Fabric : Fibre : Family
This Hello Kitty quilt is the epitome of slow sewing. I had to search the archives to find when I first started it. February 2013. So this has taken almost 8 years from start to finish. A very slow project indeed.
It’s also a reminder that projects sometimes have a season. When I started this quilt, a 5 year old Summer was besotted by Hello Kitty. I wasn’t an experienced enough parent at that point to work out that these passions often burn hot and fade fast in small peeps.
VIEW POSTI can’t believe it’s been a year since we moved house. Time flies!
When we told our kids we had finally found our new home, their excitement at moving so close to grandparents and their beloved park was tempered by real stress at leaving their home.
For children without any challenges, moving house is a big deal. For adopted children with attachment (amongst other) issues, moving house is A Very Big Deal, that creates a great deal of fear that they cannot vocalise or even understand. But it’s real, and it’s really quite debilitating.
For our boy, this was expressed as absolute desolation at leaving his bedroom behind. I wish it was an exaggeration but it wasn’t. He spent the last week making little videos on his iPad so he’d have his old room with him at the new house.
To try and calm his anxiety I promised him that not only would his new bedroom be bigger than the tiny box room he had in the old house, but that I would make it extra super special for him. It didn’t work completely to allay his fears, but he was certainly excited as decorating started to happen.
He has a passion for all things London since his daddy worked there a few years ago…made even more exciting for him when we had a trip there to visit Daddy. But he especially loves the London Underground, so there was only one way we could go…..
London Underground Map wallpaper on one wall.
London themed fabric for his Roman blind. It’s Capital by Prestigious Textiles.
London Underground bedlinen (thank you Nana!).
And, for hiding under and playing iPads or reading. For cuddling up in on cold mornings, or if you’re not feeling well. And for making rather splendid dens…….
……a London Underground quilt!
I can’t claim the work on this one. This is all Made By Ma! A huge pile of teeny squares lovingly cut and then put back together in the shape of the London Underground Map.
It’s totally awesome! Iconic! And very clever!
Funnily enough, our little man doesn’t miss our old house at all any more. And loves his new London bedroom.
Phew!
Project notes
Pattern: Tikki London – London Underground Quilt PDF
Pattern cost: £3.95
Fabric: Plain quilting cotton
Colourway: Various
Purchased at: Black Sheep Wools
Total quilt cost: Approx £100
Hello my lovelies.
I had a wee window of time where I should be doing other stuff but, quite frankly, can’t be arsed.
I’ve had a lovely morning skiving off with my friend Julia at my favourite cafe, No 15 in Penwortham. Julia is wise and witty and should be available on the NHS to cheer all who need it. She’d save them millions. With avo and poached eggs on toast and a couple of good cups of coffee, it was the perfect end to the week, even if she had to dash off to get her Louie cat to the vets.
Life here is a full as ever. The hubby is still working every hour god sends. The kids are dancing 3 nights a week and we’re about to put an advert out for a partner for our wee man. Much as I’d love them to dance together, my blood pressure really can’t stand it. The pinch and stomp and whinge and whine and it’s just not worth it. Maybe in a couple of years, but not right now.
I’m on the home stretch with the current studies. I’ve an exam next week and then two more modules and I’m done for this year. The jury is out whether I’ll do next year. Which is actually an 18 month course. I may bunk off and do something fun like a photography course or a couple of weeks of sewing in London (subject to being able to figure out a solution to childcare other than locking them in a cupboard. Apparently social services frown on that. Odd! 😉 )
I have much to share with you but it is so grey here that I struggle to get enough light for decent photos. But…spring is coming, and then I’ll catch up.
There are knits, almost a quilt, and….drumroll….the sewing room. As soon as I’ve finished the binding on this quilt that Ma made, I can finally, finally go into the sewing room and get to it. First up is blinds. Preferably before the clocks change.
I can make 4 roman blinds in 3 weeks, right? (cue hysterical laughter).
I’ve got a review for a great Craftsy course on the topic of curtain making. So much to share.
But for now, I can share some super good news. Some of the best. As you know we’re having rafts of tests and meetings with various medical and educational peeps to try to get to the bottom of some challenges our wee monsters are up against. Last night we learned that the boy definitely doesn’t have ADD or ADHD and we’re 95% sure he’s not on the autistic spectrum. We’ll have final confirmation on that within about a month. We are narrowing the field and it feels good. Once we hit upon an answer it informs the support strategies we can put in place for them. This also speeds things up for him as the Autistic Spectrum Pathway (the route to a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder) is currently are 49 week waiting list in our area. Which is shameful.
