Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Bloomsbury Gardens ~ A Liberty Lifestyle Collection

The Liberty Lifestyle collection is a new range of standard quilting (and crafting) cotton by Liberty of London. The first collection  ~ Bloomsbury Gardens ~ consists of five different color palettes and eleven prints.  A total of 55 prints (not all pictured here).
Bloomsbury Gardens is an eclectic mix of prints and colors inspired by the historic district of London, an area well known for it's beautiful garden squares and historic architecture.


Bloomsbury Gardens is scheduled to arrive in stores in August.  (Watch this space for updates)

I have already cut into my stash.  It's lovely to work with!

More soon,
Rita

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sunday Stash #150

First up, a little Spoonflower stashing!  Spoonflower is a custom fabric printing service, which allows you to upload your own textile designs, printing only what you need on fabric weight of your choice.  You can also purchase fabrics designed by other Spoonflower community members.


These three designs are by Kajsa Wikman, digitally printed by Spoonflower on Robert Kaufman Kona cotton.  I adore these prints!  See all of Kajsa designs here:  Spoonflower:  Syko
 

Next, some hand screen printed fabrics by Karen from Blueberry Park:


Karen is a self taught designer and hand screen printer of fabric.  I adore Karen's simple and geometric designs!  All designs are printed on beautiful quality linen with water based paint and heat set to make it washable.

See more of Karen's fabric designs and handmade products here:  Blueberry Park @ Etsy

I am always on the look out for these special prints; a unique - and highlight - fabric to feature in a quilt and at the same time support emerging businesses and designers with fresh and modern ideas.

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Butterfly Block Tutorial

By popular demand, and because after much messing about I eventually worked out my own rotary cutting and piecing instructions,  I have written a tutorial for a Butterfly Block.

You will need:
Rotary Cutter and Mat
Ruler
60 Degree Triangle Ruler
Sewing Machine and ¼ inch presser foot
Iron (lots of steam preferred)

Fabric requirements for each block:

  • 2 Butterfly Wings (green printed fabric) each measuring 2 1/8 inches x 5 inches
  • 1 Butterfly Body (text fabric) - measuring 1 ¼ inches x 5 inches
  • 4 Background pieces (black fabric) cut as follows:


From the width of the background (black fabric) cut a strip - or multiple strips - 2 ¾ inches (2.75 inches) wide. With the 60 degree triangle ruler, and alternating with a standard straight ruler, cross-cut the strip as pictured at regular intervals.  Precision is not so important, although keep the angle correct.  I used 2 yards of Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Pepper for my Butterfly Quilt, more than I had first anticipated.


Let's get started:

Place the 60 degree Triangle Ruler so the bottom left and bottom right hand corners of the Butterfly Wing fabric are exactly on the outer edge of the triangle ruler (as pictured above). I have placed some tape on the down-side of my ruler to assist with quick placement; the top edge of the tape abuts the bottom edge of the fabric.


Trim with rotary cutter.


Using a ¼ inch seam allowance sew the background fabric to the Butterfly Wings


Press seams:


Trim these units as follows:


Place a standard ruler along the outer edge of the Butterfly Wing as pictured.  (Please bear with me here as I am left-handed, and use a left handed ruler - the numbers on your ruler probably run from right to left).  This unit needs to be trimmed to just 4 ½ inches wide; accurate piecing will result in 1/8th inch of background (black fabric) on BOTH SIDES of the outer edge of the Butterfly Wing unit):


Trim the side and top edge with rotary cutter:


Turn the Butterly Wing unit around and align the outer right edge (or the left if you are using a right handed ruler) of the unit at the 4 ½ inch mark of the ruler, and the bottom edge of the Butterfly Wing unit at the 2 1/8 inch line of the ruler (as pictured below):


Once you've pieced a few Butterfly Wings you will begin notice the consistent stop and start points of the background fabric:  see the top edge of the ruler at 1 3/8 inches and 3 1/8 inches, as indicated by the red arrows (above).


Using a scant ¼ inch seam allowance sew the body of the Butterfly (the text fabric) first to one wing.  Trim excess body fabric.  Then sew the body to the opposite wing.  Press seams together towards the body, away from the wings.


The butterfly Block measures 4 ½ inches x 4 ½ inches.  If you find that your block is on the small side, be sure to cut a little more generous (particularly the Butterfly Wings - cut a slightly generous 2 1/8 inch wide).


Repeat times 180!

Any questions?  Please leave your questions in the comments section and I will reply there as others may also benefit from further clarification.

Happy Stitching!
Rita

Relevant Links:
The Finished Butterfly Quilt
The Butterfly Quilt in Progress 
Text/Word fabrics ~ details and sources
Another variation of the Butterfly Block - larger block size (please do check it out as your might find this variation works better for you)   Tutorial by Mrs Schmenkman Quilts

60 degree Triangle Ruler available from:
The Fat Quarter Shop 
Fort Worth Fabric Studios

Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Pepper available from:
The Fat Quarter Shop

Pin It!

