A beautiful life ..............

I'm not sure how long this WIP has been going but finally I have the top finished ready for planning how to quilt.  I think Paris is always pleased when I have  a top on the floor for her to walk or lie over.

The stitcheries in this quilt by Helen Stubbings was the best part of making this quilt. It was carthartic and good for the soul with lots of  meaning within each stitchery. 

It's good to be back blogging my journey of my quilting life. 

Happy stitching and hope you all have a good week. 

Sharon 

EPP for fun

I started some paper piecing fun 2 years ago while holidaying and finally got back to it again this year.  I still have a lot more to do but it’s looking like a central medallion now.
EPP IS VERY ADDICTIVE which I am sure a lot of you already have become hooked.  When I first learnt this technique in the 1980’s there was not the choice of fabrics that we have now. Here is a photo of what I started at least 30 years ago made with polyester cotton  and some cottons I bought from America.  So different to what I have reposted below this.

And now 30 years later I'm still EPP making but I do like this better .....

I

At this stage I think this will be a central medallion for a quilt it's another WIP. ....

Have a great week achieving your stitching goals ..

Sharon

Bias stems - bias bars

Morning bloggers today I am going to show you how I prepare bias strips for stems or anything really that requires a small strip.

For 1/4" stems I cut bias strips on the 45 degree angle  at 1" .  Iron these in half and then sew with your 1/4" foot with the folded side against the edge of the foot down the length of the strip.

Once you have done this use bias bar appropriate to the size of your required finished strip size. I have had these bias bars for a while and you can also use zip ties which you can get in quite a small size.

Insert the bias bar into the sewn strip as indicated in the photo trim a small 1/8" from the raw edge so when this is ironed over it will not come out the other side.

Iron this and steam it also remove the bars and give the strip a good steam iron.

You then can place the strip where required on your pattern.


Happy stitching

Sharon

Flower garden progress

Summertime has left us ver dry and on water restrictions here in the south a total outside water ban and has made me think of my flower garden quilt which is moving along nicely, still a lot or work left especially the borders, but Rome wasn't built in a day.  I'm pleased this does not need a water just tender loving care. 

The preparation is always the most work,

Since I wrote this draft there has been a lot of progress to my flower garden quilt and the blocks are nearly done. Then it will be onto the borders . After this last block here I just have one more row which are prepared ready to sew.

I have been working on the one of the last blocks where the gap is. This has thin bias strips which are simple when you know how. Here is how I do this when I have my bias bars handy.

insert the bias bar into the strip that has already been seen 1/4" in from the fold on the sewing machine.  You then get the iron and fold the stitched raw edge over the bar I then turn on steam and steam this down, you may need to get a pair of small sharp scissors and trim this away from the other edge so it will then sit flat when you stitch down.  I'll post photos of me doing this tommorrow. 

Life is beautiful .... always enjoy the happy moments

It's been slow progress on my life is beautiful, I have however got the stitcheries I have stitched sewn up into the blocks.  I decided to sew as I go so I didn't have the whole process at the end of the stitching.

I found this saying recently on our computer and felt it was appropriate to our family at this point in time, where we are currently hoping for the best for my sister and her family, her husband had been in a serious car accident a month ago but we now know he will never walk again... But we all hope for a  a good quality of life...

I therefore find this quilt life is beautiful and the quotes stitched into this quilt to be poignant to this time in our life ...

As I sit her this morning contemplating my day... I have the youngest in bed unwell... I enjoy my kids being home during the weekdays as I get to spend special time with them .... 

I think it will be stitching the last block and stitching the circles onto the blocks for final sewing....

while stitching ...

Hello fellow bloggers, welcome to 2017 and wishing you all a very happy progressive year which is already 6 months  gone and I ponder what life has dealt our family so far ..

Planning for this year has been well underway and class projects to date this year have been in March we did a Lonestar/Star Quilt , April was Quilt as You go techniques and in May it was Scrap piecing a spiderweb cushion, June we had a break with queens birthday weekend and July we completed travelling cutting board and project pouches.

