Quilt Blocks – NEW EVERY MORNING

Battling through the January blues

January 17, 2019 by Allison Reid

I have been struck down with a mild case of the January Blues. Anyone else finding motivation levels running low? I guess I am asking this question of those of you, who like myself, live in the Northern Hemisphere – to all of you in the South I hope you are making the most of the long hours of daylight and warm temperatures 🙂

I know many could be a little envious of my stay-at-home lifestyle (and with good reason): spending my time at home, choosing to do things when and how I want! This stay-at-home lifestyle does have it’s own small challenges though. I do not have what would be called a ‘dynamic personality’ or, in Jane Austen speak, ‘a lively disposition’. A lot of my mental energy is therefore employed in keeping myself motivated – I’m very good at envisaging results, not so good at seeing the ideas into action and through to said results.

Last week I was filling planners, nailing down goals and taking action…. This week the desire to curl up on the sofa and watch a box set from beginning to end is very real. I confess I nipped into HMV and bought the first seven series of Cold Feet (over the past 36 hours I’ve watched the first three episodes! – that’s not much of binge really is it?).

Thank goodness for the responsibilities I have and the opportunities given me to contribute to events that have got me out the house (that is another of the challenges of being a stay-at-home person – so many possibilities, which to say ‘yes’ to, to which to say ‘no’?).

Anyway, I have done some creative stuff this week, here is the photographic evidence:

On Monday I helped run the monthly Craft Group at Church. A creative member of the Group kindly demonstrated making these pretty tissue paper flowers and shared a Debbie Shore method of making fabric flowers. These are my creations 🙂

On Tuesday I made a 12″ block, pattern testing for the monthly Quilt Club, skill-building course, running at Purple Stitches:

And today I have been pattern testing again – making the second skill building block for the Quilt Club workshop. I’m particularly pleased with this block and it was satisfying to make use of fabrics pulled out of my scrap boxes.

Having written this post, I realise I am tired (poor me!) there has been a fair bit of running around between creating these things and maybe I need to get better at acknowledging those ‘extras’ and feel less guilty about succumbing to sofa time 😀 Maybe…? Funny how I imagine every one else is managing their time so well, staying motivated, being so much more productive and ‘alive’ than myself!

Snowdrops by Allison Reid — Snowdrops flowering in my garden – a promise of longer days and Spring to come 🙂

Time to shake off the January Blues… Be thankful, and look for a quick project that makes my creative heart sing 🙂

Take care.

Allison

Saturday Quilting Bring & Share (37)

December 1, 2018 by Allison Reid

Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. There has been rather a long break between no.36 and this no.37 post – not by design but just a touch of realism as busy weekends and numerous deadlines crowded in on me in November. Of course, in December things will be much quieter – who am I kidding 😀 Anyway it’s lovely to be catching up on these posts. Just a reminder that on this, our virtual sewing day, you are invited to bring along your latest project to share with us and take the opportunity to share any quilty news you’ve picked up through the week. Please do use the comments box at the bottom of this page to add any links you would like to share.

I’m bringing along the Jenny Doan inspired Christmas Tree Chevron Quilt that I began earlier in the week. It has been such fun putting this quilt top together. I used scrap blue-green fabrics for the tree and a white-on-white star fabric for the background.

As I explained in my previous post I have reduced the finished size of the chevron blocks to 6″ and made just five rows rather than the seven rows shown in the MSQC tutorial.

Do you like the foundation paper pieced star? More fabric scraps! I was really pleased with this block – I used a Carol Doak pattern.

I popped into Purple Stitches this afternoon, intending to buy fabric for the quilt border but didn’t take much persuading to leave off having a border – I had been wondering about omitting the border but doubted myself – ‘if in doubt follow the pattern!’ Instead, Viv produced the perfect blue-green fabric for the binding … and a backing fabric … and some wadding too…

Minus the borders, but with some extra background fabric top and bottom, my Chevron Christmas Tree will measure approximately 36″ wide by 42″ high. I washed the backing fabric as soon as I got home so hopefully I’ll be making the quilt sandwich tomorrow. In the meantime I can be getting on with making more string blocks for the storage trolley covers 🙂 (You might like to follow my progress on instagram, find me @allisonreid.neweverymorning ).

I must apologise for the rather grey looking photographs – I’m afraid to say bright daylight has been in short supply this last week in November. We did have one glorious day and fortunately it was a rest day from work so my husband and I enjoyed a trip to the seaside 🙂 Chilly, but truly bright and beautiful!

Pieced Chevron Tree by Allison Reid — The view from Hengistbury Head (south coast mainland) out to The Isle of Wight, Needles Rocks and Lighthouse.

Here are just a few of the the quilty blog posts I’d like to share with you:

Lucie recently completed a project: a beautiful quilt using clever design, careful fabric choices, super-neat hand applique skills and steady hand-eye coordination for the custom longarm quilting. Well worth a click to see the finished quilt and a look through her previous blog posts to see how the quilt project progressed.

