct link to the party.

Hello! I'm Marly. Welcome to my blog which is about my quilting projects. I live in The Netherlands, which is also known, not entirely correctly, as Holland, just across the North Sea from England, where I was born.

From Rijswijk looking north towards Leiden.
Densely populated, but with spectacular skies;
no wonder Rembrandt was the master of light.

Since, officially, I retired nearly three years ago I have taken up quilting and am passionate about it. I say officially retired because I was asked to continue working and so still teach Business English but fewer hours than before. I spend all the time I can at my Bernina 440 QE, experimenting  with colour and shape, trying my hand at FMQ and generally amazing myself!

At the moment I am working on an Optical Illusion Quilt I sort of designed myself.

Optical illusion
Study in green, yellow and purple
completed top

Sort of, because I attended a course at "Quilters Palet" in The Hague in which various grids were handed out and then we drew lines and coloured the spaces with crayons. In the end I rejected all my grids with drawn in lines and chose the simple grid but with ten different colours. I wanted to experiment with various shades of adjacent colours and a complimentary colour. Every one of the participants is creating a totally different and unique quilt. (you can read more about the process here and here)

I have discovered over the last year that I find it hard to resist BOMs (blocks of the month) and QALs (Quilt Alongs). Click on the pictures for more information

Quilt Alongs (or should that be Quilts Along?)

Quiltville Mystery: Celtic Solstice

It started with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Celtic Solstice which I seriously underestimated. I thought it would take about a year, with a clue each couple of months, but of course, as everyone knows, Bonnie gives a clue each week, and expects it to be made within three days! I very proudly got mine finished in June!

Triangle quilt finished just before sunset, around 9:00 pm

 That was not bad going as in the meantime I had made and finished The Sassy Quilter's triangle quilt within the deadline. The last day, the day of the link up of finished quilts, I was literally sewing down the binding within hours of midnight. I was pleased, and still am, with the result which belongs now to my nine-year-old granddaughter.



From both these projects I learnt an enormous amount about piecing and FMQ (free motion quilting) Both Bonnie and Paula gave lots of hints on cutting fabric and putting blocks together which made for greater accuracy which was invaluable to a novice like me.

The Little Letters Project at the Temecula Quilt Company was my last QAL of 2014, and is now an almost finished top.

Little Letters QAL

This will  be my first quilting project in February. As I will be quilting  myself on my Bernina 440, I like to have a couple of projects lined up so I'm not forever changing needles, feet and machine settings - I invariably forget to change something.

For this year I have just signed up to the Elephant Parade at Sew Fresh Quilts, which starts on Monday 1 February. Can't wait!

Blocks Of the Month

Last year I took part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I was so obsessed with the idea of a rainbow that I missed the word SCRAP! I didn't have any to speak of, so was rapidly augmenting my stash by buying FQs (fat quarters) and half metres from Quilters Palet my LQS (local quilt shop) and from "Birdblocks" Quilt shop in Amsterdam.

RSC 14 a month or so ago

Last year's RSC Sampler was several, like about eight, blocks each month to be made in one colour. I enjoyed this immensely, and the funny thing is that when I was putting it all together I discovered that several of January's blocks wouldn't fit, in fact one was almost an inch too small, and had to be remade. Trouble with ¼" seams? You bet! For the other blocks from the beginning of the year I was able to compensate with the seam allowance in the sashing! Gradually during the year I got more accurate which just goes to show:

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

well, not perfect exactly but better! At the moment the four sections of the top are together (this is going to be quilt as you go technique) waiting for borders and will be my second quilting project for February.

This year I have signed up for several BOMs:

• Sew Sweet Simplicity
• Quilt Doodle: I've traced January's figures onto wonder-under, but no sewing yet.
• Galaxy of Stars
• and of course RSC 15: two blocks made

whirling geese

card trick

 Isn't it funny: it always takes more time to make a block than to read the instructions!

Improv quilting

is something I want to do more of, my efforts to date having been just three cushions

Three cushions

first cushion

second cushion

(improv quilting, not patchwork), and and a few practice pieces that never made it to my blog. For this I need to be brave! I need to summon my courage and START! The trouble is I'm a perfectionist and a control freak (hmm, I wonder why I became a teacher!) and want a PLAN. Working without a detailed plan is my goal for 2015. So what are all those BOMs doing on my list? Avoidance? We will have to see if I manage to improvise round the given theme.