Photos of the year to date are shown below:

Lavender Star- March

Lone Star - March

Quilt as you go -April

May - Spiderweb

Project Pouches -July

July- Travelling Cutting Board

While sitting in my studio contemplating everything my eye caught a mistake in my Life is beautiful quilt... ha lucky i was staring in space but at the quilt as I discovered two red squares together instead of a cream and red....

So I have this unpicked ready to go...  This is so easy to make a mistake on you most definitely have to be on your toes and not be drinking wine when putting this together...

Life always takes on unexpected turns with families, children, friends and as life becomes more chaotic its good to think about what you need in life to achieve your goals.  Always be true to yourself and have fun in the process.

While I sit here very early morning thinking of my sister and her husband who has had an extremely serious car accident waiting for news of his progress I contemplate how life throws curveballs at us and how it makes us stronger and how we all matter in the scheme of things...
It's at times like this that stitching gives me comfort and allows me to be still and thoughtful...


Until next visit wishing you happy stitching...

 Sharon

Sewing with Vinyl..... tutorial

Vinyl... a great product if you know how to use it....  This product can stick on the sewing machine bed,  but....

If you use tissue paper or scotchguard tape to slide this along the machine bed it is much easier.  Also put scotchguard tape along the edges of the needle plate alongside the feed dogs not over them as you will not be able to sew properly...
Another helpful item if you have this is the supreme slider a teflon sheet that sits over the machine bed to help your quilt slide. You can also buy teflon sewing feet now.

 Hold the pieces of vinyl up and away from machine also so they do not stick on the sewing bed, placing tissues under the vinyl will help this, also a teflon sheet as discussed above.

Here are some ideas for using vinyl.  Handy in pockets so you can see what is in there and also to show off the beautiful fabrics you sometimes hide with fabric pockets!

Have some fun trying this product out.  It has some great uses.

Merry Christmas 2016 and a Happy New Year for 2017

As the year comes to a close we all like to assess what we have achieved over the past year and what we would like to achieve in the year ahead...

I say where has the year gone, it has proceeded faster than I expected and therefore I am happy with my achievements with my sewing and classes..

Just remember if you have your health, family and happiness life is good....

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sharon

A finish for 2016 jelly stars

It's finally finished binding found and sewn on and down woohoo! Isn't it great to get finishes before the new year.

Light pad cover fun

I hold project days once a month and the ladies requested a light pad cover, therefore I devised this for them, I am however going to put a handle on this, but have yet to get around to it.

Attaching fusible to the wool hexagons. 

Having fun placing the colours.

Quilted through the hexagons to hold on to the coloured hexagons and hold the batting to the lining.

Binding put on.

A pocket at the back for the recharging cord.

Thanks for visiting happy stitching 

S

Flower garden progress

Hi bloggers, 

Where has the year gone think we make ourselves busy each year just realised haven't blogged for a long time,

I have been busy with life kids and home...

I have however been continuing with Kim mcleans flower garden progress is slowly happening ..

Also I have added another project this year BOM "FOXLEY VILLAGE"

I am doing my best keeping up just two months behind...

Snuggle quilt

Its time to get back to the snuggle quilt designed by Anni Downs, this was started for my 1st daughters 21st, alas it  Was put away and now as she is turning 23 she has been asking about the progress. It's half done and as it is just piecing it is relatively easy but a bit boring in the sewing department.  But my push this year is to get some of those projects out of the way.  Do you find it hard to contain yourself and not start a new project, I certainly do with lots of plans in that head of mine, however I am being disciplined.

Happy stitching thanks for visiting

Yum! Jelly Stars and Pickles

The Jelly Stars  is finally together and back from the quilter... Binding ready to put on but I have lost the border fabric that I was going to bind in... I'm sure it will turn up ...

I think they all think they had a part to play in making this quilt 

Quilted circles look perfect with this.

With the Pickledish I liked the look of the full piece of fabric in the middle inserts instead of the cut pieces having seams that do not always meet in the middle..  I think I need one more row before I put the border on?  What do you think a border or not?

I am quite pleased with the ease this jelly star quilt has come together..  An easy quick quilt with the look of difficulty.... The pickle dish was a fun quilt to make a lot of work but worth the effort...