Let's Quilt While We're Ahead - The Log Cabin Cushion

We have been doing quite a few projects recently that have used some quilting now it's time for us to venture into some proper quilting blocks and I thought we could start with a nice easy pattern, Log Cabin which is also known as Cathedral Steps.  It is a great block to start with as it gets you used to cutting and sewing accurately.  I know that the purists may say but you are using a machine but sometimes you need some instant gratification and later we will move on to hand sewing quilting blocks... but lets learn to walk before we embark on a marathon.

So let's get started, you will need:

A selection of fat quarters (I have a pack of six quarters and I know that I can get 3 cushions from this)
1/2 metre of plain contrasting fabric
Wadding
Rotary Cutting Wheel
Self Healing Mat
Rotary Cutting Ruler
Thread
Pins
Cotton
Small scissors
Fish Knife
Cushion pad
Iron (dry not steam)
Ironing Board
Zip - I am using a 9" zip for a 12" cushion pad

Before you start, iron every piece of fabric flat... although it may look flat, it will need pressing.

If you are using fat quarters, cut along the 22" side as this will give you the longest strips of fabric.  You need to cut your strips 1 1/2" wide - in quilting we use 1/4" seam allowance - you may hear this called a scant 1/4" seam allowance because it needs to be really accurate and this is a fine seam allowance.  Very often you will find that the distance from the needle to the edge of the foot is a quarter of an inch, or else mark it up on the plate of your machine so you can use that as a guide.

Now a safety warning, Rotary Cutter are very dangerous, incredibly sharp, always cut away from yourself... and do not let me catch you leaving the safety catch off or woe betide you... say to yourself, "cut and close."


From your first strip, cut a square 1.5" x 1.5" which will make a square 1" square when you have sewn up the seams.  

From your next strip cut another square exactly the same size, and sew it to your first strip, Iron the seam closed to the outside - do not use steam as this can distort the fabric and stretch the seam.  

Now cut two pieces the same length as your two squares and sew them on each side and press the seams to the outside.

Next cut a length that fits across the top and sew it across the top - you have created your first round.  Remember when you cut, to measure twice so you cut once.  You will make mistakes and even after all this good advice that I dish out, I still lose concentration and make mistakes.

Now repeat this in the the same manner - ie, the short piece is always on the same side and the two medium pieces on the sides and the longest piece always in the same place... do be careful because it is easy to muddle them up (says the voice of bitter experience).

Continue until you have a square slightly bigger than the cushion pad you want to use. 

We are then going to add a final round but instead of 1.5" we are going to 2" strips to finish off the cushion.

Now cut a piece of wadding that is 2" larger all round and a piece of cotton that is an inch larger all round.  You are now going to make a sandwich with the plain fabric at the bottom, next the wadding and finally your pieced piece of quilting.  

Starting from the centre and using flat headed quilting pins, pin the sandwich together.


Next we are going to stitch in the ditch - this means sewing close to the seam,  Remember how we ironed all the seams to the outside, we are going to sew on the other side of the seam where there is the least amount of fabric (you are only going through three layers and not five!).  Again I have used my foot for guidance but this time, I used the inside of my foot as the guide, keeping it running along the seam.

Start in the middle square, when you come to the corner, leave your needle down in the fabric, lift the foot, turn your work by 90' and lower your foot sew down the next side and repeat until you have sewn all four sides.  Trim away the excess wadding and fabric


Measure your quilted square, and add 1.25" to one side (to allow for a 5/8" seam allowance), so if the cushion is 16" square, you need to cut a piece of fabric 16" x 17.25"... Now cut it in half, so that your pieces  measure 16" x 8.5/8".


Now insert your zip - You want it to sit in the middle, which is just a quick bit of subtraction and division - your zip is 9" long, take that away from 16 = 7, now divide it by 2 = 3.5".  This means you will need to mark  in 3.5" in from each side and sew a seam at each end up to this point.  And now you can press the seam OPEN!  

Pin your zip in, remembering to place one side snugly against the teeth of the zip to ensure that the zip is well hidden.  Open the zip fully - this will be important - believe me!

