Summer's Little Hen

**WARNING - PICTURE AVALANCHE AHEAD**

What a strange name for a quilt! It's a direct translation from one of the Welsh names for a butterfly - 'Iar Fach yr Haf' (another name being 'Pili Pala') and as I think it's a cute name for a quilt it's what Cadi's quilt shall be named from now on. Yes I actually got around to writing a proper 'finished!' post for this one.

Last time I wrote properly about Summer's Little Hen I'd gotten as far as starting the quilting but didn't like the way that it was going and decided that me and Mr Seam Ripper were going to spend some time together. It didn't take long, only around twenty minutes as I hadn't gone too far with the straight line quilting. I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and try my hand at some free motion quilting. Now I hadn't done any FMQ before. None.

I had originally planned to practice some FMQing on a quilt for myself made out of thrifted shirts but I didn't have the time, Cadi's been around for around a month now and if I wasn't careful she'd be getting this quilt on her first birthday!

I started on the large square of Madrona Road and tried outlining the flowers.

It went quite well and (for the most part) I managed to keep my stitch length pretty even. I then outlined the central yellow flower and then did a squiggly spiral radiating from that point.

Looking at the pictures now I'm not really happy with this and am very close to getting Mr Seam Ripper out again but this quilt has got it's binding on so I'm going to stop myself.

Then the fun started. I decided to try a loopy design, keeping the quilting quite 'loose' as I didn't want the quilt to get too stiff.

I decided to only quilt the negative space in an attempt to let the butterflies, 'petal squares' and Cadi's Name stand out a little.

It went quite well and I was enjoying myself but I was having trouble moving the quilt around - it felt as if the throat space on my machine was waaaay to small.

But before I knew it half the quilt was done! But then I hit a problem. Quite a big problem...

I ran out of thread so had to leave it there until I could get some more.

Whilst waiting for the opportunity to get some more thread something that had been niggling me really began to bug me. In a big way. Whilst hand sewing I've always had a problem with keeping my stitch length even. You'd think that they'd get steadily longer but no with me the stitches get smaller and smaller and smaller. It looks like this problem has spread to my free motion quilting. If you look at the picture above you can see that as I quilted from left to right my quilting gets denser and denser and denser. I really did want to keep the quilting quite loose but was there were less stitches on the 'loose' side than on the 'dense' side I decided to unpick the loose side. I did it in batches and, in all, I reckon it took me just over three hours! That's a long time. And there was a lot of swearing involved. But overall I'm glad that I did it, I'm a lot happier with the finished article now.

As soon as I'd managed to get some more thread (and I made sure that I got plenty - you can never have enough thread can you?) I set about finishing the quilting. It took me a few hours split into around four sessions over two days. And I took another picture in the middle of the night!

The following night was the last day in June and I had set this quilt as my June finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes' and even though it was already quite late I decided that I should (just about) be able to get the binding on before the linky party deadline. I kept the binding very simple, using the same cream fabric as the quilt top with a scrap of Madrona Road on the corner opposite the large square. And even though Marged (who always sleeps through) decided that it would be fun to join Mam on the sofa for an hour or two I managed to get it finished, take a quick photo on the patio in the beautiful dawn light and write the quickest of posts to add to the linky (with around two hours to spare).

Now in that post I promised a proper 'finished!' post and now, twelve days later. here it is.

I learn't quite a lot whilst making this quilt.

1. Before you fuse fabrics together with an iron, check, check again and check once more that your placing them in the right place! I'm still not happy with the placement of Cadi's name in relation to the large flower and the flower looks upside down. I will not be making this mistake again! (Famous last words)

2. Stand back and judge your quilting as often as possible. The more often you judge, the less stitches you have to unpick!

3. Consider how your binding is going to look on the back of the quilt as well as the front. I love the vintage sheet I used to back this one but it's blue on white and the binding is cream and it really just looks wrong. (If I were to choose the binding again I think I'd have gone for the same fabric that I used for Cadi's Name - but kept the scrap of Madrona road)

4. Buy thread in bulk - you can never have too much thread and running out is just a plain old pain in the arse.

I also learned lots of other little things but most importantly I enjoyed making this little quilt. So much so I took it down to the village park for a little photo shoot!

