What's New, Ruth?

Hello everyone.  My name is Ruth and I write about my projects over at Charly & Ben's Crafty Corner.  I made my first quilt about this time last year and am now working on my fifth quilt.   I was thrilled to bits when a family member asked me to make her a quilt for a single bed and had great fun searching for fabric and deciding on a layout that I thought would be perfect for her.  She was happy to leave it all up to me so I picked  this fabric range Coquette by Chez Moi.  Not having much of a stash I went out and bought everything (any excuse to go fabric shopping!) I thought something colourful in spring colours with stars would be great.  The background material is Kona Snow.

I had a pattern from Miss Rosies Quilt Co. called Bounce that uses scrappy stars so I modified this from a twin to a single bed quilt and so far so good.  I've gone from tiny squares to pieced stars.  Last week I trimmed them off centre to make them "Bounce" as per the pattern and sewed all 28 of them into a 4 x 7 layout. 

Now I'm working on the borders.  I'd like this to end up somewhere around the 58 x 78" for a single bed so I'm adding a scrappy border per the pattern and a nice wide solid border on the outside.  The scrappy border is made from the leftovers from the 28 stars +4 more layer cakes cut into strips and BGF strips.

It’s a lot of cutting and piecing but oh so pretty!  You can see a small part of the stencil I'm hoping to use to quilt this when the top is finished.  I'll be practicing this pattern before I touch this baby with my Free motion hopping foot!

The border is coming together slowly but I'm really happy with the result.  It's very hard to be random.  I've heard of a tip of putting all the pieces into a bag and using whatever is pulled out.  I may have to try that!

Ruth, thank you so very much for giving us a peek in your sewing room!  

What's new, Sonya?

I have been patch working for over a year and a half now and am surprised at just how much scrap fabric has built up in my sewing room. Finally I decided that if I did not want to be classed as a hoarder I had better decide on a project. Not having masses of experience in using scraps I finally decided to make a 2.5 inch square boys pram blanket.

I am using mainly Robert Kaufmann fabrics, just mixing in a few others to help keep the bright & colourful theme.  Here is my progress so far, I have 6 of the nine blocks finished. I work on it on & off as I come across scraps that tie in, but I am loving how it is coming together. Once its finished I plan on making a girl version with all the girls scraps I have in my sewing room:)

Thank you, Sonya, for giving a peek into your sewing room.  Please do come back and show us the finished quilt.  Anyone else have a WIP post to share?  Email Cindy at fluffysheepquilting(at)gmail(dot)com.

What's new, Irina?

Hello, I'm Irina and I write about my ever-growing list of projects at El Petit Taller.  I've been asked to tell you about what I'm working on at the moment. One of my many WIPs is a quilt for my son Conor, who has just turned 10 moths, so it's about time he had his own quilt!

I took part in a rainbow charm swap and had been adding squares from scraps, so with a good collection of 5 inch squares I decided to make rainbow stars inspired in this tutorial.

About the design of the quilt... I'm making it up as I go along!  But the idea, so far, is to make a square quilt, with the stars slightly tilted on a white sashing. I'd like to make small wonky stars where the corners of the starry blocks meet. I'm not sure if I'll add a border... I will need to see how the central panel looks like first and if I want to add more starry blocks, so I might ask you for advise when the moment comes!

Oh, and just let me tell you that I consider myself pretty new in modern quilting and I really love being inspired by the work of all the rest of you in the MQGI, so thank you!

Member Profile: Meet Geraldine

Before we wrap up our member introductions, I'd like to present to you Geraldine of Sophie Belle Designs.  Geraldine, tell us more about yourself...

Stars and Stripes: One of Geraldine's favorites.  She says "...probably a bit too ambitious for someone quilting since January '12, but I have enormous patients when I'm quilting, seems to leave me as soon as I leave my sewing room!" 

The basics

Name: Geraldine Conway          

Hometown: Carrantample, Co. Sligo

Current Home: Lucan, Co. Dublin. Live in a great spot which is far too close to the shops!
Flickr name: SophieBelleDesigns

Family: A husband and two children, a boy of 12 and a girl (Sophie) 7

Pets: A cat called Lennie

Love Birds: One of Geraldine's favorites.

The details

What is your day job? Stay at home Mum who gets to sew while the kids are in school. I also spend a lot of time working with my little girl Sophie who has special needs.

What is your current dream job? Pretty happy with my current set up!

