fabric fabric

hand painted fabric, a photo by Quilt Routes on Flickr.

One from the archives today.

fabric friday

Stamping, a photo by Quilt Routes on Flickr.

Stamping

Beach Huts Tutorial Part 2

I think the photos speak for themselves at this stage. Using a fusible of your choice cut out the pieces of the Beach Huts and fuse to the back of your chosen fabrics. You can download a pattern template here.    PLEASE BE BEAR WITH ME WHILE I FIND AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO DISTRIBUTE FREE PATTERNS AFTER CRAFTSY VERY SUDDENLY DELETED MOST OF THE PATTERN SHOPS THEY WERE HOSTING.

A lot of stitching has gone into this piece and so keep everything smooth I like to stitch the details onto appliques before attaching them to the quilt. Fuse them onto a stabilizer as shown below.

I also like to get all the lines stitched onto the background before adding the huts as this saves having to twist and turn around the added pieces. I use mono filament thread for this.

I have added some birds with fabric pen.

Now I add the huts and straight stitch them into place. They are stiff enough for this to be done easily. Just add a few pins to keep them in place.

Here is the finished piecing using an envelope facing. Below is the original one which was pieced with an added border and appliqued first before adding minimal quilting and a traditional binding pieced from left over pieces.

I added 5 huts to this one and let them sit over onto the border for variety.

There we are. I hope you have a go and if you make one I would love to see it.

Beach Huts Mini Art Quilt Tutorial

Need some sunshine in your life?
How about making this Beach Hut mini art quilt.

This tutorial will show you how to do a diagonally pieced sky using two different fabrics and looks at some different stitching options. It is not a definitive lesson on what you must do to create this quilt but rather something that will help you set you off and give you different options to follow.

Requirement

                           

Naturally I have used had painted fabric, but any fabric can be used.
I am not going to give sizes. Make it any size you wish.
The only thing to remember is that you need  two pieces of sky fabric exactly the same size.
Also
one strip of sea fabric
one strip of sand fabric
a selection of scraps for the beach huts

Piecing the background

Right sides of fabric both facing up, place them one on top of the other.

Using a ruler and rotary cutter, slice diagonally through the two layers of fabric.

Move your cuts out from the inner corner to the outer corner in increments just remembering to make them wide enough to allow for the seam allowances which will come later.

Now alternate the pieces of fabric like shown.

                           

When stitched together it will look like this.

But can then be trimmed to look like this.

                           

Those observant among you will notice that this one is the sister of the previous one as you get two for the price of one with this method.

Now add your sea and sand strips, in whichever order you like.

Here the sea is behind the huts,

and here it is in front of them.

Next time stitching and applique of the huts!

fabric friday

It feels so good to be playing with paint again!

Back in the Saddle

Today I have been planning and painting and thinking and generally enjoying the fact that my In the Spotlight quilt is finished. That means that normal blogging can resume. I just want to say thank you to all the new followers that I gained after the Sew Mama Sew giveaway for being so patient. Sorry that I have been off the radar for so long.

These poppies are inspiring me at the moment. They are self seeding and spring up all over the place this time of year.



I just love the way in which they give you the bud, the flower and the seedhead all at the same time.

Hope you are finding inspiration in your garden.

fabric friday with a difference

Still working away on my Festival of Quilts piece, (nearly there!) and thought I would show you a pebble stack with a difference.

And in other news... I have been featured on Diannajessie's blog in her Folksy Friday post today, Folksy being our U.K. equivalent of Etsy for you non U.K. readers.

Happy Friday everyone.