Pin the wrong sides together and sew a 1/4" seam all the way around.  Cut off the corner triangles, so that when we turn the cushion we will get sharp corners.  Remember how I told you to leave the zip open, well that is so we can turn the cushion right sides out, it is a swine to try and undo a zip from the wrong side.

Use your fish knife to create your sharp corner - fish knives are brilliant for this, they have no sharp blades so will not cut your stitches and the soft point of the tip will tease out the point - I am so glad I found another use for them.

Press the cushion and pin the final round together - we are now going to sew around the inside seam, to create an Oxford style cushion with a valance running around the cushion using a seam allowance of 3/8". Sew in your loose ends and sit back and enjoy your cushion.

If you want to you can totally change the effect by working two sides in one fabric, and the other side in another fabric, which really does create the Cathedral steps effect.


I have also thought that it might be nice to give this cushion away, so if you leave a comment on this post during this week, I will pull a name out of the virtual hat next Sunday morning and be in touch to send it to you.


Right, time to take a look at Wendy's Handmade Monday and see what everyone has been making over the last week.


What's that... did I buy... err yes, just a little sock skein.  And no, Pierina found a rather lovely Debbie Bliss pattern but she is threatening to make my pink cardie if she finishes her project first...

This is a fabulous hand dyed skein from Chile... soft as an angel's breath... and the last in the shop :)


Good luck with winning the cushion!

I am going to be led astray, I just know it!

On Saturday my very best friend is going to lead me into temptation, she is going to take me to a great wool shop and I am going to be her yarn consultant... I am not going to buy, I am there merely to advise... (yeah, like that is going to happen)


As you will remember, I have known her since I was 11 and we had coat pegs next to each other, I am God mother to her boys... in fact I taught them to blow raspberries and I know my role is to lead them astray wherever and whenever possible... she really should have thought this through.  But on Saturday, she goes to buy wool and I will be there... not buying you understand, merely to temper her choices (only if someone steals your purse and chops off your hands will you not buy).


Her niece is expecting a little girl in May, I have been through my patterns... I know this one is perfect:

My friend Pat made it, Pat is knitting perfection, the only woman I know who knits a swatch for a swatch, and it was fabulous, soft to the touch and gorgeous to look at.


So why do I think this is the one, well Pierina is Italian as is her niece, her niece lives near Milan, fashion centre of the Universe... so this is the one.  It has an elegant simplicity, (matching booties, too) the bow details on the pocket lifts it above ordinary but the challenge is making a border which fits precisely and lies like a dream. This was made for Cashmerino, to be touched by relations and cooed over by friends, never to touch a child for fear you might have to wash it before the knitter sees it on the baby.  


Otherwise I may need to look at my mother's 1940s stash of patterns and we could be bringing the pixie hat to Italy for the first time:

And she is still my best friend... well at least till she sees this post.


P.S. She still thinks I am only going to advise, I have to be honest I reckon the least amount of damage will be socks, just to keep me busy on the train!

The Mother of Invention ... Oil Cloth Loyalty Card and Voucher Wallet

This week's tutorial is born out of necessity.  I don't know about you but to be honest, my purse is just not big enough, if it isn't receipts, then it is loyalty cards (I am into double figures with these... I am a coffee tart in London!) and school vouchers that I am expected to stuff in there.  As a Chair of Governors for an inner city primary school, I grab every school voucher I can get... for my American readers this is just like being on a school board although we are all volunteers and unpaid, and I have been a governor for over 20 years but that is another story and you know I will tell you eventually!


So I thought if I had a loyalty card wallet, I would be made up, also it will be somewhere that I can store any expense receipts and I don't know about you but why are purses always in dark colours so you cannot find them when you need them?


Let's get started, we are going to make this one from oil cloth (remember how we conquered it here recently) but you could use a heavy duty cotton fabric with a sturdy iron on Vilene interfacing.

You will need:


2 pieces of oil cloth or cotton fabric 15" wide x 6" deep
14" bias binding tape
Cotton and scissors
Clothes pegs
Pins
Cup of tea or coffee

Place the oil cloth with right (shiny) sides facing and peg them together.

