Skip to main content

Craft badge part 2 - three more clauses complete

 A few weeks ago now I posted my first item made for the Craft badge - it was a needle-felted robin. In my book I had written down ideas of what I might do for the other clauses. At the time I had wanted to make some things particularly for the clauses, rather than use things I had already done. This is still the case, as I am not looking to backdate the items to before I had received the book. However, I have realised that making something particularly for this badge is adding to my constantly increasing list of things to do, so I needed to adapt my approach - so that I can see progression, and so that this badge does not become one more PHD (Project Half Done).

I have been working on several BOMs (Block of the Month) - I have subscribed to them and the pattern and fabric is sent in the post each month. There is also a BOM in the quilting magazine I subscribe to, and I’ve started that one too (but have not yet managed to get the blocks done for March, April or May). I am going to count the work I’ve done on these for the Craft badge, as I have been doing them recently.

English Paper Piecing - BOM from Alice Caroline

This first picture shows some traditional patchwork - it is known as English Paper Piecing, as it fabric basted over paper or card pieces, and the pieces then sewn together, often using a whip stitch. Once the shape or block is complete, the inner papers are removed. No papers remain in the block or quilt once it is finished. Having said this, there are some resources now where the fabric is sewn over other fabric to create the individual pieces, and the fabric stays in. The blocks shown here are less that 6 inches in size - and will be sewn onto a backing fabric of 6.5 inches squares (I have now done this, making them a mix of EPP and appliqué, but I’m counting these as the patchwork option only). I have not worked with such small pieces previously, and I used a glue basting pen to speed up the work a bit - the thought of tacking all the pieces did not fill me with enthusiasm. This BOM lasts a year so the quilt will not be finished until late December at the earliest…(just don’t ask me how many other BOMs I have started previously, nor how far I have got with them…#serialstarter )


BOM from Alice Caroline

The next pictures are also blocks from the Alice Caroline BOM. For this BOM I am trying to stick to their instructions, but this is not always so easy. This particular BOM has 10 blocks each month! I have used fusible web in this appliqué and then stitched it down with machine stitching. I used both buttonhole stitch and satin stitch for this. I did consider doing the buttonhole stitch by hand, but realised that it would take ages, and my word for the year is ‘Finish’ - therefore time was of the essence. I feel that I have perfected my satin stitch - I have been practising it and honing my skills for a number of years now. This form of appliqué does have its place, but I have to say that my favourite method of appliqué is backbasted needleturn appliqué - and that takes quite a bit of practise, time and patience, but it does create a beautiful result. Maybe that is a skill I could use for the Advanced Crafter badge?!


Finally we have a block that I have quilted. This is a block from the Calendar Quilt, which is a BOM this year in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine. For the block itself, I followed the instructions in the magazine for the appliqué, although it is not my favourite way of doing it. However - this is about the quilting I have done. This quilt is being constructed by the ‘quilt as you go’ (or QAYG) method, which means you quilt each block individually, rather than put all the blocks together and then quilt it. The reason for doing this is that you have a much smaller area to quilt, and that putting quilted blocks together on a domestic sewing machine is easier than trying to quilt a whole quilt. I’d like to think that I am a fairly experienced quilter; I regularly make quilts for family - and I also make them for Project Linus. I can quilt a large quilt with free motion quilting on my domestic machine. However - the clauses for the badges should include a bit of a challenge to my mind (and this is where I’ve struggled a bit with the craft badge, as I have dabbled in a lot of crafts), and so this block is quite a special one. I recently bought a sit down longarm quilting machine from a lady near me - so it is new to me, and something I’d been thinking about for a while. This block is the first one I’ve done on this new machine, and I was rather nervous about starting to quilt on it - no real reason for the nerves - the process is much the same as for free motion quilting on my domestic machine. Luckily, after a little practise on my practise piece, the muscle memory kicked in, and off I went. I was reminded of the importance of good light - which is ample in my sewing room, but not so much where the new machine is. I also noted the downfall of using white thread on a white background - you can’t always see where you’ve been - hence the need for good light! My new machine is a HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen, and I’m looking forward to playing with it some more. I was quite excited to learn that you can get felting needles for it…

So - three clauses in this blog for the Craft badge completed - patchwork, appliqué and quilting. One more clause to fulfil - I wonder what I will choose? I already know the skill that I want to work on for Advanced Crafter - that will be ruler quilting with my new machine!


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Critic badge - Review of an Exhibition

  Being a quilter I like to go to local quilt exhibitions, as they can provide great inspiration for future projects. In August 2024 Little Stitches held an exhibition at Littleham. The group Little Stitches have been going since 2011; they meet on a Saturday at Littleham Village Hall once a month, and they have had around 50 members. They hold an exhibition fairly regularly, every 2 or 3 years - and I have attended most of them.  I attended the exhibition with the young adult who lives with us, on a Sunday - the exhibition was on for just 2 days. We received a warm welcome as soon as we walked through the door - helped by knowing the member who greeted us! Coming from North Devon and being a part of the quilting community, it is becoming increasingly common to see people I recoggnise. On entering the room where the quilts were exhibited, we came across the raffle. I bought tickets - I wasn’t lucky on this occasion - but never mind, as the money raised went to North Devon Agai...
Post a Comment
Read more

World Book Day 2025

  The World Book Day badge has a lot of appeal (like all of the monthly badges), and it was a little difficult to try to decide which clauses to do. However, I had to be sensible, and think about what I could realistically manage - and as reading is one of my ‘winding down’ activities at night, I knew I would struggle to get through lots of books.  The first book I read was ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck - a book on the banned reading list. I chose it as it is quite a short book. The language used in it about black people is one of the reasons it is on the banned list. Another reason is the depiction of what George does at the end of the story - which could be argued to be an act of love for his friend - the end result was always going to be the same, but George’s actions were perhaps a kinder way of doing it.  Another clause asked us to read a book which was then made into a film, then watch the film and compare. I chose to read ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ by Joh...
Post a Comment
Read more

Critic Badge - Review of an album

The album I’ve chosen to review by George Ezra - Staying at Tamara’s. I’m a bit late to the party as far as George Ezra is concerned. I knew that I would enjoy at least one of his songs, as it is one that I heard several times whilst chaperoning our local youth theatre show, and is a song that always makes me feel good - reminding me of happy times and the camaraderie of the group - how it was then (it is just as good now, but different!). The album is in general a feel good album - I’d happily listen to it on car journeys. Certainly the first five songs are quite bouncy - and have what I would call the ‘George Ezra vibe’. The feature that comes through in the first song is that lovely deep round sounding voice - I suppose some people may call it a dark brown chocolate voice. It sounds so rich - and reminds me of Rick Astley’s sound. Although the first five songs sound bouncy, there are some darker undertones - talk of anxiety, certain words that prompt some deeper thinking. It surpris...
Post a Comment
Read more