Monday Group - Marbling

Today we had a complete change in class and played with the Marbling Kit we bought in the Quilt Show in Malvern last month.

We used a pipett to drop in our  paints, and a cocktail stick and a makeshift ‘afro’ comb made out of cocktail sticks and selotape to ‘marble’ the paints.

Here are some of the finished pieces.


I then took them home to line dry them.
Look – blue skies – summer has hit Port Talbot.

We had a wonderful morning with comments such as:

I wouldn't think of doing this at home. But I've enjoyed playing with the paints here. (All set up and ready for them).
Can we do this again please?
and
Can we paint on shells next time?

The swirling the paints with the cocktail stitcks was by far their favourite part - seeing what patterns emerged from the paints.

So it looks like we will have to go to the beach to find some shells then!

Above is a video of Chris 'having a go' this morning.

Monday Group – Machine Quilting

Good Monday morning quilty friends.
Today I’m going to talk about machine quilting using your Walking Foot.

Last week I put together my Half Logcabin quilt top, and now it’s time to quilt it.

Sew, let’s talk about quilting.

As I said, I’m machine quilting this quilt. I’ll be using straight line quilting, some what I call ‘three step zig-zag stitch quilting’ and just a little machine decorative stitch quilting.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

This first one is machine quilted in the ditch. You can’t really notice the quilting.

This second logcabin block is machine quilted using a zig zag stitch – so the quilting stands out.

   This flower is straight line quilted diagonally.

Below, I’ve used straight line quilting either side of the ‘free motion’ quilted leaves.
  And finally this block has been ‘crosshatch’ quilted with additional vertical lines.

Now don’t worry if I’ve used some quilting terms your not familiar with. I’ll be showing you each one in more detail over the next few weeks.

I just wanted to give you a taster of what you can do with ‘straight line’ machine quilting.

And now for something completely (well slightly) different.
In todays video I’ll show you how I get ready for straight line machine quilting.

Hope you enjoy,

That's all from me today folks,

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Yours in Stitches, Joy

Monday Group

Good morning everyone, it's the start of a new week and I think winter is finally leaving the U.K. Spring hasn't quite fully arrived but it's edging it's way in. We still have the heating on all day but my jumpers are getting a bit thinner.
I have been busy stitching together my logcabin blocks into rows.
And in this weeks video I show you how to stitch the blocks into rows and then how to stitch the rows together. It's simple enough if you follow a few basic  tips which help ensure the seams meet.
So here it is,

Hope you enjoy and it gives you the confidence to have a go. It's not the end of the world if all your seams don't match - but if you can match some/most of them you'll feel you've achieved something.
With there being lots of seams to match in each log cabin block I've used more pins than I normally would. And although people in class tend to think my works is very accurate - I am no where near perfect. And the point is none of us needs to be 'perfect'.
We just need to do the best we can at the time.
And I stitch as a hobby, for fun. So, do your best, have fun and above all enjoy the journey.

Yours in Stitches, Joy

p.s. I love it some of you could post pics of your locabin quilts on my joyofquilting FaceBook Page 

   

Monday Group

Welcome everyone.  Today I have uploaded the second video for logcabin blocks. Today's video follows on from last week's rotary cutting video where I showed you how to cut strips ready to make a sample logcabin block.  And today I'll be showing you how to stitch the strips together.
Just click on the arrow to start the video.

Also today we have some pictures of ongoing logcabin quilts from group members.
Below is Joan's 'wavy logcabin' quilt top.

And above is Win's 'wonky logcabin' quilt top.

They look so different don't they.
I'll be explaining/looking at different types of logcabin blocks in Spotlight Wednesday.

Meanwhile have fun watching/making your own logcabin sample block.
                                                            Yours in stitches, Joy x

Spotlight Wednesday

My first Spotlight Wednesday is tied in with Monday class. I am going to attempt to upload a video.......it's How to rotary cut strips for a basic log cabin block. I think it's so much easier to learn how to do these things when someone actually shows you how. AND it sticks even better once you attempt a sample piece. So, today I'm showing you how to cut the strips and next Monday class I'll show you how to make up a basic log cabin sample block using the said rotary cut strips.

For today you will need three fabrics, one light, one dark and one for the centre block.

Tip for video - to watch it full screen click on the little square at the bottom right of the video once it starts playing.

And yes, I know this 'Wednesday' blog has been posted late on Tuesday evening, but I was so excited and wanted to make sure it would work:)