Monday, July 23, 2012

A Butterfly Quilt

Get ready for an overload of pictures!
Butterfly Quilt
Measures 48.5 inches x 60.5 inches (or 1.23m x 1.54m)
180 Butterfly Blocks pieced together and quilted, but not without frustration.  The seam intersections are bulky but no more so than expected when sewing together patchwork blocks.  My fancy sewing machine was not impressed and once again the Juki - straight stitch only - machine came to the rescue.


I also agonized over the quilting.  With so many different contrasting fabrics, quite a lot of it black and some of it light/white, I couldn't decided on what color thread that I would be happy to see on the quilt.  I am not much of a fan of dark quilting lines on a light fabric, and vice versa.


And so, I decided to ditch-stitch the quilt.  All of the seam lines surrounding each Butterfly Block have been ditch stitched.  It was slow going but not difficult. (All of the images in this blog post are of the finished quilt).  Quilting detail wasn't necessary for this already interesting and busy quilt. I am really happy with the result.  The quilt is not heavily quilted and the look of the quilt has been preserved. 


For the back of the quilt I have used a Flea Market Fancy print - Dotted Leaf in Gray.  A favorite!


A traditional RPQ binding:

I've got a lot of pictures, please bear with me ...


This quilt is for sale!  Paypal only (major credit cards accepted) - use drop-down menu below to choose correct shipping destination.  Please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions:  EMAIL  redpepperquilts@gmail.com
 SOLD


Thank you for stopping by!
Rita

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sunday Stash #149 ~ DS Quilts: Quilter's Quarters

Quilter's Quarters - A DS Quilts Collection by Denyse Schmidt

Four different 1 yard panels each with four different coordinating prints.  
 Sixteen fat quarters in total.

I have a clear favorite ~ love the blues and greys:
DS Quilts collections are available from Joann Stores in the USA and Spotlight in Australia (although I haven't yet been able to confirm an arrival date of Quilter's Quarters at Spotlight).  I purchased my stash @ Etsy.

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Butterfly Quilt ~ Progress Report

180 Butterfly Blocks


Admittedly, it was a whole lot more fabric-play, cutting, sewing and pressing than I had anticipated.  A lengthy process but so worthwhile ... cut, cut, cut, sew, sew, sew, repeat, repeat x 180 


I don't mind the repetitive nature of this kind of patchwork piecing, working in batches, selecting and cutting fabric, and then chain piecing 30+ Butterfly blocks at time.  I can be quite a productive and content process worker, especially in wee small hours of the morning.


Fabrics used:
  • 160+ different printed background fabrics from stash and scrap bin
  • a handful of text and number fabrics (see Sunday Stash #148)
  • Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Pepper  (2 yards)

More pictures soon.

Rita

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Sunday Stash #148

Oh my wordy!
 
Timeless Treasures
Keep Calm in Multi and Black

Another obsession.  Text prints.  I have quite an obsession with text prints: numbers, letters, words, newspaper prints (see also Sunday Stash #87), and it helps to stash them rather than search for them when you need them as they are not always that easy to find.  Another good excuse reason to collect fabric.  It's a collection, right?
Timeless Treasures   
How to Make A Pillowcase
How to Iron a Shirt

Timeless Treasures prints available here:
Pink Castle Fabrics: (How to Iron a Shirt)

And some of the text/wordy fabrics that I have been using (and collecting some time) for my Butterfly blocks (left to right):
  • Newspaper Print by Suzuko Koseki for Yuwa (made in Japan)
  • Headliner - In the Doghouse - by Blank Quilting
  • Artist Sketch Words by Kumiko Fujita for Yuwa
  • Text Print by Kumiko Fujita
Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

Friday, July 13, 2012

Butterflies ~ A Kumiko Fujita Quilt

A new project, one that has been on my ever growing Must make this quilt one day! list for a while;  long enough to have found a copy of the book in which the quilt is featured and page through endlessly:

Japanese Craft Book ISBN4-579-11039-0
Kumiko Fujita Quilts from Quilter's Studio

Kumiko's work, fabric and books are devoured by many patchworkers and quilters.  My mind has been preoccupied with this "Butterfly" quilt (as featured on the back cover of the book); collecting Japanese fabrics and text prints over time.

The one thing holding me back was the fact that my book is written entirely in Japanese.   Determined to conquer this Butterfly Block I photocopied the draft pattern of the finished block from the book (no templates provided) and started paper piecing each unit.  Paper piecing is accurate, but fiddly and time consuming (and messy!).



Once I had paper pieced a few blocks, I deconstructed the pieces and was able to figure out a simple rotary cutting and machine piecing method.  Quicker and just as accurate.


Many more blocks are yet to be made, but whilst I am enjoying choosing each fabric, and watching the quilt grow I will continue to happily plod along.


More soon.


Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Butterfly Block Tutorial
A Butterfly Quilt - The Finished Quilt