Never Stop Learning

I am a great believer in the adage that you should never stop learning. Not only do new experiences keep your brain working, but it also helps build confidence and provides a great feeling of wellbeing, which can only make you happy, right!?

So having spent far too much time lately staring at the Mac screen or cutting up fabric for kits, I decided to take a whole day to myself to learn something new. I actually ended up trying a couple of new things – foundation piecing using freezer paper, and sewing curves!

Inspired by Jo Avery’s New York Beauty pattern in last month’s Today’s Quilter, I thought it was time to try these curves I’ve been seeing all over Instagram. I then remembered that one of the classes I have on Craftsy was Playing with Curves with Ann Petersen - a class by a very talented lady who takes you through everything slowly and methodically – highly recommended. 

Anyway, I thought I’d just refresh my memory on foundation piecing, and found that Ann's method uses freezer paper and that she doesn’t actually sew through the paper at all… this I had to see!

 

I got stuck in and soon found my rhythm, so much so that I forgot to take any photos of my process! Next time… I think I do prefer this method and it was a joy to just peel back the papers at the end rather than all that ripping. I will do a tutorial on this method for a future project, but for now, why not pop over to Craftsy and have a browse through their classes, they really are worth every penny!

Back to the block... so once the pieced arcs were complete, next came the curves, and they weren’t actually as bad as I thought… I have made some Drunkards Path blocks before, and these were just the same. A few pins and a very slow pace at the machine, and they came out ok. Phew!

 

Unfortunately I only have fat quarters of these bluey greens, my mum who claims she ‘doesn’t do colour’ bought them for me, and I think she did pretty well! So I think this may be a cushion, and I will try my hardest to not lose it in a box and to actually get it quilted!

So do you feel inspired to learn something new? Why not have a look through my free tutorials and see if something catches your eye? 
Even better, you could subscribe to my Newsletter to recieve a free pattern based on pre-cuts, every month straight to your inbox? Click below to subscribe.

For even more inspiration, pop along and visit these great Linky parties;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation 
Building Blocks Tuesday at Quilter In The Closet 

Big Stash and May is for Makers

In between designing, cutting, sewing and packing, I try my best to squeeze in some reading, particularly some of the wonderful quilting blogs from around the world. One of my favs is Yvonne Fuchs, aka Quilting JetGirl – not only do I love her style of quilt design, modern and simple yet so striking, but also her whole philosophy behind our craft. If I’m feeling in rut or just not happy with myself, her mantra “you are doing your best work right now” always seems to bring me up again.

Yvonne recently shared a fellow quilter’s blog, LR Stitched. Lindsey Rhodes is another fabulous quilter who shares my love of colour and designs some beautiful patterns. This month she launched a campaign called “May is for Makers” - you can read her full post here.

One thing that really resonated with me was the fact that I am terrible at buying other quilters’ patterns, or products come to that. I know I spout on about how great it is to give something handmade, but when it comes to me buying other people’s creations, I think to myself, “I could make that”, or “I could design that pattern” so why buy it? Now of course, I then go home, get distracted with my own work and never get round to making or designing anything of the sort.

And this is the point, why should I spend my own precious time doing something that someone else has already spent hours upon hours designing? Why shouldn’t I buy that quilter’s pattern and just make it?! Maybe this need to work everything out and design it myself comes from my own background. I have no formal training in this sewing lark, but rather am totally self-taught – I love working out “how did they do that?” However, I now realise this isn’t helping anyone, not me, and certainly not the quilter who has slogged their guts out to perfect their latest creation in the hope that someone will make a purchase.

In a world of free online tutorials (Lindsey’s and mine included) we need to do more to support those talented designers out there. As a quilt designer myself, I know the hard work over many hours that goes into writing a pattern, from designing the quilt, making it, possibly in various sizes, writing the instructions, drawing the illustrations, and that’s all before the actual marketing…

The patterns you see on sale on Etsy, Craftsy and quilters’ blogs really are worth every penny and I for one am going to make a concerted effort to invest. Afterall, as every quilter knows, that stash needs using, so why not treat yourself to a wonderful pattern from a talented quilter and just get stuck in!! Looking for ideas? Why not visit some of my favourite bloggers from My Blog List at the bottom of the column on the right?

So my first purchase was this beautiful block design, Triple Goosed by JeliQuilts – this girl really has a thing for flying geese!

This pattern was a joy to make, you do need to know your foundation piecing, and there are no fabric cutting instructions – I cut 3”, 2½” and 1½” strips and cut them down as I went.

I’m not sure how and even if, I’m going to quilt this, the thickness of the Essex linen is making the seams quite chunky, so I may just make it into a cushion panel… we’ll see!

Meanwhile at Sewmotion HQ

We’ve had yet another delivery! This gorgeous collection is American Patch by P&B Textiles – who knew red and pink could go so well together!

I’ve also tried to go a bit more boy-like having noticed how ‘pretty’ my recent purchases were, so we have this funky collection, Keep On Groovin' by Riley Blake.

Both of these ranges will be used in my growing collection of pre-cut quilt kits, so I best get designing!

Looking for more quilty fun and inspiration? Why not pop over to these wonderful Linky Parties and say hello;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles