Radiant Explosion: The Process

This is for those of you interested in how my Radiant Explosion quilt went from an idea to a finished quilt. My inspiration for the quilt came from Quilting Modern - I read the following phrase regarding their Supernova quilt and an idea popped into my head:  "Supernova dazzles with its explosive design and vibrant color palette.  Random fragments spin off ..." (p105, Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts).

The original idea

After deciding what size I wanted the quilt to be (50" x 60"), I worked out the location of the epicentre.  I then marked out the quilt and epicentre on my design wall. I pulled the fabrics I wanted to use and then then crazy pieced panels.

Crazy pieced panels

I started cutting up the panels and sticking them on my design wall.  At some point between sewing the crazy panels together and then cutting them back up again, I realised that the pieces needed to be kind of wedge shaped, whereby the end closest to the epicentre should be narrower than the other end of the wedge.  I played around with it focussing on how it looked, with absolutely no consideration for how I was going to join it all together.  In the following pictures, all the coloured pieces are pinned to the design wall [aka cot flannel sheet hung from wall with coat hangers], I haven't started sewing them together yet.

So then I sat in front of it for quite a while thinking, hmmm, now what do I do?  I sewed them together in sections, by first adding white scraps to the top and bottom of each shard/wedge, and/or the sides of the wedge.  I would then trim to straighten the edges for sewing together.  When I removed a piece from the wall I put pins in my design wall/sheet so I could return them to the right place. I went through a cycle of  joining sections then pinning them back up on the wall, and moving onto another section, until I had large chunks pieced that could be joined together into a large circle.  Here is an example of a section sewn together.

Some sections pieced together

At some point I realised that joining all of these in the centre needed to be thought through.  I tried to do an improv curve when I'd joined part of the explosion together.  I knew I was on the right track but it didn't really cut the mustard.  I made sure I had lots of seam allowance in the centre, which looked like a big fat mess for a while.

I googled "circle shape in quilt" and ended up at Craftsy watching Sarah Fielke show me how to create perfect applique circles with ease.   So I appliqued a circle on my epicentre.  I machine stitched around the edge of the circle (as opposed to needle-turn applique - is that what it's called?), mama doesn't hand-sew. The centre of the explosion is where my inexperience let me down, and is definitely the one area that I would do differently if I did something similar again. 

Before applique

After - much better but an area to work on in the future

The negative space isn't all white with the odd shard of colour - that would have been much easier but for some reason mama decided to include some rays of Moda Bella Ivory.  My thinking was that it was a subtle way to extend the explosion, which I think it does (you'll just have to believe me, because you can't really tell from the photos).  In the photo below you can see the spacing of the rays.  I used the stitch and flip technique to turn the long rectangles into long triangles.

From here it was a matter of trying to square up the explosion and then piece the background into panels which could then be sewn together.  That one sentence sounds easy but in reality it took me longer than I thought it would, mostly because of the rays set on an angle.

I originally quilted it with a variegated thread, the thread was perfect from a palette perspective (orange, pink, purple) but it was far from perfect from a quilting perspective - the coloured thread highlighted the wonky/crazy shaped pieces but in a bad way, it didn't enhance the piecing - it contradicted it and made the crazy piecing seem all wrong.  So I unpicked it, it took quite a few hours to unpick then re-quilt (basically at the end of the day on Sunday, I was at the same point I was at the start of the day but quilted with a different coloured thread).  It was definitely worth it.

When I quilted it again, I started at the edge of the applique circle, with off-white thread (Wonderfil Konfetti 50wt - colour KT101).

Here is what I learnt:
- I want to do a dresden plate, or similar design with wedges joined in a central circle, so that I know the "proper" way to do it!
- I need more practice with Y seams (seeing as this is the first time I've ever done one)
- I need to remember to square up, it happens as part of the process when you make a quilt with rows of equal length, but is easily omitted when making a quilt like this.
- Sometimes its better if you don't know how much you don't know, otherwise you might not try things.
- I don't like the look of coloured thread quilted on white/light background.
- I really need to get my camera serviced because that black spot on all my photos is driving me crazy.
- Did you just go back and check each photo for the black spot?  I crop it out sometimes.

Thanks for reading!

Linking up to:

Anything Goes Monday at Stitch by Stitch
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts 
Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Fixing FMQ bloopers

I recently free motion quilted an entire bed-size quilt, this was quite a leap as previously I had only free motion quilted either practice pads or these bowls.  I quilted it in a mostly all-over meandering and ended up with a few "whoops" that I needed to fix.  On other things I've quilted I have thought to myself "I'll fix that at the end" and then haven't been able to find the bits that needed fixing, so this time I thought I'd mark the bits that need fixing by putting a bit of washi tape through some basting pins, so once I move a little away from the blooper, I put in a washi-ed basting pin and then carry on my merry way.

Once I'd meandered my way over the whole quilt, I went back and fixed things one by one.  Here's an example of how I fixed some of them.

1. Find the problem

2. Redo the quilting, making sure you stitch over existing quilting to lock the stitches

3. Unpick the original stitching

The repair doesn't look perfect (I'm still an FMQ beginner!) but it's only noticeable in the photos, when viewing the quilt in its entirety it would probably take me quite a while to find the repair.

What do you do with quilting that needs to be redone?  Do you fix it at the time or do you fix it later?  How do you mark the bits that need fixing?

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins

Scraps, rubber stamps and an inkpad: Scraps 101

I used some scraps leftover from my mum's quilt to make a label for my basting pin jar ...

My husband drilled a hole in the lid so I can add pins without having to take the lid off.  This also doubles as a fantastic toy for any toddlers you may have lurking around your sewing room.

I also made some reusable block labels at the same time.  Previously I used scrap pieces of paper with a number scribbled on them pinned to quilt blocks to keep track of them, now I've got these reusable block labels - much better for my pins and of course they look much more impressive in my WIP photos!

I also made some block labels using a marker, which was much quicker than stamping it. What do you use to keep track of your quilt blocks?

These are project 26 and 27 of Scraps 101.

Linking up to:

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Really Random Thursday at Live a Colorful Life

My scrap storage: it's not pretty (Scraps 101)

Hot on the heels of Sarah's fantastic scrap storage system is my own ... ah, not at all pretty but cheap and functional scrap storage.

I use old 2 litre ice-cream containers for my scrap storage, one for a colour or group of colours, as well as one for novelty/multi-coloured scraps and one for felt scraps.

I also use a bigger container for white scraps (which I use a lot of), and an even larger container for batting scraps.  The long strips from trimming a quilt before binding end up in here, anything larger than about the size of my laptop is folded and stored with my batting yardage.  I also have a WIP scraps bin, which sits on my worktable - I throw bits in there as I'm working on something and then sort them into colour in a batch.

The advantages of using ice-cream containers are that they are stackable, they have lids, they're free and it's easy to change the number of containers you're using.  You could start with, for example, four containers but as your scrap stash grew you could extend it to eight (for example), and it wouldn't cost you anything other than maybe a few inches around the waist and half an hour to re-sort your scraps.  The downside is they're not pretty.

Some tips I have for scrap storage would be to trim off loose thread and odd pieces that aren't of a usable size, and press them so they're (hopefully) usable straight out of your scrap bin.

So that's mine - it's not pretty, but it works really well, and so long as you've got someone in your house who eats an awful lot of ice-cream then in no time at all you'll have enough containers for your scrap storage.  I totally agree with Sarah when she says it's worth keeping your stash beautifully organised, it really does help you actually use it.

I'm very excited that I'll be linking up, for the first time, to Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles - hello Glitterati!!  If you're new here, why not take a look around my Scraps 101 series to see what I've been up to lately.

WIP: Scrappy Bits & Bobs

If you're new or haven't visited for a while, you may not have read about my Scraps 101 Series - I'm making 101 things out of scraps (or partly out of scraps), inspired by Crazy Mom Quilt's current 101 Scraps project.  Here are a couple more Scraps 101 projects as well as some other random WIP bits and bobs.

Scrappy tomatoes ... my tomatoes will need staking soon, I've completely forgotten to pinch out the laterals so they're a bit unruly.  I'm tying them to the stake with selvedge scraps and long strip scraps from squaring up fabric - this is project 8 of Scraps 101.  

Some of you will remember the Sewing Card activity I tried with Ruby - the other day she asked to do it again, I suggested a butterfly but she wanted to do another house.  I punched the holes, threaded the blunt needle and handed it over.  I told her which holes to put the needle through and she did the rest.  She managed this much of it, and we'll pick it up again another day.  So proud of her, that's a pretty good fine motor skill workout for a 3 year old (those are her hands in the photo).

Also, Ruby is making quilts out of lego!! (She calls them quilts, might not be too cosy for her dolls to snuggle under though)  So my recent doll's quilt inspiration has come full circle.

One of my WIPs is a festive lap quilt which has blocks framed in different colours.  I used some selvedge scraps pinned to the blocks so I wouldn't forget which colour to frame the blocks in.  Project 9 of Scraps 101 - and a very handy idea that I'll use again.

A couple of the trees on our town's main street are in bloom at the moment:

Finally, I'm busy getting giveaways ready for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day - so be sure to come back here on December 9.  That's a slice of my life at the moment, what's happening in yours?

Linking up with:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

WIP Wednesday: Quilting Bloopers

I've been quilting the Winter's Lane quilt I mentioned a few weeks ago.  After the problems I had with the brown bag doll's quilt, Lorna suggested using a fresh needle or a bigger needle - I did both those things it definitely made a difference but I've still experienced some bloopers.  Can anyone suggest why I have the problems below, I'm guessing some of it is down to me, and some of it down to my machine/equipment.

