I have been working on my batik quilt on and off for about 18 months and it is finally finished which is good as I got a bit sick of it. The uses only Batik fabrics or WOW for the backgrounds and sashing etc. There are 100 blocks 6' finished - mainly from the splendid sampler 2 book but some from splendid sampler 1.

Things I have learnt-

1) I HATE quilting anything this big (the photo shows it spread out on our super king bed - its destination is the double bed).

2) I will never again piece the back with vertical strips. I had some gorgeous grey batik (that ai used for the binding) but not enough to do the whole back so I did width of fabric down the middle with WOW either side. In itself it looks lovely but you can see that I havent lined up all the layers perfectly square and/or the quilting has shifted it as they run at an angle.

3) I dont really have the patience for big projects.... they end up annoying me haha.

I've included a couple of pics of some of the blocks as well



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Does anyone know the name of this block? I want to make this with  a jelly roll I have but the picture takes me in an endless pinterest loop and then tells me to update my flash (which is up to date!)

I could work it out but would rather follow a pattern someone has tested

I have been working on my first back pack using fabric from my favourite designer (Tula Pink). There have been lots of firsts with this:

First Back Pack (and all the associated hardware)
First time I have used foam for whole bag rather than fleece
First time I have used zipper tape where I had to put the pulls on
First 'double' zip

I have finished all the outside and it is half lined now so will finish lining it tomorrow. Really pleased with it so far
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I have decided to be more advanced and braver with my bag making and I am really enjoying it. This is my Tula Pink bag I finished today.

The 2 patterned fabrics are Tula Pink. The lining is a Kona solid and the pleather is from Lisa Lam who does beautiful stuff.

I cant wait to start my next bag!

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I have been working on a batik version of 'splendid sampler 2' for about a year and am getting towards the end. I decided to very roughly out the blocks to begin seeing how it looked rather than just being in my head. I was going for the  'rainbow ombre' type effect.

Ideally I had wanted a double size quilt and so thought I would use narrow sashing to help increase the size. I thought perhaps black with batik cornerstones.

However, seeing it laid out like this I'm not sure that work and wonder if I should just join them as they are, put a border on (no idea what colour) and just accept it will be smaller than double. 

What would you do?  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  

So I've finally finished the quilt.for my sister. Relatively pleased with it - there is one section of flying geese that I am not particularly pleased with as they somehow managed to gain some fabric fullness when quilting the borders around them. Hoping this will shrink a bit when washed.

Otherwise I think it turned out well considering it is the biggest project I have self designed and uses only scraps. The quilting on the pin wheels looks good but continually turning it through my sewing machine was not fun!. I wasn't brave enough to do the straight lines as FMQ!

The colour of the backing is a nice pink colour as well but the camera would not pick it up.

After my dress-making class I decided to attempt a half-circle skirt for my first solo project.

It has turned out ok and fits but not 100% happy with it. I definitely needed to put interfacing in the waistband (which pattern didn’t reference at all and so I didn’t really think about it).

Also my invisible zip didn’t go in as smoothly as my first attempt in the class - I had some wrinkles (pic 2). What would have caused this?

I’m still not sure if I am going to be a convert from quilting and bag making but we’ll see...

So this morning I went to Walthamstow as recommended by my class instructor last week to buy some fabrics for us to ‘learn and practice on’. I was surprised how many shops there were. There were at least 15 fabric shops and 4-5 Haberdashery shops plus several market stalls as well. They mostly cater for the Asian and African communities so think bold colours and prints. The Haberdashery shops were like nothing I have ever seen before - literally Aladdin caves with ribbons and things hanging from the ceiling in one shop!

Lots of the fabrics were bold lace type fabrics with lots of bling attached - so not for me. I was quite interested in the African wax fabrics as I do like bold prints for dresses and skirts and they are 100% cotton. While some were too bold for me I did find some that I think I will wear if the garments come out well. Wax fabrics come in standard 6 yard cuts (about 5.4m) and they varied in price from £15 for the most expensive to £5 for the cheapest. At £5 for just over 5m it is perfect fabric to learn on and a toile won’t be needed.

They had a lot of viscose and chiffon fabrics as well (in plain colours, more muted prints and bold prints) as well as quite a bit of scuba in plain colours. I think these fabrics are beyond a beginner but it is worth remembering. They also had quite a good shop for home decor fabrics (varied leatherette and thicker curtain fabric etc).

I’m sure I will go again - just to stock up on ‘practice fabric’ if nothing else!

I think I am going to make a simple dress out the green fabric, a half circle skirt from the black and the white/peach one. The pink flower one is a 3 yard cut from one of their remnant bins I spied on   [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  top (£3!!) I think it will make a great back for a pink quilt I am making my sister