Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

"You will find a babe wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" Luke 2 v 12

Dotty Squares

It's ages since I've blogged.

I've been out of the country for the past two weeks.

Travelling in Uganda with a team from Fields of Life.

What an experience!

So I'm back to normality with a bump.

And today I get to share a project I completed for the Riley Blake Cutting Corners College-

 Dotty Squares - well, what else could I call it??

 It's made using Riley Blake's new Cotton Dots collection.

 With a pieced back - it's super bright!

I quilted in the ditch around the squares, then did a 

little free machine quilting on the border.

A bright quilt, to cheer up some drab winter days!

Now I guess I'm going to have to start some Christmas projects!

Am I too late?

Catch up

Where did September go?? I can't believe it's October already!

Here's a few photos of bee blocks I have made this month:

Firstly, for September Hipbees, a wonky Friendship Braid for Judith - loved making this!

and would you believe it October Hipbees is done and dusted too!

A wonky star for Jan made with Denyse Schmidt fabrics. 

 and finally some scrappy star blocks for Cindy in the September Modern Irish Bee. 

I also wanted to share this t-shirt with you - in August I took my daughters to see a band from Northern Ireland called Rend Collective Experiment. 
(They're currently touring in the USA)

I spied lots of people wearing the 'sewing machine t-shirt' 
and thought it was so simple and so true!
You can find their music on You Tube.

X Marks the Spot

Summer has gone and Autumn has definitely arrived today!

I've had a long break from blogging, I have been busy, just not blogging.

Children are back at school and autumn patchwork classes are up and running.

Recently, I've been working on a dotty project which is very nearly complete,

I'll share that another day.

Here's one I can share today -

a quilt I made early this year has made its debut!

X Marks the Spot is published in the latest Sewing World magazine. 

The fabrics are Perfectly Perched by Laurie Wisbrun and Robert Kaufman Fabrics. 

I love these fabrics! the chairs are super and the little birdies so cute!

Seeing spots..

I had a lovely day on Monday, meeting up with some fellow N.Ireland bloggers - 

Fiona @SewFi, Judith @JustJude and Tina @Secret Ingredient:Love

Unfortunately none of us remembered to take any photos!

Anyway we had a lovely morning, and I'm looking forward to the next meetup :)

I'm getting ready to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham tomorrow,

meanwhile here's a taster of a new project I'm starting

with Riley Blake's Cotton Dots and solids. 

and here's a random photo of some blooms in our garden, that have 

survived the torrential rain this week!

August Bee blocks

 Just popping in to show my August blocks for Modern Irish Bee

Scrappy wonky houses and wonky blocks!

and also Hipbees August block - more wonky houses!

This time made with Summersville fabrics.
I'm getting ready to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham on Friday,
anybody else heading that way?

Janome Binding Finish!

I have just finished a new quilt design, made using these fantastic fabrics

Perfectly Perched by Laurie Wisbrun from Robert Kaufaman fabrics.

Fun, fun, fun :)

Unfortunately, all I can show you is the back of the quilt,

the front will follow at a later date!

What I really wanted to tell you about is a new addition to my Janome Horizon - 

A Quilt Binding Set - yes a speedy way to attach the binding, 

front and back sewn at the same time!

Now when I first opened the packaging, I was totally daunted 

by all the bits and pieces that made up the set.

It's a substantial add on to the machine - my first fear was that I would

end up breaking something on my new machine, just by trying to get it to work!

But my fears were unfounded - I just followed the instructions!
here's how it works:

Firstly attach the binder foot, which comes in the set. 

 Next, remove the bobbin cover plate - nothing painful so far :)

This is the underside of the base plate -  notice the metal rectangle (support plate)

- this fits in, where the bobbin cover plate came off.

 Place the base plate on top of the needle plate,the metal rectangle should fit in neatly.

 Take the specified screw and secure tightly.

This bit of kit is what the fabric is fed through.

Fold out the wiggly wire bit (The tape guide!)

Feed the binding through the wiggly wire, wrong side facing you.

(Binding cut at 2" and end cut diagonally)

Then insert the binding into the guide tube, and use a pin or tweezers to

slide it on into the tube.

Place the binder on the base plate and secure in place with the

two screws supplied.

Pull about 2" of the binding out of the tube and pull at a right angle

to the binder, under the binder foot.

Place the edge of the quilt into the fold of the binding and start sewing!

Keep the edge of the quilt in the binding fold as you sew.

Keep an eye on how the tape is being fed in to the tape guide, 

it is important that the tape doesn't get stuck or distorted.

There it is - finished 1/2" binding in a fraction of the time it normally takes!

I must emphasize that I did practice on a few samples before I actually started on my quilt, but I did find this attachment very useful and certainly time saving!

I know a lot of people still prefer to hand sew the binding in place, 

and I guess if I were making an 'heirloom' I would too! 

But I think this is a great solution to speeding up the binding process on quilts.

Janome have some great tutorials on using the binding set, on You Tube.

The question is, do you machine or hand sew your binding?

