Another baby quilt for the hospital

On Wednesday 16th of May we gave all the coverlets and little quilts made by the ladies from the Golden Lion Quilters to my friend Belinda L who works for the special care baby unit in our local hospital " The Great Western" in Swindon. We were so suprised there were 30 coverlets and 7 incubator covers. They were well received and are now on the beds of the babies who are getting ready to go home (fattening up very often, especially if they were born early).

 And this is my second addition to this good cause, an incubator cover. I used a fleece bought in Ikea for the back, but it wasn't as thick as the one I had for my pink quilt.
To make the pattern I was able to borrow a special ruler from my friend Kandy who blogs here (although not very much at the moment, she is busy with DGD).

I have used children or bright fabrics for this little quilt, and was very happy to find this batik blue in my stash. I made one long pleat and cut it in 3 portions plus some left over that I will use at some point I am sure. I think the cutting took the most time. The sewing was straight forward.

 These photos are to show you my exercises on the quilting. I used the design on the front to make the big feathers, then made some smaller ones freehand, and finally made one on each side with a double centre line. I think I prefer these best.
I use any excuse to practise quilting free motion.

And for the binding I had a yellow fat quarter, kept the selvedge on when I cut my 2" wide strips. My binding is double folded so the bit of selvedge is hidden inside. no problem.

And finally I put a label on the back with a bit of binding to frame it.

I hope the staff and children in the hospital will have some pleasure from having these quilts with them. It was a pleasure to make them.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Our challenge finished in a quilt

As a challenge, all the members of the Golden Lion Quilters were given 2 fabrics at Christmas to be used in a project with squares and rectangles. There was this japanese inspired fabric on the left, with a blue background. I liked that one.

And then there was this pale pink and green fabric , in a completely different style and colours.

They didn't go together and that was the challenge.

I managed to find some fabrics from my stash that went with the blue, but the pink was more difficult.

But at the end I think the number of fabrics mean that they blend together, so the result is not too bad.

  I kept the blocks pretty big so the quilt would be made quickly. It's a lap size and will be used in the family.

 It has been given to Frances who leads our group as I will miss the meeting when all members bring their production. That's a shame but my brother is coming next week with his family and I'm really looking forward to having them all here.
And because we cleaned the house a lot to put it on the market, I am not too worried about last minute tidying up. It will be easy.
Moving in a month though will be a different matter.
Enjoy your sewing.

My big big bag

This year our patchwork group, the Golden Lion Quilters from Swindon, had a challenge. We alternate every year between a challenge and some work for a charity.

We were given 2 fabrics at Christmas, to be used in the project we wanted, to be finished and

presented for the end of year. And so yesterday I was able to show my bag.

I chose to use fabrics from my remnant basket,

hoping to make a difference in its volume...and forgot about the fabrics given. I only remembered on Monday as I needed to make the handles, so used one fabric there, and the other was added on the inside pocket.

The idea of the big big bag came from needing one, either to carry a quilt or other voluminous objects. This one will be used at home.

When I thought about my bag being judged anonymously by other quilters, I realised I wouldn't win anything, and then reflected on my use of my fabrics.

I buy pieces of fabric I really like, and then avoid using them, because they are too nice ! I know this is silly because the fashion will change, and they will look dated, so I have decided now to use

my nice fabrics, and make more cute things, etc...

I took some photos of my sewing process to make the block. A pinwheel block is made of 4 half square triangles sewn together.

You take 2 squares, put them right sides together, iron them together so they don't move, and trace a line on one diagonal. Pin, and sew 1/4" from the line on both sides. You can chain sew them one after the other as on this photo.

You then cut on the central line and you

get 2 squares made of 2 triangles.

Press each triangle and then open with the iron, taking care not to stretch the bias edge.

At this stage I usually check the size and recut so that all my squares are the same.

To make the block you just have to sew 4 squares together.

Of course the tricky bit is to match all the diagonal lines in the centre, ironing is important too. Your aim is to get all the seam allowances on the reverse to turn in the same way, and then iron them flat, so that when sewing squares or blocks together the seam allowances will be on opposite sides and will lock together.

OK I should have taken an additional photo here.

If all your blocks have their seam allowances turning the same way, you will be able to sew them together very easily.

This was an easy project I enjoyed, now I have to finish a present for a little girl.

Cool bags

A week ago I did a workshop for the Golden Lion Quilters in Swindon, Wiltshire, on some cool bags. I prepared 2 samples to show the process and have now assembled the bags.

I call them cool bags because they are made using some insulating wadding, to keep their content cold or warm. I think they will become presents.

The cream one is quilted with diagonals that made losanges, and on the black and white I quilted around each seed.

As the fabric is quite clear I put some feet under the black and white bag. I will also use a protective spray to waterproof the outside.

And the black lining is a fabric used to make kites, so a bit waterproof also. The only inconvenient is the sewing as it is slippery.

If you remember I made the blue bag a few months ago in my BQL Challenge with the same kind of wadding, but the outside was made of patchwork blocks that took much longer. The workshop I was doing was aiming at finishing a bag in the day, or just about.

I will try to take some photos of the other ladies bags when I see them finished.

Charity presentation

On Wednesday 14 May 2008, we, the members of the Golden Lion Quilters, presented our cushions to Shirley Garman who is the regional group contact for Breakthrough Breat Cancer in North Wiltshire.








The charity was created in 1991, to provide specific breast cancer research. In 1994 the charity had received enough money to fulfill its first aim and create a centre in London. They have now opened centres in Edinburgh, Manchester and a second in London.
In England 44500 women are diagnosed every year, and they can all visit these centres, as well as ordinary hospitals for help and treatment.





And so we made these cushions which will be given to June Thorpe, and she will sell them in a quilt show, to people who know how much work went into making them.
If you want to organise your own fundraising event you can contact Shirley Garman on 01793 538 475, in England.


Here are Shirley on the left with our own Glenys Timms.




And from left to right, Glenys Thomas, Janet, Shirley Garman, Glenys Timms, Frances our president.

It was amazing to learn that our group made 40 cushions altogether.

Cushions for charity

As a member of the Golden Lion Quilters in Swindon, Wiltshire, I am expected to present some cushions on Wednesday 14 May to be given to the Breast Cancer Association. A lady will attend our meeting, collect the cushions and sell them for the benefit of the charity.





I had to decide what to do, and chose to use orphan blocks, and reduce my number of UFOs.



The first one was a workshop on sewing round seams with the machine. I don't really like the colors any more.

They are all closed with a zip.

The second one is the result of a swap of blocks. Again not really my colors, but I hope somebody will love them.
I put the block on point and added the triangles in the corners.

















And then full of energy I went back to the shops to buy 2 more cushion pads and zips to use some cushion fabric I had won, but didn't particularly like.













I don't think I really enjoy working like this for charities, because a few years ago we made some bags for a charity, and some members discovered that they were sold for next to nothing.
On one side I understand that the charity wants the money to serve its purpose, but on the other side we spend time and money to make something nice that is not sold for its value. It made me feel that it would have been better to give them the money directly.
I suppose another reason is that people don't expect to pay much in a charity shop, even for new things.
As a result I have done my bit this year, but I wasn't as keen as previously. I hope these cushions will be sold for a good price, that is a reflection of the time and effort put in making them.

Artist of the week on Bags to brag about

A few weeks ago I joined a Yahoo group called"Bragstobragabout", all about bags of course. And this week they have chosen me as their artist, with a photo on the front page of my little japanese bags.

I feel very honored by the attention.

But of course it's a case of if you blink you will miss it.

So here is the photo they used.