Using up fabric - part three

Back in April and January I showed you some quilt tops that I had put together. I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the finished quilts.

Actually this one isn't finished but it is an ongoing one that travels with me. The hexagons are sewn into rows of ten and then ten rows make a block. Four of these are joined together and then quilted by hand with perle no 12 thread. I am using a 'quilt-as-you-go' method to join these up to make a full size quilt.

The following two quilts are hand pieced and hand quilted.

(Note the 70's fabric)

These next four quilts are using small printed panels to which I have added borders and sashing. All are machine pieced and hand quilted.

This was one of the quilts made from the nine fat quarters ...

... and here is one made up from the left over fabrics from another set of fat quarters

I once bought several metres of 'clown' fabric from Laura Ashley - it's still going

Here are two more made from recycled fabrics

As I'm shortly about to start my travels again it may be some time before you see any more completed quilts.

Ready for the off ...

We are just about ready to leave for our trip to Northern Europe. The route is planned (ish) and will take in many centres famous for their Textiles.

The van has been serviced and cleaned, is full of food, clothing etc. The only problem is what textile work shall I take with me. I could take my book inspired by Francis Pickering (see last blog) to complete and even make more, recording my travels.

Whenever I travel by plane, train or coach I take small hexagons (4cm across) to make patchwork.

I start by tracing round a plastic template and roughly cutting the hexagons out, mainly from recycled fabrics but also small pieces left over from making something else. This is completed before I travel and stored with needle, thread and thread cutter in a zipped washbag. Whilst travelling I fold over the raw edges of each hexagon and tack them down. I then sew ten together in a row. I would then sew ten rows together. In this way the work never gets too large to travel with. These blocks of hexagons can then be sewn together into whatever size you want. So far I have made two king size throws and almost have enough for a double one.

Something else I work on periodically is crochet. I have made all sorts of things: blankets, toys, hats, slippers, baby clothes, etc. After a trip to Sheffield with my daughter recently we discovered lovely crochet hooks with flat bamboo handles. These are really fun to use and so I started making small 'granny' squares.

I have about fifty so far but as they're only 6cm square I will need quite a few more.

I could of course take something that is put together but still needs quilting. The flowers and leaves are appliqued, with the designs being taken from the printed fabric. I plan to quilt similar shapes onto the plain triangles.

Of course it goes without saying that I have to take my sketchbooks, pens, paints, etc. Perhaps I don't need so many clothes ...

What to do with fabric scraps ...

You know when you work on a project you keep all the scraps and as you use them up the scraps get smaller but you never seem to have any less ...

I thought I would share some of the ways that I 'use up' my scraps.

I use a lot of strips in my work. Here are some stuck down with bondaweb onto cotton fabric and machined in place.

As you can see, a mainly pink theme, using dyed and overdyed fabrics. Additional net, ribbon etc are added.

A blue theme.

If you look carefully at this green one you can see I have started to add hand stitching - lazy daisy and herringbone

Here are some of the lovely thread colours I will be using - I obviously have too much time on my hands as you can see the threads are all beautifully wound onto card holders.

This pink piece has been stitched and is not made from strips. Instead this uses the fabric swatches that you can get from mail order companies.

Here are some things that I then make:

A kindle case

A diary cover

Needlecases

When you have created these new fabrics and made your lovely objects, as you trim them you seem to create more scraps but this time much smaller. Here is what I do with these:

The small pieces have been stuck onto pelmet vilene - they are about 5cm (2 inches) in length.

These are then embellished, backed with felt and a brooch pin added

This is my small box containing the small bits of fabric, threads and, if you look carefully, some finished badges.