So, on that happy note I’m off to pin the final stretch of binding so I can spend a happy evening stitching with wine tonight.
Have a great weekend full of the fun things you love to do.
Happy New Year to one and all. I do hope your Christmas was lovely. We had a very, very quiet and quite slothful time for which we are all feeling the benefit.
I’ve a couple of things still unshared but I thought I’d start the year with a bang and show you the finished hexie quilt.
This shows half of the quilt as it’s draped over the garden gate. I had to grab some quick pictures in-between downpours because the quilt was destined to become Ma & Pa SIL’s Christmas gift.
The long-arm quilting was done by The Quilt Cabin at Hebden Bridge and she’s done a marvellous job of it, as you can see here.
Sadly, Elaine has had her shop devastated by the Christmas floods in Hebden Bridge, as have many, many other stores. She’s currently only trading online whilst the cleanup continues. I do hope she and her fellow shopkeepers are open for business again soon. We’ll definitely be supporting them!
This was my first experience of having a quilt professionally quilted, and whilst it wasn’t cheap, it was money well spent. So much so that when the shop is open again I’m getting Elaine to redo my Double Wedding Ring quilt which needs re-backing.
The backing for this quilt is a plain cream cotton…a slightly tea stained colour that complements the multiple colours of the front perfectly and highlights the quilting stitches even more. Taking advice from Elaine, we colour matched the quilting thread to the backing. I think it was a great choice.
Whilst this isn’t the most glamorous shot ever it gives you a better view of the whole of the quilt (albeit draped over an overgrown hedge and blowing in the wind, 3 minutes before the rain returned!). It’s what I would class as a good sized sofa quilt…perfect for wrapping round shoulders on a chilly evening, or a small child who’s feeling a little under the weather, or draping over a grandpa having an afternoon nap. I’m also pretty sure it will be used by one child or the other for dragging a sibling up and down Nana’s hallway whilst shrieking like banshees!
I’d be lying if I said that we didn’t contemplate keeping this quilt. It took an age to sew all those 1″ hexies and the finished result is better than I’d ever hoped for. It’s deliciously cosy and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s turned out. Not bad for a first attempt at English Paper Piecing!
But…it’s gone to a very good home.
And I can always start another one for us to keep………..
Button has, until recently, been a neglectful mother to her baby dollies. The poor things have been dragged around the house by their ankles, butt naked and bedraggled. A favourite game has been to swing baby dolly by ankle and wrist, higher and higher, finally letting go at the apex of the swing, allowing baby dolly to swoop high and fast into the bedroom wall.
It’s a good job I have social services on speed dial!
Recently, however, there has been a change and, thankfully, she’s starting to dress the poor shivering souls, and even create little beds from blankets in which to tuck them up at night.
It seemed only right, therefore, that she should get a dolly bed for her birthday.
I knew she’d be thrilled with the bed, but the sheet and pillow that came with it were nothing short of pitiful. I knew that poor baby dolly really needed a beautiful quilt and pillow so she’d be comfy and warm in her new bed.
I also realised that I’m now officially certifiable.
Having recognised that, I snaffled a bag of scraps left over from the Hello Kitty quilt top from Ma, and set to. Not only would baby dolly have a lovely cosy quilt, it would match the quilt we’re making for Button when we redo her bedroom this year.
Which tips me into the territory of completely cray-cray!
Thankfully, this isn’t really news to anyone. And baby dolly now has a lovely cosy bed, and Button is finally a fit mother!
The only problem now is that Button has commandeered a basket from my sewing room to use as a Moses basket for a second baby dolly. Baby dolly is currently swaddled in a blanket….
Sigh!
So…a visit to the doctor on Tuesday morning decided my participation in KCW. Another course of antibiotics with a side order of steroids. Both in bigger doses than before. Eugh! I started taking them immediately and by Tuesday afternoon was feeling even more out of sorts than before. The lovely side effects of dizziness and insomnia meant that by yesterday morning I was fit for nothing but sitting on the sofa knitting and hand sewing.
It does mean that I’ve made progress on some mitts I’m knitting as a favour for a friend:
and the hexie quilt is coming along nicely, thank you very much.
But the sewing loft is closed for the time being. I’m fine with that.
And whilst I knit and stitch and watch movies, I’m dreaming of our wedding anniversary weekend in November, because Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat and Ma and the Stitches-in-law are treating us to dinner.
But not any old dinner…nooooooooooo! Dinner at the scene of the original crime!
Northcote Manor
I may have wept with joy when I opened the envelope. It’s such a wonderful treat and a complete surprise.
