Stylish Gifting

Japanese Knot Bags 2021

Again, and after successful home-made gifting in 2020, I was determined to give it a shot in 2021.  I was on a roll!!  I decided to undertake another set of bags made of fabrics selected only from my stash.  This time, I wanted a smaller bag but with a twist; again, a reference to Japanese style.  This time I concentrated on a more traditional knot bag handle design but wanted a “standing” bag – a square bottom.  It needed to be big enough for a large phone or mail (yes, we still get letters, mostly bills ; ) in the post) and would keep keys, masks and other odd bits together if dashing to the shops. 

I settled on a great pattern from sumoftheirstories.com, found on 23rd October.  I cut all the bags out at once (8 Nov) and then started madly sewing until 12^th December, cutting it quite fine for Christmas gifting.  I did though, have fun with a Spotlight selection of Aussie flower and bird designs by Jocelyn Proust.  Don’t you just love her modern prints! 

Finished Size of bag: w-4.5; h-7.5; d-2.5 (inches) & w-11.5; h-19; d-6.5 (cms); Finished size of straps or handles: Width: 2in or 5cm; Lengths: long strap L-12 (30.5cm); short strap L-7 (18cm).  Sizes are for your information only and are in accordance with changes I made to the original pattern offered on sumoftheirstories.com to suit my needs.  Once cut out and quilted (onto wadding leftovers), I could make 3 to 4 a day.  

These bags worked up a treat, were relatively simple to make and I think, were well received.  Over the year, I finished off a few more, in all 27 bags completed.  I used them for Christmas or thank-you gifts; many were donated for raffle prizes. 

Cheese & Mustard

Scrappy Bow Ties: 2021  (Started: 2020)

There’s nothing better than putting together all those odd scraps that are too good to throw away but just never seem to be "just right" when planning a new quilt.  I certainly needed to find something to suit a bundle of squares I’d cut ages ago that were sitting idly in my scrap bin.  Enthused by Bonnie Hunter’s scrap philosophy, and the amazing results she achieves, I launched into her Cheddar Bow Ties pattern (2011).  

All I needed were 3 x 2 ½" squares of each fabric to be able to cut sufficient bow ties to make blocks for a decent sized quilt.  Bonnie used a cheddar fabric as her background. Yellow cheese is very popular in the US.  (US-ians like their butter white, too!  We think it’s a real hoot since we’re partial to white cheese and our yellow butter!).  Back to background choices…for some mad reason I went for a caramel colour (Dijon mustard, anyone?) which looked fine with my individual blocks but somehow became Doctor Strangelove and took absolute control when the top was finally pieced.  It was too late to make any changes, so I just had to go with the “flow” and try to make the best of a not-so-appealing background.  

This was supposed to be a “quickie” but I guessed machine quilting was not going to do anything to soften my background choice, so instead settled on hand quilting and using a thick perle cotton thread.  Deep in my thread box, I discovered some skeins of sashiko thread; a nice variegated red through green with an acid green/yellow as well.  I needed a crowbar of a needle, no hoop, miles of masking tape and lots of patience; but it’s finished at last.  The lines are ½” apart and I worked out each one took about 45 mins or more to do.  At best, I managed 3 rows a night, with regular breaks to rest sore fingers.  I’m holding off doing some Japanese boro work for a little while now.  Although I NOW have to confess to loving the look.

I tidied up the edges with a wild Aboriginal design full of colour and movement.  It’s Shirleen Campbell’s “Women Dancing for Rain‘.  It’s an unusual choice for me for this type of quilt but came about after (fabric) shopping with my quilting buddy, Yvonne.  It really does help to step back sometimes and consider other people’s opinions.  

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 169 x 169cm 
Block Sizes: 10” (made up of 4 x 5” bow ties) 
Cut in: 12 Apr 2020 (started)
Pieced: 22 May 2020
Basted: 18 Jun 2020
Quilted: Hand: 28 Sep 2021
Quilting Thread: Japanese Sashiko Thread x 2 skeins
Quilt Type: Traditional 
Quilt Finished: 30 Sep 2021
Exhibited: 
Collection: Home #073
Pattern Name: Cheddar Bow Ties
Pattern Source: Bonnie Hunter, 2011
Fabrics Purchased: From the Stash…
Fabric Design: Prints, Stripes & anything to hand really
Fabric Style: Old to Bold
Materials Type: Printed Cottons 
Wadding Type: Cotton
Backing: Pieced using left-over remnants 

Further Reductions to the Scrap Box

Doll’s Bed Quilt: 2021

Little Miss came to stay and while I stitched some of her “clothing repairs”, I set her a task to make a pretty design using some 2 ½” squares I’d cut from leftovers for my scrap bin.  I’d been inspired by Pat Sloan’s very practical scrap sorting philosophy.  Let’s just say, it’s a fantastic idea and soooo organised…but a lot of work (just yet for me, anyway!) with my scrap box still fit to burst.

