Bucket List of Sewing (related) Projects continued - Sleepy Hollow Quilt

Sleepy Hollow - Mandalay Entertainment - 2000

Sleepy Hollow Quilt - a movie based quilting project

On with the bucket list exploration. Now here is a very beautiful quilt. The quilt features in the Tim Burton movie Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci from 2000 by Mandalay Entertainment. At some point the frightened Ichabod Crane comes to his senses lying beneath and later on top of a beautiful quilt, that has been subject to discussion on many a blog post already. Some quilters have even tried their hand at making their own versions already. 

Sleepy Hollow - Mandalay Entertainment - 2000

Note how the rows of triangles are stacked on top of each other. Furthermore, it seems as if the quilt has not been bound with any sort of bias tape as you can see below. It rather looks as if the edges were tucked in on all sides and sewn closed. I would be curious to know what the quilt backing of the movie quilt looks like. You only get a glimpse in the movie.

Sleepy Hollow - Mandalay Entertainment - 2000

I have already lined up some cotton prints as well as some un-bleached linen I plan to use for this project.

The colour range is way off what I would usually go for – me being a candy and jewelled colours kind of girl and all – but I want to retain the antique look. Modern prints will not cut the mustard here.

As you can see my version would veer somewhat towards purple. It is a bit hard to see in this picture but the white print with the purple flowers in the upper right corner might not quite work with the cream or egg shell coloured linen.

As I am in no hurry, I will have time to build the pallet.

This project falls into the definitely achievable category… once the list is cleared of a few other projects that is.
=)

Simple Framed Squares Patchwork Quilt - Indian Summer

Let me share with you the first bed sized patchwork quilt I made, which was a simple squares-within-squares separated by white borders affair. It is called 'Indian Summer'. 

For this patchwork quilt that is now living on my sister’s living room couch, I went for warm autumn colours and bright contrasts. You will spy some Joel Dewberry and some Kaffe Fassett fabrics and many Polka Dots making up the simple framed squares.

At the project planning stages I had initially included a green fabric in the colourway. It seemed to work well. But once I had laid out the fabric pieces for assembling the effect was downright noxious. That left me mid – project with not having enough fabric for the quilt. The offending green was abandoned and off to the fabric shop I went.

Unfortunately, the pictures, taken during the crafting process and of the finished project leave much to be desired. That is the case for many of my early projects, partially because documenting the process was not at the forefront of my mind then and partially because I do not yet own proper camera.

As far as labeling is concerned, I embroidered my sister’s name into the backing fabric. The first few quilts I made went without any sort of proper labelling. I usually embroidered the recipients name and sometimes the year of completion into backing fabric and left it at that.

Recently, I have started to look into labelling properly. The idea of enabling some sort of identification and recording of the quilt related details like its name, the name of the recipient, maker and sometimes the occasion of gifting appeals to me. I have not made up my mind yet which is my favourite labelling technique but am looking forward to trying different things. The last two labels I made were painstakingly embroidered. That means something for someone as inherently impatient as me. One label has already found its home on my Late in Summer Quilt and the other one lays in waiting to be used for a future quilt I have in mind for a friend of mine.

What do you label? Quilts only or each and every of your sewing projects?

That green fabric still has to find a home by the way. It is lovely in itself but somehow refuses to gel with much else. I might just pair it with Black and White at some point and be done with it.

A Collection of Patchwork Pillowcases

Patchwork Pillowcases. Looking back, I have made quite a few of them by now, for they make such lovely presents. And whats more, they are quick to make and therefore fun fast projects. In the past I have hardly managed to snap a picture of the finished product, let alone the creative process, before wrapping them up and giving them away.

Flower Applique Pillowcase

I made this pillowcase with the flower applique for my friend Hannah as you will have already guessed. The stripes on the left hand side are actually one flowery woven  and one green velvety ribbon that I machine applied to the background fabric.























I just love the green little woven ribbon to the left with its purple and blue flowers.


























And a close-up of the machine applied flower petals. With hindsight I would say, something was definitely amiss with the thread tension.

Modern Log Cabin Pillowcase

And this beauty even made it all around the world to Sydney, Australia.

The pretty modern log cabin block was made from scraps. I just love the fussy cut flower at the centre.

Yes, I know, the eagle eyed among you will have spied that the background fabric - 'Grunge' in Mint by Basicgrey, which I love by the way - has NOT been ironed prior to sewing. 

I am entirely self-taught and it has not occured to me until recently, when I watched some online classes on Craftsy, that it might in fact be beneficial to do so. 

Lessons to take away for the future?

1. Ought to improve on documenting the crafting process around future sewing projects.

2. Should remember to iron fabrics prior to using them.

Fair enough, I promise to try. 