1. Loop-da-loop - where did this loop come from?

2. Inconsistent stitch length - it's like my walking foot is encountering some resistance and decides to take baby steps, I moved my desk away from the wall so that the quit didn't bunch up behind the sewing machine but it still happened.  I also think this happens when I go too fast, so I tried hard to slow down and sew at an even pace. It mostly seemed to happen I was quilting the middle of the quilt, and so there was a lot of bulk sitting in the arm of the machine.

In the photo below, the horizontal line is the correct stitch length, and the vertical line (obviously) is the problem baby steps.

An update on sewing with Ruby, she loves using my measuring tape, so we made her one of her own out of a plain selvedge on which I wrote 1 - 20 in a range of colours, she loves using it.

Ruby also has asked to make another doll's quilt with the brown bag, awesome!  I wasn't ready at the moment she asked but I've been putting specific scraps into a brown bag so that we can sew another doll's quilt together soon.

I hope you're all having a great week!

Linking up with:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins

PS - if you'd like to see the finished quilt it is now up on the blog here!  Also, I'm having a giveaway to celebrate finishing the quilt, you can find the giveaway here.

A quick-quilt WiP and other random tidbits

I got hold of a charm pack of Kate & Birdie Paper Co Winter's Lane, played around to make some smallish blocks and am now working on a layout - this will be a quick-quilt with lots of negative space, I'm all about things that come together quickly at the moment.

I'm paying particular attention to an accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance, and have come up with this easy, albeit crude seam guide:

After sewing each seam I then check it against my rotary cutter ruler, I've been pleased with the results.  My new machine will have a 1/4 inch foot, but until then I'll be 'sticking' with this.

I needed a grocery bag holder; I have a ridiculous amount of vintage sheets - I put the two together and made this, which looked lovely sitting next to this retro coffee pot I thrifted recently.

My sister wanted a headband, so I rummaged around in my stash and made these - the thinner, pink one looks great on Pepper-Mae.

Finally, yesterday afternoon my brother dropped off a surprise (to us all) gift for the girls - twin orphan lambs, only 3 days old.  Ruby wants to name her lamb Ruby.  I suggested that perhaps this could get a bit confusing, how would I know which Ruby to take to kindergarten?

 

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Op Shop Show Off at Blackbird has Spoken 

WIP Wednesday: Lessons from Granny

Exciting news - I've finished the granny square quilt top!  (Just the top, let's not get too excited)  Here's how it looks all pieced together:

I thought it would be good to have a little recap on some of the things I've discovered while piecing my first real bed sized quilt, so here they are:

• The blocks looked quite different when I put them up on the wall and viewed them from a distance, this helped reinforce aspects of fabric selection (such as scale of print, colour value) that I had read about.  Scale of print is a consideration here due to (among other things) the size of the patch.  I realised that the reason I was pulling blocks was they had high colour value - so I now know I like white space in a quilt (had already worked that one out) and low value.  Is low value the same as low volume?
• I have a tendency to slip at the end of a cut when I'm rotary cutting - this means that my squares were sometimes ever so slightly wonky - sort of more like very slight parallelogram.  Something for me to watch.
• Try not to overhandle pieced granny square blocks - they're bias cut which means they're rather stretchy.
• On some blocks I lost quite a lot of my points and I'm wondering if cutting the white/background pieces slightly larger than the coloured blocks (like 1/2" larger) would give me a little more wiggle-room.  Or maybe that would just make things worse ... ?  This is probably due to inaccurate seam allowances more than anything else I suppose.
• If I do another granny square quilt, I'll just select just a few fabrics and go with the strip piecing tutorial Jolene did for Moda Bake Shop.  This would be a much quicker.
• Don't buy your off white homespun from Spotlight off the bolt - I'm not happy with the homespun I got from there (it's thin, it frays, it seems of an inconsistent quality within the one piece of yardage I got which was about 5 metres) - I know of another quilter who has had a problem with some Spotlight homespun, has anyone else had good or bad experience?
• Wow you use an awful lot of thread - you'd use less if you strip piece it.
• And finally, Kristy from Quiet Play is a paper piecing pattern genius!  Huh?  What's that got to do with granny squares?  You'll just have to wait and see ....

By the way, have you been following along with the giveaways that Julie at 627 Handworks has been having?  I'm joining in this Sunday, and I'll be giving away 4 fat quarters.  So pop back here on Sunday if you'd like a chance to win.

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

5 Ways with Washi Tape

Transform a light switch ...

Decorate a cake stand ...

Tart up a tin ...

Create quick, fun wine charms ...

Add colour to brown paper wrapping and plain cards ...

Linking up to:

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest