Monday, May 19, 2008

Sewing stuff - and a question


So, here's what I did today - I made most of a block for Amy as a replacement birthday block (we had some dropout swappers, so everyone kind of pitched in to do their part - it was lovely to see - anyway, this is my share of the make-up blocks). I would have finished this block, but I had to do the QST units 3 times - see, the pattern was originally an 18" block and Amy wanted 9", so I figured I'd just scale it down while working - this worked fine, except for the QST units, which I managed to do wrong - twice. Anyway, they are right now, and there's only a little more joining to do, and hopefully the block will be the right size in the end. Above the red & white star, you can see the pieces to Peggy's birthday block lurking - they also will hopefully get put together tomorrow.


I have actually just launched a new round of the birthday block swap over on the quilting forum on about.com, so if you are interested in joining, come read all about it - it's filling up quickly, though. You have to be a member of the forum to play along, but membership is free and easy to set up. And you have to have swapped before somewhere - not necessarily with me...


I also finished (but for the label which I am about to attach when I finish this and collect Sarah & her friend from Guides) the little spring Four Seasons replacement quilt. I really like the way this came out - possibly even more than the first one I made for the swap - which perhaps just goes to show that I tend to think too much! I'll definitely be making another one of these blocks into a mini-quilt for myself, though not right away.


And here's the question for you all - Jovita was asking me about free motion quilting - she would like to learn a bit more, get some more experience, hear about good techniques, etc, but as she lives in Lithuania, her access to classes and workshops on the topic is pretty well limited - anyway, she wondered if I could recommend a particular DVD or book - there are tons out there, so it's hard to know which to pick. Personally, my knowledge of FMQ comes from learning to use a longarm machine (which I was taught in person), combined with loads of conversations, both IRL and online about the subject, and then lots of practice, so I wasn't able to help very much - but I know a lot of you probably can recommend books or DVDs on the topic, or conversely, say which ones were less helpful - more specialist, or whatever. Anyone have any tips for Jovi?


Finally, I thought these would be fun to share - these are the three quilts I added to for the Spring Fling Round Robin - the fourth quilt I will work on will be the one I quilt & bind - I showed it the other day, it's brown and blue - I haven't worked on it yet, though, so I'm not including it here.



On the left is the centre I made - the four small rose baskets in the middle - the black border out to the four larger roses is the second border, and then the third border goes out from there.

In the centre is the piece I added a first border to - the butterfly on the gold background was what I received; I added an offset purple border with orange curved flying geese; the third person added the flowers in the yellow/gold background.

And on the right is the piece I added a second border to - the centre is the square in a square in a square in pink and brown, the second border is the chequerboard and I added the pink border with applique vines and leaves. Actually, that quilt has already been finished - you can see Anne's work on it here, on her blog.

10 comments:

artisbliss said...

I know I've said this before, but I love that pink one with the viney border.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kate-

Are US quilters allowed or is this just for you all across the pond? (The Birthday groups) I read all your info but must have missed that part.

AmyB said...

Ooohhh... I love my new block-to-be! And the red star fabric is perfect (in fact, I have some in another color). Now I have to attempt yours again!

Wil said...

Maybe not what Jovita is seeking at the moment, but when she wants ideas how to fmq, check out Dijanne Cevaal's site http://origidij.blogspot.com/ for her book 'Seventy two ways not to stipple or meander'

Ann J said...

Hi Kate! I found this link helpful,so perhaps it might help Jovita too. There are a couple of videos on there that are interesting.

http://patsythompsondesigns.com/free-downloads/

Helen in the UK said...

I've been using and bloggin about my progress with the Patsy Thompson "Fast & Free" DVDs. They are excellent for beginners taking you from the very start (basting/tension/etc) through to great designs for overall quilting. Patsy also does other DVDs for Feathers / Leaves & Vines which are more advanced. I'm loving them and highly recommend them. (No affliliation, etc)
Available from Patsy in USA: http://patsythompsondesigns.com or Cottonpatch or Rio Designs in the UK. I'm sure one of them would mail to Lithuania :)
PS: Patsy's site has preview clips of each DVD so you can see her style and what each one includes.

Joyce said...

I'll just second the comment about Patsy Thomson's DVDs. I own a shop and they are a big hit with my customers!

Di said...

I'll just reiterate everyones comment about Patsy Thompson. I rcently bought her first DVD for myself and its excellent.

Chris Dahl said...

In addition to all the great books, and DVD's out, you may want to try some online resources as well. U-tube offers some great free videos. And there are plenty of other sites with free videos as well.

There are plenty of online classroom websites popping up as well. Simply type in "online quilting classes" and see what you get.

Hedgehog said...

I heard Paula Reid speak and her fluffing and stuffing method appealed to me. Here's the link, including a dvd. http://www.battsintheattic.com/

I also took a course with Kathy Sandback that was good - she has a basic book available through Amazon.