Calling All Enthusiastic Quilters

[FineFigureFio]

Where do you get your inspiration from?

what have been your biggest projects and most successful?

Do you attend a quilting group? QWould you be interested in going to a local group?

Lets talk quilting

[FineFigureFio]

so no-one else at all on mumsnet it a quilter

[bundle]

fio i would love to be, but i have so many knitting/crochet projects on the go that i know any quilting (I'm a complete quilting virgin) would lie fallow for many years...

so - how's your quilting?

[Yurtgirl]

Message withdrawn

[motherpeculiar]

I love the idea of quilting - have a patchwork top just about ready to go to (doing for DDs move to Big Bed )

never done it yet mind - but looking forward to it. I went to a quilting workshop at the Quilt Haven in Suffolk (I think) which I really enjoyed. Would love to join a local group but am in London and wouldn't know where to find one. Considered doing an evening course but then got pg with no.2. Maybe next year I'll manage to escape

Have lost my foot pedal for my machine though so can't start yet... about to start another thread on this actually

so FFF what are your quilting experiences???

[motherpeculiar]

p.s. has only taken me 23 years to get the quilt top ready, then just when it's ready to go I lose the damn foot pedal, how unlucky is that

[beachyhead]

I got a quilting book out of the library last week and am reading it enthusiastically...am quilting virgin, but as dh says, have been talking about it for 15 years....just don't know where to start...can I quilt with old shirt cotton?

[moondog]

Quilting is great! I would join a class first bh, as i found it hard to interpret written instructions. It's very easy once you know how and very relaxing. My aim is to make one for my parents and each sister and me! Finished one king size one so far and have the tops for the others ready to go-on the quilting frame actually but hard to find time these days.

I like the very simple American pioneeer type ones best,sort of shabby chic I suppose. I've used new and old materials. Did you know that the flour sacks used originally by the settlers had one nice material side so that they could be used specifically for this?

I've also made ones or friends' babies christening and my own children. my best one is made entirely from old tea towels and pillow cases found in charity shops.

[motherpeculiar]

i've seen examples of those old grain bag ones - always thought they looked really beautiful. Sort of faded and yet very pretty. As you say - shabby chic.

Beautiful.

Yours sound gorgeous Moondog. Any pictures?

[beachyhead]

I must admit the patchwork bit sounds like the less daunting bit, but the quilting bit sounds very scary. I have a very old Singer from about the 40's!!!!!

[moondog]

Hey I could try and do a pic link. (Never tried that yet!) I've got one baby one here in Turkey with me and one on the frame here.

I hate those trendy modern ones-often made by fantasticly talented people but completely lacking in charm. I also handstitch every inch of mine as i feel it adds to the charm.

I'm not very talented or ambitious-just happy doing the basic stuff. I have a friend who does wonderful ones. She even makes tiny ones and incorporates them into cards with a magnet so that you can take them off and put them on your fridge! The one she did for me is my pride and joy.

Many summers working in North Carolina was the reason for me falling in love with quilts

[bran]

I'm a keen quilter, although I haven't done much in the last 6 months as my dh has been running a business from home and I got really p*ssed off having to clear it all away so that he could use the dining table. I'm about to buy a Horn cabinet though (dh's belated Christmas present to me) so that I can just do a bit here and there without having to tidy it all away.

I belong to the Quilters' Guild , and to a local quilt group which I really enjoy. There's a list of local groups on the website if anyone's interested, go to regions from the drop down menu, then select your region and then local groups.

At the moment I'm making a quilt for the spare bedroom, but as I say it's stalled a bit now. I think I've most enjoyed making baby quilts for friends as they are quite small, so quick to finish and very colourful.

[moondog]

quilting is easy bh! sorry for grammar-ds on lap

[moondog]

bran,do your friends appreciate the baby ones? i felt that my friends didn't really appreciate the thought and time that had gone into them,although of course they liked them.
My sister really pisses me off, exclaiming about the price of hand made quilts. she has no idea of the work involved!

