Triangular Echo Quilted Placemats

So, about 9 months after starting to make some placemats as a gift, they are finally done! But I think they were worth the wait, don't you?

I originally started these placemats with a completely different pattern and fabrics, but made a complete mess of the quilting - absolutely unrescueable. And I didn't have the energy to start again. But back in March, I was inspired by Leanne's triangles miniquilt, and came up with an idea for triangular shaped placemats. I had a lovely bundle of grey and mustard prints from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo line, to which I added a FMF print that fit right in, and a pale grey Aneela Hoey print.

I made 4 placemats. A part of me really wanted to make 6 - not least for the great hexagon shape they would make when put together - but these are for my brother and his girlfriend and I don't think their table is big enough for 6.

Each of the placemats are different with randomly placed triangles.

They are quilted with white Aurifil 50wt thread on the front, and my favourite silvery-grey on the back. I quilted them in ever expanding triangles, working out from the centre in straight(ish) lines.

I'm really pleased with the textured effect the quilting gives. The lines are very close together - only 1/4" apart, so it's very dense.

For backing I used some Hope Valley on two of them, and the medium grey Riley Blake chevron print on the other two.

These measure approx 16" on each side and are big enough to take my humoungous white dinner plates, so they will work great for a more average sized plate.

I was going for a very modern, minimalist, non-quilty/crafty look as my brother would not be into that sort of thing. I think with the unique shape and the Scandavian type prints, and the cool palette, I achieved that.

They are bound using a dark grey dotty cotton poplin. I was going to use white, but my hubby insisted (when I asked his opinion on them) that they grey would be a better choice and looking at them now, I think he was right (though it pains me deeply to type that!!) I thought I was going to have issues binding those angles and couldnt find any tutes online but it was surprisingly straightforward in the end.

They're all ready to go in the post tomorrow. Another finish, so satisfying. I'm linking this up to the Finishalong too :-) I'm on a bit of a roll with finishes at the moment, more tomorrow!!

Goodbye 2011!

FairyFace Designs: Mini Quilts 2011

2011 was the year of quilting for me. And a good year it was. I had so much fun this last year with this blog - it really took off for me in January and not only did I learn to quilt, but I discovered a huge circle of crafty, blogging friends out there. 2011 was the year I realised that I did, contrary to my very long held belief, have a creative bone in my body - more than 1, it turned out. The year I realised that online friends could be just as important as real life ones. And where I realised that, through your writing voice, you could be who you wanted to be and really be yourself because you are among friends.

FairyFace Designs: 2011 Quilts

2011 was not easy in some ways - but I don't like putting too much personal info out there for privacy reasons, so I'm not going to bore you with the details. But quilting and writing proved a welcome relief and an outlet for me from the stress. The comments I received brightened many a day. The fun and the wittiness of some of you continues to crack me up and I love the banter :-) Winning the odd giveaway, seeing my stuff featured elsewhere, having people make a quilt to a tute I wrote - all brilliant!

And now 2012 is almost upon us!! I'm still thinking about my goals - have you decided on yours? Is there anything you would like to see on FairyFace Designs in 2012? More tutes? More quilts? Another quiltalong? More giveaways? Featuring other bloggers/projects? Linky parties? Anything else? Any suggestions gratefully received!

I will be doing a mid-winter update on the Winter Stitching in the next couple of weeks so if you are taking part, start getting your posts ready for the linky!

I also have an exciting project starting in January for followers who love to ready sewing blogs but are new to sewing or haven't touched their sewing machines since their school days...watch for more information coming next week!

In the meantime I will leave you with some of my favourite makes from 2011. Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2012 brings everything you hope for.

FairyFace Designs: Fave Small Projects 2011

Basting & Quilting : Across the Sea QAL

I hope your quilts are coming along nicely at this stage. We're in the final stages now and I'm really looking forward to seeing your finished quilts appearing in the Flickr group. Today myself and Jennifer both are giving a little advice on basting and quilting. I don't have too many pics or a proper tutorial today - I baste in my playroom which is the only room I have enough floor space in to baste, so I can only do it in the evenings when the kids are in bed. Hence, no decent photos! Sorry :-)

First things first - you need to figure out how your quilts line up. The front and back are designed so that the crosses on the back mirror the cross blocks on the front and should line up pretty perfectly.  So before you do anything else, lay your back down on the floor, right side down, and then lay your quilt top on top of it, right side up. Figure out which of your blocks in the quilt front have blocks lined up on the back, and mark them with a pin.

