Cornish Cottages at Flowerpatch

Flowerpatch Quilters January meeting is always an exciting one as it's the evening for sewing together the blocks of our charity quilt. Each member makes up one or more blocks with some of the fabrics being provided. These are a few of those fabrics

Members use other fabrics from their stash to put with these to sew the blocks and it makes for a real diversity adding so much to the quilt design.

These are some of the blocks. The sizes are the finished size of the blocks once sewn into the quilt.

12" squares

8" squares

4" squares

and we included some 12" x 8" cottage blocks in 3 different designs

The blocks are put together in a random - looking way.

Much more about this "Cornish Cottages" quilt at a later date. It will be raffled at the Flowerpatch exhibition in August to raise money for the "Motor Neurone Disease" charity.

On 11th February we have a Four Corners evening. These will be Wonky Stars, a clever way with borders, origami Christmas trees and brainstorming the "Through the Window" quilt.

Happy Sewing - Anita x

How many sheds does a man need?

I think the answer to this question is "He can never have too many!!" It seems no sooner has my husband built yet another shed, that it is filled with "man stuff" which threatens to engulf one upon opening the door, although his latest "shed" is OUR summerhouse in which there is still room to sit. 

For this latest project I have made him a small wall hanging which celebrates all of the buildings. It measures 24" x 6".

The buildings measure between 2½" and just 1" high.

This is a photo of the actual lean to and store shed on the left of the hanging

..and next to these is the car port - originally built for a van and now home to our diminutive car.

Then we have the white shed (so called because it had a white door at one time and the name stuck) and the old outside privy.

Next the tin shed (so ugly that I've been willing it to fall down for the past 30 years!) and the house.

Moving on to the hen house (sadly no chickens); the log shed and workshop; and Mabel's shed.

Finally the gazebo and the summerhouse

...and this is a photo of the actual gazebo - how I wish for a hot summer in the coming year so that it's not just somewhere to shelter from the rain!!

All the fabrics for the walls and roofs were stuck to the calico background using Steam-a-Seam 2. This is marvelous because it adheres to the fabric without being ironed. This meant that I could prepare all the different pieces first and temporarily lay them in position, moving them about as necessary, and only ironing for a permanent fix when I was completely satisfied. It's not that easy to hand sew through, but I mostly sewed along the edge as Steam-a-Seam sticks so well it doesn't really need to be held down with stitching. Some of the fabric pieces were tiny and my biggest problem was dropping them on the floor and losing them, only to find them later stuck to the sole of my shoe - after I'd cut a replacement - of course!

I think my husband needs a new hobby!!

Happy New Year - Anita x 

Almost too late for Christmas!

I tend to leave decorating the house for Christmas until the the week before and have just come across these little angels that I made a few years ago. It's almost too late to show you, but maybe you still have the time and inclination to do some Christmas sewing!! - as if!!

We all made these at Flowerpatch and they looked so sweet displayed together on a wickerwork tree at our exhibition. This is a link to the Christmas Angel Instructions.

I also found a label that I made. 

The Christmas tree and pot are simply sewn onto a piece of fleece fabric with a continuous line of sewing machine stitch starting at the top of the pot and sewing the pot on first. I cut the fleece a bit bigger than I needed and trimmed it to size after sewing on the tree, then I decorated the tree with random bullion knot candles and french knot flames. This is a link to Embroidery Stitches. The fleece is sewn onto a slightly larger square of corrugated cardboard packaging with big stitches and thick thread, starting at the top corner so as to leave a tie at the top. I used these on the presents for my nearest and dearest so that I could blag them back on Christmas day to hang as decorations!!

This "merry christmas" bunting is made in a similar fashion, but with blanket stitched fleecy letters.

............and this is what I wish to you! - Anita x

Christmas at Cowslip

Jo invited Flowerpatch Quilters to Cowslip Workshops for the December meeting and a real treat of stitching and feasting was in store. Jo is a founder member of Flowerpatch and it's always a delight to get together with her for this meeting. She had organised the sewing of a Christmas hanging with a star, reindeer and some rustic writing. These are some examples, but we mostly didn't finish our little squares as there was a lot of chatting, and the aforementioned feasting, going on!

These are some other pics I took of the evening.

Jo and her team always decorate the whole of Cowslip beautifully for Christmas both inside and out.

Last year Jo had us sewing friendship star blocks which were raffled at the end of the evening with one lucky winner of all the squares. Jennifer brought along the quilted door curtain that she had made - and finished just the evening before!

