Spinning Squares quilt in Today's Quilter

Spinning Squares, which has been around for a while as a workshop design, finally got written up as a pattern, and appears in the latest edition of Today's Quilter magazine, which will be in the shops in the next few days (subscription copies will have already arrived).

It makes unusual use of a layer cake, and a feature fabric border.  If you look through other posts tagged 'Spinning Squares' using the label cloud on the right, you can see some of the workshop versions.

Bits and pieces - some patchwork and the chimney

I've been tidying up in my workroom, so made this random spiral patchwork from the bits left over from the new version of Masu, which I've made with Hamamatsu striped cottons and Japanese yukata stenciled fabrics.  Here are the blocks just before I sewed the top together.

 

Fiona has made a green version of it - I like her quilt even more than mine!

I also 'tidied up' a set of black and gold Japanese Circles and Squares blocks I made several years ago, adding a gold sashing. There's a bit of variety in the shades of gold.  It makes me think of my vintage sewing machines...

 

 

I made those blocks a few years ago.  Here's the variation on Japanese Circles and Squares I made using the leftovers, plus a bit more of the multicoloured print I used for the circles on the first block set, a Kona Bay picture panel and some oddments of other gold print fabrics.  I tacked that quilt sandwich in February 2014.... Must get it quilted soon.

My hand quilting summer job is on this - Spinning Squares - which will be going into Today's Quilter.  It started out as a workshop but I've wanted to bring it out as a pattern for a while.  I'm hand quilting it, with a bit of big stitch thrown in.

Glyn has been spending a lot of time on the roof, rebuilding our chimney stack, which we share with our neighbours.  Both the chimney pots were badly cracked and the waterproof modern cement render had been blown off the stack by frost.  We got a specially matched lime mortar mixed up from a supplier in Edinburgh last year and he has been using that to repoint and repair the stonework.  His first job was making a working platform so he's safe on the roof.

This is how to get up and down our roof - via the gully. There's a rope to hang onto now too.

Once all the old render was off, it seemed it is mostly the weight of the stone that is keeping the chimney up there, as there's very little mortar holding it all together.

The old chimney pots have had to be removed.  Glyn found a date scratched into the cement - 1969 - so the pots probably aren't all that old.  Our is the one with the balti dish on top, to keep the crows out.  They nested inside the pot for a few years, and about 12 inches (30cm) of nest had to be removed.  We haven't been able to light a fire for a while.

Our pot has been replaced with a new one and Glyn replaced the neighbours' pot with a proper gas flue.  He had to make a concrete base for the gas flue, so a washing up bowl turned out to be the right size to cast it.

 He wrote our names and the date in the concrete.

 

Ready for the roof!

The improvised former for casting the concrete at the top of our chimney.  The old pots somehow balanced on bits of stone sticking out, but this needed a bit of improvement.

 

The view from our roof is fantastic, across the field opposite the front of the house to the Sidlaw Hills.  Unfortunately at the moment we can't see this at all, as there are no windows on the first floor at the front.  We'd like to install Velux windows to improve ventilation in the bedrooms but also with the advantage of being able to see the view without having to climb on the roof.

The flat roof, where the crows and pigeons like to dance about in the morning.

To enter or not to enter?

I have decided I will probably pull out one of the quilts destined for Harrogate next week, but want some opinions! 'Spinning Squares', the workshop sample quilt, was going into the 'In a Spin' theme catagory. Not only am I not 100% happy with my idea for quilting the border, the wadding doesn't seem to like handquilting and is hard work. It is an 80/20 cotton poly I got from EQS on the big roll. I've used it for a lot of other things and it's been great, but realise I have always machine quilted it so far.Unfortunately, the entry description mentions hand quilting...

So far I have hand quilted in the ditch around the blocks and the inner border. The blocks were going to have some hand quilted curves in them, big stitch. It would actually be easier to machine quilt the lot, but I'm busy this weekend and probably wouldn't have time to do it for the show (quilts are handed in next Tuesday) but might be able to do it in time if I really go for it.

I was going to stitch a rope pattern by hand in the border, which is a collaged picture print of Manhattan in the 1930s. That was my second choice idea. Originally, I was planning to quilt along the various skylines in the print, but it didn't do much for it really, so I'll take that out. I now think that just machine quilted straight lines, or maybe wavy lines (3 step zigzag lengthened) about an inch and a half apart would be better.

I could leave in the handquilting in the ditch for now and machine quilt over it later - I don't think it will show (busy, dark prints).

Whatever way, it isn't going to be hand quilted! I think I'd give myself an RSI doing it!

So - push ahead and enter it with simple machine quilting or withdraw it?

New & most popular patchwork workshops roundup

Here's a roundup of some of the newer patchwork workshops, and some of those that remain firm favourites on the workshop circuit - hopefully the photos will help groups decide which workshop to choose!

I'm teaching 'Japanese Fans' (above and below) at Purely Patchwork in Linlithgow on Sunday 15th July.  This is a workshop based on my 'Sensu' quilt in 'Japanese Quilt Inspirations'.  The fans are done with machine sewn freezer paper applique and the worksheets for this class are preprinted freezer paper templates, ready to cut out so there's nothing to trace off (I have the master drawing used in the book of course). It's a good workshop for newcomers to freezer paper applique. Each student will be given enough templates to make the quilt as shown (the templates can be reused once), but it's one of those workshops where you can work at your own speed and there's no pressure to keep up.  By the end of the day, everyone will have made a number of blocks, and the really quick ones may have finished the quilt top! The fans are a good project to show off large scale prints, including yukata kimono cottons (as above) and Japanese style gold prints (below).  Contact Purely Patchwork if you are interested in attending.