 

Now you are ready to start basting your quilt. I learned to baste using Elizabeth Hartman's great basting tutorial over on Oh, Fransson! and I don't believe in reinventing the wheel, so if this is your first quilt, head over there, read up on it and get basting. This method works perfectly for lining up your crosses. (Links to other tutorials also available here)

Once you know which crosses you need to match, front and back, lay out your batting on the floor and smooth your quilt top over it. Place a pin in each corner of the blocks you are matching up.

 

When you are placing your pins, be as accurate as you can be, taking a tiny amount of fabric. 

Once you have each corner marked and your quilt top smoothed out on your batting, roll it up and then place your quilt back right side down on the floor. I use masking tape to hold it in place. This is the stage I hate - I don't have a huge amount of space, so I have to crawl around trying to get it all even and taut! Once you have that stage done, roll your quilt top and batting out over it. Starting with the top or bottom row (whichever you prefer) start matching the points you marked with your pins with the correct block corners in your quilt back.

 

They should match up easily. If not, unless you had been planning to do some outline handquilting of your crosses, don't worry about it! Sorry, is that quilting heresy? I'm not sure! I just know that for me, quilting is supposed to be fun so I try not to get bogged down in points being totally precise unless its absolutely necessary. There are lots of different reasons your back and front might not match completely accurately- I had some problems myself when basting, even though I checked the match when I made them and it was perfect. But I put down my problems to some over-enthusiastic steam ironing (bad me!) before basting which I think distorted some of my seams.

Once you have the blocks matched, proceed to baste the rest of your quilt sandwich. I use curved safety pins for this and pin every few inches - probably about every 3-4". I always start from the middle and work out. Curved safety pins are miles better than the regular sort and worth paying an extra little bit for.  Basting is pretty hard on the back and knees so don't hang around - get it done and finished asap! You can also spray baste your quilt - Jennifer has more info about this process over on her post today!

Now your quilt sandwich is basted, you're ready to quilt! How you quilt is obviously a personal choice. I am going to free motion quilt this baby quilt and can't wait to get started now! I think it would also lend itself to straightline quilting, or some simple lines outlining each block. If you haven't quilted before, check out the links to tutorials over on the Flickr group. You could also have a look at my post about my first attempt at free motion quilting if you want a giggle!

Ok, that's all for today folks. If you have questions just let me know!

Sewing Fun..and a sneak giveaway preview!

This week I just couldn't get into anything big I was working on. I didn't have the mental energy and had lost a little bit of creative spark. But I was panicking slightly, needing to have something ready for my Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway post on Sunday. So, Wednesday night I sat down with some scraps and an idea I had from my little notebook and decided to just have a bit of fun. By yesterday afternoon, this is what I ended up with:

A cute little cozy for an iPhone!

Now, I'm going to shamelessly post lots of pics of this, not because I love it so much (although I do!) but because my friend Helen is staying with me for a few days, and she's an amazing photographer, and I just love the photos she took. She also gave me a crash course for dummies in how cameras work, light, shutter speed etc, and, even better, where to find all these things on my little camera. She wandered around adjusting things, muttering about depth of field and light and I ended up with about a million fab photos, not just of my stuff, but also, as always, of my kids!

Its made from a natural coloured cotton/linen mix, paired with some tiny red scraps from my basket. I quilted the main fabric using some scraps of cotton backing. This is the front:

It's made to fit a phone with a fitted protective cover as I hate when I have to take mine off, the phone inevitably gets dropped when I remove if for 5 mins! I added a little tab so it can be hung from a handbag or a belt. This is the back:

I debated what to do closure wise but ended up covering a button with one of my last Bliss scraps, and made a fastening loop from the main fabric:

And I lined it with one of my favourite fabrics, Ta Dot in Berry. I think its the most versatile yet striking fabric I've used, works great on its own or blended, can be background or the main feature. It really brings life to anything you put it with, I just love it!

By the time I finished it, I was back to my normal addicted-to-the-sewing-machine self and full of energy again!

This is my handmade item for the giveaway, which I'll post on Sunday {link is here}. I'll be adding some fabric and notions to it too, so be sure to check back in then! I'm also thinking of writing a tute on this one, if you're interested let me know!

Helen and myself had a little bit of a crafty evening yesterday and I showed her how to make a scrappy pincushion:

Of course, she's taking it away with her. I also had this little mini pincushion that I made with some hexies a while ago and kept for her:

Of course, I'm not sure what she's going to do with them...her being a knitter!

I'm linking this up to Fabric Tuesday on Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday, Todays Creative Blog and a bunch of other great blogs, check out my sidebar for the links!