Writing Patterns

I have been writing quilting patterns for a very long time, initially  as a contributor to various quilting magazines and eventually on a number of different platforms.

I am currently revamping my Etsy shop which is turning out to be a huge job, but I made myself a list and slowly but surely working through it, checking my photos, my pattern instructions, making slight improvements here and there. It is starting to look really good.

At the same time I am working on a new pattern (actually I am working on three new quilts which is always an interesting scenario) which is taking a bit longer than I expected. I do not use pattern testers but trial the pattern myself. Pattern testers would be good but I feel it is a bit of an imposition to ask other people to stitch together my quilts. Also, I do like to iron out any issues with my pattern before I publish it and the best way for me is to sit and go through it myself. 

I draft my patterns in EQ8 and as I know the measurements go ahead and write down a bit of a draft first, noting the changes that have to be made as I go along. The actual stitching looks something like this...somewhat messy, but I assure you this is my organised version of a mess.

I thought that I had my pattern down pad, but this is one of those moments when I noticed that I need a diagram in front of my nose, as I attached my triangle to the wrong side. This is why it is so helpful to actually test the pattern yourself. I had glanced over at my quilt layout thinking that I knew what I was doing but obviously got it wrong. I need something like the diagram below in my pattern write up at this point.

If I get that wrong, so will other people and unpicking stitched units is so annoying. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to follow your instructions.

And so I go along through the pattern, making notes of what needs to be included, what is not that clear and whether or not there are any tips and tricks to speed up the process. 

Not a quick process but necessary if you want to get it right. This is why I love pattern writing...it is such an absolute brain drain! Once the quilt is done, the actual write up of the pattern will take about as much time as I did for construction.

Despite your best efforts there are sometimes things that are missed. I have had a pattern up on the net for some six years by now

Let's Play Baby Quilt

This little quilt has been incredibly successful over time but it was not until last year that a lady emailed me providing some feedback (which I love). She liked the pattern but found one part of the instruction confusing. When I looked at it (I had not looked at that pattern for years!) I had to agree...what I had written was somewhat confusing and needed changing. These things do happen and its great when people take the time to suggest improvements. 

I have about three patterns lined up, so will be very busy with that over the next few months.

Karin

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a Happy and Healthy New Year.

I have been fairly productive in the last few days. Still exploring my new camera...started working on making a new banner for my little Etsy shop which now also adorns my blog. I thought it was time for a change. Well, that little idea went from one to the next thing to the next...before I knew it I was working on several other things. So far I 

- updated my Etsy banner

- cleaned up the site (still heaps more to do), and

- made a new button for the Etsy shop which also serves as my new blog button.

Was particularly impressed with the button as I literally started with nothing.

 

...and all of the sudden everything fell into place. Decided on my colour scheme, kept my font the same as the banner and then started playing with shapes. I did this in the Canva program which made this fairly easy.

Getting to know the new camera (Panasonic Lumix)

 

This shows some of the elements of a new pattern that I am working on. Really like those colours together which gave me the idea of using these elements for my banner.

Apart from this I finally picked up the quilt for the Natalia Bonner 'A Year of the Stars' quiltalong. Have been dreading this a bit as all my blocks are slightly different. I think none of them is exactly 12 1/2in. However, this is going to start today and I definitely want to participate. Worked on the sashings today and even managed to put on some borders. Was amazed as it went without a hitch. Points got cut off and I dare say it may not be entirely straight, but it looks great! 

Chose a dusty pink colour for the sashing as I could not see very well on my white sashing last time when I participated in the 9 Patchalong. Still got a fair bit of work to do as I will have to baste this and then do all the ditch quilting before I can go into the blocks for some ruler work. Should be caught up by the end of the month. Looking forward to this. This quiltalong goes for the entire year, so plenty of time if you are thinking of joining in.

Also started something new once again. Don't know about you but I get fairly grumpy if I do not have something to freemotion quilt on. There is only so much doodling I can do...so I rummaged around and found the leftover fabric from my pastel baby quilt. There was enough to do another one, so I cut all of the fabric into a stack of charm squares and spent some time arranging them on the floor.

It's so pastel that it is hard to see...planning to just stitch this together and maybe put some applique shapes on top...we'll see. In any case it will be great for a nice easygoing allover design.

Good start to the New Year.

 

Karin

Best Of 2020 Linky Party

Certainly has been a difficult year with lots of changes and challenges both personally and across the world. However, let's not dwell on this...I will focus on my favourite finishes for the year (which did not occur until the middle of the year as I was waiting for my machine to arrive...)

1. The Easy Baby Quilt

This is my own pattern (find the free pattern HERE) that I have done a number of times. Thought it would be nice to use strong primary colours this time.

2. Lana Lemur Quilt

Rather loosely followed Claudia Pfeil's method of background quilting which was a tad challenging but  fun to do.

3. Happy Scrappy House Quilt

Entirely made out of scraps following a Bonnie Hunter pattern. This was the quilt I pieced together while there were restrictions in place earlier in the year. It had been on my list for a number of years and this year it just felt right.

