Perfect Circles

So many people commented on my circle blocks in last week's post.

Everyone wanted to know how I got them looking so good!  Well, I followed Jen Kingwell's video on YouTube.  I've put a link to it here so you can watch it too.

Jen uses Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles and Bigger Perfect Circles.  I already had these circles in my cupboard because I use them for wool felt applique.  They last for ever and ever (as long as you don't distort them with a super hot iron).  Most quilt shops stock Perfect Circles.

Jen puts a gathering thread around the edge of her circle before pulling it tight around the Perfect Circle.  Then she sprays it with Flatter before pressing it.

Once you have a crisp edge you can pop the template out and pin your circle onto the background fabric.  Jen recommends Aurifil 80wt for applique, and I do too.  It's very fine and almost disappears into the fabric.

In the video Jen shows exactly how she angles her needle when she appliques.  It's well worth watching because it will help you to keep your stitches invisible when you applique.

I had this quilt basted by a local long arm quilter - Rayna Clinton from Tui Song Quilting.  I'm really pleased with how it's looking and I can't wait to start hand quilting it.

What have you been up to this week? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

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You Spin Me Round

Yes, I have a finished quilt.  I'm very pleased to present "You Spin Me Round".

I'll smile each time I say the name because I love this song from 1985.  Click the button in the centre of the image and have a dance around your lounge!

Anyway, back to the quilt.  I made this quilt using the Cartwheel pattern designed by Liza Prior Lucy and published in Quilt Grandeur by Kaffe Fassett.

You can read my earlier blog posts about it here:
Nov 2018
March 2019
July 2019 - hand quilting commenced
Feb 2020

I hand quilted along the black lines with Aurifil 12wt in black

I hand quilted in the ditch with Aurifil 28wt

The wool batting and hand quilting means it's full of texture

So as you can see, it's taken me more than a year to make this quilt, but I've really enjoyed making it.  I like to take my time when I'm quilting.  I hate being rushed and working to a stressful deadline.  I usually have multiple quilts on the go at the same time, and that stops me getting bored with any of them.

In a first for me, I changed the binding after I'd completely finished the quilt. Yes, I've never done that before, but I'd used Kaffe's Millefiori fabric from my stash, and although it was OK, I thought I could do better.  So I took my quilt to my local quilt shop and tried many options before I settled on Good Vibrations - also from the Kaffe Fassett Collective.

I love the strong blue for the binding, and how it truly finishes the quilt.

I know some of you will be wondering about the rainbow ric rac.  I got it from Spotlight in New Zealand.

I've entered this quilt into the Sydney Quilt Show and all going well, it will be there in October 2020, even if I can't attend myself.


Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week? Have you managed to finish anything?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

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My Kantha pouches

I finished my Kantha quilting challenge for this week.  A couple of weeks ago I told you I was experimenting with Kantha quilting for an Aurifil Artisan challenge here.

Well, I finished my panels and I turned them into Openwide pouches (pattern by Noodlehead here).

I love the easy, relaxed look of Kantha quilting, and I enjoyed making these bags.  I'm definitely going to use this technique again in the future. The joy of Kantha quilting is that you don't have to draw lines and precise - it's meant to look rustic.

Just a reminder - I used Aurifil 12wt in contrasting colours.  I even used the variegated threads and they look good against the Kaffe Fassett Fabrics too.

I chose to make the medium size pouch, because that allowed me to get two pouches out of one fat quarter (with another for the backing, and a third for the lining).

Once I'd finished quilting my panels I knew that I needed to secure the threads, so I machine stitched just inside my cutting lines with a short stitch length.  Only then did I cut up my fat quarter into panels for the bags.  I didn't want my lovely Kantha quilting to unravel!

I chose some other cheery Kaffe Fassett prints for the lining. I like the interiors of my bags to be light colours so I can find my stuff in there!

So, there you are.  Two quick and relatively easy Open Wide Pouches made from Kantha quilted panels.  I encourage you to give it a go.

Updated: I bought the zips from Studio Mio in Australia - https://studiomio.com.au/zippers/

I've made this pattern previously, and it makes a great pouch for when you want to take some hand stitching along with you. 

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Kantha quilting

Have you heard of Kantha quilting?

 My online friend Shruti Dandekar says:

Kantha is one of the traditional styles of handwork popular in Eastern India - especially the state of West Bengal - and Bangladesh. It is used to either add embroidery to fabric or to quilt.