We decided that her design looked so nice it was deserving of being sewn up into a doll’s quilt.  I finished it off after she’d left for home, adding a cute little pillow and as a special surprise, finished off a cloth doll kit she’d been given as a gift. 

How wonderful to finish something in a matter of days! 

I watched quite a few great videos to work out sizing and this one by Treasurie (less than 4 minutes) was certainly helpful, particularly for making the pillow and pillow case.  Size depends very much on the doll and the bed you have. 

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 37 x 40cm

Pillow Finished Size: 19.5 x 11cm
Mermaid Finished Size: 36cm tall
Block Sizes: 2”(quilt & pillow) finished
Cut in: 18 Aug 2021 (started)
Pieced & Basted: 25 Aug 2021
Quilted: Machine: 25 Aug 2021
Quilt Type: Doll Quilt
Quilt Finished: 28 Aug 2021
Exhibited:
Collection: Gifted #23
Fabrics Purchased: From the Stash…
Fabric Design: Prints, Stripes & Dots
Fabric Style: Brights
Materials Type: Printed Cottons
Wadding Type: Cotton
Backing: Pieced using left-over remnants

TideMark

Tidemark: 2021  (Started:2019)

I just love scrap quilts and after a rather too-long hiatus and an overflowing scrap bin, I felt the urge to search the net for inspiration.  Thanks to viewing an “extreme” (well, for me) quilt collection makeover by Pat Sloan, dying of envy for Jeni Baker's (In Colour Order) organised stash and suggestions by my friendly quilting buddies to check out Bonnie Hunter for her scrappy quilts, I present to you my take on Bonnie Hunter’s 2014 leader & ender challenge quilt.

Bonnie’s original design inspiration came from an old quilt named “Stained Glass”. It was made in 1890 by Frances Clarke Westergren of Boston and can be found in the book “Massachusetts Quilts, Our Common Wealth”.  It looks just fabulous as it is but also serves as great design to mess about with and to add your own personal touches. 

My scraps were not so much scraps but fabrics from a Moda Metro Mixologie Layer Cake pack lying dormant in my “Collections” box just waiting for the right moment to present itself.  I wanted a modern look, and if anything, thought using this selection of fabrics might lead to the quilt looking a bit too samey-samey (bland!).  Perhaps to rescue it, I decided on a black and whites for the corner blocks.  Not wanting to waste any of my Layer Cake pieces, I modified Bonnie’s block to suit, i.e. larger pieces.  Now that took some math effort! 

I’m normally fairly lazy when it comes to cutting – lulled by the ever-accurate rotary cutting instructions in Judy Martin’s books, so this came as quite a shock for the old grey matter.  Never-the-less it worked out and my math held up, until after a loooong break in proceedings, I inadvertently cut my remaining corner squares the wrong size.  Back to the drawing board, hi ho!  I now cut shapes then store them in sandwich bags; all clearly labelled with sizes.  

I’d planned to make this for a friend’s 60th (it did take a wee bit longer though) as the colours seemed to suit those chosen for her house renovation.  And the modern design, highlighted by the black & white corner blocks, looked great.  To me, it was very much in keeping with her outlook on life.  She loves the water, and as the quilt looked rather like tiles in an exotic swimming pool, I chose to finish it off with a medium stipple (or meander) pattern.  

For those interested in Pat Sloan’s stash management process, here is a link to her blog post.  Pat offers a quick and easy approach to sorting out the bags, boxes and suitcases full of scraps into functional scrap sizes. Now all I need is the time to be so organised - ha ha!   

The garden is a bit too shady to show the quilt colours at their best

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 159 x 190cm
Block Sizes: 4.5 x 8.5” rectangles; 2 ¾” squares (incl s.a.)
Cut in: 17 Jan 2019 (started working out pattern size)
Pieced Started: 21 Mar 2020; Finished: 28 Dec 2020
Basted: 2 Jan 2021
Quilted: Machine: 15 Mar 2021
Quilt Type: Modern
Quilt Finished: 24 Mar 2021
Exhibited:
Collection: Home #071
Pattern Name: Lozenges
Pattern Source: Bonnie Hunter 2014 (PDF pattern here)
Fabrics Purchased: Moda Metro Mixologie layer cake…
Fabric Design: Prints, Stripes & Dots
Fabric Style: Brights
Materials Type: Printed Cottons
Wadding Type: Cotton
Backing: Pieced using left-over remnants
 

