Sunday, April 30, 2006
CQRR 06
With twelve people joining in for this RR and remaining as one group rather than two groups of six,I hope things dont go pear shaped!
I realised last night that a 4.5 by 8.5 inch rectangle(even if it has 16 segments) is going to cramp some people's ideas,so I've amended the requirements and leave it to the individual to decide whether to add a second block or remain with the original.
The members now have the choice of:
1.. Two blocks of 4.5 x8.5 inches
2.. Two blocks of 6.5 x 6.5 inches
3.. one block of 4.5x 8.5 and one block of 6.5x 6.5
Points to remember
When making your blocks leave some of the foundation fabric around it so members can use in an embroidery hoop if they desire.
Baste a line around block marking the working area (in the case of the square block you'll baste a 6inch square)
I like to baste both the inner seam line and the one marking the 1/4 inch seam.
If you want your rectangle for a swing purse or similar, mark which is to be the TOP.
If a needlecase,mark TOP and FRONT.
Don't add buttons,beads right up to seam line as it makes for difficulty when finally assembling your block to whatever you plan for it.
If you're embellishments need to go right to seam line,perhaps you can make a note of it in the Logbook and leave extra bead or buttons in small plastic bag with extra note about them
Logbook:
Include a logbook of at least 12 pages.Nothing fancy! Weighty logbooks add to postage costs.
In your logbook list what you prefer and any definite dislikes(I remember one RR where a member did not like owls or spiders!)
What you plan on using your block for sometimes influences what people add as embellishment.
As we are very attached to our work,please let your partners know when you have mailed and when you have received........
Some people tend to forget this small etiquette so take this as a gentle reminder :-)
If LIFE starts getting in the way of your committment,please tell me and we'll attempt alternative arrangements.after all a trouble shared is often halved.
Above all,do ENJOY yourselves ,have fun and strengthen friendships and your skills
I realised last night that a 4.5 by 8.5 inch rectangle(even if it has 16 segments) is going to cramp some people's ideas,so I've amended the requirements and leave it to the individual to decide whether to add a second block or remain with the original.
The members now have the choice of:
1.. Two blocks of 4.5 x8.5 inches
2.. Two blocks of 6.5 x 6.5 inches
3.. one block of 4.5x 8.5 and one block of 6.5x 6.5
Points to remember
When making your blocks leave some of the foundation fabric around it so members can use in an embroidery hoop if they desire.
Baste a line around block marking the working area (in the case of the square block you'll baste a 6inch square)
I like to baste both the inner seam line and the one marking the 1/4 inch seam.
If you want your rectangle for a swing purse or similar, mark which is to be the TOP.
If a needlecase,mark TOP and FRONT.
Don't add buttons,beads right up to seam line as it makes for difficulty when finally assembling your block to whatever you plan for it.
If you're embellishments need to go right to seam line,perhaps you can make a note of it in the Logbook and leave extra bead or buttons in small plastic bag with extra note about them
Logbook:
Include a logbook of at least 12 pages.Nothing fancy! Weighty logbooks add to postage costs.
In your logbook list what you prefer and any definite dislikes(I remember one RR where a member did not like owls or spiders!)
What you plan on using your block for sometimes influences what people add as embellishment.
As we are very attached to our work,please let your partners know when you have mailed and when you have received........
Some people tend to forget this small etiquette so take this as a gentle reminder :-)
If LIFE starts getting in the way of your committment,please tell me and we'll attempt alternative arrangements.after all a trouble shared is often halved.
Above all,do ENJOY yourselves ,have fun and strengthen friendships and your skills
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
I'm in CQMagOnline :)
How's this for a seascape!
This pic is on one of the groups I belong to!
I particularly like the semi vertical patches,which to me represent the various shades seen in the water.
Look at the way tatting has been incorporated: to me it gives a coral effect,with the fish swimming through
Monday, April 24, 2006
Feltazia
Feltazia
One of my Crazies friends has her first exhibition starting shortly.
So for our Victorian Crazies here's the details:
" You are invited to the Launch of our First Exhibition.
FELTAZIA the space where costumes of street and theatre meet
Officially Opened by WALTRAUD REINER internationally renowned milliner
featuring a parade of unique hand-felted garments and hats
created by Catherine Byatt and Joan Stowell
Sunday 30th April 2006 5pm - 7pmMorrisons On The Park Cafe
& Evelyn Library Community Room Wray Crescent, Mt Evelyn.
finger food provided/drinks available at bar prices
Entry free
Wish I lived close enough to go and see Cath's exhibition.
