Another Ruler Practice Quilt

Constructed a cute little ruler practice quilt out of Hoffman Bali Snaps that I acquired in one of those Flash sales from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Will attach a border with some leftover corner stones and this is done.

Had the hardest time sorting the colour graduation and think I might have ended up with one of the reds in the wrong spot, but so be it. Piecing this should have been extraordinarily easy but I struggled in the first row aligning the sashing until I remembered how to do it properly. So out of practice with my piecing!

This is for the Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club 3 and in the borders I am going to trial my new Cindy Needham Border Stencils. Some of the rulers that we are going to get are going to be a bit big for this. Just had a look today on their website and saw that the Starflower ruler is quite big, so I am not sure how I will incorporate this, maybe do just half a flower in one of the squares...have not really thought this through and will just stitch away, I reckon, and see what happens. Just a bit of fun, combined with some practice in how to hold and stitch against the new rulers.

Karin

Australian Machine Quilting Festival 2018

Well, it's come and gone. Great event organised by Tracey Browning from Constantine Quilts right here in South Australia, Adelaide.

I went for 3 days straight and must say, I was totally exhausted by then. While exhilarating and fun, I also felt slightly overwhelmed with inspiration, as usual. Currently washing some fabrics to try out Ricky Tims Convergance quilts idea...luckily, I took a week's leave to recover and let the ideas sink in and just finish off some things.

My last class was a Wholecloth drawing class with Cindy Needham. After a bit of a lecture on Wholecloth design (also got a CD of this as part of the class which I still have not had a look at) we got to draw for the whole afternoon. Cindy had the entire stencil collection out for the class to use. Usually I draw a bit and then loose focus unless I have got a very definite idea, but that day I was super focussed and just about finished an entire Wholecloth, measuring about 36in in the afternoon.

It was very interesting to see how people approached this in the class and every piece looked very different to the next (not that I saw that many as I had my head down the entire afternoon). I started with my little motif in the middle, not really sure what to do with it. However, I thought, it will come to me as I go along and just kept extending it out.

I used Cindy's Ultimate Stencils for the middle section, first drawing in the motif with the circle stencil and then using the square stencil to extend it out. I do usually do a bit of filling as I go along, just to get an idea of what could go in there...will always have to have some cathedral windows in there, so marked this in. Also tried one of Cindy's tiny border stencils in one of the inner borders and got myself very confused with direction initially. Then I went out further and put some feathers in the inner part and to finish this off I used Cindy's High Tide border stencil for the outer border...and presto, I had an entire Wholecloth! Not the most exciting design, however lovely to look at and a very workable design. I will re-draw this on paper and tidy up some areas and then stitch it out to have a bit of a memento of this class.
After the class, I went straight upstairs and bought Cindy's Border Stencil collection.

Now this was not part of the plan 😏. I had looked at them before on the internet and had thought that I do not need this as I can draw the basic shapes myself. Doing this class though I realised how very handy they are...in the inner part of my drawing I wanted a bit of a curly type feather and then realised that I could use one of the border motifs (simple swirl) to just mark the curve in and off I went with my feathers. This was so handy and fast and looking now at those basic shapes I can see how useful this is going to become. Also liked the border stencils with the corner element and middle line cut out for alignment (I do struggle with this at times). This was a breeze to put into my border with a bit of fudging fitted nicely into that space. Obviously when I am going to draw it I will work this out a bit more precisely, but even drawing it in this roughly, it looks very good.

Enthused plus!!!

Karin

Australian Machine Quilting Festival 2018

It's all happening over here!

The Festival started at the Convention Centre...for me in the very early morning hours with a Masterclass with Ricky Tims

The class ran from 8.30 am to 5pm. He certainly is very entertaining and the time just flew. Absolutely loved it! Talked about Improvisational Patchwork, Convergence Quilts, Designing, Rhapsody Quilts, and lots of Tips and Hints on all things quilting. In addition, he showed some pictures of where he lives and talked about the recent fires they had. Really enjoyed myself and ended up breaking my good intentions of holding my money together. 

Yes, bought the Convergence Book (swear that I need it, as I have just the right fabric for it) and also a DVD on Machine Quilting and Finishing Techniques. We did get a bit of a handbook of all the things he talked about which is really good and has already given me a stack of new ideas.

Today I went to

Cindy Needham's Ultimate Stencils Workshop. Even though I have had the stencils for a while and have been raving about them, I did get a lot of useful information out of that and a few new ideas and got to try the transparency that was included in the later purchases of the stencils. The transparency certainly made things easier and I will email Cindy to try to get my hands on one of them. There were, of course, lots of fine examples (see Cindy's Pinterest Boards) stitched out on the most gorgeous fabric and we got to play a bit with marking a star design on some fabric.

