Brenda's Bounty update

When I last posted about this quilt most of the blocks were done and I was a little worried about the piecing together stage up ahead. Happy to report all is good!

Here are the blocks finished and pinned on my design sheet. It's just a sheet on a dowel hung in front of a bookcase (note to self -  I need a longer sheet). 

My blocks were constructed by English paper piecing, using the templates from Linda's pattern "Brenda's Bounty" in her lovely Quiltmania book "Treasures from the Barn " - hence the name of my quilt. But the sashing/ joining method in the book required Y seams - not something I'm familiar with (panic setting in). I knew I'd have to do some research/practice on this method.

But then Sarah Francis kindly sent me a copy of her pattern where she uses partial seams to join it all together. Sigh of relief...I've worked with partial seams before and sure I can do it again!  Thank you Sarah! 

I cut my sashing strips the sizes in Linda's book because Sarah's pieces are a little wider and I prefer to have a smaller finished quilt. 

Then I followed Sarah's method and it went together like a dream - a couple of days machine piecing. There is a wonderful construction chart in the pattern that I followed word for word till it all came back to me.

If those steps look confusing and you'd like to know more, then it might help to look at a tutorial on partial seams by Jinny Beyer here.

Top finished about 79" by 67"

In case anyone asks - Sarah Francis doesn't have a website but is happy for me to share her email contact txjaniac@verizon.net. (patterns available for USD 10 plus postage).

I'll be hand quilting with cotton batting (Quilters Dream as per usual) but still debating which type of quilting. I'm very tempted by big stitch quilting as I loved how it turned out on this quilt . It is such a quick method ...but I don't want to detract from the antique look of this quilt. Aurifil 12wt seems thinner than a lot of the perle cottons so I might experiment with that and 'not-tooooo-big' stitch?! 

Brenda's Bounty - a work in progress

WIP...sounds so much better than UFO don't you think?

Brenda's Bounty started in January - 7 1/2 " finished blocks

My favourite antique quilt in Linda Collins' Quiltmania book

I have to admit my method is a bit different from the template piecing method in the book - just adapted to my peculiar skills (ie the difficulty I always seem to have with accurate piecing!) and the methods I enjoy. 

A little bit of fussy cutting if the fabric inspired

and here are the pieces prepared to hand stitch the block above

My method involved making my own EPP papers - using thin card and shapes from the book templates. 

For the small triangles I stitch basted the fabric over the card and later popped out the card to reuse for the next block. 

For the the handle rectangles, I first needle turn appliqued the handle onto a background rectangle (using back basting preparation method). Then I used a glue stick and iron to glue baste the rectangle over card ready to EPP this piece. 

The two large triangles were also glue basted over card. I usually prefer to avoid glue, but with large shapes the fabric stays a lot more stable than when stitch basted - because it is held all around the shape edges and not just in the corners. Hope that makes some sense? 

So ...all these pieces become...another basket block

Once the block was all stitched together by the EPP method, I removed the papers and unpicked the basting just around the edge pieces, pressed flat and trimmed to 8" square.

 

The design wall was important to check for balance in value and colour

The baskets are done and now I'm moving on the edge blocks - just simple EPP of little triangles. 

Not much looking forward to putting it all together with the sashing pieces ...Y seams ahead!  I'll put the sewing machine to work for that bit...and try to keep the brain in gear! 

The garden is starting to show signs of Spring cheer so I brought some inside.

Hexagon Star

Hanging on the wall at last!  

approx 62 inches by 56 inches

I was expecting all the EPP seams on the half inch hexagons to be hard going with hand quilting but they weren't too bad - just a bit bumpy at times. The hand quilting progressed surprisingly quickly and I was finished within a month. 

No marking was needed as I just outlined all the 'flowers' in the garden, and followed a lot of the star and diamond edges.

To give a little definition to the outer borders (single coloured hexagons among cream ) I quilted straight through three rows all around the outside of the quilt - see below:

Just in case anyone wants to know - I used YLI cream quilting thread, thin cotton batting, a 16 inch square hoop and my usual handful of hardware (Clover brass half thimble, yellow needle puller and TJ Quick quilter spoon) - no affiliation with any of these suppliers but they are Australian stockists. After losing a couple of my usual needles (flicked into the 'ether' across the room - as you do!) I tried a new quilting needle which I now also love - Sew Easy Quilting gold eye size 9. They were $2.65 for 20 strong little needles from Lincraft - got to love that sort of economy. 