Progress underway in 2020

Study from Home

2020 was not without its quilting study initiatives, so the posts that follow are a brief summary of ventures, not necessarily involving a quilt outcome; more for interest:

My Book Choice: Stitched in Color

In one of my Google “research” moments, I found a wonderfully coloured Bears Paw quilt and tracked it back to the book, “A Quilters Field Guide to Color” by Rachel Hauser.  The quilt’s owner had participated in a colour study exercise from Rachel’s book and followed along with her blog quilt-along too for even more tips and tricks.  Working effectively with colour has always been one of my weak spots “needing work”, so I quickly ordered a copy from Book Depository and in between other projects, started my own Bear’s Paw learning adventure.  I’ve wanted to do this block for ages but couldn’t decide on what colour the quilt should be. Now it will be all multi-coloured and happy!  And who would pass up the opportunity to learn more about colour on this journey.  Not me!

Of course, the book led to Rachel’s blog and her very generous tutorials, quilt-alongs and pattern offerings.  I’ve since decided to go back to the start of her blog to find out more.  In the meantime, I’ve also been hooked on Rachel’s Kingfisher EPP (English Paper Piecing) and have been cutting hexagon shapes from my scrap box.  I’m hoping at some stage to add to all this learning by putting together a colour wheel using a Carpenters Wheel block to hang in my Garden Shed.  Well, it’s a nice plan for 2021 perhaps…

My Tutorial Choice: Tula Pink’s EPP Series

To complement all this study, especially if you are into EPP, I found Tula Pink’s excellent series (made for the Fat Quarter Shop).  Tula shows in great detail how to best achieve very professional results (don’t lick the thread!) and look after your well-being at the same time.  Her three tutorials (the first goes for over 39 minutes) cover so much that I’ve watched them a number of times to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything.  I should add here, that I’m not a huge EPP fan, although I did enjoy putting together my hexi quilt all those years ago.  That said, I am open to small projects that use scraps like Rachel’s Kingfisher, so all I need to do now is to actually start stitching all those little 1” hexagons I’ve been busy cutting and hoarding…  

Loving Quiltmania (& My To Do List)

In the interests of economy and space, I’ve been busy downsizing lately and decided that Quiltmania was going to be my only subscription magazine.  Well, that and its sister publication, Simply Moderne.  Not an edition goes by without my adding at least one more project to my To Do List.  The magazines are great quality, offer a balance of news, articles and advertising, and contain more than enough projects to interest and challenge quilters of all levels of expertise. 

I’ve written about my To Do List before, but it’s essentially a list of the great unfinished kept in my UFO box and a note or two about progress (or otherwise).  I also record where the project is located if it’s not in the UFO box, so that I can find it if I suddenly have a rush of blood to the head and want to finish that something NOW.  I also add a list of those patterns I’m inspired to do or ideas that have inspired me to make a quilt.  Bearing in mind that I achieve about one finished quilt a year and have been quilting for over 35 years, that list is long; rather too long.  Now, I make this To Do List every year, as close to the start of the year as I can.  It helps me to organise myself.  (I have mentioned OCD tendencies before.)  In 2020, I couldn’t help myself and added a further few (too many) pages to my wish list by noting those projects from Quiltmania & Simply Moderne that tempted me.  I’ve been introduced to such luminaries as Sujata Shah, Brigitte Heitland, Kaffe Fassett and Rachel Hauser.  Of course, I’d need to live to 200 to finish them all and that’s not going to happen.  But it’s my happy place!  How inspiring and thank you so much Quiltmania.

Sea Change

In February 2020, we began planning for our usual overseas adventure.  It always takes a few months to organise ourselves.  I’d found some great fares for our flights and consulted the captain (only of our ship).  “I’d wait,” he said.  “Things don’t look good.”  So here we are in 2021.  Still waiting.  Still not looking good…

Meanwhile, he turned his hand to those many outstanding home repairs (long neglected) and I began a major photo re-organisation project.  (It’s finally nearing completion in 2021; I know, I’m leaning towards the OCD type.)  However, with a gentle slide into 2021, Autumn and cooler weather, it was time to take a (sanity) break and hit the Garden Shed, my quilt room in the garden, before winter sent me back inside to a warm cosy fire. 

I dusted off the UFO box, sent Bertie Bernina away for a service and made a few lists to help me work out where I was at.  I also had a spring clean, putting unwanted items aside to give away and thinned out the growing magazine collections.  Spotlight had a few sales and my fabric boxes were full to the brim with wadding and the odd piece of fabric or two.  I was all set for a bit of action.  So, there I’ve been since, happily avoiding my computer (and those never-ending photo piles). Zoom Zoom!