Mitered corners

Mitered corners - they look so good, but they're not always easy.  

My first mitered corners were on my la Passacaglia quilt above, and they worked out well. 

My second attempt was on my Fireworks quilt (Ballet with Kaffe), and although the pattern didn't match perfectly, it wasn't too noticeable because the border is mainly black.

I also used mitered corners on my Trans-Tasman Bubble quilt (Aussies and Kiwis - remember the Trans-Tasman Bubble??). 

The navy and white striped border needed to be mitered in the corners to allow the pattern to flow. 

Now I'm ready to attach the borders to the Raindrops are Falling on my Head quilt, but the fabric isn't meeting nicely in the corners. 

The length of the sides doesn't match the pattern repeat on the fabric.  So I can either leave it as it is (top left corner), or insert cornerstones to avoid the issue.  

The three fabrics in the corners above are just me narrowing down my options.  I think if I do go for cornerstones, it will be the Kaffe spot in the bottom right corner above.  Of course I didn't have enough of it, so I went and bought more this morning, just in case I do decide to use it.  

I think I'll just walk around this quilt all weekend while I decide what I want to do.  Feel free to leave a comment below if you have a suggestion. 

(Gayle from Hamilton asked the other week where I got a grey spotted fabric from.  I'm sorry to say I bought the last piece of it, but send me an email because I might be able to spare some.  I bought a whole metre.  I can't reply to your comment because you're a No Reply Blogger.)

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

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Hello from Queenstown

Hello there! 

Last weekend I went to Queenstown with my husband.  We had a lovely weekend away.  It was cold, but it was also very calm.  We're used to a bit of wind in Wellington, so it was amazing to see reflections on Lake Hayes every day that we were there. Here's just one of many photos I took of Lake Hayes. 

We also went to Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu.  When we were growing up in Otago and Southland, the road to Glenorchy was not much more than a dirt track, so our families didn't go there. Glenorchy is famous for their sandflies, but they're non-existent in winter.  

I took my hand piecing with me, but I didn't get much sewing done at all.  I was too busy watching jet boats on the lake and the planes coming in to the airport. 

Last weekend when we were there was the middle weekend of the July school holidays.  There were a lot more people in Queenstown than when we went last year in September.  It was good to see the restaurants busy and the town buzzing with skiiers and holiday makers.  

Unfortunately the trans-Tasman bubble is "paused" due to COVID outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne, so there were hardly any Aussies in Queenstown, and our borders are firmly closed to non New Zealanders. At least those of us stuck in NZ can enjoy beautiful spots like this, even if we can't leave the country.  

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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Guy Fawkes Night

Last week was Halloween, this week it's Guy Fawkes.  

Guy Fawkes was a much bigger deal than Halloween in New Zealand when I was growing up.  Most families bought their own fireworks and let off some sky rockets, Catherine wheels, flower pots, and double happys in the back yard.  Sparklers were just for little kids!

Then sales of fireworks to the public became restricted, and city councils started putting on large displays at public venues.  In Wellington they used to put a barge in the harbour and let off massive fireworks for about 15 minutes.  However, because it's Spring here, and the days are getting longer, we had to wait until 9.15pm for it to get really dark before the show could start.  

Sadly it looks like it's going to rain tonight so there won't be many fireworks going off.  

My Ballet with Kaffe quilt from Millefiori Quilts 2 reminds me of fireworks and Guy Fawkes night.  The rosettes look like those giant exploding fireworks you see at major events.  You can read more about how I made this quilt on the tab at the top of the page, or by clicking here.  

I'm getting ready to start hand quilting this quilt soon.  It's been basted for months, but I've been working on other things.  Hopefully it will get an outing in 2021, so I better start hand quilting before Christmas. 

If you're a Kiwi, remember that pre-registration for Symposium 2022 opens tomorrow, Saturday 7 November at 9am.  Pre-registration is important because class allocations are based on pre-registration numbers.  The lower your number, the higher your priority in the class allocations.  Check out www.quiltsymposium2022.co.nz for all the details. 

  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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Cobweb Quilt update

Since our exhibition I've been busy working on some WIPs (plus making a very small new start that I'll talk about next time).