Peeking out the window

Hanging out in a tree

And another tree

You can't really make out the river in the background in this picture so..

I went back down last night and took another one - don't I live in a beautiful part of the world?

Lounging around

And having a bit of fun with another one of my finished quilts (still unblogged!)

A nod to Mr Murray

And lastly my favourite! On the was home from my mum's last night I passed something that I pass every time I go there and hadn't thought of it as a quilt prop before. Light bulb moment! I put the car in reverse and came up with this.

Isn't it cute? And just so British?

Now I've just got to tackle the rest of this list. I don't see much getting done during the next few days as we've got a wedding to attend tomorrow and a very special little girl is turning five on Monday! (how did that happen?)

I've come back as I've just realised that I forgot to show a picture of the back and I forgot to include the quilt stats!

So the full back -

I love this vintage sheet I just wish that I had more that a few meagre scraps left!

 And a close up of it's full crinkly glory -

Quilt Stats:

Name: Summer's Little Hen
Pieced by: Me
Quilted by: Me on my twelve year old domestic Brother
For: Little baby Cadi Mai
Design: Mine!
Fabric: Madrona Road by Violet Craft for Micheal Miller, Cocoon by Valori Wells for         Westminster/Freespirit and an unknown yellow polka dot from the scrap bin at my lqs
Thread: Coats 100% Cotton in 1212, an old spool of Dorma thread in a pale blue and Coats Moon 100% polyester in white in the bobbin.
Size: 36" x 37" (unwashed)

Linking up to:

This week with MR at Quilt Matters and

With Karen at Quilty Creations As Summer's Little Hen is backed with a vintage sheet (you really should head over there - it's a party for making something useful out of poor neglected fabric/objects - and there's a giveaway!)
and 
Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Loving vintage.

Between the vintage bus

DPB as DH likes to call her

the vintage car

Darling Morris

the vintage crockery

A car boot find

and the vintage fabric

Just the pillowcases from my stash

I think it's pretty safe to say that were a family of vintage lovers!

A couple of weeks ago we went to The Barry Festival of Transport (Honestly, only click if you have a thing for old buses, although there is a nice view of Barry Island). To tell the truth I'm not really that fussed on walking around looking at old buses but I go because my husband drags me along I'm a wonderful, supporting wife. What I do enjoy is that we get to spend time together as a family without trying to sort the laundry etc. at the same time. As a bonus, the time spent on the bus going from A to B and sheltering from the crappy beautiful Welsh weather gives me the perfect opportunity to hand sew bindings onto quilts!

Anyway, during the rally we were given the opportunity to have a ride in some of the other vintage buses. We went in a bus first put on the road in 1979 and WOW they put some effort into the interiors back then! (Please excuse the photos - I only had my mobile on me and was trying to get my four year old off the bus at the same time!)

Beautiful 'Sunny' flower

This beautiful flower motif was repeated all the way down the ceiling (if that's what you call it in a bus) of the bus.

Close up of the background

 Don't you think the background would make the most adorable 'low volume' print?

Why, oh why don't they make things like this any more?

(and yes I did get some very funny looks when I was taking these pictures lol!)

Linking up to Cindy at Live a Colourful Life

On the road again!

Ok, so we're on the way to another vintage fair! This time the mother in law and father in law have come along for the ride and we're meeting my sister in law and niece there - a real family outing. And if that wasn't good enough the fair is in Swansea city centre. Unfortunately I don't think that the rather large fabric store in town will be open on a Sunday and the bus has to be parked up between 10.00am and 4.00pm so I won't be able to go to the nearby lqs or Hobbycraft but Primark had better watch out!

