WOW: So Much Fabric, So Hard To Choose

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Is your stash a burden or a blessing?

Whenever I'm asked what advice I would give a new or would be quilter, it's always the same answer: don't stash build. This advice is easier to give than follow that's for sure: especially given that I have worked with fabric for over 30 years and I simply adore fabric and textiles. But since I started quilting, my love has really flourished! I now have so much fabric and so often, none of it seems just right for whatever project I'm working on. I'm doing my best to stash bust, but as I develop as a quilter I realise that apart from the occasional must haves, I'd really be so much better off if I purchased fabrics on a per project basis only.

Unfortunately I'm too late wise on this and will have to try and work through my fabric mountain one design at a time. I think it's time for some serious stash busting quilt patterns...

I'd love to know, are you a stash builder? buster? or neither? 

How do you manage your quilting fabric purchases? 

Update 9pm: I am loving your comments on this: it seems that collecting beautiful fabric is an issue for lots of us and I am loving reading your comments on how you handle your fabrics. 

What's Your WOW ?

WOW: Talking LE Thread

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays

Today I'm sorting through my threads, looking for good LE colours. Then I'll be working on LE, there's always little bits and pieces to be preparing or sewing down. 

I've had a few emails asking me what thread I used on my Heart Tombola gift and also why I always have baby wipes in my applique stitching pictures ?

I always use and recommend Aurifil. I just love this thread. Yes, it is a little thicker than most but I find I can use it with all my machines with no problems, so do give it a try, the clear stitches you can get from it makes investing in a trial spool well worth the investment.

The baby wipes are for my hands - I handle a lot of glue (not all at once!) but the tiny dots of glue can build up on your hands and become tacky. Especially after several hours. 

Baby wipes keep my hands clean and keep my fabric spotless. When creating such intense applique quilts, it's all too easy for fabrics to become smudged with tacky glue. This tackiness attracts dirt. Also, I physically handle the quilt a lot, sewing down pieces and in between I might get dust on my hands from my fabric stash or from handling my machine or leafing through a book and all these little undetectable touches can dull the fabrics so that they look tired or worn, even when the quilt is newly made. 

Have you ever seen that yourself? I see it quite often on white and light quilts and my LE has a white background and has months of handling ahead of it. So that's why! 

Actually, come to think about it, my quilt is probably the cleanest thing in my house!

What's Your WOW ?

LE: Circling Stars

The stars are fiddly work, but there's no doubt about it - once you have them made, they look wonderful. Like all the applique in this quilt, preparation is key: create a production line and keep things on track. 

Another thing I will suggest is to always make 1 or 2 extra pieces, sometimes fabrics can just look wrong at no fault of your own - it might be the angle of the print or some other detail that creates a distortion - I often move around my shapes, even those made from the same fabrics as the details can vary, so always have one extra for swapping over. 

These are stars but they look like leaves in their individual pieces, there are 6x leaves to each star. When you have 6x leaves neatly turned, thread them onto a needle. The fraying you see here is from fabric turned back, the fronts are clean and precise!

thread them on, keeping any colour order as desired, so that they are all sitting on the length of the needle

thread through neatly and on the same point of each, which is slightly to the side of the centre point

thread your needle through the 6 leaves

create a loop with your thread

and gently pull

but as you pull, arrange the stars into their correct shape, so that they don't bunch

guide the leaves into their correct position and pull the thread fully

Now turn over your star and secure the position with a few neat stitches

front and back of the star

The biggest advantage of doing it this way is that you can create a star production line and then sew down all your stars at once. It saves you from stitching down 6x individual leaves directly onto the fabric to 'create' the star, this way you create the stars before your sew the shape down and this makes neater shapes. Of course this is just my own method and every quilter will have their own style and preference. 

Did you make these stars? How did you sew them down?

WOW: LE centre circling stars

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday 

I am growing more and more in love with this quilt, if that were possible

So much hand stitching, so many stars, I feel all starred out! I chose assorted scrappy fabrics for the crown, but for the stars I wanted to emphasis the compass colours again as a kind of unity because my hearts are pink and the flowers will be colourful. 

This means that the corner vases will have to be in the browns or scrappy. I will know when I get to that point. I had thought about pulling out some fabrics earlier and setting them aside, but I know now that LE will decide, I'll just go with what feels right on the day. 

On Friday I'll be posting how I made my stars in further detail...