I started this quilt in a class at Nancy's Stitch Studio in April 2017, and I last posted about it back in March 2018.  You can read that previous post here because I'm not going to repeat where to get the pattern from etc.

Last week I finally sewed all the foundation paper pieced sections together.  Months ago I laid them all out in my hall way, then went upstairs and took a photo of the layout.  I bagged them up in rows so I wouldn't join the wrong sections together.

My new kitchen bench works so well as a quilting table!

Unfortunately now I've got the massive job of removing all the papers.  Many people on Instagram have told me that I should have removed the papers before I sewed it together, but the pattern designer (Chris Kenna) is a very experienced quilter and quilt judge, and she said we should leave them in.

Having the papers in certainly helped with aligning the sections when I joined the rows together.  There would have been a lot of stretch otherwise.

Anyway, I've been removing papers every day this week, and I'm half way done now.  I guess I might be finished by next weekend.

As for quilting - yes, I'm going to hand quilt it.  I'll work out how when it's basted.

Anyway, I'm in love with my Cobweb quilt and can't wait for the weekend.

Cobweb Quilt / Millefiori

About a month ago I dug out my Cobweb Quilt that I'd started in a class with Chris Kenna on 1 April 2017 - almost exactly a year ago. This pattern is by Chris Kenna and I've included details of how to get a copy further down this post.

Chris Kenna's Copbweb quilt hanging up

I'd made quite a few cobwebs at our guild's retreat in July 2017, but I really hadn't touched it since.

So I decided to sew a few more cobwebs while I took a break between other WIPs.

You're possibly thinking that these fabrics are quite different to my usual colour palette - well, you're correct.  I'm deliberately trying to use different colours and values, so my quilts don't all end up looking too much alike.  I like variety and I want to try out lots of different types fabrics (possibly with the exception of French General - but never say never!).

I like to sort my pieces and cut them to the required lengths before I start sewing.

I got on a roll and I've spent the last four weeks working on this quilt every day.  I've now finished all of the segments for the quilt. The cobwebs AND the stars.  Yay!!

Now I'll be able to assemble it at our next guild retreat in July 2018.  This quilt isn't easy or quick - it's very labour intensive because every single piece is foundation paper pieced.  There's a huge amount of cutting, pressing and sewing involved, but it's the variety of fabrics that makes it look so good. I developed a system of piecing a number of blocks at the same time, to avoid jumping up and down to the cutting board and iron too frequently.
 

Many people have asked me about this pattern.  The best way to get this exact pattern is to email Minerva Book Shop in Wellington, New Zealand. orders@minerva.co.nz They can post you a copy (anywhere in the world), and will be sure to include the correction to the template published in the magazine. If you've got an old copy of the magazine at home, be sure to email or phone the shop and ask for the corrected template before you start sewing.  Otherwise your star points won't meet nicely.

However, there are a number of similar patterns available - just google "cobweb quilt pattern". Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke have good ones in their book Material Obsession Two.  (Pop Stars and Maple Leaf Rag - page 116.)

Tips for joining Foundation Paper Pieced sections.
1.  It's important to get the seams meeting up nicely when you join the pieces.  I very carefully put pins straight through the two pieces to be joined, making sure that the seams match up.

2.  As I'm ready to sew each piece I replace the pins with Clover Clips - flat side down.  Clover Clips hold the pieces more firmly than regular pins which tend to distort the pieces as you remove them
.

3.  I use my walking foot to sew the pieces together - it's so much easier!!

4.  I lower the stitch length to 1.70 for all foundation paper piecing.  This makes it much easier to remove the paper later because the holes are punched closer together.

5.  Although the pattern in the magazine says to trim the seam allowance off the papers before you start, Chris told us in the class to leave it on.  I prefer to leave it on myself.

6.  When you do come to join up your blocks, Chris told us that the points will sit as shown in this photo of her quilt.  The slight indentation is unnoticeable in the finished quilt.

"How will I quilt it?" I hear you asking? Well, one thing is for certain, I won't be quilting it on my domestic machine.  Therefore I'll either get it quilted by a long armer, or hand quilt it.  I'm still thinking about that.