[bran]

Beachyhead, you can send off your quilt tops to be machine quilted - I'm planning to do that with the one I'm currently making as I find it very tiring trying to wrangle a large quilt into my sewing machine - it always wants to make a break for it the second I relax my grip.

I think that for the quilt after this I quite fancy trying hand quilting like you do Moondog, but I wouldn't be able to have a time limit as I suspect it would take me about a decade to get it finished. Do you do utility quilting (fairly long stiches) or the really fancy quilting with 6-8 stiches per inch?

[bran]

I think my friends do really love them Moondog, although I've always announced that I'm going to do it quite early in their pregnancy and then up-dated them periodically so they have a fairly clear idea about the amount of time it takes me. I don't think I would be bothered doing it for anyone that I didn't think would appreciate it, I'd just buy them a present from a baby shop instead.

I know what you mean about hand-made quilts being totally undervalued, I've often thought that I should be buying quilts as an investment as one day they will be appreciated as pieces of art rather than as craftwork. The trouble is they are quite difficult to store correctly (especially antique quilts) and take up a lot of space.

[moondog]

I do what Inow learn is called utility quilting bran (told you I'm no expert!) It's easy especially with that masking tape that you stitch alongside to get a straight line.

People know how much I like them so I have been given three or four really old quilts which are beautiful but frayed and damaged. I don't know what to do to salvage them. Any ideas? I also have a nice collection of old Welsh blankets and if they have frayed edges, I cut them off and edge them with a piece of nice thick velvet in a similar colour but it wouldn't be possible with old quilts.
I can't BEAR to throw them.

Glad your friends appreciate them. Ijust feel sad that in general home made things are undervalued. Same goes for cooking really. Used to entertain a LOT but have cut it by about 2/3rds as Idon't feel it is reiprocated. Idon't want Crdon Bleu but Iwould appreciate ANYTHING that someone had made, particularly when they've tucked into my stuff with gusto!

Oh dear, sound like a right misery don't I?! I'm alright really!!

[motherpeculiar]

I'd appreciate it no end if someone made my baby a quilt - especially if hand-done (not fishing here ladies )

mu older sister made one years ago and I saw firsthand the effort that went in. Hers was a double made from tiny hexagonals of all our old clotes and hand quilted. God it was beautiful, and still has pride of place on her bed 23 years later. I still love to just look at it when I go to her house. She started to make me one as a wedding present but didn't get it finished in time so now I think she plans to give it to her DD. I was gutted but can't blame her really.

Afraid my patchwork top is machine done - imagine how long it would have taken had I tried to do it by hand . A bit scared of the quilting part but willing to give it a go.

Will probably try to make a little one for new babe (due end March) as I'd love it as a playmat as much as a bed cover

I envy you really gifted quilters...

[moondog]

She could STILL give you the quilt as a wedding present mp! Mine is a wedding present for my sister,and she got married 17 years ago.(I'm just waiting until the last of her 4 rather...bohemian (!) kids is abit older and not liable to wreck it!) I lOVE the idea of using all your old clothes. I want to do that. It would really tell a story. I still can't get over the feeling that buying new material just to cut up is really decadent and not true to the spirit of patchwork (even though I do it myself!)
My dh's boxer shorts were incorporated into one I made for a friends baby. The pattern was so beautiful, I had to use them even after they fell apart. Remember mentioning it to her rather posh mother at the Christening party. She looked appalled!

[motherpeculiar]

Afraid I think my chane for the wedding pressie quilt has gone Moondog - she got me something else instead and told me the quilt is now for her DD. She can be a bit brittle at times so no way I'd risk her wrath by telling her I want it. Boo Hoo

nevermind. I'll make my own someday!

In the one I am halfway through for DD I used a mixture of new and old fabric - do so much prefer the old. I got some old sheets and duvet covers from charity shops - they look so beautiful and are so soft they were lovely to work with. Will use one of them as the backing panel.

I LOVE the story about yor DH's boxer shorts and the posh mum. Am still guffawing at that...