I had the house to myself for a few hours yesterday. DH took the kids to a birthday party and the plan was that I'd get on with some sewing whilst the 'design floor' was clear. (Marged's crawling now so nothing's safe) but ended up folding laundry (it was piled up so high I couldn't get to the sewing machine) and then I decided that the easiest way to find a fabric I wanted from my stash was to have a bit of a sort out. 

I started with good intentions - look, Cadi's quilt is on the design floor!

I actually have a bigger stash than I thought but still nowhere near as big as some people's (that's how I justify new purchases and I'm sticking to it!)

Cocoon, Chashmere - Rubywine by Valori Wells

I found it! I've not had it long but it's exactly what I needed for Cadi's quilt. I also found a yellow polka dot for her name so after the girls had gone to bed (and Dad had gone to work bussing drunk people around until 5.00am!!!!!) I finally got some sewing done! Cadi's quilt top is finished! I even got it basted and started quilting!

I have to stop taking pictures in the middle of the night!

Anywho, Sunday stash! This week-pre loved clothes.

The blue shirt is another of my mum's finds. It's 100% cotton and feels very similar to quilting cotton. I love the print so at 50p I wish there had been more than one!

These are all ladies clothes made of quite thin cotton; totally unsuitable for quilting but I only paid £2 for all four and I really like the prints so I'm sure I'll find some use for them. (I'm guessing something for the girls but we'll see)

Lastly there's this skirt. It's quite heavy cotton a little like ticking.  I've already decided that I'm going to try and make a pair of shorts for Anwen out of it. All I have to do now is find the time to do it!

I did say that I was going to wait until I'd finished posting about my up cycling before sharing this little beauty but I just can't wait! I'm lucky that I work in a small town that has quite a large lqs (compared to the others in the area) and a few doors down from it there's a quilt museum. I'd always meant to go in but between the kids and everything never quite managed it. Anyway a few weeks ago I had to pop into work to finalise the arrangements for my return and as Marged was with my mum and Anwen was in school I thought now would be a good time to pop in. I'm so glad that I did! I was expecting to just find a few antique Welsh quilts on the wall. How wrong was I! They had quilts from all over the world for sale (although most of them weren't to my taste) as well as quilt kits, books and the like.

But what really got my attention were some fabric bins on the floor. I soon got in there and had a good rummage. To tell the truth I was a little disappointed as most of the bundles were of synthetic fabrics or miss shapes of upholstery cloth - not my cup of tea at all.

But wait what's that? 

A flash of green caught my eye. 

Mmmm that's a nice colour. 

Oh and look at the print! 

It feels like a nice cotton.  

How much is it. ....where is that label? 

Ah there it is. 

What?  

How much? 

£45?

You have to be joking! 

Oh, but look,

  

it's Liberty. 

But still. ... £45? 

But there's 4 yards. 

But £45?

But it's gorgeous. 

But it's £45! 

I put it down. 

I picked it up again.

So what do I do? I definitely couldn't buy it then as I only had £5 in my wallet (due to a trip to the aforementioned lqs(I was goodish - batting, thread and a few £1 scraps stash builders)) and I don't carry cards any more. But I wanted it really bad..... So I asked them if they would keep it for me. I wouldn't be back in town until my first day back in work - Monday the 3rd. "No Problem" they said. I was quite glad that I didn't have the money on me; I have some purchases in my stash that I regret buying and they're only FQs! So I took a photo with my mobile and walked out. (I did have a quick stroke first though). So I had just over a week to mull it over. I ummed and I ahhed. I did some maths (4yards for £45 works out at around £13/m - a lot less than the £22/m Liberty usually goes for)

O God! Who am I trying to kid! I'm buying the fabric. So lunchtime on the 3rd I toddle over to the shop and.....they're closed.

Closed.

and I can't go back for at least a week.

They'll put it back in the bins. With that horrible synthetic fabric. Poor Liberty. What if someone else buys it? But it's my Liberty :( I went through a whole week of this. I couldn't go back until last Tuesday. I did a quick check of the bins. It wasn't there. Was this a good thing (it hadn't been put back in the bins) or a bad thing (it had been put back in the bins and someone had bought it). The lady behind the counter took an extraordinarily long time looking for it but in the end there it was - still with my name on it!!!!!!!