I can't resist the idea of sewing along with maybe hundreds, or even thousands of other quilters from around the globe. None of my immediate family or friends or neighbours quilts, so I need the companionship of the internet quilting community to keep me going, especially when facing a dilemma. Being able to consult the collective experience of the community is a lifeline.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my quilting adventures since I started my blog at the end of 2013. While you're here look around at my past posts, and don't forget that clicking on the pictures opens a link to more about that project.

I hope to see you again here soon and to share this wonderful hobby with you. If you are visiting from Grow Your Blog 2015 please leave a message here and I'll be sure to head over to your blog too. Even if you're not "growing your blog" this year, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Happy sewing

Marly

Around the World Blog Hop

I wish we could just hop across the Atlantic as cheaply and easily as this! I was tagged for this hop by Judy at Quilt Paradigm , whom I met during the Triangle Quilt Along, and she's in  the USA, I believe in Arizona, and I'm in The Netherlands, Europe. I've managed to tag two others, for me much closer to home, but more about them later. First I have to answer some questions.

1. What am I working on?

At present I'm working on a few projects. I've finished three bed quilts and one throw this year:

two patterns from books,

Good Night

Jigsaw 

and two from QALs

Triangle Quilt 

Celtic Solstice

(Click on the captions for a link to the relevant posts.)

They were all destined as presents and I needed to concentrate on getting those done, before working on skill-improvement projects. So now I'm making cushion covers to try my own layout ideas and to practise FMQ on something small; I've had my fill of trying to manage 2kg of quilt going through the throat of my Bernina 440QE. (Bernina call it Quilters' Edition, but in my opinion that's something of a misnomer, the space is far too small.)

First cushion cover: finished 

The next two cushions in the making.

I'm also trying different piecing techniques. So far I've made this sample following a "workshop" in Jean Wells' book "Intuitive Colour .." but it needs to have a border and quilting before I start on the following "workshop".

Experiment in Intuitive Piecing

I already have Ricky Tims' "Convergence Quilts" lined up for a future challenge.

My next start, however, will probably be something for Christmas. I have a charm pack of  "Midwinter Red" bought in a sale in January, and hope to start using it at the beginning of October.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

To start with, my patchwork and quilting doesn't fit into a genre yet because I only started two years ago this week! (I'm not counting my false start at patchwork when I was nine years old and vowed never again! or the quilt for my granddaughter's crib, that was started nine years ago and took 5 years to make!). I consider myself to be searching, finding my way, discovering new forms, and accepting new challenges. Just like I have rarely read the same novel more than once (exception: Pride and Prejudice: six times!) I doubt I will ever repeat a quilt. Life is too short.

8 August 2012 was a turning point in my sewing experience when I followed a workshop in my LQS, Quilters Palet, in The Hague, where I made this:

ragtime

(or at least started it. I was painfully slow at cutting and had never heard of chain piecing.)
and another workshop, where I made this:

purple stars

and that winter followed the beginner's patchwork course (nine lessons) and made this:

Green Sampler

Also two quilting courses one for machine and one for hand quilting that same winter, which enabled me to quilt the green sampler in both techniques.

hand appliquéd EPP and, hand quilted

machine pieced,
machine quilted in the ditch
and hand quilted in the centre unit.

So far these seem to fall into a traditional style. Is this a 19th century genre? Please don't label me!
Perhaps it's because I'm a teacher that I'm nervous of autodidactic. I had to be taught the basic skills. I don't want to invent the wheel, but I do aim at modifying it!

A quilt to cover the long thin window in our front door was next on the list. I thought it should be double sided:

from the outside

so people waiting outside had something to look at. Unfortunately, although the rows on both sides are the same height (the geese are 3" high) they don't match perfectly so from the inside we have an unusual stained-glass effect!

Double Vision!
Friendship Stars on the inside and Flying Geese on the outside shining through

This was my first attempt at making something on my own: no teacher, no pattern other than the traditional blocks.

Since last August I have been on a two day fabric-dying retreat, but haven't used any of the fabric yet. I have done workshops in thumb-quilting and FMQ and I have challenged myself severely by taking part in Bonnie Hunter's Celtic solstice mystery quilt along (photo above). Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread! I underestimated the speed at which she expected people to work. I just about managed to keep up, but almost missed Christmas in my single-minded patchworking! (Good job I didn't need to work for nearly two weeks). It may seem odd, but in the last six months I've made so many HSTs that I'm almost perfect! A hurdle overcome: now just join them all up perfectly! Compare the points in the Green Sampler with those in the Jigsaw, or Triangle Quilt and I think there's hope for me yet!

