Creative Patchwork Pattern Play

I'm making the most of my quilting 'down time' by getting some computer work done on my new designs, tidying my shelves and sorting through my titles. Look what I found! I hadn't looked at this soft cover for about 10 years before today. Boy, had I been missing out!

It has some really interesting information about creating certain quilting designs. What I really love about it is the 'realness' of the advice and sketches offered. It's been a long time since I was pulled into an instructional book like this. I was just compelled and inspired at the same time, it was such a great feeling. I wonder if titles today are 'too' polished and just so 'computer generated' that they have lost this connection? I definitely feel that sometimes, even when I can't put my finger on any particular 'faults'. Reading, I felt like I was having a conversation with the writer and I really understood what she meant - the diagrams are 'just right' in my opinion.

 and I love that they are hand drawn, not computer graphic-ed

So, inspired by the advice I decided to start a new quilt top to test it out for myself

I'm surprised at how easy and quickly it all came together. I get frustrated more often than not when I create quilts nowadays because I create them on the computer with the purpose of sharing them. I'm not a natural on the computer - in fact, I usually put the pattern drawing aside until the last moment for this reason. I don't like negotiating with software or finding ways to make it understand me. And this is no complaint against the software (which is excellent), the problem is all me! I'm a natural hand drafter and that's when I feel most comfortable - getting things done by hand.

Yesterday I watched a Jinny Beyer class on Craftsy and she was explaining her pallette tool. I purchased it a few months ago and I've looked at it a few times since then, but always ended up doing whatever I wanted fabric colour wise anyway, so I wasn't really utilizing it. So I've decided that I will do it the pallette way on this new pattern I'm playing around with and see if I learn anything new or find a new way to pick fabrics. 

I'll let you know how I get on..

12 Days of Christmas Bauble Update!

Each December 1st, I unroll my festive wall hanging '12 days of Christmas'. It has a special spot in my living room, and it really brightens up the wall. Something I really love about it is that the 'baubles' on the tree are attached by button, meaning they can be changed and updated.

Like so...

And I'm aiming to release a new set of 12 x baubles for the tree each year. This year. I've just released the latest 12 new baubles 'Festive Florals' and they look like this:

These festive florals are now available over in my BOM Group and are free to members.

If anyone missed out on making the wall hanging '12 days of Christmas' when it was released for free the first time around, the pattern is now available in my shop and it's currently 50% off!

Fixing Necklines

Although I have the skills to make my own clothes, the fact is, I'd rather be quilting. So, the only thing that gets me behind a machine clothing wise is alterations for my DH (re-attaching that irritating loop on jackets that he insists on using!) and shirts for myself. Quilting fabric is just too lovely not to turn into a shirt or 5 and of course, my collars. My favourite collar is my Kaffee Fassett collar which I added to an otherwise neglected black jumper. Now, I wear it all the time. That is the allure of wearing quilting fabric. Well, I have this top and I love the print but when I sit down or reach over, the neckline gapes and exposes me. I was considering buying a second top and cutting it up for the matching fabric, but it's been a while since I purchased it now and it's no longer available.

So, I've been hunting for the right shade of blue. Well, I found it at last and finally added a collar to this shirt. I'm in two minds whether or not this works. I think collars make everything better and they certainly do a lot for me, but I may have reached my first exception. I  hope I haven't ruined the whole thing. Right now, it feels a bit, well, ugly. I don't know. The fact is, I couldn't wear this top without some kind of add-age so I might just live with it regardless.

I had no one around to snap me in my new red shirt, but I can tell you it's finished and it looks just fine, I'm really happy with it.

With just 10 weeks to Christmas, I think it's about time to get my popular pattern 12 Days of Christmas back up in my shop. I took it down to fix a typo...and somehow forgot about it! I'll be getting my patterns Christmas ready, even if I'm not.

And I'm not.

10 weeks feels like tomorrow to me.

Lazy Pattern Making

With quilting out of the question, I'm determined to be productive. There's only so many hours a day I 'allow' myself to spend on the computer, so although I have several patterns lined up for release shortly, I decided to "do" something. My wardrobe needs an overhaul and a clear out but whenever there's domestic duties to be done, I usually find a way out of them... and today's been no different.

Whilst I was packaging a bag of clothes to drop off at my local op shop, I found this green shirt.

Does anyone else remember wearing fabrics like this in the 90's?

Anyway, I love the shirt, just not the fabric, so you know what that means: time to draft another shirt pattern. I've drafted many shirt patterns in my life and I'm totally over it, so I decided to draft the lazy way, and unpicked the shirt, ironed it onto a sheet of stabiliser and hey presto - pattern.

 Then I decided to take over my kitchen (of course my sewing room is completely chaotic with quilting patterns at the moment) and stash busted some red fabric I'd actually wear

 I love it and soon it's going to be a shirt I'll enjoy wearing

 Once you have the pattern, the making just flies by

 I'll probably pull out my over-locker for this one, 

but first I stabilised the front to make sewing even easier

Years ago I would have laboured hours over a shirt pattern, now I'm taking the path of least resistance. Hopefully I'll be able to show you tomorrow. Let's see what the final result has to say about it...

WOW: New Pattern Sneaky Peek!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Talk about unexpected! This is me, drafting my new quilt project. I've had the design at the back of my mind for a while now. Then when I got Di Ford's new fabric range into my house, I draped it over some chairs as was constantly looking at it. I wanted to use it up in a quick project (by my standards) so a wall hanging felt ideal - Lily Rose size or thereabouts. I wasn't sure if I had the time or motivation to fix another pattern - but last week I found both!

These pics are from last week and I'm looking forward to releasing the pattern here in the next week or so. I'll show it off properly just as soon as I work out how to get around my scanning issues.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Soothing Love Entwined Hours...

I've been a bit stressed since my 820 got taken away for repair. Of course, it had to happen just when I'd packed most of my other machines into storage - so I'm at a complete stop, machine quilting wise. And LE2 and Oma's Blues are still waiting to be quilted, draped over in the living room.

----Sigh----

It's one thing to get the time to actually quilt without interruption...and quite another to watch that time slip away. WIP wise, it's so frustrating. My solution? Hand work.

There are still hundreds of hours of hand sewing left in my original Love Entwined top, so I'm tackling it the only way I know how - an hour at a time. It's been a few weeks since I spent a a few hours on LE and I must admit, once I find my stride, it's soothing.

I've reached that point of progress where you can actually see it 'taking shape' and it's getting rewarding to see the changes after each session - it's happening that quickly now. 

I know it's mine, but even so, I really have to say how much I love this quilt.

Just in case I've left you in any doubt?!

I know I always go on about this quilt, but it really is oh so special. 

WOW: Forced Pause :(

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Well, I have to admit I'm rather frustrated and somewhat annoyed. By now, my quilt Oma's Blues should have been finished. Would have been finished - except for one thing. Let's just say that due to technical difficulties, my favorite state of the art sewing machine is currently indisposed. I'm going to leave it at that for now because I am rather upset about the whole thing...

Here I have Oma's Blues on top and Love Entwined 2 beneath, both waiting for my attention...

so much for my schedule :(  Hopefully you've managed to be more productive than I have since last week. How's your WIP pile going? I went to the supermarket and suddenly it's time for Christmas everywhere so my mind has turned to thoughts of wondering what I can get done before the end of 2015.

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up