Anya Buckle Bag

At last - I've finally got round to blogging about my new pattern!

This is my Anya Buckle Bag 

It's made from some fabric from the Loulouthi range 

by Anna Marie Horner.

It is worn across the body, it leaves both hands free -

great for shopping! 

In fact, I'm going to wear it to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham,

later on this month!

The pattern was featured in a special issue magazine called

'Bags, Beads and Brooches', which can be found here.

I'm in the process of setting up a new website,

so as soon as its sorted, I'll have this pattern for sale on it.

In the meantime, if you're interested in buying this pattern (pdf is available!) 

please drop me an email - patchworkbarn@hotmail.co.uk

Modern Irish Bee Begins

The Modern Irish Bee began this month, as you know 

'bees' are something totally new to me!

Basically it's - 12 bloggers - 12 months - 12 different ideas - 12 quilts?! 

 Sarah was the first in line with her wish for modern mosaic 

quilt blocks - courtesy of a tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman.

I have never made any of these blocks before, so started with the smaller size!

I loved making these blocks, 

Just something else on my 'to do list' for myself!

*Check out Lily's Quilts for a fantastic giveaway!

Perfectly Perched? lets begin....

We had a super time on holidays..

 and I'm back refreshed and ready to start some new and exciting projects!
This bundle of goodness was waiting for me on my return!

Now isn't that just what I need? 
Some of Laurie Wisbrun's new line 'Perfectly Perched' from Robert Kaufman.

HipBee shakes!

Online sewing Bees are something I've always stayed away from.

I've never joined one because I never thought I could keep pace with one!

So this year I've taken the plunge and joined not one but two :)

Its not that I've suddenly found an extra day in the week or anything, 

just looking forward to meeting some fellow UK and Irish bloggers!

HipBees officially launches today and starts in August.

All the bloggers are from the UK, some I already know 

and some I'm looking forward to meeting!

Mama HipBee   Di - Willowbeck Designs - http://willowbeckdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

Judith - Just Jude - http://judith-justjude.blogspot.co.uk/

Tanya - Second Chance Tan - http://sewasecondchance.blogspot.co.uk/
Rachel - Mamma Fairy Sews - http://mammafairysews.blogspot.co.uk/
Fiona - Sew Fi - http://go-sewfi.blogspot.co.uk/
Collette - Poppie and Poochie - http://poppyandpoochie.blogspot.co.uk/
Renee - Nellie's Niceties - http://nelliesniceties.blogspot.co.uk/
Lynz - Domestic Light and Magic - http://domesticlightandmagic.blogspot.co.uk/
Jan - Isisjem - http://isisjem.blogspot.co.uk/
Catherine - Sew Wonderful Life - http://sewonderfulife.blogspot.co.uk/
Sarah - Sew Me - http://sewmeblog.blogspot.co.uk/


So I'm going to be a busy bee :D

Criss Cross Returns

Last week I received a lovely email from Rea in Canada.

She had found my Criss Cross Quilt pattern on the Moda Bakeshop 

and sent me a photo of the wonderful quilt she had made.

Isn't it beautiful?

The colours are fantastic and the piecing is just perfect.

Thanks Rea, for sharing your wonderful quilt with us!

If you have made a quilt using one of my patterns, I'd love to see it.

Drop me an email or post it to the Lisnaweary Quilts flickr group.

Titanic break!

After having a 'short' break from blogging, I'm back!

June is always a hectic month, this year even more so, 

as we decided to squeeze in a holiday too!

Before we went away, I finished my Titanic quilt.

I did some free machining swirls on the sea.. 

 and some spikey or sharp lines in the sky behind the ship.

I was trying to give the impression of coldness in the air.. 

This is the finished wall hanging, which I have entered in the 

Royal Dublin Society Craft Competition.

Fingers crossed!

Quilting Made in Belfast!

Well, how do you decide how to quilt a project?

Most times I look at the project and try to take some sort of influence from the patchwork itself, or the inspiration I drew on to make the quilt in the first place.

I do enjoy free machine quilting - yes, it is very hard to get nice even stitches - but there's a great satisfaction in looking at the finished quilt and knowing you have made the whole thing from start to finish. 

On this project I used a combination of straight quilting and free machining.

The Janome Horizon has an Acufeed system, which evenly pulls layers of fabric past the needle, meaning that the layers of fabric in a quilt 'sandwich' are kept together evenly and not pushed at different speeds. There is an Acufeed quilting foot that comes with the Horizon machine, but I was given the opportunity by Janome to try out the Acufeed Ditch Quilting Foot.

It's a chunky foot, but this gives it more grip on the fabric.

From the side view, you can see the Acufeed system behind the foot.

On this machine, it's essential to lift the foot to an 'upper' position..

then the Acufeed can be brought down and into position, under the foot.

All set to go :)

The black guide, in the center of the foot makes quilting in the ditch more precise, while the layers of fabric and wadding are fed through evenly.

Now I'll have to practice my free machine quilting!

What's your preference, straight quilting or free machining?