What did you want to be as a child? Can’t remember...

What is your favourite time waster? Internet or 4od.

What are you working on now? A baby boy quilt, a gaming pad sleeve and a draught excluder & customised apron

What do you want to be working on right now? I’m designing some cushions with sketches on them, so just working through the overall look I’m aiming for and practising sketching with my sewing machine.

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting? I paint and draw too & enjoy photography

Do you play sports?  Which ones? None

What is your strongest positive personality trait? Optimism

What is your greatest fear (nothing morbid or spooky…in a lighter sense)? My sewing machine dying

Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? Ha, next..

What started you quilting? My Mum always sewed and quilted so I just followed her lead.

Geraldine's creative space!

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday: Florence or New York

movie: The Station Agent or The Guard

food: Boxty

book: It would be like asking whose my favourite child! Impossible task.

band/song: Again too many to narrow it down.

colour: Blue

saying: ‘it could be worse’

fabric line or designer: Don’t have one, I just like what I see.
sewing tool: Probably my quilting gloves, couldn’t quilt without them.
completed sewing project: My boys stars and stripes quilt
quick finish sewing project: Cushions or iPhone covers

The quilts
I made this quilt for my boy Jack a few years ago. I started out determined to make a cushion for his bed and it ended up as a quilt. I went about it completely the wrong way and made many mistakes but I still love it!

Well this quilt just ended up all wrong. The ‘white’ background of the polka dot was off white and it jarred against the white bands. That bugged me hugely and when I washed it the red colour ran and it all ended up a hot mess. Two lessons were learned though. The first: double check your fabric colours in the store, especially the whites. Second: wash all your colours to make them run proof beforehand. I washed all my red fabrics together after that and it took 16 colour catchers and 6 washes to make them run proof!!!!!

Member Profile: Meet Cindy

I feel a bit silly writing an introduction to my own post, so I'll just dive in...

The basics

Name: Cindy

Hometown: Doylestown, Pennsylvania.  We have two pretty cool "castles" that look like dripped sand and a great down town for shopping.

Current Home: Galway on the western coast of Ireland.  I love it. I love it. I love it. 

Blog address: http://fluffysheepquilting.blogspot.com/ 

Flickr name: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluffysheepquilting/

Family: I share my home with my partner, B.

Pets: The most spectacular, intelligent cat in the whole world, Clarkson.  

The details

What is your day job? Research scientist.

What is your current dream job? Owning a fabric shop.

What did you want to be as a child? A medical doctor was a thought...until I realized I'm very unsympathetic toward ill people. 

What is your favourite time waster? Blogs.  Blogs.  Flickr.  Blogs.

What are you working on now?  Trying to finish the stop of my Stargazing quilt.  I'm also working on an all solids quilt with my bee called Electronica.

What do you want to be working on right now? My Stargazing quilt. It is a distraction from the Community Quilt that I should be working on.

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting?  I love getting a cup of coffee and walking around Galway on a Saturday morning.  We ride mopeds a lot too, which is just a great time.

Do you play sports?  Which ones?  Sadly no.  I really should. 

What is your strongest positive personality trait?  Honesty?  Maybe not everyone would see my honest comments as positive, but it seems to keep me on the straight and narrow.

What is your greatest fear (nothing morbid or spooky…in a lighter sense)? Loosing my sense of direction in life.

Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? I wish.  I'm pretty square so I have nothing to share. 

What started you quilting?  I have always loved color and geometric patterns, but it was just the cover of a quilting book that really got my heart racing.  I started piecing that weekend and have not looked back since.

My first-ish quilt finish, given to my sister in law for Christmas.

Another first-ish quilt for my niece, Roisin, again given away at Christmas.

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday: Italy or Pennsylvania to see my family.

movie: Fight Club.

food: Burger fries and a beer.

band/song: Right now it's the National, but it changes frequently.

Mod Logs.  My current most used quilt.

colour: Judging by the height of the pile in my stash, green.  Who knew?

fabric line: Don't really have one. I'm more of a scrappy girl.

sewing tool: My 6.5"x6.5" ruler.  Love it.

completed sewing project: Mod Logs as it's the one I'm around most and it always makes my day sunnier.
quick finish sewing project: The zipper pouch is new to my world and is just fantastic!

Member Profile: Meet JoJo

Please meet JoJo, author of To Be Sure, To Be Sure and maker of gorgeous quilts.  JoJo, please tell us a bit more about yourself....