Do you use Instagram? I opened an account earlier this year and I do enjoy scrolling through seeing lots of lovely quilts and projects in progress. I haven’t taken the time to really understand how to get full use out of Instagram though – my love-hate relationship with technology continues…. Suzy has some interesting thoughts on social media and Instagram in particular.

Jessica helped her local community to put together a quilt. Such a great idea. A good test of ‘letting go’ and being ‘random’ as everyone who got involved picked fabrics for their very own four patch!

Jayne has found satisfaction in putting together a quilt really quickly. I enjoyed reading her post and the momentum she described as her plans evolved whilst putting together Christmas panel prints and making quick decisions about borders and sashing. Jayne reckons she had the piecing all done in 5 hours!

I like Shannon’s no-nonsense advice for picking fabrics for an Autumn colour palette – go out, pick up some leaves…. Of course there’s a bit more to it than that! 😀

Here is a great tutorial by Cheryl: how to match a fabric pattern for a pieced backing.

Need to make a gift in a hurry? Yvonne has been making hexie coasters and shares the link to Sharla’s neat tutorial 🙂

Being thankful is good for heart, mind and soul. Bernie has organised for quilts to be donated to a hospital that has a special role in providing end of life care for patients and giving much needed support to their families. Read more here, including Bernie’s own experience of being well cared for when her first husband suffered a sudden, terminal illness. Her moving and uplifting blog post got me thinking again about the generosity of patchwork quilters and has decided me on my word for 2019 – COMMUNITY. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Allison

Sewing room storage unit and using up scraps

November 6, 2018 by Allison Reid

Oh! Whew! The past ten days have been delightfully busy. I’ve wanted to share here on my blog as things have been happening but just had to admit that being busy is tiring and sitting in front of a computer screen when my brain is crying out for sleep just isn’t an option! I’ve decided not to attempt writing a chronological post – it would be VERY long and could lack the spark that comes from writing about what’s stirring my creative juices right now 🙂

So I’ll jump straight in and share what I’ve been doing today: I have been inspired to design and make a cover for a mobile storage unit I bought from Hobbycraft at the weekend. It is a metal unit with plastic drawers and rolls along on casters.

Saturday Quilting Bring & Share (36)

October 28, 2018 by Allison Reid

Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share (even though it is Sunday 😉 – it’s me who’s late not you!). Bring along your weekend sewing project and share in some of the quilty conversations that have caught our attention through the week. Add links to your project posts or add to the conversations by using the comments box at the bottom of this page.

My projects this week have been all about teaching and learning. I’ve had fun experimenting with foundation piecing Pineapple blocks before teaching the technique at Purple Stitches’ Quilt Club. Here are my versions of the 12″ Pineapple and Old Maid’s Puzzle blocks:

The Orange Peel blocks are still on my design wall. I need to spend a bit of time with pencil and squared paper figuring out how to enlarge the blocks to give the effect of leaves drifting across a blue blue sky…

But I’m in deep danger of being completely distracted by this little pile of fabric happiness…

Serendipity by Minki Kim for Riley Blake Designs from Purple Stitches

Viv has come up with a fresh design for the Purple Stitches Beginners Course quilt. I’m the lucky one who gets to pattern test the design and fondle these new fabrics (available from the shop website).

Here are just a few of the blog posts that have caught my attention this week:

I like that by writing my blog and using social media I am part of the Worldwide Quilting Community (could WQM become a recognisable abbreviation? :-D). Quilters from places across the globe share their love of patchwork and quilting and also give glimpses into events in their lives. Kristie shares her experience of living through Hurricane Michael and how this massive storm has affected the rural community around her home.

I think Avis must have the patience of a saint! She is making the Loyal Union Sampler Quilt designed by Jennifer Chiaverini (she of the Elm Creek Quilt novels) . Avis’ latest blocks look so neat and they showcase several different piecing techniques.

Have you ever wondered why quilt patterns cost what they do? Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts has written a very candid blog post about the costs she incurs in producing and selling her patterns. The short version is that as buyers we can provide designers the best remuneration by buying patterns direct from them. She explains clearly why paper and PDF versions of a pattern have the same cost and reminds us not to break copyright either by copying patterns we have bought or by accepting copied patterns from well-meaning friends.

Do you have fat quarters of large scale prints that you are feeling reluctant to cut into small pieces? Leah Day has a video tutorial using the stack ‘n whack method to create large ‘fractured quarter’ blocks that allow you to showcase your fabrics 🙂

Is it too early to be writing our Christmas gift lists? Maybe not! Alyce has been testing the advantages of using a wool ironing mat as opposed to a conventional ironing board. She found the wool mats are winners!

If you’d like to find more links into the quilty world try my ‘Pins of the Week‘ board 🙂 I refresh the board every Tuesday (sometimes Wednesday ;-)).

Happy stitching.

Allison

PS. Bearing in mind we live in a town and have a small garden, it was a big surprise to find a rather handsome pheasant paying us a visit from the countryside this week!