Thursday 20 February 2020

to see or not to see your stitches

This one of six has been a lesson on finding the right thread.
Whether you're happy to show a few stitches
 or want them completely hidden is a personal preference.
Generally I use an offwhite or a pale grey thread,
which are usually okay if I'm piecing patterned fabrics.
I have used darker threads in the past when I'm stitching dark fabrics.
And so we have the dilemma of stitching dark and light together.
I am a pretty lazy stitcher, in that I like a long continuous thread with few knots.
 However I'm not keen on the white showing through the green.
I tried a medium blue but wasnt keen on the stitches showing on the paler fabrics.
 So I've taken the decision to sew quality stitches,
afterall I am in no rush,
so mindful stitches it is.
Apologies for the colour of my photographs
the green I have used is really green in real life.
Check out my Instagram page for true colour pictures

Tuesday 11 February 2020

lets start at the very beginning

 Last summer I went to the Festival of Quilts 
and met my friend Rachel.
Yep I met Rachel from Stitched in Color
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever actually meet
the lovely Rachel who I've known online for years.
Minutes after our meet
we were sat next to each other oohing over the antique quilts 
being shown by Christopher Tate from the
I partitculary loved the intricacies of the tiny hexagon quilts.
And so the seed was sown.
As you know I like to make my own templates,
 however
 finding precut papers in tiny sizes from 
was a shortcut I was willing to take.
An idea began to form in my head,
the easy option would be to go for the 'pretty' route,
but you know thats not really me.
I began to struggle with the idea I had,
I knew what I wanted the quilt to look like, 
I just needed solid inspiration.
And so I have finally vowed to make a Charleston Farmhouse quilt
and stick faithfully to their colours and ethos.
Charleston Farmhouse is the beautifully hand decorated
home of Vanessa Bell and friends of 
The Bloomsbury Set.
The descriptive I'm working towards is 
a quilt that Vanessa Bell might have bought from
 I have chosen to sew purely with Kona cotton solids
(purchased from WoolWarehouse UK)
I feel this quilt will be busy enough without added patterns.

Colours for reference
Starting at the top left.
spice, wasabi, ballerina, kiwi, stone,
curry, parakeet, pepper, silver, holly,
creamsicle, cerise, pickle, candy green,
mango, mahogany, buttercup, gumdrop,
bluegrass, biscuit, maize, glacier.

There have been and will continue to be many decisions
regarding the design and colour.
I hope you will follow along with 
the rollercoaster ride I feel this quilt will take us on!
Calling this quilt 'The Vanessa' quilt for now.

Monday 3 February 2020

a new hope


 hello
I have missed this little space of mine.
I have been lost in the world of fast-o-gram
for too long!
I am still english paper piecing
and currently working on a 
half inch hexagon quilt.
This will be my quilt diary.
 I shall be sharing more details and decisions
but for now I just want to get this first post published
and get on with stitching!