The backing is a favourite old floral called 'Plantation' from Windham.

I thought that, especially as this was to be a wall hanging, this quilt would suit a no-show binding. If you google and Pinterest search there are quite a few handy tutorials on various ways to do this. 

In 2014 I made a hidden binding on my 'Simon' Dutch quilt (click to see more in the link) but I was not entirely happy with the corners on the back as they were a bit bulky and not particularly neat. Mind you the quilt hangs beautifully square and I love the finish on the front. 

So I decided to take a chance and give another method a try - adapting the method in this tutorial from QuiltArtNews.

To reduce bulk a little I only used a single fabric thickness (not double as in the tutorial). 

a nice straight bound edge on the folded quilt

The result is just what I hoped for -  a firm, neat edge (front and back) but still flexible enough to drape. And I highly recommend the method - very easy to stitch up.

Having a bit of photo fun with a "focal black and white" faded finish - how's this for an Autumn garden photo? 

How many hexagons?

Someone asked but I've no idea. If any body knows a quick formula I might try it but am not going to count them the slow way!

Hexagon Star - top finished.

I have a hand full of hexagons (half inch) left over but am calling this a finish at 56" by 62". It will be a good size for a wall quilt . For now - off to join the others awaiting hand quilting. 

 

I really enjoyed the portability of this project - using zip lock bags to store and organise the pieces. I know some will think it quite mad to be stitching half inch hexagons by English paper piecing (stitch basted), but I found it very relaxing and quite manageable. In fact I found this size hexagon was quite a bit more comfortable to handle than the large 1.25 inch hexagons in my Grandmother's Garden quilt .

Chapman Coverlet

On the rare occasions when I feel like machine stitching I make it a marathon session! The last one got me a bit further ahead with this quilt. Still have a box full of appliqued squares to join and quite a few more rows to go...so here's hoping for another "rare occasion" soon.

Posies and Plaid

I've not posted on my applique quilt design since May last year, for various reasons. A lot of changes have been made and the unpicker has been very busy. For example I have scrapped the original broderie perse centre - it was just too dark and distracting. 

Unpicker at the ready

In keeping with mixing modern fabrics in with the repros, I'm trying to interpret a lot of different traditional elements with a more contemporary feel.  It's not coming easy for me but I'm happier with it now. Don't you hate it when there is a vision but poor execution!

I've had fun with various applique techniques:

But mostly I have needle turned with back basting prep:

Just a little more applique to go and then I'll be stitching the blocks together. Hopefully there won't be too many more changes (LOL) as I'm really looking forward to Big Stitch hand quilting this ...maybe with coloured perle thread. 

Grandmother's Garden

Started mid 2014 and finished at last!  The fabrics are a mix of homespuns, chambray and peppered cottons, and it measures 84 inches (2.15m) by 71inches (1.8m).

The quilt was sadly ignored for long periods as I hate to admit I got a little b o r e d with it. The lack of variety in shapes and the strictly solid colours can do that. But I love the look of antique quilts made of solids, and this was inspired by those antiques...so was keen to finally get it finished.

It was hand pieced - English Paper Pieced with 1.25 inch hexagon papers.

The quilt was layered with a thick wool batting and Big Stitch hand quilted in a hoop. I used Aurifil 12 wt thread and Foxglove Cottage ''embroidery/redwork" size 10 needle. I did try a few different needles and found this needle and thread combination quilted up the most easily and quickly for me. 

The quilting design is simple - just zigzag rows across the whole quilt.

The Australian Summer is not a great time for hand quilting but I took advantage of a few cooler evenings to rush through the last of the quilting and the binding.

Trimming the quilt ready to bind

There were a few hexagons left over so I made a label patch and appliqued it to the back.

The thick wool batting was chosen with winter in mind - planning on a warm bed cover. But for now it's hanging on the wall - and freshens up the room no end!