Maureen
One of my Crazies friends has her first exhibition starting shortly.
So for our Victorian Crazies here's the details:
" You are invited to the Launch of our First Exhibition.
FELTAZIA the space where costumes of street and theatre meet
Officially Opened by WALTRAUD REINER internationally renowned milliner
featuring a parade of unique hand-felted garments and hats
created by Catherine Byatt and Joan Stowell
Sunday 30th April 2006 5pm - 7pmMorrisons On The Park Cafe
& Evelyn Library Community Room Wray Crescent, Mt Evelyn.
finger food provided/drinks available at bar prices
Entry free
Wish I lived close enough to go and see Cath's exhibition.
Maureen
Hello...
Hi there fellow CQ'ers...
I am now 'onboard' too... I look forward to 'travelling' and 'exploring' with you all for this RR...
:-)) S/52 (Sharon)
I am now 'onboard' too... I look forward to 'travelling' and 'exploring' with you all for this RR...
:-)) S/52 (Sharon)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Logbooks/RR journals
Just to give you an idea for a logbook/journal for a Round Robin.Nothing extravagant,as I like to minimize weight for postage.
It consists of (in this case) 12 pages made by folding four sheets of A4 paper in half (across the long side) then folding that size in half again,and slicing across the initial fold.
I anchored these pages with a few stitches on the central fold/spine and placed them in a card cover 8.5 inches by 6.
the scan above shows on inside cover list of participants: emails,snail addies;
and page 1 is the first page of my "hope list": likes/dislikes.
If you still have queries,please let me know and I'll endeavour to help you.
Needlebook pattern
">Link
Mary Graham's Crazy Needlebook pattern http://www.nmia.com/~mgdesign/qor/freepatterns/cqneedlecase/needlecase.html
(Hopefully I've cut and pasted the Link correctly this time.My apologies!)
More details about this RoundRobin is listed under the Swaps message thread on the
Craft Club forum
http://forum.craftmagazines.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=3904&start=20
Mary Graham's Crazy Needlebook pattern http://www.nmia.com/~mgdesign/qor/freepatterns/cqneedlecase/needlecase.html
(Hopefully I've cut and pasted the Link correctly this time.My apologies!)
More details about this RoundRobin is listed under the Swaps message thread on the
Craft Club forum
http://forum.craftmagazines.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=3904&start=20
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Unorthodox applique
">Link The "I don't do applique" method as espoused by Debbie Kratovil! http://www.quilterbydesign.com/lessons/unorthodox.applique.html
A U.S.based friend introduced me to this method some five years back,and until the last couple of days I'd completely forgotten about it.
From memory we also decided that Chux nappy liners worked the same way,so if there's any infant grandkids around get mum to wash and save the "widdly" liners for you :-)
so,here's an excerpt from Debbie's method:
I call this the "I-don't-do-applique" applique. And that's because for many years that was my approach to quilting. If it had curves, it its ends had to be turned under, if it couldn't be machine pieced, I wouldn't even give it a view through my see-thru ruler. But then I entered a quilt-block-a-month challenge from G Street Fabrics store. Baskets. You know -- the kind with the curved handles. The kind that had embellishments of curved leaves, rounded hearts, twists and turns and lots of edges that had to be turned under. And here began my own personal transformation. Two days before the deadline to turn in all 12 blocks and with only two blocks finished, my friend Diane shared that she uses thin interfacing to self-face her hearts. Not having that on hand, I looked around my sewing room (which doubles as a laundry room when we run out of clean clothes) and saw a few used dryer sheets laying around. The wheels began to spin and since I always work best under pressure, I grabbed a dryer sheet and so began my method which helped me finish those 10 applique blocks in 48 hours. Here is what I discovered.....
I started with a basket made of three heart shapes. They were curved and I didn't want to needle-turn anything. I traced the shape of each heart onto the wrong side of the fabric, laid the fabric right side down on a dryer sheet and sewed along the line all way around. Then I slit the dryer sheet, reached in and turned the heart right side out. Using a plastic, blunt, corner-turner, I smoothed the seam from the inside. Then I pressed with an iron. Finally, I trimmed the excess dryer sheet to the seam allowance. Since the weight of the dryer sheet is negligible, its presence is not noticeable.
Now I needed to do the basket handles. I laid the template on the wrong side of the handle fabric, traced around the template, then proceeded as above except that this time I just sewed along the two curves, leaving the two small ends of the handle free. I turned the handle right side out (like turning a fabric tube right side out), pressed and trimmed. The edges can remain raw (on the handles' ends) since they will have the basket appliqued on top of them.
