have you watched the Great British Sewing Bee?

I just finished watching all (4) 1-hour episodes.  It was *wonderful* ... precisely everything that I had originally hoped that "Project Runway" would be.

Let me back up just a bit.  When Project Runway first aired, I was eager with anticipatory excitement!  Here we would be able to see how designers actually designed!  How they came created their outfits; what obstacles they came up against and how they overcame them; what small but important items make a creation special instead of off the rack.

How I was disappointed.  Instead of a high-brow how-to show, what I saw was a bunch of drama queens, contention, arguing, back-biting and silly, silly challenges.  Stupid stuff.  Obviously, I am in the minority, as Project Runway is in its 11th season.  Enough people are watching it to encourage the advertisers to continue their support.  But then, it seems a lot of people like those atrocious reality shows too.

So, when I first saw that PBS was putting on a Great British Sewing Bee .. a national competition for the Best Amateur Sew in Great Britain, I was very skeptical.  Since my PBS station didn't carry it, the only way I could watch it was on YouTube.


Well, I really do NOT like to watch lengthy videos on my computer.  It's just one of my quirks;  I didn't save any of the URLs and I promptly forgot about it.

Until one of my quilting friends blogged about it.  Now, I truly respect her opinion when it comes to quilting matters, so I was willing to risk watching at least PART of the first video.  After all, no one was forcing me to watch the entire thing. :-)

Much to my utter surprise and immense delight, this show is EXACTLY what I was hoping that Project Runway was going to be.  The Great British Sewing Bee starts at the point where we have 8 semi-finalists.  We don't go through all the auditions.  Each episode has 2-3 challenges, which are all exceedingly spot-on when you want to see how well a sewer can *SEW*. 

One challenge is usually how well can they follow a printed pattern.  The patterns aren't anything unusual, despite what the hostess voice over says.  :-)   One pattern was to make a man's shirt (simplified because it didn't have cuffs and plackets). One pattern was to make a man's trousers. One pattern was to make a little girl's sundress.  These are items that any sewer might make as a matter of course.  (That being said, I've never made men's trousers, but I have no doubt that I could follow the directions, if they were half-way decent.)

Another challenge was to design and make something of their own choosing.  They could use a commercial pattern or draft something themselves.  These challenges usually involved fitting the garment onto a live model so that the sewers needed to know how to *alter* the pattern to fit body issues (something that I've never really mastered).

All the challenges have a time limit.  Since I normally don't sew under extreme time limits, I'm not sure if I could have finished any of these challenges myself.  But to embellish a blank purse with handwork only in any way you wanted in only 1 hour AND be the best??  I dunno.  It might take me that long just to THINK  of what to do!

There are 2 judges: a gentleman from a Savile Row tailor and a lady who has spent a lifetime teaching couture sewing.  They were both very down to earth people.  The hostess was an enthusiastic (in a subdued British sort of way!) lady who was the cheerleader for the group.  :-)

The program focuses on each of the contestants in turn, asking questions.  Everyone is very focused on what *they* are doing,   No one was bad-mouthing anyone else.  It was so, so refreshing.

As for the judging .. oh my!  THIS is what Project Runway should have been about.  Both of the judges talked specifically about each sewer's project, what they were looking for, the good points about the projects while being very diplomatic about the deficiencies.  And yes, many of the projects had quite a few major flaws.  (If I was trying to make a formal gown in 8 hours, I might have some major flaws too.)  It was *wonderful* to hear exactly what specific things made a project standout from the others, as well as what flaws made it classically "home made" in the worst sense.

Each episode eliminated 1 or 2 contestants until there were 3 finalists left.

After I watched the first hour-long episode, I promptly watch the other 3, one right after the other.  They were all Very Very Good.  And honestly .... how can you NOT enjoy those wonderful English (and one Scots) accents??  :-)

So, without any more blathering on my part, here are the YouTube URLs for you to watch each full length episode.  I promise .. if you enjoy sewing garments, you will thoroughly enjoy these 4 shows.