 

There are several quilts in 'Japanese Quilt Inspirations' that work well as day workshop projects, partly because some of them have their origins in things I used to do with my beginner's class years ago.  'Igeta' was originally designed as a class project and uses 9 print fat quarters and a half yard of each main colour - the first one uses red and black and the second blue and cream.  The idea is to use prints where the background colour is a close match to the plain fabric, so the block borders merge slightly with the background to the igeta motif . As you can see, the red, blue or cream prints aren't always a perfect match for the plain backgrounds, which makes the quilt a little more lively.  If you are wanting to get an exact colour match, it is possible and you could try using more than one plain fabric in each colour to achieve this, in which case you wouldn't need a half yard, but several colour matched fat quarters instead. 

'Igeta' - that's the thing that looks like # by the way, and it's the Japanese kanji character for 'well curb' - the grid that stops you falling into an old fashioned well.  Igeta is a popular motif for kasuri ikat and as a stencilled motif it appears on kimono.  It used to be very popular for little boy's summer yukata, which is where the colour inspiration for the blue quilt came from.  I am going to remake the red and black one, as the original was sold last week. I called the red and black version, which was actually the first one I made, 'Matsuri' (festival) because the colours echo the happi coats worn by Yuza Taiko drum group and other festival ensembles.

 

'Sakiori', also from 'Japanese Quilt Inspirations', is made with three different blocks - a simple strip block, a square in a square and a freezer paper applique circle.  The pink one was made with a 'Honey Bun' from Moda's 'Wonderland' fabric range, with the applique backgrounds cut from some Layer Cake squares from the same range - some of the leftover strips went into the other blocks.  The multicoloured one below is a scrap quilt and the circles made a good place to feature a very large Japanese crest motif print. The pink one was longarm machine quilted with a crest-like design in each appliqued circle, which would also make a good place for a sashiko motif. You won't get all the blocks made in one day but you'll get started on each set.  The layout could be adapted to have more or less of any of the blocks, depending on those you most enjoy making. Sakiori means 'rag weave', so you can be as colourful as you like.  The workshop would require precutting 1 1/2in strips.

 

  

The fourth workshop I'm offering from the book is 'Irori'. This features a part sewn seam block and is a great design for directional prints and stripes.  The red, green, brown and blue quilt was made with a coordinated fat quarter bundle plus several stripes and longarm quilted, while the blue one below has more stripes and a bigger assortment of block centre fabrics.  Again, only the speediest stitchers would get towards finishing off this quilt top in a day, but you'll learn the technique of the part sewn seam block.  The block 'Irori' featured in 'Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match' as well and means 'sunken hearth', like the traditional fireplace in a tatami mat room.  The blocks are 9in square, so it is a relatively quick make.

 

  

If you are interested in the part sewn seam technique but want something a little more complex, 'Shimacho' (stripe book aka a weaver's scrapbook) could be for you.  This scrap quilt also features the part sewn seam technique to add the individual block borders (just 1in finished width), but uses differently sized scrap patches so you can showcase your larger scraps without cutting them up.  This workshop would also require precutting 1 1/2in strips for the patch borders.  The quilt is actually made of 9 giant blocks made up of individually bordered pieces, so as a workshop we would concentrate on making one block in the day - I made a single block into a huge 22in square cushion.

  

'Time and Time Again' is a jelly roll workshop based on my quilt pattern 'Time and Again'.  One of my workshop samples is at the top, followed by quilts by Charlotte Cogbill and Daphne Ford made at The Royal, Bridlington earlier this year.  My patchwork was made with a Robert Kaufman batik roll and Daphne's with a Moda Jelly Roll.  Charlotte cut her 2 1/2in strips from her stash.  Once again, the technique involves the part sewn seam block, but with less cutting out - if you use a Jelly Roll of course.  Daphne gave her quilt an extra column to make it wider, and changed the borders for a squarer quilt, but it is still just one Jelly Roll.

 

'Super Strips' isn't a new workshop, but it is one of my most popular patchwork workshops.  Once again, it uses a Jelly Roll or 2 1/2in strips. The first quilt below (tacked and ready for quilting) was made by one of Dyffryn Clwyd Quilters (if it's yours, can you remind me who made this?) using a batik roll, the second by Christine who came the first time I taught this at Bridlington with a Sandy Gervais Jelly Roll by Moda, and the third and fourth are Fiona Garth's second and third versions of the design - Fiona cut her own strips for these two.  I'll be back in Bridlington for another residential course at the end of October - a sampler quilt course based on my two Japanese quilt block books. There are lots of previous workshop photos of this design - just click on 'Super Strips Quilt Top' in the label list on the right.  It never ceases to surprise me just how different this design looks in different fabrics - or even when made from the same jelly roll - no two quilts are the same!

 'Spinning Squares' is another precut workshop, this time for Layer Cakes or 10in squares, although it works just fine with squares down to 8in - the blocks just come out smaller.  Learn how to deal with triangle and wedge points so the centres match up, either on a 60 degree angle or a variable angle (more fun IMHO).  The first quilt is mine (I've entered it for the Great Northern Quilt Show in September, so you may get to see it in person soon), the second by Charlotte Cogbill and the third by another quilter who came to the Bridlington workshop earlier this year.

 

 

And finally, the patchwork workshop I've been teaching for nearly 10 years and still remains one of the most popular - Japanese Circles and Squares.  It uses seven fat quarters and an eighth for the applique circles.  I guess one reason it remains so popular is that it uses fat quarters and also seems to work in just about any fabric combination! The first one was made by Lorna Henshaw and the second, showing the quilt top turned through 90 degrees, by Bev Anderson when I taught in Lincolnshire last October.  It is a quick quilt to make once you've got the hang of the very economical cutting layout for the fat quarters...

 

I hope you've enjoyed the eye candy and perhaps these quilts will help you choose a workshop for your group?