Japanese Meshwork Coastal Quilts at Pataka

A very enjoyable meshwork class yesterday with members of Coastal Quilters.  A couple of ladies attended this class for a second time to try out more complicated weaves.  Check out these photos.

 

 

Lovely spacious venue in the Education Center of Pataka Art Gallery.   Bonus - opportunity to view Coastal Quilters quilt exhibition.

Japanese Meshwork - Sawmillers

Another exciting successful class at Sawmillers yesterday.  Take a peek.

Tip one - push weight down on your iron to help slide it along the bias strip you are making.

Tip two - use the flat looped bodkin to help your claw bodkin under multiple strips.

Of course we had a Devonshire Tea for our Lunch Break - Thank you Kevin

Tip Three - the fusible tape used on this block for some reason would not attach it to the background fabric.  Problem was solved using a piece of fusible web ironed onto the background fabric. 

 

I have had instances where the tape will not attach to fabric due to the fabric surface.  Sometimes if there appears to be a sheen or some form of residue on the fabric surface it is advisable to prewash the fabric.  In this case the fabric had been prewash so therefore I'm assuming we may have had a faulty tape.

 

Very enjoyable class with lovely ladies.  Thank you.

Meshwork Cushion

Meshwork cushion number 2 is now complete.











 Front                      Back


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Meshing - exciting stuff.

 

Baby jacket & PJ

It will be years before I'm a grandmother - however I have had a bit of fun recently making these two items for one of my daughters friends.

I knitted this jacket and sewed these pj's for all of my children when they were babies.

Kwik Sew PJ pattern 1904 (no longer available) and Shepherd leaflet 759.  The pattern for this jacket has been reproduced to include two additional sizes from the original pattern produced in the 1980's

Kaleidoscope using border fabric

My New Years resolution to myself - For every UFO (unfinished object) I complete, I can create something new. One UFO - knocked of. :)

Kay Nickols wrote a book years ago on making quilts from border fabric which creates a kaleidoscope effect.  I thought I would explore her idea.

Each block is made up of only 4 pieces.  I noticed that the size of blocks is determined by the size of the pattern repeat, not by how wide I decide to make them.  Two types of pattern shapes appear. 
The other thing I noticed when laying out my blocks - they needed to be set out on point.  When laid out square they lost their wow factor.

Center blocks

 
 
 
 
Border fabric

 
 I've nearly finished another quilt using this technique.  It also wants to have its blocks laid on point.

 Here's a sneak preview.  This one has more of a wow factor due my fabric selection (Christine Grafs "Sausalito" series).

 Border fabrics that have a lot of colour and shape create more interesting blocks.  In the late 1990's early 2000's there was a huge selection of border fabrics - doesn't appear to be to much out there at the moment.
Happy stitching.