No Sew Fabric Wreath Tutorial

No-Sew Fabric Wreath Tute

I totally forgot I said I would do a quick tutorial on the super-easy, use-up-your-tiny-scraps Fabric Wreath that I made a couple of weeks ago. 

This requires NO SEWING whatsoever so is suitable for beginners!

Materials Needed:
Ruler
Rotary Cutter
Scraps
Florist Hoop (I got mine at The Quilt Shop, Tuam for €1)

Step 1:
Gather yours scraps.  You can use all one colour or for a truly scrappy effect, use a little (or a lot) of everything! I started with red and whites but quickly made my way through all the drawers for a rainbow of colours!  Selvedges with some text can add a bit of interest too!



Step 2: 
Cut the scraps to the desired length.  Mine are 1/2" x 5"
This takes some time but the growing pile of cut up scraps is really pretty all by itself!





Step 3:
Take your florists ring and a scrap and simply tie on!  Repeat this on both lines until your ring is chock full and you can't squeeze any more on.  The fuller, the prettier!







Please link back if you do try it........I'd love to see!

Scrap Happy!!

Scrap Happy, oh yes I am! 



I've had great fun this week so far, making things from scraps! 

First I made another zipped pouch for a friend who fell for the first one I made.  It's great when you make something with mad colours and you think it's a bit out there but someone loves it!  I also made another set of bunting which is currently winging it's way to Australia!

Yesterday I had loads of time with nothing to do.......... okay, that's not true, there were loads of things I could have done but it was the first day that all three of my kids were back at school after 10 days of sickness.  I had a quiet house and decided to make the best of it.......... but really I spent half the day deciding what to do !  Finally, at 5pm, I finally dug out the scraps and made this heart wreath.  I love it, it's totally scrapilicious!!!  There are dozens of different fabrics and colours in there!  It's hanging on the blue wall of my sewing room and pops with colour in reality - the pic doesn't quite do it justice. 
I will do a tutorial on this in a few days if anyone is interested!





Today, I got to the sewing machine earlier and when I found one single Eiffel Tower scrap, I chose to make a scrappy cushion cover around it.  I used the quilt-as-you-go method so it came together very fast.  By noon, all I had left was to put the backing on and I had a squishy, scrappy, pink cushion! 


Wonder what I'll do tomorrow morning!

International Postage Stamp

My Quilting Class were inspired recently by a gorgeous WIP Postage Stamp Quilt that is being made by Nora, an accomplished Tuam Quilter.  We were all taken by the concept of a large, simple design that promised hours of intrigue and interest.  It's not an easy task to start one of these quilts however, especially if you are a relatively new quilter like me.  You need a super stash of scraps and then some!  To put together a kingsize quilt, you have to accummulate almost 2000 x 2.5" squares - easy enough, just alot of cutting and trimming, right?  Wrong!!   The idea is that the quilt would have no repeats and that means you need 2000 DIFFERENT fabrics to get an authentic Postage Stamp Quilt!  Hmmm, slightly harder!

Operation Scrap-Stash-Building!

We started our collection in class, we each swapped 20 squares with about 14 people, that was a lovely start - 280 squares!  Then, I cut up squares from my own collection and that bumped me up to about 500.  That meant I had still only 25% of my intended collection!  I know many spend years stashing away these little squares to make the quilt when they have enough.........I suppose I could have done that, but I'm terribly impatient.  I may not finish everything I start straight away but I am GREAT at starting projects and I NEEDED to get this one off the ground. 

By chance, I came across a couple of groups on Facebook where I thought I might be able to swap some squares and suddenly the ball was rolling.  I received packages from Ireland, England, across Europe, America, Tahiti and Canada.  Some were swaps but many were donations towards my project.  You remember that excitement when you first started using the internet and you got an e-mail........ I was like that when the postman arrived!!!  Sifting through the scraps, cutting them down, counting them into bundles was a job in itself but an enjoyable one.  The range was something I would never have collected by myself - I had received a little taste of so many other quilters taste and I think it really adds to the flavour of my project.  If I was using only my own fabrics, I would have an overall pastel, pale pretty girlish colours I think......and while I obviously love those colours, it's wonderful to have such a selection in a quilt like this!

One of my favourite blocks........ I know my boys will love it when they find this hidden away on the quilt top!

I was really touched that this lovely quilters from around the world were willing to take their time to sort through their stashes, package them up and send them to me!  I've been able to return the favour a few times already in small ways - it's our very own sisterhood of the travelling scraps!  hee hee

So, this is the where I am currently.  I've been joining the squares in 4x4 blocks.  Then I laid them out to see how it's looking.  This pictures shows 54 blocks of 16..........that's approximately 800 squares so far....... about 40% of the total!  I haven't joined them together yet, I want to wait until all the blocks are made but I'm loving the look so far.  This will be a super large quilt, I'm impatient to move on with it..........

  Can't wait to show you my progress on this one! 

Medallion Quilt Along!

I've been getting the emails about the Medallion Quilt Along from the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland and  I reallllllllly wanted to join in but couldn't decide on a center block to get me going.  I should have done what was suggested, which was to create a mosaic of central blocks which would probably have inspired me and got the creative juices going..........but no, instead I chose to just let ideas float around in my head, allow them to get all muddled up and talk myself out of joining a few dozen times.  However, I bit the bullet last night and just decided to buy the "Liberty Love" book for the kindle (oh yes, instant gratification...... pay for it and receive it in less than 3 mins, now that's service)!  My plan was just to follow the Marcelle Medallion pattern - I have been drooling over it on Instagram and other blogs for about 18months after all..........but as soon as I flicked through the book, I decided on another design altogether for my centre block and got to work!

First a fabric pull............. 

I chose a paper-piecing block for the centre because I love the patterns that can be achieved with this method and it gives such accurate results.  I hated paper-piecing when I first tried it, so much so that I dumped my first couple of efforts out of sheer frustration but then I took on a twin-sized seaside quilt done completely with paper-piecing and I fell in love with the process.  It's perfect for those days when you just want to sew and don't want to think about what you're doing too much!  Effectively sewing by numbers!! 

I don't have the exact recommended measurements so I'm hoping it'll work out as it grows but I'm rather pleased with my first block & border!  I LOVE that text fabric from The Quilt Shop.  I'm hoping I haven't added too much pink/purple.  I don't want it to end up completely pink themed so I need to try and add new colours as I go.

Now to add some more borders....... so many choices but I won't take so long this time, watch this space!