#1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8te1WAO20I

#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5trYhyBMuI 

#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8MRlT9mAuE

#4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5KcpvBLELo

Hawaiin Applique: top *now* finished; new project started

The handwork for one applique project is done; another one is started.

I like to always have a handwork project in-progress.  It's my Grab-n-Go project, continually ready to be snatched as I head for the car.  If I know I'm going to have substantial downtime someplace, I like to be able to productively occupy my time.

It was only this past January that I started the needleturn applique for Nancy Lee Chong's "You are in our hearts" Hawaiian applique.  The project, as determined by the pattern, is about 40" square.  I finished *that* part of it last February.  In terms of Forever Projects ™, that's a pretty pathetic one.

I also don't particularly care for small square quilts; they aren't useful for me.  So, instead of leaving this pattern as-is, I decided to put a top & bottom border on it.  Fortunately, I had extra background fabric and extra applique fabric.  Using the Hawaiian applique design as the base, I made my own linear border.  The picture to the left is the top only, hence the wrinkles.

*NOW*, I'm pleased with the final, overall dimensions.  At 42" x 63", it's a more useful size.  It'll decrease slightly once it's quilted and bound, but it will be nominal.  The quilting part will need to wait it's turn behind all the other previous projects.

Because I knew that the Hawaiian Applique was coming on an end, I started the prep work for my next handwork project.  This one is called "California Poppies", which are one of my very favorite wild flowers.  I purchased the pattern and fabric at a local quilt show recently.  The pattern is designed by Bobbie Y Jarrett of Shingle Springs, CA and it was she, who was manning the vendor booth at the show.  When I realized this was *her* design, I asked her autograph the pattern for me; she graciously signed her name.  I'm such a fan girl. :-)

This project was originally designed as the center medallion of the 2012 Opportunity quilt made by the Gold Bug Quilters of El Dorado county.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a picture of that Opportunity quilt. 

But I do love this center medallion!  At a finished 18" square, it will make a wonderful throw pillow.  I'm thinking I might do "something" in the border area; I'm not sure at this point.  I'll need to wait until the applique is done to see what it says to me.

I did have one nitpick about the kitted fabric: the green batik for the background was perfect; the step-value oranges for the poppies were perfect.  But for the stems and leaves, the fabric was a bright BLUE.   Yes, that's right: blue.  It was incredibly jarring.  Apparently, this coordinated with the other blocks in the Opportunity quilt.  It may have looked fine in that setting, but as a stand-alone?  No way.  I substituted my own gray-green fabrics from my stash.

You can see that I have front-basted the stems and leaves onto the batik background.  Since the orange poppy petals will overlap the green parts, the stems and leaves need to be done FIRST.

As far as my (infamous) List of 17, I don't have anything loaded on Lizzie right now.  Later this week, I'm having an internet quilting list member come to my house where I will share with her how I do things on my Lizzie.  She has the same machine and was asking on the list if there was anyone "nearby" who could show her some hands-on things.  I'm always happy to share (and, as Mr. Pirate will tell you, talk.  And talk. And talk.  :-)  )  so I invited her up.  She wants to know about everything from the ground-up: loading a quilt, pantograph, ruler work.    I've told her that I can show her how *I* do these things but that's not necessarily the ONLY way to do it.  Even if she ultimately decides that the way I do things isn't working for her, the time isn't wasted: she learned something new, decided against it and would then be able to look for a different method.  But, I hope that what I show her is actually helpful.

If I load a quilt onto Lizzie for me to work on, I'm not sure I would get it finished before my internet list buddy arrives.  It's better to simply defer my quilt until after the visit.  It's not like I have nothing else to work on. :-)

Happy Star Wars Day!

"What's that?", you say? "There's no 'happy Star Wars day'."

Poppycock, I tell you.  *OF COURSE* there is.  It's today,  5/4.

Drum roll, please ....


