Hubblebird's Quilt Blog

Welcome 2023! I heralded the New Year by logging in to Kate's Last Homely House YouTube feed.   I've been following Kate's lovely YouTube posts for some time, and signed up to be notified of her New Year's Eve chat.  I enjoyed it, but was a bit disappointed to find that (differently from last year) she pre-recorded clips rather than participating live.  It was understandable given that, sadly, she lost her father a few weeks before and naturally that contributed to a bit of down time.  If you haven't heard about Kate before, please check her out.  She is wonderfully warm and friendly and her YouTube posts are very entertaining.  I often have them playing in the background while I am sewing.   One of the best things about Kate's posts is that she consistently refrains from introducing her politics to her audience which means that I enjoy her chats all the more.  It's an oasis of peace and tranquility - which is what I want more and more of these days. In blog

Okay ... 14 blocks in ... and there are some I just don't like.  Here they are up on the wall. I've been so determined to use up scraps, that I think I have just lost the plot with at least 4 ugly blocks.  And here I was rubbing my hands together thinking, "Only 10 more hours to piece two more 'roses' before I start appliqueing the centres!" Disgruntled, I decided I needed a break.  I'm so grateful to Audrey at  ( Quilty Folk ) for posting tutorials on how she hand quilts her beautiful work. I am thinking of hand quilting the roses quilt, but need to practice on something small first. I remembered starting a Quilt-As-You-Go project about 13 years ago.  There have been 3 house moves since I started making the blocks.  Now, where could they be? I went hunting for them.  Found them (and you guessed it) found several other forgotten fabrics in various boxes during the hunt. Some fabrics were picked out for an idea for a long-forgotten bear paw quilt that I als

Thi is the sixth block I’ve made from the Stone Roses pattern that I bought a couple of weeks ago. It’s the only block that is actually the right size and all squared up. Here’s why: So what happened?  Well, five blocks in I became convinced that the pattern was wrong. How can you make a foundation pieced block and have each one differ in size? I checked my seams. I checked the stitch length. I tried both quilting feet on my Bernina. Although the pattern didn’t specify this, I also lightly pressed each alternate wedge so that seams nested. Nothing worked.  I became convinced that the pattern was wrong.  So I printed off a set of foundation papers and taped them together. They fitted exactly. Hmmm.  The problem had to be my piecing. Since each wedge is foundation pieced, the problem has to be with joining the wedges together - hence baggy middles and uneven sides. I had been removing the foundation paper before joining the wedges together.  The pattern isn’t clear on whether or not to

 Stone the crows ... I started a new quilt project! This is my practice block for  Stone Roses  – a downloadable pattern that I purchased last week from  Love from Beth .  Each block is foundation paper pieced.  I’ve decided that this is a great scrap stash buster, and since I’m on a mission to get rid of all my scraps, it’s another smash. The foundation paper piecing went well, but the centre of my rose turned out to be quite baggy.    I tried ironing and steaming it into submission but ended up unpicking and re-sewing a couple of the wedges.    This meant that the centre template was far too big, and I had to draft my own.    It doesn’t quite match up and I’m thinking of re-doing that – perhaps with a red centre – as the fussy cut sunburst seems to be a bit overwhelming.    Mind you, I’m very happy with my first attempt at needle turn applique!    The unfinished block is 14.5” square (something the pattern does not tell you).    I love the block and I’m eager to finish this as anothe

I was over half way through making the 120 framed nine patch blocks needed to make my own version of Lynne Dykstra's ( Klein Meisje Quilts ) gorgeous quilt ( see my blog here ) when I got sidetracked by this butterfly block tutorial by Mrs Schmenkman Quilts .  The blog isn't kept up-to-date any more, but please go to it to discover how the block originated.  This tutorial was written in 2010 when it seems the block was very popular. Anyhoo, I became obsessed with making my own and, using any scrap I could find, I started making what has turned out to be one of my favourite quilts. The tutorial is very clear and I had no problem putting these blocks together. I don't normally trim blocks to size, so that task was tedious, not to mention wasteful of the black background fabric, but I persevered to produce one hundred 6" blocks.  In the beginning I wasn't going to put a border on, but quickly found that the butterfly wings stretched too much to be simply left with a s

Meet Otso and Fatso. Otso means ‘bear’ in Finnish, and I knit these from a free pattern downloaded from London Loop Knit Lounge.   Both are knitted from 10 ply yarn.   The hardest part (for me) is getting their faces right and there has been lots of ripping out of scary eyes. I love their fat bottoms and pudgy arms and legs. I also finished six baby burp cloths mentioned in my last post . These went together very quickly and I’m reasonably happy with them. However, even though I pre-washed the flannel it did shrink again after the prototype was washed.   This is probably not the best quality fabric, so before I make any more from the next lot of flannel, I am going to modify the pattern to make it slightly bigger – maybe a half inch all round.   I’m also going to cut on the fold as it will be a lot easier to cut out. I’m now finishing up a gorgeous frilly cotton/wool mix cardigan for the new summer baby, as it can still get cool in our part of the world in November and December