Todays 6 sided Kaleidoscope Class

I've had so much fun over the last couple of days running a 6 sided kaleidoscope class.  From the stresses of cutting the fabric to the squeals of delight deciding which way each block should spin.

The photos below show the fabric before cutting and the commencement of quilts being formed.

Judith's quilt

 

 

Judith has completed her quilt.  She has separated each block by using a solid.  She felt that having her blocks together was to busy.

 

Shirley.

Machine quilting for beginners.

Always scary when learning this technique.  Check out these two photographs from Saturday's class.  Pretty good for first timers.

Sawmillers Classes

My Stacking bow ties and Quilt as you go classes are scheduled in October at Sawmillers Quiltery.

Visit sawmillers quilters.co.nz to book.

This weeks Show n Tell

I always like to encourage the customers I serve in the shop where I work in to bring their completed creations.
This week Sonja Wansink brought in hers.  She is so talented that she whips creations up without patterns.


Thomas the Tank Engine shirt and hat plus two extra sunhats

 

Sonja's design - Travel activity bag for her son.



open up the bag - fold out the sides



pockets for toy emergency cars



once the bag is fully open - road to drive toy cars around

 Very clever and inspiring.
Have a great week stitching.

Dome Needle Threader by Clover

I saw a quilter paper piecing recently at Coastal Quilters. She was using this gadget.  What a fantastic idea, pre-load up to ten needles with thread and of you go to stitch group.  No more cracking jokes from your friends as you miss the eye of a needle when threading.

Makes a good gift as well.

Millefiori Quilts - English Paper Piecing.



Quilt Mania have printed two books by Willyne Hammerstein.  I think she is the Queen of English Paper Piecing.  Her designs are geometrical and a pleasure to gaze over. 
The patterns demonstrated in Willyne's books "Millefiori Quilts" and "Millefiori Quilts 2" use hexagons, pentagrams, triangles - basically all sorts of shapes to give colourful kaleidoscope effects ( I love kaleidoscopes).  She provides drawings of shapes required to make her quilts from which you can make templates.

I recently joined a Facebook page dedicated to La Passacaglia paper piecing (the last quilt in book 1) which has currently over 1300 members .  Each week members should be showing their progress but  I suspect that most haven't shown their rosettes/cogs because it does take a while to build them or they may not have started them.

The Millefiori effect is very stunning - especially those quilts using lots of colour.  The trick I think is to make your cogs stand out (pop) and not drown amongst other fabrics surrounding them.  Goggle Millefiori quilts and click onto images.  It pays to look at lots of pictures to get a feel for what type of shapes you intend to work with.

To get a true kaleidoscope effect some fabrics will require fussy cutting.  It is important I think to use plainer fabrics to create places for the eye to rest.

I have been working on mine for two months.  It would have been easier to use a large variety of colour but I had a bundle of  black, grey and yellow fat quarters so rather than buy new fabric - started with this pack.  Very limiting but is a challenge.

If you are buying fabric from which you will be fussy cutting - then I suggest you don't buy fat quarters unless there is at least 10 repeats of the image you wish to use.   I have found 30cm of full width works well.  BUT check first - you may need more to get the required shapes.

This is what I have made so far.  I have pinned a pen onto my design wall to give you an idea of scale.  Yep - two months work.  Not for the faint hearted - but very exciting.

I wasn't entirely happy with the center of this cog.  I do like the fabric but it just lacked a little accent.  Rather than unpick and start again this is what I did:



Original Center



Outlined part of the pattern using black pen



Completed center

On the back of my cog I tested several different permanent pens.  Some bleed into the fabric.  I eventually used a Pigma Micron 02 pen.  This pen creates a 0.30mm thin line.  Perfect for the job.

Millefiori paper piecing has created new excitement amongst a group of my quilting friends.  We meet once a month and most have recently purchased these books as well.  Maybe in a year's time I can show you the finished results.

Happy quilting friends

Spinning Stripes

This fabric arrived in the shop today.  Perfect for spinning stripes.  I love the splotches of colour within these stripes.  Would look awesome with this technique.