I'm also participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Angela at SoScrappy. I was so hooked by the word "rainbow", that I overlooked the "scrappy", so jumped in with only a 2 litre box of scraps to my name. Ha ha; I've been buying "scraps" (alias fat quarters) all year! At one stage I thought of using my self-dyed fabric for this, but decided I wanted to save it for something over which I had more control.

RSC January to June line up

OK, maybe now I've moved forward into modern traditional? Traditional blocks, modern fabrics. But genre isn't important at the moment: for me it's all about challenging myself to try new things and to perfect my existing skills. Who knows what I'll be doing a year from now?

Back to the original question: how does my work differ from others in its genre? It doesn't, except it was made by me, and I'm not others!

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

I write about my quilting experience to have a record of what I'm doing, but I've only been blogging since December last year. I started so I could join the link ups around the Celtic Solstice project and ask questions to other quilters. I unashamedly pick the brains of other blogging quilters, and will give my opinion, for what it's worth, when asked. Never (I hope) when not asked; I'm a teacher, remember, and we are a group prone to holding opinions!

Quilting is for me the last in a long line of handicrafts: knitting, embroidery, crochet, dressmaking, spinning, weaving, lace making (yes, really) in that order. Even though they're all different they're all textiles, and I've always wanted to create an eclectic project, combining several of the skills.

I learnt many years ago that all artists and crafts(wo)men have to learn their skills before they can branch out on their own and, in the case of artists, develop a genre. Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondriaan spring to mind. Until now I've been developing skills and pushing myself further: finding challenges, and I expect that to continue till I drop. I have been collecting patterns online from everywhere, but have the most quilting satisfaction in creating my own layout, like the window hanging or the cushions.

I don't consider myself an artist, but aim on being a good craftswoman in whatever field.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

Both my writing and my patchwork and quilting processes are planned, with pauses for deliberation between times. Professionally I write concisely, and think sometimes my blog comes across as rather terse. I like to plan and to finish a project before starting the next, but sometimes fate conspires otherwise: someone really needs a quilt, or a workshop comes up which I really want to follow, both of which have resulted in current projects being put on the back burner.

Toadstool mini quilt,
workshop project.
Planned, but not by me.
After nearly a year: not a priority.
Is it a WIP or  is it a UFO?

However, looking back over the past few months I see a development away from the planned and into the experimental influenced by what I see online, especially Victoria Finlay-Wolfe's "playing", and LeeAnna's use of colour.

I'm moving away too from civil war reproduction fabrics and traditional layouts, and towards modern fabrics, again influenced by all the fabulously creative people out there  in the wide world of blogland.

I would like to introduce you

to two quilting bloggers who will be continuing the hop next week.
Firstly to Ruth of  Charly's and Ben's Crafty Corner who is an active member of the Irish Modern Quilt Guild, but not only creative with needle and thread, but also with lenses and shutter speeds, and probably much more besides.
Secondly to Gina, The Occasional Quilter, who lives in Wales and whom I met through the RSC. She is a real planner: she decided in January exactly how she would tackle the rainbow quilt and so far has stuck to her plan. I expect she will reach her goal by 1 January 2015, but I'll let her tell you about that and much more, next week.

I'm linking up to

       

So head over there now to see what else is happening among quilters and other needle and thread addicts.

Happy Sewing

Marly.

Triangle Quilt Along - finish.

I joined the Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle for the second quarter in 2014 and my list of projected finishes is here.
This was my first finish.

All good things come to an end and this evening is the last time to post about the Triangle Quilt Along.

Here it is, at the eleventh hour (almost).

Triangle quilt. made during the Triangle Quilt Along at The Sassy Quilter.

In photos taken just before sunset blues are enhanced. I've no idea what the cause is, but here I appear to have used purple patches. No. No purple. No blue. This is fuchsia - bright pink, but clearly with a blue component.

Here a close up.

Closer view of the binding and quilting.

More loopy quilting.

The sun is off my balcony now, so here is a photo I took in the sun this morning. Here the colours are more accurately reproduced. Unfortunately it was not only sunny but very windy with it. If you look closely you can see the binding flapping around.

Some statistics:

Triangles per row: 23

Number of rows: 16

Length: 210cm

Width: 170cm

Fabrics: 

Mona solids - yellow, fuchsia and green (binding)

Assorted  print FQs (mostly without enough selvedge to identify them)

Brice & Madeline jonehallmark for Free Spirit 

(backing - only piece large enough to have a name - 

and then I can't read the designer's name properly. sorry!)

I'm linking up to The Sassy Quilter for the triangle finish.

Thanks to Paula for organising the Quilt Along, 

and to my fellow bloggers who offered advice on quilting method and the tension issues last week.

I shall be writing a summary of your advice and my findings this week.

I'm also linking to Lily's Quilts for


and to Quilt Matters for TGIFF




This is my first finish in Q2 of Finish Along.
At the end of the second quarter I'm linking my finishes to Katy at the Littlest Thistle. Click on the logo above to view other participants' finishes.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014: week 17 and tension issues

April's colour for the RSC 14 is purple
I'm afraid I only have one addition to the purple family this week:

Jacob's Ladder in purple

I've been concentrating this week on getting the quilting done on my quilt for the Triangle Quilt Along at the Sassy Quilter. (Sorry, far to many "quilts" in one sentence!)

Last weekend I posted a quilting question and got so many helpful answers. On whether or not stitching in the ditch is necessary when doing an all over pattern the consensus is: NO! Thank you all who replied. I'm gradually working through writing replies individually. I'm sorry it's taking me so long.

Yesterday, however, I had a setback:

Tension issues

I had done about 2/3 of the quilting when I saw that there were problems with the tension. I had to unpick the quilting on a section about 3'x1'. The photo shows the situation about 6" from the end, but it had been a fairly gradual transition to this from looped top stitches only in bends. They all had to come out. Actually the bottom thread was easy to rip lying on the surface like this, but it was really a chore!


Do you know what causes this?

• I couldn't see any problems with the thread either on top of the machine or on the bobbin.
• It seems to have started about 2' from putting in the third bobbin, which I did after parking on the edge of the quilt and removing everything, including fluff, but not oiling (I oiled and fitted a new needle before I started yesterday) 
• When I stopped to unpick the faulty threads there was an exceptional build-up of fluff round the bobbin.
• After cleaning and reassembling (about 4 hours later) everything functioned normally on my practice scrap. I still have to try on the quilt.

I blame the fluff, but what caused so much more fluff than otherwise? The needle maybe, but there were no stitching problems later on the practice scrap. Only time will tell.
So I'm now going to continue, but now stop after an hour to check the stitching, the bobbin and the fluff.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this.

I'm linking up to Scraphappy for the RSC 14 and to

Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Mondays

Preparing to quilt

At the moment I'm trying arrangements to make cushion covers from the triangles left from the triangle quilt. I don't really need cushions, and I'd rather make another quilt, a wall hanging this time, with big hexagons on a pale blue/grey background. 

But I do need to practise FMQ on the fabric used in this quilt. It's my version for the triangle quilt along at the Sassy Quilter.

May I pick your brains? If I do an allover pattern, swirls or ripples, do I need to stitch in the ditch first to stabilize? The quilt is 1.80 x 2.20m (approx 6 x 7') and I'll be quilting on my Bernina 440 QE, so there's an awful lot of quilt to fit in to the right of the needle. I shall be pinning the quilt sandwich together with safety pins.

I welcome your ideas on this.

I'm linking up to:

Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesdays and 

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

Happy sewing

Marly.

Triangle quilt along: top finished.

 This week has been a race against the clock. Finally I can report the piecing is finished. 

I positioned the triangles randomly. I did however make piles of one of each fabric and first place them on the design wall and swap them around a bit until I was satisfied. I was terrified of getting to the last row with a handful of identical triangles. So i guess that's controlled random!

rows pinned together:
not through the join, but close either side.

I have learnt a lot this week, but there is just one thing I'd like to share: 

• When joining the rows I put a pin through the points, as  Paula at the Sassy Quilter suggested. 
• Then I put a pin about 1/2" each side where there are fewer layers of fabric, and removed the first pin. 

I'd never pinned this way before, but found when I started joining the rows that the fabric was bunching up on the pin and distorting. This way the join stayed flat and was easier to lead under the foot.

This was a tip I saw last year in a McCall's video in the Sand and Surf project; sorry I don't remember which lesson! I had forgotten all about it, but it came in handy this afternoon.

I'm linking up to Paula at the Sassy Quilter for 

and to Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Mondays

Happy sewing

Marly.