What's Your WOW? 

WOW: After Easter

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

How was your Easter? I'm at that time in life where my DDs have finally taken over celebratory baking, so I'm somewhat free of the kitchen. The cleaning? That's another matter, and it looks like I have some extra vacuuming to do before the house is back to normal. 

I think I'll get on with some hand sewing today. I can spend hours on LE and have nothing to show for a whole days work, it slowly inches along...

What's Your WOW?

WOW: Love Entwined, spread the word...

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

I probably don't have to tell you that the Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet has really touched my heart. It's an extraordinary quilt and I think it's so important to Georgian, Women's, British, Textile and Quilting history. I could talk about it all day, but I've already discussed my thought on this quilt at length in previous posts and you can find these in the Love Entwined Page at the top of this blog if you are interested. 

Let's not forget that this quilt was found after the efforts of ordinary quilters like you going out there and looking for it. That's an extraordinary accomplishment. 

I want everyone who is interested to be able to take part in this adventure. For this reason, I have left all the missed blocks up in my Group and they will remain free and available until the BOM is completed. This means anyone who is interested can make this quilt for free.

I don't want anyone to miss out on making this extraordinary quilt, so if you've been looking on, go ahead and try it for yourself. 

If you're new to applique, consider incorporating a LE block into your next quilt (acknowledging the source). Or, consider using an LE block for a project such as a table runner or cushion. The quilt is full of beautiful motifs you could use in smaller projects and as long as you acknowledge their source, you are perfectly welcome to do so.

If the quilt is too large for you, consider making just the centre square (blocks 1-7 as pictured above) as a beautiful wall hanging. 

Perhaps you or your local quilt shop could start a LE Quilting Bee in your area? It's full of applique techniques for the learning and the pattern is free to all my Yahoo Group Members. Why not get together to make it? 

It's my desire to see interest in this quilt revived - I believe our only hope in ever discovering more about its maker and her life is if more quilters discover just how special this heirloom quilt is. That might spike the interest of a historian or someone who has access and experience in searching out specific records. This quilt is full of clues, we just need to have access to the tools which would allow us to read it. 

Please, if you can, be a part of spreading the word on this quilt and a part of making the discovery of its maker happen.

What's Your WOW?

Love Entwined Part 11 is Launched

Here we go again: we're back to making two borders
this month, and what a beautiful set they make!

Border 3 is all about entwined leaves; and in Part 11 this month, the top border has an ongoing flower / element / angel design whereas the bottom of Border 3 finishes with a bird. I have been charmed by this bird in the bottom corner, it's the only difference between the two blocks and immediately caught my eye when I first came across this quilt. Maybe because I always sneak a bird somewhere in my quilts designs too. Of course, this bird isn't so much snuck in as it is simply an extension of the elements of this design.

I have spent a long time looking at Border 3 and I still don't have answers to the questions it has posed, so I'd love to hear your opinions

You might wonder, as I often have when considering the original, what the elements used in border 3 stand for? It’s interesting to consider if the shapes running along all of border 3 are angels, guardians...or something else? These were drawn from the original as closely as possible and they do have this head/wing shape.

Originally I thought they were candlesticks,

then I changed my mind to Angels. 

What do you see?

Of all the borders, Border 3 speaks to me as being the work of a person: someone with beliefs, values and ideas about their world. Someone who sat down and actually made this coverlet. It's easy to forget sometimes, that this coverlet is imbued with someone's personality. Sadly, I can't tell you anything more about that woman, so we'll have to let her design choices speak for her.

I don't know why I like this block so much, perhaps because it's so unexpected and modern looking

This is the central element, I think it's so charming

Of all the blocks in this quilt, those in border 3 strike me as the most hopeful and remind me that this was the marriage coverlet of an unknown woman; someone very real, not just an idea. These design elements are a direct extension of her hopes and fears for the remaining days of her life.

More than any other part of the quilt, these blocks remind me that we are re- creating a piece of history; handling an unknown woman’s legacy whilst creating our own heirloom.

So I invite you, as always, to make these blocks meaningful to you.

‘Love Entwined 1790 Marriage Coverlet’ is a Free 18 Month Historic BOM

Each ‘block’ of the month is released monthly, on the 15th of each month. All ‘blocks’ are available for free 

All ‘blocks’ are available for download via my Yahoo BOM Group only