We are very, very, VERY excited…as you can imagine. And, with a fair wind and a bucket load of drugs, I’ll be feeling fine by then.
In the meantime, I’m off to the sofa. I have mitts to knit! But…I’l leave you with cute cats. Just because I can. And they’ll make you smile. Which is a good thing, no?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIePsbJSS04&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKIePsbJSS04%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&app=desktop]
I suppose that should be FF0 17 – finally finished object!
I posted the first completed stitcheries for this quilt on 11 July 2010.
We’re now in August 2013…so just over 3 years to finish this quilt.
*hangs head in shame*
But finished it is.
And, having fallen out of love with this project halfway through, I’m thoroughly besotted with the finished object.
The backing is just some inexpensive polycotton sheeting from Abakhan.
I quilted around the edge of each patch and then straight lines around the borders using the edge of the foot as a guide.
Although I suspect I could be pushing the limits of the Trade’s Description Act by calling them ‘straight’ lines as I swear there isn’t a single one of them to be found on this quilt. But that’s OK. It’s turned out far better than I’d envisaged. And I’m just really, really relieved to have it finished and out of the sewing loft.
That said I think it’s only fair to clarify that the my tardiness with this quilt is no reflection on the pattern.
It was purely a case of having started to sew I realised that, whilst I absolutely love machine sewn quilts, they aren’t something I particularly enjoy making. But this was the first quilt I ever attempted so I didn’t know. I also knew nothing at all about quilting in general, but it turns out that didn’t matter…Anni Downs knows plenty and she makes it really easy to cut, embroider, piece and finish this quilt.
I just took it step by step and here I am, so I highly recommend this pattern.
And, after all this time, I’m really happy I made this quilt…I just don’t think I’ll be in a hurry to start another machine sewn quilt.
Back to the hexies I go!
Wow these holidays are flying by.
We are managing not to completely murder each other, although my two are full of beans and yummy treats!
Yesterday they spent the day at their dance class summer school. 2 whole days of activities and dancing. Yay! I think they were as relived as I was for the break! They certainly came home very tired and, after a bit of grumping, they zonked out in bed nice and early.
So, after catching up with necessary chores (apparently they insist on me having food in the house) I got some time in the sewing loft and set to finishing the quilting of Gardener’s Journal.
Of course, as is the way, with only 4 lines of quilting and the binding to sew, I ran out of thread. So I took the time to cut out a toile for a top I’m making as part of the current wave of Simplicity pattern reviews.
Which means that soon I’ll have a new top to share with you and a lovely giveaway too!
And, if I get some thread today, I’ll also have a quilt finished.
Finally!
Unusually for these parts we have been having glorious sunshine and temperatures as high as 32 degrees. Very odd, and really rather lovely.
In such weather as this it seems unlikely that I’m focussing on quilting!
There are several reasons for this:
So I am currently machine quilting like a fool trying to get the GJ finished.
It’s my first outing with a walking foot and I managed to snap 6 needles before I got the hang of it. Not cool. But I’ve completed all the left to right rows and am well under way with the up and down rows. The border will be 1″ cross hatching and therefore a great deal quicker. I’m aiming to have it ready for the binding by the end of the weekend…although that may be a tad unrealistic.
I’ve also sorted out all the flowers for the hexie quilt into stacks of 10, with an interesting mix of light and dark colours in each stack.
Each stack is then bagged up and I’m working through one bag at a time as each represents one row of the quilt.
I’m finding the machine quilting isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had with a sewing machine. With each row I admire more and more the skill of quilters who put together a top in no time flat, and quilt it even faster. I may have mentioned it before, but I’ve actually learned a whole load from trying different types of quilting. I love sewing quilts by hand, not machine. Hand sewing a quilt is a lovely social activity. Hexies are a fabulously portable project. I also find hand sewing tremendously soothing. If I’m sat at the machine I’d much rather be dressmaking.
This, for me, is the joy of developing our skills as needlewomen. You can explore your craft and find what works for you. For me, when it comes to quilts, it’s going to be hand sewing all the way in the future.
But still, I’m getting there with Gardener’s Journal. I don’t think there is a single straight line on this quilt but it is looking lovely. And hopefully will soon be finished. Perhaps in time for cooler weather…and a return to the knitting needles.
Oh yes…having sat up till half past midnight the other night in a Revenge fuelled frenzy of determination to finish…the last Kitty has been stitched.
I’m really rather pleased with how they turned out.
And there are definitely enough of them! This will be a really good sized quilt when its pieced with the patchwork blocks.
It’s over to Ma now… 😮