I was able to finish the last 10 blocks in two days. (It did help that there were two days of ice-storms and I couldn't leave the house anyway). For embellishment, which was done a few months later, I used the same method to make the many leaves I wanted to surround my yo-yo flowers. I attached each of my handles, baskets, leaves, etc. to the background fabric by hand. But it could have just as easily been accomplished using fine nylon monofilament thread and my sewing machine (with a small zig-zag stitch).
So,go try it on your hearts..............have fun!
A U.S.based friend introduced me to this method some five years back,and until the last couple of days I'd completely forgotten about it.
From memory we also decided that Chux nappy liners worked the same way,so if there's any infant grandkids around get mum to wash and save the "widdly" liners for you :-)
so,here's an excerpt from Debbie's method:
I call this the "I-don't-do-applique" applique. And that's because for many years that was my approach to quilting. If it had curves, it its ends had to be turned under, if it couldn't be machine pieced, I wouldn't even give it a view through my see-thru ruler. But then I entered a quilt-block-a-month challenge from G Street Fabrics store. Baskets. You know -- the kind with the curved handles. The kind that had embellishments of curved leaves, rounded hearts, twists and turns and lots of edges that had to be turned under. And here began my own personal transformation. Two days before the deadline to turn in all 12 blocks and with only two blocks finished, my friend Diane shared that she uses thin interfacing to self-face her hearts. Not having that on hand, I looked around my sewing room (which doubles as a laundry room when we run out of clean clothes) and saw a few used dryer sheets laying around. The wheels began to spin and since I always work best under pressure, I grabbed a dryer sheet and so began my method which helped me finish those 10 applique blocks in 48 hours. Here is what I discovered.....
I started with a basket made of three heart shapes. They were curved and I didn't want to needle-turn anything. I traced the shape of each heart onto the wrong side of the fabric, laid the fabric right side down on a dryer sheet and sewed along the line all way around. Then I slit the dryer sheet, reached in and turned the heart right side out. Using a plastic, blunt, corner-turner, I smoothed the seam from the inside. Then I pressed with an iron. Finally, I trimmed the excess dryer sheet to the seam allowance. Since the weight of the dryer sheet is negligible, its presence is not noticeable.
Now I needed to do the basket handles. I laid the template on the wrong side of the handle fabric, traced around the template, then proceeded as above except that this time I just sewed along the two curves, leaving the two small ends of the handle free. I turned the handle right side out (like turning a fabric tube right side out), pressed and trimmed. The edges can remain raw (on the handles' ends) since they will have the basket appliqued on top of them.
I was able to finish the last 10 blocks in two days. (It did help that there were two days of ice-storms and I couldn't leave the house anyway). For embellishment, which was done a few months later, I used the same method to make the many leaves I wanted to surround my yo-yo flowers. I attached each of my handles, baskets, leaves, etc. to the background fabric by hand. But it could have just as easily been accomplished using fine nylon monofilament thread and my sewing machine (with a small zig-zag stitch).
So,go try it on your hearts..............have fun!
It's amazing how much you forget.......
">Link Over the years as I've indulged myself with both tradition P&Q and Crazy quilting and a marriage of both,I've picked up many "tricks of the trade" and as made clear this week have just about forgotten most of them,until "something" triggers a recall.
Case in point: a group of us are making CQed or embellished hearts for a frined who's going through a rough patch.
I suggested appliqueing the hearts to a 6.5 inch square of fabric and since then have been asked HOW to do it neatly.
Because I enjoy hand work I naturally thought of needle turn hand sewing;
Then we thought of heat fusible backing on heart and fusing to the fabric and using maybe a fly stitch to cover the edge;
Others have used a lace frill or ric-rac braid;
Then Julia mentioned about using some light weight interfacing like vilene: cut out a heartshape slighly bigger than the heart you are working with, place right side of heart to vilene and sew right around the heart just inside the stitching line, cut a small slit in the centre of the vilene and turn the heart through the slit to the right side... no raw edges..Finger roll the edges and if you like lighly press the edges, then all you have to do is stitch the hearts onto the fabric of your choice.
Slowly the rusty cogs in my brain started turning and after reading Rita's comments about using Softener/ant static sheets used in clothes driers,I started hunting for my notes on "easy applique"...............and that will come next!
