In Stitches of Williamstown

1300 little bits of fabric that are really worth while!

Launching in to the 2nd year of the Quilt Aid Project which is a great way to make money for a worthy cause whilst doing something that you love.  A portion of the pattern sales is donated to this charity.

There are 12 blocks designed by 12 Australian designers.  Only 12 shops sell these blocks and we each only sell one block.  The block I sell is designed by the very talented Natalie Ross who has a lovely blog.

To purchase all 12 blocks you have to visit the website of each of the 12 shops - a veritable treasure hunt that hopefully introduces you to some shops that you haven't come across before.  The Quilt Aid site has a checklist of the shops which you can click through and visit all the 12 shops.

You don't have to buy all 12 blocks at once, you can take your time to do this.  However each shop only has a limited number of kits so you don't want to leave it all too long.   If you want to make sure a block is reserved for you, you can complete a contract with Quilt Aid which will give you until the end of the year 2010 to visit the shops to purchase your blocks as we will put one aside for you until the end of the year (terms and conditions apply see the quilt aid site). 

Each of the shops has also designed a finishing kit.  This is one of the exciting things about quilt aid as you can see what each of the 12 shops did with the same 12 blocks.  Check out the finishing kit gallery. It's quite a challenge from a shop point of view as we all have finishing kits to design, hoping that ours will stand out to you.  Hard to know what you are all after... something simple after all the hard work that you've put in to the quilt because you just want to get it done?  Something a little more challenging to really make the quilt aid quilt special.  You should see what Emma Jansen from Ballarat Patchwork has done.  Her quilt is terrific - as are all the other ones that I've seen. 

I tried to find the middle line

• Something simple that shows off all the hard work that you put into the quilt. 
• Something versatile so that you can set the blocks on point or "square". 
• Something fairly easily achievable and easy to put together. 
• Something that allows for slight descrepancies in the block sizes.

Now all I need to do is try and get a really good picture of the quilt so you can see what I've done!!!  So you will have to wait a little while.  Its been quilted but is stuck between the quilter and me at the house of someone who has gone away for the week - so near but yet so far!

So - today is kit cutting day.  Starting with 100 kits.  13 different fabric pieces per kit.  That's 1300 pieces of fabric to be cut, collated and packaged.  Fun, fun, fun!

If you'd like to order Natalie's block here is the link to my website!  enjoy! Laura x

Binding

 Have been promising several people to do a blog on binding.  So here is my Quilt Aid binding  hot off the press.

I cut my binding strips 2 1/4" x width of fabric.  For my quilt I needed about 9.  I usually measure the sides of the quilt (in this case 8m) and figure that it needs 8 strips plus one for luck (otherwise known as joins).

Then I join the strips on the diagonal like this... (don't look at where the sewing machine needle is - I don't stitch there, I stitch between the two intersections)

 

As this was stripy fabric I did fuss around a bit trying to work out how to align the fabric (sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't).  I found in the end that if you get the fabric where you think it should be sew slightly on the seam allowance side of the diagonal and this tends to work better.  I then trim away the excess fabric about 1/4" from the seam.

Once all the strips are attached together in a big long line.  I then press the seams open.

 

And then iron the binding in half lengthwise, with the right side out.

 

Once the binding is prepared, I attach it to the quilt using 1/4" seam allowance and usually my walking foot (1/4" foot will do if you don't have a walking foot).

I usually start about 1/3 of the way up the left hand edge of my quilt.  That is the most invisible area of the quilt, so people are less likely to spot your join.

I leave a flapping tail of about 10-12 inches.

The raw edges of the binding are aligned with the raw edges of the quilt.

So attach the binding and stop when you get 1/4" from the corner.  I do a bit of a reverse stitch and then remove the quilt totally from the machine, cutting the threads etc.

 

I turn the bit that has just been attached so that it is at the top.  Then I fold the binding up away from me making a 45 degree angle (see photo)

 

Then I fold the binding down.  Making sure that the top is aligned with the top edge of the quilt, and the raw edge is aligned with the raw edge of the quilt.

 

When I'm happy that it's all neatly aligned I then start sewing again, starting at the edge or up to 1/4 inch in from the edge.  I usually do a locking  stitch at the start of this.

I continue with this method until I have gone round all 4 corners, and have gone along the last edge (the left hand edge of the quilt) until I have got to about 20" away from where I started attaching the binding.  Then I reverse stitch a bit and pull the quilt out from under the sewing machine.

There are various different ways to join your binding - and this is the one I like the most as it gives the neatest finish.  It is much easier to do if you have a big gap.  If you only leave a small gap it becomes very difficult as the quilt fights you!

I take the quilt to the cutting mat.

