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Constructing the bottom half of the Emperor’s Jewels Quilt

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Emperor's Jewels QAYG Quilt-Along, sewing, sewjournal blog

Sew blocks 4, 5, 6 and 7 together as shown below.

 

imageNow, because we sewed four blocks together before we QAYGed, we need to sew four blocks together for the backing to maintain the patchwork look. Optional though. If you want to just use one piece of fabric for the back that’s fine too.

I pieced some fabric together in a similar pattern to the front. See below:

image

Then I sandwiched the joined blocks and backing with some batting and hand quilted the blocks. Then I joined this section to section one using the technique shown in the earlier posts.

Here’s the bottom half of the quilt finished. What do you think?

image

 

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Emperor’s Jewels QAYG Block 7

13 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

applique, Emperor's Jewels QAYG Quilt-Along, hand quilting, patchwork, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

image

I made this block using appliqué. If you would prefer to make it using foundation piecing, feel free. I’ll show you how to draw it up and then how I made it.

The block measures 28.5″ X 4.5″. I printed a few sheets of the 1/2″ graph paper I gave the link for in Block 6 and taped them together. Then I drew the pattern as below.

image
I drew a rectangle 28″ x 4″ (no seam allowance on the pattern, I added that later) I marked every inch with a dotted line to make it easier to work. Then I drew a line from the bottom corner to the 2″ mark on the top level and from there down to the 4″ mark on the bottom, and so on till I got to the other end. Then I went back to the beginning at the left and drew a line from 1″ up from the bottom left corner to 1″ down from the 2″ mark and so on all the way across. I shaded in the areas as shown.

Now, you can have the zig zag part all one colour but I wanted it to look like a ribbon that twisted so I chose two colours, a pink and a purple. I realise now that I did this the hard way. I cut the pink and purple fabrics into 2.5″ x 4.5″ strips and sewed them alternately together. Then I added a 1.5′” x 4.5″ strip at each end. What I could have done is sewn a 28.5″ x 2.75″ pink strip to the same size purple strip and I would have got the same effect in the end without as much sewing. Oh well. That’s what trial and error is all about. This quilt is a voyage of discovery. 🙂

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Then I transferred the unshaded shapes from the drawing onto freezer paper.

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Then I cut around these shapes using the fabric that would look like the background, making sure to leave at least 1/2″ at the bottom edge to accommodate the seam allowance and wiggle room.

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I then put the shape, shiny side up, onto the wrong side of the fabric and ironed the edges over as shown.

I then placed the shape in position onto the fabric, ironed it to stick down and appliquéd it down and repeated along the row. I left the edges until last. Note that the bottom edges are not sewn and they get straightnened up when the block is completed.

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When you have done them all you can slide the freezer paper out from the unsewn edge, press and square up the block.

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Good luck!

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Emperor’s Jewels Block 6 Part 2

04 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

applique, Emperor's Jewels QAYG Quilt-Along, hand-piecing, patchwork, quilting blog, sewjournal blog

Part 2 is mainly appliqué. Here’s where we finished up last time.

image

Now we are going to appliqué some strips down the centre of the middle blue strips. You will need four pieces of fabric 6.5″ X 1.25″. Take each strip and press it in half. Then open it out.

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Then press one edge into the centre.

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And then repeat with other edge.

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When you have done that for all four strips, get your block and mark (I used pencil) the centre line.

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Then line up the fold in your strip with that line and pin it to the block.

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As you can see you don’t want it to go all the way into the centre and you can let it hang over the edge of the block. Then appliqué the strip and repeat with the others.

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Now we are going to make the diamonds for corners. To make your template, draw a square 4″ X 4″ and mark 1″ from each corner like so.

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Here is a link to the printable graph paper I used which is marked in half inch squares:

Then draw lines from the top left corner to the 1″ from the left mark on the bottom of the square, from the 1″ from the bottom on the left to the bottom right corner, from the bottom right corner to the 1″ from the right on the top of the square and from the 1″ below the top right corner to the top left corner. See below.

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Transfer this diamond by tracing onto freezer paper, four times and cut out.

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Take your chosen fabric and place the freezer paper on the wrong side of the fabric, shiny side up. Cut around the shape leaving around 1/4″ extra. Take your iron and press the seam allowance onto the freezer paper as we have done in previous blocks. Then position your diamonds, freezer paper side down onto the outer squares and press first from the front to stick them in place and then from the back to secure them. Then appliqué them to the background.

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Then do the same with the other three diamonds. Cut the background away and remove the freezer paper as we did for previous appliqué and press.

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Now we’re going to place a series of 5 circles down the vertical line. Four will be half and half, black and pink and one will be quartered.

We make the circles by sewing a strip of the black and a strip of the pink together then cutting it into a square of fabric big enough to cover a 1.5″ perfect circle template.

image image

Remember the centre of the joined fabric is the stitch mark NOT the edge of the seam. It may seem obvious but it’s an easy mistake to make.

Take some thread and sew a running stitch around the circle leaving the thread in the needle when you have completed the circle.