May the 4th be with you!    LOL!  :-)

"Peace": another project finished!

The Reader's Digest version is that in July 2012, I completed the hand work on a needleturn applique wall-hanging.  The top was put on the Pile of Tops to be Quilted and there it sat.  And sat. And sat.

Eventually, it became an item on my (infamous) List of 17 (tops to be quilted).  And still it sat there.  Very patiently waiting its turn.

Which I can NOW happily say has come!  I have finished the quilting and the binding and the labeling AND the hanging sleeve!  Woo hoo!!  This puppy is done!   :-)

I'm pleased with the stitch in the ditch around the appliques; this is no mean feat with a longarm!  I *much* prefer SITD on my home sewing machine; the control is much greater.  

I'm not entirely certain I chose the absolutely, 100% "correct" quilting for the background around the applique.  It works; I think it looks fine but wonder if I couldn't have found something better if I had only looked for about a gazillion hours longer. :-)  I tend to get impatient after only a bazillion hours.

I'm *very* pleased with the binding.  There is a long, vertical, high-contrast division between the background fabric and the applique fabric.  I didn't want the binding to be a distraction so I used the applique fabric on the applique and the background fabric on the background.  Normally, when I join the ends of my binding, I do a diagonal seam.  This distributes the bulk of the seam allowance over a greater distance and makes for a flatter binding.

But if I did that on this project, the diagonal seam would be horridly obvious.  Instead, I made a straight, vertical seamline in the binding to match up with the division on the wall-hanging.

Those pictures are just teasers! For all the gory details, links and more pictures, please visit my web page for the Peace wall-hanging.

Manzanita: an applique project

I had finished my Hawaiian Applique project and needed a new handwork Forever Project™.  Looking in my pile(s) and list(s) of projects that I really want to do (someday, sometime), I spied a very interesting pattern, Manzanita by Random Threadz. 

[aside: there is a very similar pattern, Branching Out.  That one looks to be the same applique tree as Manzanita but the finishing details are different.  For whatever reason, I chose Manzanita .. I suppose I must have liked its finishing more than Branching Out.  I think it's too bad that we consumers would need to buy essentially the same pattern just to get the different finishing options.]

While the overall impression is rather dark and stark, the leafless branches intrigued me nonetheless.  As with any new project, I'm also trying to use supplies from my stash.  Not that I don't want to support my local stores, but I *do* have All This Fabric and should make an effort to use it.

At the beginning of this March, I found two different toned blacks for the tree and a multi-colored batik for the background.  Using the front-basted applique technique I learned from Nancy Lee Chong of Pacific Rim Quilting Company, I basted my trees to the batik background and started the applique process.

This particular project is small; the finished size is 25"x29".  The applique part is only 12"x16".  It fits nicely in my Forever Project™ box that I take with me in the car.  When I visit with my Dad on Wednesdays, it comes with me and I'm trying to *KEEP* this as a portable, away-from-home project.  (If I work on it at home, then I'll finish it in short order and then, not only will I have another top to be quilted but I'll need ANOTHER Forever Project™!).

So, progress was going slowly .. but that was OK.

Then, I was watching some TV movies and some TV shows that I had recorded but hadn't watched yet.   Generally speaking, I like to be working on some sort of hand-work when watching TV, otherwise I feel as though I'm not being productive.  Well, the only hand-work I had available was Manzanita, so out it came.

Needless to say, the applique work is now finished.

I must say that while it might not be award-winning work, *I* am exceedingly pleased with the overall look of it.  I really do love the gnarly and non-symmetrical look of the branches and stubs.  I love the little bumps and lumps.  Even with the dark fabric, these bare branches somehow feel more "alive" to me than a perfectly symmetrical and perfect design.

Now that the hand-work is completed, I have the machine piecing to do .. which means that pretty soon, I'll have another top to put on the pile.  This isn't exactly what I had in mind ... while at home, I really do want to work on the List of 17 tops to be quilted and *NOT* add another one to it!  Therefore, employing the ostrich head in the sand methodology, I am going to set Manzanita aside for a while.  All the fabric and pattern instructions are bundled together so I can easily pick it up again at some future point ... but for now .. into the UFO stack it goes.

