April 24, 2007 · 8:38 am

I’m still here

I’ve been doing dull things – like printing PR stuff for my stall. Also my real life is  interfering with my crafty endeavours. My children have had lots of different activities that I need to get them to – swimming lessons etc. Plus in my opinion it’s all about the photos and I haven’t got myself organised enough to take photos while the light is good.

 However, I have bought more fabric because, of course, you can never have enough!

Blue Floral Fabric - Foundation Piecing

Larger Print Blue Floral Fabric

I plan to use one of these fabrics in a new quilt – a waterwheel design (I really liked the one Amy posted about at Angry Chicken ).

Waterwheel block

I was thinking something like this …

Waterwheel quilt

There will also be at least one border, but I’m still thinking about that. I want something more complicated than my normal one piece fabric borders, but I haven’t decided exactly what yet.

What do you think of the block and quilt image. I used my new PCQuilt software package to create them. So far I’ve been really pleased with it. I love that I can scan my fabric and use it in my blocks and I love being able to see a quilt of the blocks. I had a bit of trouble at first with scanning my fabric, but that turned out to be user error (of course) and their support was great.

You must all be wondering if I ever finish anything and I’m wondering that too! I’ve got three quilt projects on the go – Snail’s Trail, Log Cabin and now this Waterwheel. I find those initial stages so exciting! Planning the project, finding the perfect fabric etc unfortunately commitment to a project is not my forte.

1 Comment

Filed under miscellaneous

April 12, 2007 · 7:44 am

Market Stall

I’ve been busy getting ready for my Market stall on the 29th.  I’m very nervous because I’m not very confident about being in such a public arena – selling on the web is much different.

I’ve finished sewing and now I’m working on a brochure/order form and a glossy postcard.

Excessively Diverted Personalised Embroidered Items for Children

I’m quite pleased with how this turned out – it looks much better in the flesh so to speak. I’m amazed at how long it takes to do anything. Taking the photos, editing the photos, taking the photos again, battling with different software packages, etc.  I’m currently fighting with my printer – the black ink went a bit dodgy and I had to clean the heads twice before it looked decent.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Market Stall

April 9, 2007 · 1:06 am

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

I’ve been busy making stock for my market stall. The sewing is almost finished, but I haven’t even started on the admin stuff.

working_1.jpg

I’ve bought PC Quilt software. I’m hoping to use it to help with my quilt design. I can do individual blocks, but I wanted something to show me different layouts. Plus I thought it would be useful with my documentation – because I do plan to write tutorials for the quilts I make.

I haven’t had much time to play – but I’ve discovered I can scan in my fabric, rotate quilt blocks and print foundation blocks. I will post more when I’ve had more time to play.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Software

April 3, 2007 · 12:48 am

Quilt as You Go

I’ve been thinking about quilting my log cabin quilt a block at a time. Rather than quilting it all at once at the end. The ‘Quilt as You Go’ technique. Quilters Cache have a great explanation with pictures. I’m thinking about quilting as I go because I struggle trying to manouver a full size quilt on my Janome 9000 sewing machine. This way, I think, I’ll be able to have more intricate quilting on each block. Usually I do straight lines that turn out wobbly. However, I’m a bit worried about all of the hand-sewing involved – that is, butting the batting and then whip stitching it together, and then sewing the backing pieces together. I think this will be quite time consuming and I’m wondering if the back will be a bit bitty. I am keen to try this technique at least once and I can see it would be possible to make the back decorative or even more impressive to make a reversible quilt. I’ve been reading the April issue of American Patchwork and Quilting and they have an article on quilt backs (pages 18 to 20). I love this magazine, but I can’t seem to subscribe to it in Australia, so I just check Newsagents and hope for the best.

American Patchowrk and Quilting Issue 85

I feel motivated to make my quilt back something more than a piece of calico.

Today I’ve been working on a T-Shirt commission.

T-Shirt Commission Excessively Diverted

The name will appear in the middle of three bands – like this one

Three Band T-Shirt Example

Leave a Comment

Filed under Quilting

April 1, 2007 · 8:03 am

Log Cabin 2

As it was a busy day today, not much work happened. I worked on my third version of the log cabin block.

Log Cabin Block Three

I’ve swapped the red fabric and the green floral. At this stage this is the one I’m going to use.