Up the Ante #1 - Sampler Quilt Project

On learning new techniques and up-skilling

As it is as good a time as any to take a little time to learn new techniques, I might just as well make a start now. A while back, I had mentioned to my friend Conny that I was interested in learning how to foundation paper piece and - Voilà - received a Craftsy class on the very theme last Christmas. As I was tight up with various other sewing projects it took me until July this year to finally have a proper look at the class and other Craftsy classes beside.

Very motivated to find out how foundation paper piecing works, I set out to make the first class project, which was real fun. But following from that first finished block the question arose what to do with it and the ones that would follow?

I was not too keen on the general idea of a Sampler Quilt. They are generally just not my cup of tea. The decision on how to proceed, hinged on the question what I would want to do with the finished blocks though. Not wanting to continue without a definite plan I kind of got a little stuck.

Finally, I came across Rachel Hauser's blog Stitched in Color. Rachel created this stunning Penny Sampler Quilt, on which she taught a class on quilting techniques in 2013. I was instantly fascinated. It manages not to look like a typical sampler quilt but more like a storybook gone wild.

Stitched in Color - Penny Sampler Quilt

What I really like about her design is the loose placement of blocks and the broken borders, that somehow manage to be engaging but not too crowded. Having decided on the Penny Sampler as my guiding principle and source of inspiration, the project is finally starting to fall into place.

Project planning:

Fabric wise I will try to use most of my green and blue scraps combined with low volume fabrics. As you can see there is plenty to keep me going =)

I also intend to keep a tally on the overall number of fabrics used in this project.

The blocks I will be making will inevitably be of various sizes as I am drawing on a number of different Craftsy classes and other resources to up my skills. I will just wait how they turn out and worry about placement and trimming once I have a fair number of blocks completed.

New techniques to master in the process:

- Foundation Paper Piecing

- some new Chain Piecing Techniques

- Sewing Drunkard's Path Style Curves

By the way - how can the Summer be over already? *sigh*

Snowball Block Quilt - Late in Summer

Hi there, I wanted to take a moment to share a completed snowball block quilt with you. It is the first quilt I made for myself rather than gifting it to friends and their kids.

It is a very basic design of snowball blocks alternating with simple fabric squares. I had fallen in love with the Bloomsbury Gardens Quilt by Rita from Red Pepper Quilts and decided to make a bed sized version for myself.

Colour wise, I wanted something reminiscent of late hot summer days near greenish dark ponds, overhung with willows and whispering reeds full of whirring dragonflies, where the willows swallow up the wind and time seems slow as molasses. Therefore, I settled for olive greens and summer sky blues with a bit grey and gold sprinkled in between. 

The decision to add some fabrics of Joel Dewberry’s 'Modern Meadow' collection came somewhat later because I felt the quilt needed some graphic elements. It felt too tone-in-tone and somehow lacking in tension. While the 'Modern Meadow' fabrics did not exactly match my colour scheme, they enhanced the quilt a lot by adding texture. I did agonize over the question whether or not to include the red bits but now I am glad I did. 

It fascinates me to look at the back of completed quilt tops.

I used an olive green embroidery floss to big - stich around the inner border once.

For the backing I choose a lovely soft fabric called 'Mind the Moose' by Soft Cactus.

I very much like my LATE IN SUMMER snowball block quilt and look forward to it adorning my bedroom for years to come.

=)

Tessellation Style Pillowcase #1

I was invited to my friend Jana's birthday on Sunday and was still short of a present by Saturday. Thus, I decided to whisk up a pillowcase on the sewing machine. I thought I might use the Tessallation design by Alison Glass and Nydia Kehnle, which I like for its liveliness. There are quite a few beautiful examples of the quilt you can view online, some of which were results of a Sara Lawson Sew Sweetness Sew Along hosted in 2014. The design practically begs you to break into your collection of scraps and show them off to their best effect. 

I pulled out the Pinks, Oranges and Yellows and got busy. As I foundation paper pieced away, I fairly soon realized that due to the design this pillowcase would take longer then other ones I had created in the past and that I would not be able to finish the pillowcase in time to make it a present.  

So I decided not to stress about it but to take my time and to enjoy the creation process. All the blocks are nearly finished now. That brings me right up to the next challenge of staging the blocks in way that allows them to shine, yet tones down the business enough to allow the eye some rest. I have already pulled out a few fabric options to play with once time permits. 

(What about the present you want to know? Jana who has just purchased a house much in need of loving renovation and decoration with her husband is on the lookout for individual pieces and appliances for the future dream home. So I presented her with a flea market find of gorgeous wood and brass door handles that hit the spot I'm pleased to report and that went straight onto a newly varnished door the same day =)