And .... I now need a new hand-work Forever Project™!

Just Ducky!

I had the next top, from my infamous List of 17, to be quilted when we received an invitation to a family baby shower for one of Mr. Pirate's first cousins once removed.  Everything came to a screeching halt whilst I pondered what to make for the baby quilt.

I looked through my baby quilt ideas and finalized on a recent addition.  Does anyone else waffle over what their NEXT!  FAVORITE! project is going to be, based on what you just looked at?  It drives me nuts.

Anyway, the background is a mosaic of squares.  Along the top is a strip with appliqued rubber duckies.  All of that is surrounded by a frame and around *that* is another round of squares.

For the appliqued duck, I turned under all the edges then did a narrow zigzag (but not a satin stitch) in matching thread to hold the applique one.  Looks tidier to me than a fused and edge-stitched raw edge applique.

For the quilting, I did a continuous curve in the outer border, feathers in the yellow border and the duck wings, clouds in the sky above the ducks, stitch in the ditch around the ducks and a water ripple in the "water" area.

That picture is just a teaser! For all the gory details, links and more pictures, please visit my web page for the Just Ducky quilt.

all my ducks lined up in a row...

Not wanting to be scrambling to finish the baby quilt at the last minute, I started thinking about which pattern to use the minute we received the baby shower invitation, this past Tuesday.  I have a directory on my computer where I stash pictures for inspiration, along with the designer and pattern information.  It's kinda like my own personal Pinterest.  :-)

I had a bunch of almost fat quarters, left over from a previous project and realized that I could use most of them up with "Just Ducky", a delightful pattern by Cheri Leffler Designs. 

The ducks are fused appliques with the raw edges held down by several rows of edge-stitching, which looks rather like a small child outlining a coloring book design.  It looks adorable .. but .. I worried about it for two reasons. 

1. This quilt was going to be a gift.  Raw edge applique, although an intriguing "new" technique, does look unfinished.  I would hate for my recipients to think that I was using some slap-dash method.

2. Since this *was* a baby quilt and I haven't done a raw-edge applique design before, I was very concerned that with repeated laundering, the fusible would detach itself, leaving the applique body to "bubble" and that the edge-stitching would come undone.  Either scenario would be horribly, horribly embarrassing.

So, I decided to machine applique those cute little ducks in place.  I turned under the edge and did a very narrow zig-zag in matching thread along the folded edge.

Furthermore, I changed up the actual ducks I used.  Since I was going to be machine zig-zagging the edge in place, I wanted a smoother edge to work on.  The ducks in the pattern have delightful tail feathers, but I wanted a simpler design.  I found exactly what I wanted at Quiltmaker; the PDF for the duck appliques can be downloaded here. 

I'm sure that it took longer to turn under the edges of the applique & zig-zag them down than it would if I had simply fused and edge-stitched the ducks!  But, the final result pleases me ... and that makes me happy.

I finished the piecing over 1-1/2 days .... as is typically so, I had a LOT of distractions and interruptions whilst I was piecing, so it wasn't a continuous 1-1/2 days.  This really is a very easy pattern to do.

Now that the top is down, I'll need to go get some appropriate backing.  I'm thinking of some flannel with ducks on it  .. I'm not sure if this is in vogue these days, so I'll have to see what my local stores have in stock.

As for the quilting designs .. preliminarily, I'm thinking of Water Ripple for the patchwork water, some clouds in the sky area and Carla Barrett's "Curly Swirly" in the yellow frame.

Hmmmm .. maybe not for the yellow frame.  That yellow frame is 4" wide .. certainly wide enough to do something interesting ... maybe the alternating feathers that I recently did on another quilt.  

But first .. gotta go buy that backing fabric & batting!