I also started a little hand bag for my eldest daughter. I made one for my youngest daughter out of embroidery trials and of course what you do for one you have to do for the other one. She chose a water melon design from Bunnycup Embroidery . I’d post a picture, but the one on the website is much nicer than mine. For starters, I didn’t do it as an applique just embroidery on calico and it looks a bit bland.  Now I just need to make it into a little bag.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Foundation Blocks

March 31, 2007 · 5:36 am

Log Cabin

I’ve started working on the log cabin blocks using my new fabric. Once again I’m foundation piecing. I know it can be easily done cutting strips with a rotary cutter, but my cutting skills are appalling and this way I can get accurate blocks. I apologise in advance for the photos – it was night time and I had had a glass of wine!

logcabin_1.jpg

I was disappointed that the stitching was visible in the centre square and I wanted to make more use of the floral fabric (with the light background), so I redesigned my pattern and swapped the floral for the plain tan fabric.

Foundation Pieced Log Cabin

I’m happier with this, but there is still some stitching showing. I’m also thinking about swapping the red fabric (my favourite) with the green floral. Any opinions?

1 Comment

Filed under Foundation Blocks

March 29, 2007 · 12:14 am

Fabric

I’ve been trying to find a cheap source of Calico. I use Calico to stabilise my embroideries. I have bought a roll of it from Spotlightbefore, but my closest Spotlight has closed down, so I’ve been trying to source another supplier. Part of my ‘research’ involves visiting fabric stores.

Last week my two year old and I went on an excursion. We visited a toy store (for her) and Textile Traders (for me). Now I’ve always had quite a low opinion of Textile Traders. Not really sure why, but I thought the fabric was cheap and nasty. However, this time I found some lovely Modafabric – part of the Three Sisters range and it was cheap. Similar fabric at my favourite fabric store (Calico and Ivy) is three times more expensive, so of course I had to have some. I wasn’t sure how much I would need, but I thought 3 metres would be enough for any project.

fabric_logcabin1.jpg

The red fabric (second from the bottom) is quite christmassy, but I thought in small amounts the christmas feel won’t be noticeable and besides I loved it.

My current plan (which of course may change) is to make a Log Cabin quilt out of it. I haven’t thought how to arrange the fabric, but I’m sure something will occur to me soon.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Fabric Stash

March 27, 2007 · 7:23 am

Various Commitments

I’ve been making more T-Shirts for my market stall. I’ve completed the embroidery, but have not yet attached the embroidery to the T-Shirts. Of course I haven’t even started the administration stuff. You know order forms, receipt book, etc.

I also have to write a book review for JASA (Jane Austen Society of Australia). The book is Cassandra’s Sisterby Veronica Bennett and I’m desperately trying to find something positive to write! I think it’s a bit unfair to say ‘this book turned me off reading for life’, but that’s how I felt. Usually I read a book a week, but I was determined not to read anything else while reading this book and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make myself finish it.

So what all this means is that I’ve been too busy to work on my Snail’s Trail quilt or my Log Cabin quilt. Although I did find time to correct my log cabin foundation.

Leave a Comment

Filed under miscellaneous

March 26, 2007 · 7:19 am

Snail Trail 2

Not much craft has happened around here lately. I’ve managed to sew some of my snail trail blocks into a bigger block.

 snail_trail.jpg

 This block is 26 cm by 26 cm. I’m comtemplating making a small wall hanging or dolls quilt from similar blocks.

My other idea is to make a series of individual blocks - snail’s trail, log cabin, etc
and frame them individually.

Now if only I could get some time!

Leave a Comment

Filed under Foundation Blocks

March 20, 2007 · 6:35 am

T-Shirt Designs

I spent the brief bit of free time I had today designing T-Shirts for my market stall. I make personalised childrens and babies clothes – that is I put names or initials on T-Shirts and body suits. Check out my other site – www.excessivelydiverted.com. Here is an example …

max.jpg

 I wanted to have a few more styles in my range. Here is one of today’s designs …

alice.jpg

 I’ll put this on a body suit – probably use a pink embroidery thread and a pink print fabric. Maybe this very thread and fabric combination. The image is a bit small, but the fabric is spotty pink. I find it hard to resist spotty fabric.

emily_small.jpg

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Machine Embroidery