4. Noah's Arc Quilt

Enjoyed quilting this beauty for a friend of mine.

5. Another Scrappy Quilt

Put this quilt together from a Fat Sixteenth bundle of fabric that I had won from Hillstitches Fabric. Absolutely loved the way the colours had been put together. Used an edge to edge design from Urban Elementz to finish it off.

Linking up to the Meadow Mist Best of 2020 Linky Party.

Karin

A Finish

Finished my little quilt with a jazzy striped binding.

Father Christmas brought me a new camera, so I am trialing taking photos at the moment. I so struggle with this, as I was used to my old camera. For the last 6 months I have been taking pictures with either my Iphone or the Ipad as my trusted Nikon gave up its ghost...I know that lots of people do this, but I struggled with that big time, so decided to go for a new camera. Was looking for something fairly basic but with the popularity of the Iphones as cameras there was a fairly limited range. Got a smallish point and shoot camera (Panasonic) and have spent the afternoon going through the manual and trying different things. Must say they packed a lot of features into this small thing and in terms of function it is definitely much more than just point and shoot! My photos are a bit rough as I was shooting in lower light and trying all sorts of weird and wonderful things. There is so much to explore and I have little knowledge of photographic concepts. Have gone straight back to my preferred Nikon setting which is taking photos in the Aperture mode...at least I am used to that!

Anyway, here is the completed quilt.

Using a different spot in the house for taking my shot (working on getting better quilt photos for my ETSY shop). The above is nice but won't do...I need it sharper and lighter than that I reckon.

Camera has a fairly wide zoom and I played around with this a fair bit

Finally worked out how to get a good representation of the colours...who knew that pressing a few buttons could do that.

Close up of the stitching looks brilliant, done on the Bernina Q20 in stitch regulation.

Also did heaps of stylized shots as I am working on making a decent banner (again for the ETSY shop). Put my trial photo as a banner for my blog for the moment...not too bad at all! Well, with that the whole afternoon is gone and all I have done is exploring this little gadget and adults kids are coming around the corner asking what is for dinner!

Karin

Christmas 2020

What a year it has been!

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

I was hoping to have some quilty stuff to show today but have spent the last few days cleaning and shopping and more cleaning in preparation for Christmas. Quilting will have to wait until after Christmas. 

Until then, stay safe and enjoy the festivities.

Karin

Working On Some UFOs

Finally finished the Happy Scrappy Houses Quilt and had a bit of fun with the photographing.

...and here is the back

All made out of fabric that I had available in my stash. Very happy with that.

Also finished of my little wall hanging that I quilted a while ago using Bethanne Nemesh' rulers

This is the problem when you leave things for a while...had no binding left, so I had to hunt around for something that fitted this little piece.

Still have a number of other projects left to complete. Maybe I can start the new year with a clean slate?

😂😂😂😂😂

Karin

Small Irregular Grid Quilt

I had fun with the little irregular grid quilt. After much deliberation I decided to do a fun edge to edge design from Urban Elementz, called Daisy Dotz #2

I had bought this a while ago from the Fat Quarter Shop to try out the printed paper sheets. There are 4 sheets at 48in wide in the packet. As I had another project in mind for this, I traced the design off onto my trusted Golden Threads paper. I have done an edge to edge design on the stationary longarm before  and spent some time working out exactly how I wanted this to be placed. With the printed sheets ready to go, that was fairly easy as there are 'helper lines' printed on and you also got the previous row as a ghost design to go by.

Here are some process shots:

Starting off...bit hard to see as I traced the design off with the blue water erasable pen (I am overly paranoid to transfer marks onto the quilt).

Stitched out the first row

I do not attach all of the paper  over the entire quilt at once. Just too awkward to hold and handle...I stitched this out row by row having studied the design and understood exactly how it aligns from row to row. In case you are wondering how I attached this...tried 'Sticky Glue Dots' for the first time! This worked an absolute treat...I attached the dots to the paper and lightly pressed onto the quilt. Had some anxiety as to whether they would be hard to remove from the quilt, but they came off incredibly easy with the paper. 

I removed some of the paper as I went along...this is really easy, all it needs is a little tuck diagonally across and the paper starts separating. The only thing you have to keep in mind when doing this on a sit down machine or DSM is to keep the designs relatively simple otherwise you are going to be there for hours plugging out the little paper bits that get stuck in the points. This design is 6 1/2in and was a delight to work with...nice sweeping lines and easy to remove the paper.

Finished this today and I must say, I love this simple design...looks great on my little quilt.

I used hot pink thread for this quilt (Aurifil 50/2), not my usual choice of colour! However I had basted this quilt before I started and used a hot pink thread for that (so I would see it easily). When I saw the thread on there, I just loved it and chose to do the design in that colour. Just had to be careful in the end taking out my basting stitches as it was basically the same colour.

Back of the quilt

How good does this look!

And my personal favourite

Could have been even better if I had used a higher weight thread. 

Very pleased with how this turned out. Linking up to Freemotion Mavericks over at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing.

Karin