You can read more about it here in Wikipedia.

This month Aurifil have asked some of the Aurifil Artisans to experiment with Kantha quilting and Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

I've decided to use my variegated 12wt Aurifil threads on this fat quarter of Kaffe's fabric called Busy Lizzy.  I'm quilting the whole fat quarter with Kantha quilting, and then I'm going to turn it into a pouch - or maybe even two.

Kantha quilting is very relaxing.  You don't need to follow straight lines.  I use a hoop because that's how I quilt and I struggle to do it without a hoop.  It was just easier for me to pop it in a hoop.

I even decided to add a squiggle to mine, so I used a hera marker to mark the squiggle, but will then just stitch along side it with more free form lines.  You can see my marked squiggle very faintly in the photo below.

If you're wondering which needles I use (John James Chenille size 24), which thimble I use (Clover Open Sided), or anything else, you can find details of all my favourite hand quilting accessories at the bottom of this post here. 

I'm still undecided about which zip to use on my pouch.  You're probably thinking that I've got too many options, but I do love zips with round pullers.  They remind me of a ski jacket my mum made for me in about 1978.  I loved that ski jacket with it's white zip with chunky teeth and a round puller.  The pockets even had white zips with round pullers too!

Updated: I bought these zips from Studio Mio in Australia https://studiomio.com.au/zippers/

So that's what I'm up to this week.  Oh, and trying to catch the sunrise because we're having some beauties at the moment.

What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to link up a blog post below.

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Cartwheel progress

I'm very nearly finished my Cartwheel quilt from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Grandeur book, and I love it. I haven't put the binding on yet, but I wanted to get a photo after I finished the hand quilting.

The last stitches going in.

 I started this quilt on a rainy day in August 2018.  I remember it well, because I wasn't going to start anything new, but winter was getting me down, and the bright colours in this quilt looked so appealing. 

Foundation paper piecing the spokes in the cartwheels took a few months, but by November 2018 I was ready to start assembling the blocks. 

Rainbow ricrac is from Spotlight in New Zealand

By March 2019 I had the top together, but I didn't start hand quilting it until July 2019, and then I only did a few blocks before putting it away and moving on to other things.  I didn't like my original idea for the hand quilting, so I left it while I came up with a new plan. 

I quilted in the ditch on the spokes

I pulled this quilt out again a few weeks ago in mid January, and decided it was time to finish it now.  I stuck with it and now it's all quilted, and I just have to put the binding on. 

This quilt will be a lovely soft lap quilt for cold winter evenings because it's got wool batting - my favourite type of batting for hand quilting and warmth in winter. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

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Oh! Christmas Tree

I haven't made any Christmas quilts this year, but I'd like to show you my Oh! Christmas Tree quilt that I made back in 2016.  This quilt is a great example of how you can take your quilting lead from the design in the fabric.  See all those snowflakes in the backgroud? I hand quilted over them with Aurifil 12wt and now they stand out beautifully.

This is a wool felt applique pattern designed by Wendy Williams of Flying Fish Kits.

I loved making this quilt because I got to play with all the brightly coloured felt.

My background fabric contained snowflakes, so I just hand quilted the snowflakes with my favourite Aurifil 12 wt in a soft grey colour.  It was so easy! The snowflakes really stand out because of the hand quilting and the wool batting.  I wanted the texture to be focal point, not the stitches.  However, I did use red Aurifil for the hand quilting around the edges.

If you'd like to know more about how I hand quilt, you can click on the tab at the top of the page, or click here. 

For the wonky stars around the edges I echo quilted each one in the 12 wt grey, and then echo quilted again around the inside of the square with a matching Aurifil 28wt thread.

If you're keen to make this quilt, I recommend that you pop over to Elizabeth Eastman's blog OP Quilt and follow the steps in her quilt along.  Quiltmania did publish the pattern in Simply Moderne, but there were some errors that Elizabeth corrects in her posts.
I provided some of the information and photos in Elizabeth's posts, so I can guarantee the instructions she has provided are correct.

You can read my previous posts on this quilt here.

My quilt is bright and colourful to represent Christmas down under.  I live in New Zealand and it's Summer here and all the plants are flowering.  This is what Christmas looks like in New Zealand and Australia:

Don't you wish you could celebrate Christmas in summer? Or would that just feel wrong?

Merry Christmas.