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Trim off the square edges then pull the thread tight around the circle.

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I sewed a couple of cross-circle stitches to hold it tightly in place and finished with a couple of backstitches.

This is what your circle should look like front he front.

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Measure your block so you can position your circles equidistant from one another and pin in place. Make sure you place the black fabric half on the side nearest to the pink square edge and vice versa.

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The appliqué the circles down and cut the background away to remove the Perfect Circle templates.

To make the central circle take two pieces of joined fabric and sew them together to form quadrants, then use the technique mentioned above to create the circle and appliqué it in place.

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Your finished block should look like this.

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Emperor’s Jewels Block 6 Part 1

21 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal, Uncategorized

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Tags

applique, block swap, Emperor's Jewels QAYG Quilt-Along, hand-piecing, quilting blog, sewjournal blog

image
The last block was relatively simple, this is a little more involved so I’ve split the instructions over two posts.

Block 6 Requirements.

image

Four x 4.5″ squares of fabric 1 (blue)

Two X 1.5″ X 5.5″ strips of both fabric 2 (black) and fabric 3 (pink)

Two X 1.5″ X 4.5″ strips of  both fabric 2 and fabric 3

One strip of fabric 1, 12.5″ X 2.5″

Two strips of fabric 1, 5.5″ X 2.5″

Four strips of fabric 4 (shocking pink) 6.5″ X 1.5″

One strip each of Fabrics 2 and 3, 18″ X 1.5″

Four 4.5″” squares of fabric 5 (shocking pink with stripes)

Freezer paper.

Construction

Sew a 2.5″ strip of fabric 2 to one side of the 4.5″ square of fabric 1.

image image

Then sew the 5.5″ strip of fabric 2 to the adjacent side.

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Repeat this with another blue square and the other black strips, then do the same with the remaining squares and the pink strips.

Then take one of the smaller 2.5″ wide blue strips and sew it onto the edge of the square where there is a seam.

image

Then sew one of the pink strip squares to the bottom, this time sewing the non-seam side to the blue strip. Repeat for the other two squares and then sew each of the combination strips to the 12.5″ X 2.5″ blue strip.

image

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We’ll add the appliqué pieces in the next post. Stay tuned…

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Blog catch-up

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by sewjournal in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Oh my, it’s been more than 18 months since I last posted. Anyway, I’ve sort of got my blogging mojo back and I thought I’d show you some the projects I have completed in that time. Thanks for hanging in there.

image imageThis is a quilted envelope I made for my iPad mini. I used some of the improv blocks I made a while back. I haven’t decided what to do with them yet. I did mix them up with some steam punk blocks to see what they looked like but I’m not convinced. What do you think?
image

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My first 2014 project

04 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by sewjournal in Uncategorized

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Tags

fabrics, foundation paper piecing, machine piecing, patchwork, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

I’ve finished the coverlet I started in January. It’s all bound, washed, ironed and I’m using it and it feels so soft and lovely.

Here are a few photos.

P1070131 P1070132 P1070135Now I’m working on some foundation paper pieced stars from Don’t Call Me Betsy’s 2013 and 2014 Lucky Star Club. Here’s where I’m up to so far. I’ve done two quarters of the practice star.

P1070136

Fabric challenge update

All the fabric for the coverlet came from my stash and scraps and all the fabric for this first star also. I didn’t buy any fabric in January at all. So far in February I’ve bought 1.6m of an Echino extra wide bird print that was only $16.80 per metre. I’ll tally up at the end of the month and donate 50% of my spend to charity as I promised.

 

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The Modern Quilt Guild’s Riley Blake Challenge

10 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

#mqgrileyblakechallenge, Andalusian tile templates, applique, hand-piecing, handwork, machine piecing, Modern Quilt Guild, patchwork, quilting blog, Riley Blake, sewing blog, sewjournal blog, textiles

RB fabricsThe Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a Riley Blake quilt challenge. All members who applied were given 6 fat eighths of Riley Blake fabric and they could make whatever they liked as long as it was quilted.

The rules were that you didn’t have to use all the fabrics you were given, that you could use any solids with them and any other Riley Blake prints.

I didn’t use the blue gingham and the turquoise chevron in my quilt. This actually surprised me as these are my favourite colours. However the whole process was organic.

P1050616I began with the centre and I used my Andalusian tile templates with the dark grey and the grey and white stripe fabrics and hand-pieced them to make this.

centre

I had then intended to pair them with the blue and turquoise fabrics. I looked for a suitable background to put the central medallion on but none of the greys I had did anything at all for it. I didn’t have a suitable blue or turquoise solid so I opted for this really bright yellow.

I hand appliquéd the medallion to the background and then had to ponder my next move. I cut a star out of the white spot on yellow fabric using my templates and appliquéd it to the centre of the medallion.

bordersI bought some grey Riley Blake small chevron and used it for the first border and then decided to use the white spotted yellow fabric as cornerstones and make a Riley Blake white solid border with four hexagons from my tile templates made from the orange design fabric and hand appliquéd them on. 