Thank you, Jo, for yet another lovely Christmassy evening.

Our next meeting is on 14th January when we will be sewing the charity quilt blocks together - after we've all had a say in their placement, etc!!! Please bring along the finished blocks and sewing kits.

Happy Sewing - Anita x

Nine Patch Quilt for Tasmania

This year Launceston Patchworkers and Quilters in Tasmania have been celebrating their 30th anniversary, culminating in their recent exhibition which by all accounts was an outstanding success with 160 quilts on display. Flowerpatch Quilters of Launceston in Cornwall, UK decided to send them a small quilt as a token of our friendship. Presents have been exchanged in the past and include quilts, fabric and most recently some wonderful bunting from the ladies in Tasmania. This is the "Flower-Patch" quilt that we sent and which was hung at the exhibition.

Each red flower was appliqued by a different Flowerpatch member onto a 3½” calico square.

This is the quick method used to make the nine patch blocks:
Sew with ¼” seam allowance.

Cut strips of fabric ½” wider than the finished size of each square in the block. (in this case 1½”)

Sew three of them together which will be cut to make the 3 squares on each side of the block and three others together which will make the 3 squares through the centre.

Press the seams away from the middle fabric on one set of strips and in the opposite direction on the other. This helps when you come to sow up the block.

Cut through the sewn strips at right angles making the set of three ½” wider than the finished squares (in this case 1½”)
TIP: When working really small if the seam allowance turns out a bit bigger than ¼” it makes a lot of difference. When these strips with seams in are sewn together the bulkiness can be a problem so it may be a good idea to cut these sets of three just a tiny bit over 1½”.

Sew these together to make the block, carefully matching the seams.

With a 1" border, and the binding, the finished quilt measures approx 30" x 24".

At Flowerpatch we do so love sewing our group projects - quilters are such a friendly bunch.

Happy stitching - Anita x

Miniature Row Quilts

At Flowerpatch Quilters last year we made Miniature Row Quilts. We sewed one row each month starting in April 2014 and were given instructions each time, ending up with a quilt approx A4 size. Each row is just 6" long! These little dears are the result:

Dawn's and Jane's

Karen's and Dy's

Liz's and Anita's

Mary's and Melody's

...and Joy's

These were the instructions that we were given:

FLOWERPATCH MINIATURE ROW QUILTS

Add seam allowance to all sizes

APRIL

6” x 2” Appliqué     

MAY

Three  2”x 2” pieced blocks joined to make 6” x 2”

JUNE

6” x 1 ½ “ – repeat pattern across the width

JULY

6” x 1 ½ “ – Appliqué on a pieced background

AUGUST

6” x 1” Use 5, and only 5, different fabrics one of which               

you haven’t already used in your row quilt  

SEPTEMBER

6” x 1” – At least one circle and one pieced curve                           

OCTOBER

6” x ½ “ – Any design of your own choice                                         

NOVEMBER

Sew your rows together, adding a ½ “ spacer row here and there if you like. Sew on a 1” border and finish with ¼ “ binding.

Our friends from Launceston Patchworkers and Quilters in Tasmania also did the miniatures and these are their sweet quilts:

Diane's and Marie's

Kay's and Diane's

This is a link to the instructions if you'd like to print them off: miniature row quilts

How I love a challenge that gets me out of my comfort zone!! - Anita x

Barbara Chainey at Flowerpatch

The Epworth room was packed with members and friends for a real treat at Flowerpatch Quilter's November meeting - a visit by renowned quilter Barbara Chainey and her talk "It's all in the Stitch". What a lovely self-effacing lady she is despite being an international speaker and quilt teacher. 
Barbara had brought along her private collection of old quilts many of which she had been given by other quilters who simply wanted to share their treasures with the wider quilting community. Barbara obviously adored her many and varied quilts some of which dated from as early as 1840, and each with their own particular personality, merits and faults. Some of the tiny, tiny quilting stitches had to be seen to be believed, and Barbara allowed us to inspect all the quilts closely and even to handle them. I took just a few pics:

We were delighted by the English paper piecing, machine quilting from 1880, info about dyeing, etc, etc all delivered with a great sense of humour. Thank you Barbara for a great evening.

St Marys Christmas tree festival in Launceston is almost upon us (4th to 13th December) and Dawn has designed some quirky decorations with an Antarctic theme for the Flowerpatch tree - all made by the members.

The next meeting is on 10th December at Cowslip Workshops. Please bring along sewing kits and a small embroidery hoop, if you have one, as Jo has devised some exciting sewing for us.

- Anita x