So here it is, all four yards of it

I'm thinking quilt back. and I can't use Liberty for the back without using Liberty for the front can I? So I plan on buying scraps of Liberty when and where I can. Hopefully in about a year I'll have enough to make a start. In the meantime this little lovely has gone to live in my stash but it does come out from time to time just for a quick gaze and stroke.

Linking up to Sunday Stash this week with Allison at Dreaming in Patchwork.

Sunday Stash - an on the road edition

So after my first five days back in work you'd think that I'd be glad to have some time at home. No such luck! I spent the day yesterday helping my brother with the shearing for the first time. It was wonderful. You might hear more about it in a future post but needless to say I'm very stiff today! So maybe travelling on a vintage bus with two small children for two and a half hours (one way) isn't the best way to relax my muscles but here I am a glutton for punishment.

Knowing that I have an ant infestation to deal with when I get home I don't think I'll get the chance to get to my laptop before I collapse on my bed tonight so I'm going to try and write my Sunday Stash post on my phone! (I did write quite a bit on my phone but I managed to get to my laptop in the end so I've added some more photos before clicking publish!) How I'm going to manage it considering my pics are on the laptop I don't know but I'll give it a shot!

So last week I said that I would show my car boot bargains in more detail.

This week I'm going to concentrate on the vintage sheets and duvet covers.

I regret buying the  green duvet cover on the top a little. I love the colour and the feel of the fabric but I can't say that I'm head over heels with the pattern. At £4.50 it was a bit steep for something that I might end up not using but it might be handy to back a quilt that I feel a bit 'whatever' about.

Really bad photo. Unfortunately the sun had gone down by the time I got around to snapping this one,

The spotty fabric under the green one is a single duvet cover that came complete with with a stripy fitted sheet. OK, so they're not vintage, more like hardly used, nearly new. It's from Ikea and 100% cotton. The colours are really vibrant and haven't faded at all. Ideal for  backing a kid's quilt. Not bad for a pound!

So Bright!

Under the stripy sheet there's a blue flannel cot sheet that I really do regret buying. It was in a plastic wrapping and when I got it home I realised that it was very worn and bobbly. The only use that I can think for it is as a thin batting for a lightweight blanket style quilt.  Totally not worth the £1.20 I paid for it! (am I starting to sound like a tightwad? ) Oh well, live and learn!

What a waste :-(

And I've saved the best for last!!!! Both are blue and white and I can't decide on my favourite.

A penny to scale

Good old mum (oh god if she saw that - not so old mum!) found this one for me and I LOVE it! It's a handmade duvet cover, around 50" x 75" so I'd say double size? It has the beautiful print on one side and the print below on the other. I'm not so fussed on this side and it seems to be a lot more worn that the side with the larger print so I'll most probably just use it to practice my fmq on. Still not bad for 50p (which I may have to give my mum for it one day!)

So that just leaves one! I found this the day after my mum's find above but this time it's a white flower on a blue background.

I really should have ironed these before taking the pics but I was running out of daylight.

A little more subtle than the last but still very pretty. At 90" x 100" it's a very generous flat sheet that I should be able to use to back two baby quilts and at 50p I challenge you to find a cheaper quilt back!

So that's my first detailed instalment of my up cycled stash and it's already given me a problem I'd like your help with. (apologies if your one of the eight people that actually read my last post but I only got one comment so I'm asking again!)

I don't know which one to use to back this little baby quilt that I've got in progress.

Cadi's quilt WIP

I'm going to appliqué on some little pink and purple butterflies and quilt using a combination of yellow, blue and pink thread. Which backing do you think I should go for?

A close up to show the colours a little better.

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated although I have no idea when I'll have the top ready and therefore be ready for the back!

Linking up to Sunday Stash at Findig Fifth