The basics

Name: JoJo

Hometown: Dublin

Current Home: Dublin

Blog address:  www.tobesuretobesure.com

Flickr name: I can’t remember (my computer remembers for me)!  I’m in the “Sew Irish” group though.

Family: Fab husband and the best little girl in the world

Pets: None!

The details

What is your day job? I run my own business.

What is your current dream job? I’m doing it!  Running your own business rocks!

What did you want to be as a child? A cameraman on RTÉ...as a child I thought that would be the best job ever.

What is your favourite time waster? Watching Missouri Star Quilt Company quilting videos on YouTube.

What are you working on now? I have 4 current works-in-progress (otherwise known as UFOs!) and have several more in planning.

What do you want to be working on right now? My UFOs, but quilting has to take second place to family and my business.

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting? I work mostly, but I’ve started the “Couch to 5k” running programme, so hopefully I’ll be able to count running as a hobby soon.

What is your strongest positive personality trait? I appreciate detail.

What is your greatest fear (nothing morbid or spooky…in a lighter sense)? Slicing my pinky finger with the rotary cutter again… man, those things are sharp!

Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? That I didn’t have a cutting mat when I started patchwork and quilting last December, so I used my kitchen chopping board.  Blunt rotary cutter much?!  I didn’t know myself when I got a proper mat!

What started you quilting? I’ve always liked craft and went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the RDS.  Santa then brought me a Pfaff QE4 for Christmas and I’ve been sewing every day since.

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite

place to holiday: France for culture and food.  America for shopping.

movie: The Man With Two Brains  (did I say culture above?!!)

food: My mother in law’s Sunday dinners

book: The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

band/song: Duran Duran – Rio

colour: Purple.  Has anyone else noticed a complete dearth of purple quilting print fabric ranges though?  I’d love to make a purples quilt, but can’t find anything only marbles and blenders…

saying: Measure twice; cut once.

fabric designer: Anything modern, bright and cheerful.  I particularly like stripes and spots.  See my striped binding tutorial here .

sewing tool:  My sewing machine.  Adore it!

completed sewing project: My quilted quilter’s tote Blogged here .

quick finish sewing project: Probably a quilt made of 5” square charm packs.

project completed by you: My tumbler quilt and matching round cushion.  So incredibly proud of it.  

First quilt: My first quilt was my Mum’s 75th birthday present.  

Ugliest quilt: Not a quilt as such, but I really don’t like the hand I made for the International Quilt Festival of Ireland Céad Míle Fáilte display.  It was my first attempt at appliqué and the colour palette was restricted by the organisers to green and white.  My only green fabric was a holly print left over from Christmas!  The appliqué went ok for a first try though.  

Favourite quilt: My favourite quilt so far is my tumbler quilt using Indian Summer fabrics by Riley Blake.

Member Profile: Meet Laura!

Laura's Favorite Quilt: Quaking Aspens at Dawn

The basics

Name:  Laura                            

Hometown:  Dublin

Current Home:   Clonee

Pets:  Would love to have a dog, but gone too long during the day to have one now.

Laura's Diamond Dazzler

The details

What is your day job?  Administrator

What is your current dream job?  Quilt shop owner

What is your favourite time waster?  Reading quilt blogs

Covet Thy Neighbor's Fabric

What are you working on now?  I just did a class on Kalaidescope quilts, so I have one of those.  Also have an appliqué wallhanging that I’m quilting and also have a small 16 block wallhanging that I’m doing too.

What do you want to be working on right now?  Exactly what I’m doing now.

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting?  Travel, photography, gardening, reading.

What is your strongest positive personality trait?  Loyalty

What is your greatest fear (nothing morbid or spooky…in a lighter sense)?  Running out of fabric, but that’s never going to happen in my lifetime – stash is too big!

What started you quilting?  Went to Keepsake Quilting in the US and bought the fabric to make a quilt.  Signed up for classes.  That was in 1997 and I haven’t stopped since!

Joy

Laura's first quilt: Zach's Quilt

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday:  USA

movie:  don’t have one

food:  pasta or fish

book:  don’t have one

band/song:  Dixie Chicks or Alisson Krauss

Hen Party

colour:  Too many to choose

saying:  Just do it.

fabric line:   Moda

sewing tool:   Bernina sewing machine

completed sewing project:   Quaking Aspens at Dawn – quilt I entered in Birmingham last year