I then added another grey chevron border. I almost finished at this stage but I really have no use for small quilts so I decided to keep going.

I sewed two fabrics together in strips to make a wide border – a Riley Blake white solid and a Riley Blake grey solid. This looked unfinished somehow so I decided to make a zigzag of the white spot on orange Riley Blake fabric I had bought. Here’s how I did it.

I had bought a large grey chevron but it’s size just didn’t fit this quilt so I used it as a template to make the zigzag. I ironed some freezer paper onto the large chevron and traced the zigzag through it with a small ruler and pencil.

P1070087
Then I peeled off the freezer paper and cut the zigzag out. Once this was done I ironed the freezer paper to the orange fabric, wrong side up.

I cut around the zigzag with the freezer paper still attached to the fabric, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. I then pressed the allowance down before removing the freezer paper. I removed a little at a time fabric glueing as I went.

P1070089P1070091

P1070094

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I hand appliquéd the zigzag at the join of the white and grey borders with Aurifil 50wt thread. The borders were all only as long as the square of the quilt as I was planning on cornerstones as I didn’t have enough fabric – oops! This meant leaving loose ends of zigzag at each edge to appliqué together once the corner stones were in place.

P1070101

The outermost border is a lovely grey and white Riley Blake fabric called Shuffle. I didn’t have enough of this and had to fiddle around but luckily you can’t tell. I added cornerstones of the yellow spotted fabric and then bound the whole thing with Riley Blake solid orange. Want to see the whole quilt?

Here it is…

P1070115quilt

Hand quilting

I hand quilted the whole quilt and rather than describe it all I’ll show you some photos of the individual pieces, and the back. You might have to click on the photos to be able to see the details.

P1070116
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photo 5 photo 4photo 3 photo 2 photo 1

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Background trials for Camelot – vote for your choice

07 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by sewjournal in Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

background, background fabric, block swap, Camelot, patchwork, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

I’ve been trialling backgrounds for the Camelot quilt. Take a look at the photos then have your say by voting in the poll at the bottom.

Here are some photos with the grey with the white dots.

P1050483

P1050482The next photos only show three blocks across because I was trialling different fabrics under each block. A series of fabrics with the pale turquoise and white.

P1050491

P1050493

P1050495And here are some photos using the Painter’s Canvas in Black.

P1050488

P1050485

P1050486Have your say

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Block 16 BEFORE and AFTER

04 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by sewjournal in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Camelot, patchwork, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

I finished Block 16 but when I put it with the others it really didn’t go. So changed it. Here are the before and after photos.

P1050440

P1050479So, what do you think?

 

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Novice pressure cooker chef

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

free recipe, sewjournal blog. cooking blog

ImageI recently splashed out and bought a 6-in-1 low/high pressure cooker/rice cooker/deep fryer/ fryer/steamer because my rice cooker died.

I have never ever used a pressure cooker till I got this and I was pretty scared but I have to say it’s fun and better still it works!

(By the way this is NOT a sponsored post)

Tonight I cooked a spicy chicken and saffron risotto and it tastes spectacular! I’m so pleased with it. Here’s my recipe if you’re interested. I’ve just written what I did but you could cook this on a stove top if you had a normal pressure cooker.

ImageSpicy Chicken and Saffron Risotto

Ingredients

Heaped teaspoon of saffron threads

1 tbsp milk

2 chicken breast fillets

Masterfoods Cajun Seasoning Mix

Gourmet Garden Garlic – 1 squeeze

Gourmet Garden Mild Chilli – 1 squeeze

1 onion finely chopped

4 large mushrooms sliced and diced

1 cup mixed frozen veges

300g rice washed and drained (I used Kalijeera rice but just use your favourite)

800ml of Chicken stock made with Massel Chicken-style stock powder

4 tbsp Olive oil

2 Tbsp Pro-activ “buttery” margarine

Cayenne pepper to taste

Method

Warm the milk in the microwave and then add the saffron threads and leave to steep.

Wash and wipe the chicken then chop into chunks and coat in the Cajun Seasoning Mix.

Chop the onion and mushrooms.

(I’m going to tell you what I did in the New Wave 6-in-1 but you can do it on your stove top)

Press the fry button and add the olive oil. When it’s hot add the chicken and brown off. When the chicken is brown take it out and set aside.

Add the onions to the oil and cook for 2 minutes then add the mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the margarine and when melted add the washed and drained rice and stir until it is well coated. Add the garlic and chilli and stir well. Add the saffron and mix and stir well. Cook for 1 minute then press cancel to switch off the fry function. Add the chicken stock and the frozen veges. Stir well and then add the chicken and stir again.

Close the lid and set the valve to sealed. Press the high pressure function and reduce the cooking time from the 25 minutes shown to 7 minutes and press start.

When it beeps, carefully release the pressure valve, taking care not to get scalded, and switch off.

Once the cooker has vented open the lid, stir the contents and serve. I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper on top and it was yummy.

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  • Emperor’s Jewels QAYG Block 7
  • Emperor’s Jewels Block 6 Part 2
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