Now check the tension on your sewing machine on a scrap of fabric... it took me six goes to get it right, remember you are going to be doing slow and steady sewing, this is not a race, it is a stroll.


Sew up both long sides leaving the ends open.


Now go and make a hot drink, tea or coffee and sit with the sewing in your lap, this will warm up the oil cloth  and the warmer the cloth is, the easier it will be to work with.

Now turn the tube inside out and it will look like a sleeve, gently roll the seam, remember you won't be able to iron it as it will melt the fabric.  Using your hands flatten the sleeve so that the seams sit at the top and the bottom.

Take your bias binding and leave about an inch above the open end and pin it, then fold the bias binding over the open seam, clip it into place with the clothes pegs.  Then sew the bias binding in place leaving the same amount of excess at the other end.  Repeat this at the other end.

Decide which side of your oil cloth is going to be on the outside, then fold over each side 3" in on each side, folding the excess bias binding under and hold it in place with your pegs.

Top stitch around the wallet, I use the edge of my foot to guide me, when you come to the corners, leave your needle in the fabric and turn it 90 degrees so that you get a nice neat professional finish.

Finally trim any excess bias binding away and then put in your vouchers and loyalty cards.


Now let's take a look at what the team have made for Handmade Monday.

Confession Time

"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."  Proverbs 16:18


I had a plan, I mean, I actually worked this out on Boxing Day morning when I was planning what I would make this year.  Easter, I thought, that is going to be easy... I am going to dye eggs and decorate them... they will be marbled, painted and sponged to within an inch of their lives.  I can do this.


I had done this as a child, I knew it was possible, in fact in my mind's eye I could see my set of four food dyes and the colour mixing chart.


I got myself ready:

I blew the eggs through...  I have a freezer full of beaten eggs... I have a head full of egg recipes, scrambled, omelettes, quiches and cakes...

Then the first disaster struck, the eggs were a sort of reddy brown and the dye just would not take, no matter how much food colouring I put in.  I then had a cunning plan... I would go to the Co-Op and Tescos and swap the brownish eggs for white ones... 


I am not sure if you now this but there are no longer the white eggs that there used to be, they are all an amorphous reddish brown colour... plan abandoned, nothing to do with the odd looks that I got from the assistants.

Well, dear reader, I did what any self respecting muppet would do, I retired to the pub to regroup.

Then on Thursday, I had a lucky break... duck eggs in Sainsburys... they were driven snow white,  I knew these would work.


WRONG!  I left them soaking overnight...  is it the Essex water, I wondered... or is it the organic dyes?  Because yet again, it would not work.


So this year there will be no tutorial on colouring eggs for Easter... mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa


But I do promise you that next year I will have cracked it... maybe :)

Silence is golden :)

I know I said that I would finish the Debbie Bliss collar, well I did!

I discovered that the only way to get it done was to sit in solemn silence and mouth the pattern.  I am so pleased with the finished result and hope that the recipient likes it too.

So as I couldn't knit this on the train, I finished a pair of bed socks for a friend of a friend, they were a joy to knit as they were made in alpaca.

The tutorial will be along later this week... I had what you might call a technical hitch... I would call it an unmitigated disaster which means I am having a re-think and will get my tutorial out later in the week.  And yes, I do have evidence of this but do you think I will let you see the mess... well not yet, until I figure it out...

And finally, thought you might like to see this pic I took of the fishermen's nets drying on the wharf, I love the way the colours which should really clash work so well together.

So now go and take a look at Handmade Monday and take a look at how Wendy met up with Theo Paphitis.

PS - I have seen another pattern in the book, what do you think, should I go for it?

This way lies madness...

You need to know this about me, I am a competent knitter, honestly I really am.  In fact just to build myself up a tad, even Jo at one of our LYS said that my Kitchener stitch on the socks I made last week is exemplary.

So when I saw the new Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace book, I knew it was for me, nothing took more than four balls and I can do lace, I mean I have done it before… successfully.  But hey it's been a couple of years so, best to start small I thought and descended on this lovely little collar.