 

I fold the flappy tails along the side of the quilt and hope to make the join about 1/2 way along.  I noticed when I was doing this that there was a join on one of my pieces of fabric so I made sure that I was able to cut that piece off...

I cut off the selvedge which I still had left on one edge and then lay that piece flat with the ruler next to it.

 

I leave the ruler exactly where it is and I laid down the other piece on top and noted where the 2 1/4" overlap was.  (I used 2 1/4" overlap as this was the width of my binding, if you use 2 1/2" binding, you need a 2 1/2" overlap).

 

I then cut the binding at this point by moving it slightly to the right onto the mat and cutting where I had indicated (if you don't have a great stripe like mine, draw your cutting line onto the binding).

 

Then you open out each edge and lay them out so that you can join them on the diagonal.  Be careful not to twist your tails.

 

I draw a line and pin (!).  I fold back the fabric just before I pin to check that it seems to be the right way.  Then I sew on the line (or one stitch width on the inside of the seam allowance).

Before cutting off the excess.  I stretch the quilt back out and fold the binding back in half to check that it is not twisted and is the right length.

 

Then I cut off the excess fabric from the seam allowance and take the quilt back to the sewing machine to stitch the binding on.

Then you need to fold your binding over the raw edges, enclosing them all and hand stitch the binding down on the back.  This is almost the most enjoyable part of quilting for me.  Sitting under the warmth of the quilt, the happy glow of a quilter who has almost finished (!) a project.

I have tried, unsuccessfully and unhappily to machine stitch binding on.  But it just doesn't look good when I do it. 

Wow - I think this is the longest post I've ever done.  Hope you find the pictures helpful! 

(Dig the pincushion. It's my 1970's pincushion made at Brownies - my first ever sewing!)

Quilted

On Wednesday night I went to pick up my Quilt Aid Quilt from the quilters - it's all so exciting seeing it again - kind of takes on a new life and dimension when it's quilted.  I love pouring over the blocks in detail seeing what has been done.  I have complete faith in the person who quilts my quilts - Jody - I know she gets it - gets the quilt - understands my style - knows just what suits it.  How lucky am I to have found her! 

The border is feathers and actually that really suits the theme of the quilt - bluebirds and all that.  Echo quilting around the birds in the corners.  Similarly there are feathers in the quarter square triangles which suit really well.

With the applique blocks - they are quite large - about 12" - so they needed quilting in the blocks, definately, so that the blocks don't sag on the quilt.  Jody's done a terrific job with them.  It's not stippling, but free motion quilting around the edge of the applique a kind of cross between flowers and feathers - I'm sure there's a name that describes the style!  The blocks that felt somewhat empty are now filled with the beautiful quilting so it looks terrific. 

I know Jody isn't keen on the idea of quilting over the top of embroidery and applique as it has the potential to distract from the hard work!  So the one block that was a real challenge in my mind (perhaps for Jody it was easy?) was the Cinderberry Stitches block as it was pretty much all stitchery.  Because the other blocks were all quilted with a medium to high density it would have stood out if this block was quilted differently.  So it is quilted over the top of the stitchery and to be honest it doesn't stand out or look odd or different at all.  In fact it suits it perfectly!

So on a scale of one to ten - how happy am I?  Well lets put it this way - when I got home I put it on the bed to see it.  And it looked so good.  And it was so cold.  That when it was time to go to bed I just crawled under the quilt, under the doona - and slept contentedly....  Perhaps I should take it off the bed until I've put the binding on? 

There is so much effort and thought that goes into the art of quilting.  For taking care of my quilt - for pouring a little bit of love into it.  Jody - Thankyou.

I will be bringing the quilt (bound) to the craft and quilt fair in Melbourne for those that want to see it.

Here it is! My finishing kit for Bluebird of Hope quilt for Quilt Aid 2009

Have you ever tried to photograph a quilt -for something that isn't alive it sure does move about and have a mind of it's own!

 

Quilt Aid 2009 - Bluebird of Hope - Summer Angel

Designed by Lynette Anderson O'Rourke of Lynette Anderson Designs

I love the interaction of birds with the angel in this block, well done Lynette. 

 

Comments and tips

• I used more applique than Lynette's original design, I love how stitchey and applique can be so interchangable that you can interpret it how you like.  I think I was tracing all the vlisofix shapes and got a bit carried away with the strawberries and the birds - but once in place I kind of liked it so I went with the flow.
• I decided not to include the birdhouse - don't know why - but as a consequence I got the placement slightly wrong on the block as I positioned the angel right in the centre of the block - i probably should have positioned her slightly left of centre as the watermelon is more on the right - perhaps a lesson to myself to find the true centre rather than assuming that you know! 
• This then led to a variety of consequences which I'll tell you about so you know what you can do if you ever end up in the same muddle as me!
• I cut the block centre smaller and closer to her left hand to regain the balance
• I then added extra width to the pieced border to help get the block back big enough again

• I decided that I would use feature quilting in the border, rather than the embroidery

• Lesson learned?  Sometimes midnight stitching doesn't result in the best choices begin made!  To be honest I think I should just have followed Lynette's design and then it wouldn't have gone wrong for me!  Her design has great balance of stitchery and applique and looks great.  But on a positive note what I have done makes me know that my quilt's the only one with a block quite like that!

Quilt Aid 2009 - Bluebird of hope - Bluebirds and Berries

Designed by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched

I loved the pieced background to this block and the birds are so cute!  Well done Annie it's a stunner..

Comments and tips

• I loved, loved, loved the applique plans for the different fabrics which made this very easy to put together
• I did hand blanket stitch applique for this block - I really love this effect. (I used a mixture through the quilt of hand and machine applique)  An applibond needle really helped stitching through the three layers of fabric for the birds tummy but lucky there wasn't a big area to sew like this.
• Definately approach the stems first they are so delicate they won't last long unless they are appliqued first.
• I used stem stitch for the writing - if I did it again I'd do backstitch as per pattern. It's hard to be neat with the stem stitch around the curves - it got better as I progressed!

 

Quilt aid 2009 launch

Quilt aid has been launched for 2009 and orders are well underway!  How exciting.  Have you read about the World Vision Charity that is benefitting - the Addis Abbaba Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.  Most worthwhile.  The Quilt Aid site (see logo in the right hand column for the link) has by far the best description of the charity.  So do go to the site and check it out.

If you're worried about whether you will be able to get all 12 blocks over the next few months, why don't you check out the quilt aid contract on the quilt aid site.

Let's get sewing!

 

Quilt Aid 2009 - 12 shops

12 shops are participating in the Quilt Aid program this year and I feel so lucky to be involved in this great project.  Particularly now that I have made the quilt it doesn't seem such a daunting prospect!

Each shop is aligned with only one of the 12 designers (see post below) and if you want to buy the block kit (pattern and fabric) you can only buy the kit from that shop.

Eg my designer is Natalie Ross of In Stitches and her block "Berry Bluebirds" is only available from my website www.institches.com.au.  This is only available as a kit, the pattern is not being sold separately.  It's a lovely block and definately works well with everything elese in the quilt - very easy to put together and quick too - Well done Natalie.

 

The Quilt Aid 2009 website www.quiltaid.com.au has a checklist of all the shops involved with links to their websites.

Natalie Ross is a great designer.  I love her projects and her blog www.natalierossinstitches.typepad.com is great.  You should see the cupcake cuties and blossom creek BOM quilt - patterns of course available through my website. Go on - have a browse!  Enjoy...

Quilt Aid 2009 - 12 Designers

The Quilt Aid 2009 project features 12 great Aussie Designers, in no particular order they are

• Natalie Ross
• Natalie Lymer
• Natalie Bird
• Helen Stubbings
• Sue Daley
• Janelle Wind
• Majella Rush
• Kerry Gillespie
• Rosalie Quinlan
• Liz Stanway
• Lynette Anderson
• Annie Downs

How lucky are we to have such detpth of talent in Australia.  Thanks to all the designers who gave their time to this project.. it is stunning and so enjoyable to see how such unique and different styles can be brought together in such harmony.

The Quilt Aid 2009 site www.quiltaid.com.au lists all the dseigners, their contact details and links to their blogs - although I also have links to most of their blogs in my favourite links on my blog too.

Quilt Aid 2009 - Bluebird of Hope - Love is in the Air

Designed by Majella Rush of Kookaburra Cottage

Couldn't help but hum the "love is in the air" song doing the ironing of the applique!  Then couldn't get the song out of my head for the rest of the day... do I say thanks Majella?

Comments and tips

• My bird points the otherway to the block that Majella deisnged.  I know now that I should have read the instructions (how novel?) which clearly say that the design has already been reversed for you!  Clever me turned the pattern upside down before tracing - however having said this doing it my way I could then use the design sheet right way up when doing the placement!
• I made the most of the different bird direction by using it on the left side of the quilt so that it could look in towards the centre
• Machine applique made this a joy of a block to sew - I used a blanket stitch setting on my Janome.  Stitch length 3.5 and stitch width 2.5.  I find it easier having a longer stitch length than width when sewing around convex shapes (suddenly having doubts about my geometry - I know I don't mean concave I mean the opposite... did I get it right?)
• I first attached just the green fabric (stems and leaves) and attached these with applique before positioning and stitching the rest.  This meant that I didn't have to start and stop inbetween all the berries etc
• I didn't do all the berries as I felt that four was plenty per stem