Case in point: a group of us are making CQed or embellished hearts for a frined who's going through a rough patch.
I suggested appliqueing the hearts to a 6.5 inch square of fabric and since then have been asked HOW to do it neatly.
Because I enjoy hand work I naturally thought of needle turn hand sewing;
Then we thought of heat fusible backing on heart and fusing to the fabric and using maybe a fly stitch to cover the edge;
Others have used a lace frill or ric-rac braid;
Then Julia mentioned about using some light weight interfacing like vilene: cut out a heartshape slighly bigger than the heart you are working with, place right side of heart to vilene and sew right around the heart just inside the stitching line, cut a small slit in the centre of the vilene and turn the heart through the slit to the right side... no raw edges..Finger roll the edges and if you like lighly press the edges, then all you have to do is stitch the hearts onto the fabric of your choice.
Slowly the rusty cogs in my brain started turning and after reading Rita's comments about using Softener/ant static sheets used in clothes driers,I started hunting for my notes on "easy applique"...............and that will come next!
Monday, April 17, 2006
A heart for JuliaC
This pink and burgandy heart goes into the mail tomorrow for Julia.... CQ RR ......Needlecase anyone?
">Link
As mentioned over on the Craft magazines Craft Club
I'd like to organise another Round Robin with a smaller sized block of 4.5 by 8.5 inches.
To make it easier for those of you not yet happy about drafting up a naked block,go check out Mary Graham's Crazy Quilt Needle case
where you can print off a copy of the pattern.
If you're happy doing your own,go for it!
One thing I would suggest though is to place your block in the CENTRE of a piece of calico/homespun at least 8 inches square,so that people who like working with an embroidery hoop are not so likely to damage the actual patches when hooping the block!
As mentioned over on the Craft magazines Craft Club
I'd like to organise another Round Robin with a smaller sized block of 4.5 by 8.5 inches.
To make it easier for those of you not yet happy about drafting up a naked block,go check out Mary Graham's Crazy Quilt Needle case
where you can print off a copy of the pattern.
If you're happy doing your own,go for it!
One thing I would suggest though is to place your block in the CENTRE of a piece of calico/homespun at least 8 inches square,so that people who like working with an embroidery hoop are not so likely to damage the actual patches when hooping the block!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Another CQRR
Link
Our first RR commenced the end of April last year (Anzac day saw the posting of the lists) and after many hiccups and detours the last block has finally arrived home to it's owner.
Hopefully this time there will be better communications between paticipants (even if it means resorting to usual the postal service to communicate.
We all know and accept that "Real Life" throws curved balls at times,but,MAKE TIME to let someone know that there are problems.
I'll try to make this as much fun as possible,so think about it.........do you want another joint masterpiece?
Let me know.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Flaming orange heart
">Link
I'm about ready to spit the dummy over the way "Mr Blog"and Miz Picasa are hissy-fitting today!
This is my fourth attempt at posting and I'm feeling a tad irate over the time wasted in attempting re-posts.
Okay...the topic in question: Completed is one "flaming -orange heart" for ToniE.
Maybe a little more red than orange,this piece of dyed silk screamed out "Toni!!" when I rediscovered it nestling in my silk fabric stash.
Toni is a member of Chain of Hearts online group,and the Link should take you to hearts I've made for swapping within the group
Because the fabric itself has such strong vibes I have tried to not have the embellishments warring with the fabric.
Using a forest green "faux feathers" knitting yarn for foliage I worked orange and apricot silk ribbon for the flowers,a cluster of painted buttons and an art-doll molded face for extra texture.
The butterfly resting on the button was burnished with Lumiere Sunset gold.
(now to once again tempt fate with an upload)
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
J's on it's way
well, nearly. Finished the hand sewing just need to applique onto background so will get that done tomorrow and it will be psted wednesday, hopefully to arrive after the easter break - piccies on my blog allstitchedup
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Hearts for J............
If any of you are contemplating sending a heart block (for J) could you please confirm with me via email and Post it ASAP.
Sorry to hassle you,but there is a chance of delivering them personally if they are here shortly after Easter.
For a refresher of what is required check out the Blog entry dated March 23.
Sorry to hassle you,but there is a chance of delivering them personally if they are here shortly after Easter.
For a refresher of what is required check out the Blog entry dated March 23.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Cramzy's Crazy Quilt
Cramzy,who I know from a couple of other sites has just posted this pic of what was previously a UFO.
I wonder how this would work with those Chains of Hearts.I'm waiting to hear if each block is postcard sized or larger.