Do not be deceived by this evil piece of knit wear… OK so maybe starting it on the train was not a great move… nor perhaps continuing in the back of a London taxi whose driver was only satisfied when he found each and every cobbled street left in the City.  I feel this explains why I had to frag (for you none knitters… this is heartlessly ripping it back to where you made the mistake) it back three times on Monday, but I do have perseverance in spades.  Then I got as far as two pointy bits of the collar and then I mucked it up again.

I have started yet again, I will not be beaten, I will win… and you will get updates, whether you want them or not… the pain will be shared!

So if you see a woman on the 07:20 to Fenchurch Street, who seems to be moving her lips in prayer, look kindly upon her, especially if she sighs deeply and starts to frag back, once again...

Cleaning Up The Act - Peg Bag and Used Carrier Bag Tutorial

Well, before I start with the tutorial this week, I have to say a big thank you to all of you who stop by my blog because last week I had my 100,000 hits... which considering I had 20,000 in my first year is a bit scary cos that means I had 80,000 hits in five months.  So thank you all for stopping by. :)


And now let's hop to it, as the weather has been unseasonably warm this week, it has been a great day for watching washing billowing on the line in the lovely warm weather, which got me to thinking that maybe I should run up a new peg bag and with the left over fabric, a bit of recycling with a used carrier bag holder for the kitchen

You will need:

1/2 metre of fabric
Scraps of fabric for an applique design
Pins
A child's coat hanger or an adult's for a larger bag
Iron and ironing board
Elastic
Safety pin
Tape measure
Scissors

Lie the coat hanger on the fabric and cut it 2" wider than the coat hanger is at the widest point, mine was 10", so I cut a rectangle 12" x 14", followed by two more pieces 9" x 12 and another piece which was 7" x 12".


Press a 5/8" seam over at the top of the middle sized rectangle, this will be the bottom of the front of the peg bag and is the piece were I am going put on some applique, as my fabric is printed bunting, I thought I would add to it with some of the real stuff.  I cut out 2" triangles with pinking shears, I am not going to sew them down completely which is why I am not using any interfacing but you could put any design on there, the word pegs or perhaps a washing line of miniature clothes.

Pin your pieces in place and sew them down, I used a satin stitch to create the bunting tape.  


Now sew along the seam that you have folded down 1/4" from the edge.  On the smallest rectangle press over 5/8" at the bottom of the fabric and sew it down 1/4" from the edge.

Place the top rectangle under the bottom rectangle over lapping it by 1/2".  Sew in 2" and then sew back on both sides .

Put the wrong sides together, pop the coat hanger at the top and draw around it, cut off the excess fabric.


Starting at the top, sew around the bag, we are going to make a french seam, using a 1/4" seam allowance but remember to leave a small opening at the top to put the coat hanger through.  Turn the bag inside out and iron the seams and sew a seam 3/8" (this will hide your raw seam) and remember to leave the gap again.

Put the hanger in place and there you have your peg bag ready for the line.


Cut a piece of fabric 18" x 14" and another piece 12" x 3", pin the wrong sides together of the first piece of fabric and sew a 1/4" seam down the longest side.


Turn it inside out and sew a seam 3/8", yes it is another french seam.  


Fold over 1 1/4" at the top and bottom, the fold over another 1/4" from the raw edge and sew around  the tube, leaving a half inch gap.  

Take your elastic and put a safety pin through one end and thread the elastic and pin through the casing you have created, when you get the elastic all the way round cut it and lay 1/2" on top of the other end of the elastic and oversew them together.  Ease the elastic into place.


Now with the other strip, fold it in half down the centre, sew across the top and all the way to the bottom using a 5/8" seam.  Trim the excess and turn it right sides out, fold it in half and pin it together.

Place the strap on the seam, 1/4" from the top and sew it in place using the square with the cross technique we have used with other bags. Now repeat what we have just done at the other end to insert the elastic.

And there it is, a plastic bag recycler for your kitchen.


As tomorrow is Monday, why not take a look at Handmade Monday and see what all those clever crafters have been up to this week?