Time flew and I did not get to finish this, but it was great just to doodle a bit.

Tomorrow I am off to the Wholecloth class with Cindy which will go for the whole afternoon. This should be great! Will take a ruler with me as I did get a bit sloppy with my lines and things started to not line up. Will spent the morning in the vendor hall...there is not possibly anything that I could need, but mark my words, I will find something!

Karin

The Australian Machine Quilting Festival 2018

Super excited...it's finally here! The Australian Machine Quilting Festival is held bi-annually in Adelaide originally created by Tracey Browning of Constantine Quilts  and Sharon Parkinson of Patchwork on Parade.

There are a lot of tutors from all over the world, too many to mention, exhibitions and, of course, there is some shopping. Fantastic event with lots of learning going on.

I booked into Ricky Tims Master class which is going to go on for the whole day. Not really sure what to expect but it will no doubt be entertaining. Hoping to  get inspired to try something new and different, rather than doing the same thing over and over again. From what I have heard that is the place to be.

And then, I am going to do two classes with Cindy Needham...can't wait! This will be great. I so admire Cindy and have been raving about her Craftsy classes and the use of her Ultimate Stencil sets for a while. One class is about the use of her stencils and the next one is about Wholecloth design. I am hoping to come out with an idea about my next Wholecloth and am looking forward to just playing around a bit with different designs.

Hopefully I can hold my money together in the vendor hall, as I really don't need anything, but we shall see. Shall report back on this to hold myself a bit accountable (famous last words!).

Karin

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Finally, I have a quilt finished to participate in the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2018 over at Amys Creative Side. The last few years I have missed out due to not having anything finished at that time...so, apologies for posting about the same quilt again, but it's a beauty.

The 1000 Pyramid Quilt, cursed a thousand times and for the last 3 years in danger of becoming one of those UFOs.

The problem started with the construction...did not think ahead that this meant some insane matching of points and if you are a bit of a perfectionist like I am it was very hard to let go of that. Every row was a struggle. Mind you, in the end I used some fabric glue to secure the points in place as with pinning alone I had a fair bit of shifting going on. Ultimately I did accept that the goal was to finish rather than having nice points, so there are some dooseys in there, but given its scrappy-ness nobody will ever know.

Then there was the quilting! Decided against all better judgement to do an allover Baptist fan design on my newly acquired Sweet 16, using one of the rulers. Must say, that nearly finished me off but in the end, I stubbornly continued. It paid off in that it looks absolutely stunning and actually got finished.
The quilt got very big, 67in x 86in, as I wanted to use as many of the scraps up that I had. Needless to say, it did not make a lot of difference and I am now thinking that I should do a string quilt out of the ever increasing scrap basket...at least I will not have to match any points and can just mindlessly sew strings together.

Joining the Blogger's Festival 2018 at Amys Creative Side for some eye candy and no doubt inspiration for the next few projects.

Karin

Finally Finished - 1000 Pyramids Quilt

I have finally finished my 1000 Pyramids quilt.

Stats

Size: 67in x 86in

Pattern: 1000 Pyramids, cut with the Accuquilt Equilateral Triangle die, 4 1/4in finished

Batting: 100 % Cotton

Thread: quilted with 40/2 light-green Aurifil thread in an allover Baptist fan design (using the HQ Circle set) on the HQ Sweet 16.

Time to complete: Had a look on my blog and embarrassed to say, but started this in August 2015, quickly tiring of it and continuing in starts and stops ever since.

And finally, happy to say that the quilt is cat approved

As I was sewing binding on for days on end I also completed my little Mini Wholecloth from Patsy Thompson's January online workshop

Planning to make a sleeve and to put it up in my sewing room as an example of what you can do with a few rulers.

Karin

Challenge Quilt

Continuing on my challenge quilt for the local HQ group run by Heather Hopkins

Am running behind and will have to do another 6 of those including filling in the background with some pebble work...

Pays to pay attention...promptly put my big pebbles in the wrong spot when starting off. Aren't they the worst thing to unpick!

This will look great when all finished. Undecided whether to put something in the sashing, will depend on how much time I have got left. This is supposed to be finished for the November meeting. I should really put some simple ruler design in there, the yellow 50/2 Aurifil thread looks nice on this quilt and would really stand out in the sashing. We shall see...

Karin