Patchwork hints,helpful things and favourite books

My on line business Green Star Quilts is seven years old this year. It doesn't seem that long since I left my career job as a community nurse for local children in Lincoln and set off into the world of the professional quilt maker. Some of you may remember the quilts I made to hang on the public health notice boards at work, fabric stored so much better than paper leaflets... so there was the Even Chickens Get Blue one to illustrate Post Natal Depression... sorry, not a great photo....

 the A Sparkler Gets As Hot As An Oven one to remind parents about the dangers of fireworks on bonfire night.... with leaflets about firework safety....

 and the Christmas home safety one with the rejoiner not to leave candles near cotton wool beards.... the labels around the edge all had fire safety advice on them....

A favourite with the children was the Save Your Families Life With a Smoke Detector, which was made with the traditional the house block. I had so much fun making those quilts! The fire safety advice  balloons were supplied by firemen in yellow braces who came to deliver them at the surgery, a nice surprise for all the staff!

So Green Star Quilts was started and I wanted to share with you some of the things which have helped me along the way. I have amazed myself at my passion for the right tissue paper and cardboard boxes for packaging, my detailed knowledge of the Royal Mail postal charges , keeping accounts, tax returns and the list goes on... Advice was that I should start with a business plan, but I started with this book...

Professional Machine Quilting by Carol A. Thelen

Although I don't have a long arm quilter system I found this book so inspirational about how to run a business. Carol gives loads of great advice about customer care, order forms, time saving and organising your day, things that could be applied to any business and so generous and helpful, so thank you Carol !

The next book was this one, very battered now, it has been through a leak in the sewing room roof, the pages stuck together with damp and carefully prised apart, it is my book to turn to for star patterns.. I think it is out of print now, so it is greatly treasured...

The Block Book by Judy Martin

A life saving find was temporary spray fabric glue, so no sign of nips or tucks, ruckles or wrinkles for me! Along with quilters' safety pins this has saved me hours of unpicking... 

505 spray fabric glue

A good selection of sharp scissors, big , small and tiny and one pair of little forceps with blunt ends for poking out corners without a sharp point going through the fabric and making a hole... yes I've done that too!

Free Motion Quilting by Angela Walters and roll of drafting paper

 The best present ever was  a huge roll of dress maker's drafting paper, printed in inch squares. This was given to my by a friend who had moved into a house which used to belong to an elderly dress designer in London and the paper roll was found in a cupboard. There is enough paper for me to draft designs and patterns for ever and until I can no longer hold a pencil and sew a straight seam. This roll of paper is the bed rock of Green Star Quilts and I am so grateful for my luck in being given this.

Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkinson

This is my favourite book for using up scrapes from the sewing room. Amanda is so generous on her blog ( click on the word blog to visit her) and hosts a link up for lots of other bloggers too. I hope you enjoy her blog as much as I do. She has endless good ideas for using up scraps of fabric too precious to part with. Talking of scraps, I wanted to show you a quick way to join wadding pieces. Wadding is one of the biggest expenses in my business and I save every scrap and join bits together to keep costs down. Here is how to do it and I know you can buy special tape, but that's expensive too....

So, set your machine to the wiggly line stitch and set the stitch length to about 3.5. Cut the edges of the wadding straight with a rotary cutter. Holding the edges together but not overlapping, machine down the joining line so that the stitch swings from the edge of one piece to the other:

 Below you can see the stitching wiggling from one piece to the other. It doesn't need to be really firm, just held together like tacking. Your quilting will keep it all together when you stitch through your quilt sandwich. I normally use white or cream cheap thread, but have used red here so you can see clearly.

Lastly I must thank husband, a man of many skills who transformed my sewing room one summer into a warm and lovely place to work with a swing of his ladder and a swipe of his paint brush....

and made it into this:

Green Star Quilts sewing room

Have a lovely weekend, it is freezing here today, I am back in vests and socks after a few days of sandals and summer skirts, I hope you found the tips helpful,

Kind regards,

Sue

Trains Lorries and Bubblecars

This week I have started Toby's quilt. Toby is keen on wheels and at although only a little boy he joins the other members of his family who are also very keen on wheels, mostly attached to vintage motor bikes. The quilt will feature all sorts of transport and here it is, the top nearly finished, hanging on the design wall.

Toby's quilt by Green Star Quilts

When I say design wall it sounds grand but it is made from an old flannel sheet sewn together in four layers. It is such a useful part of the sewing room and allows me to step back from the quilts. Its often possible to see things that need to change, things not balanced, colours that are not happy together and templates that I have put on the wrong way round!

Now you will be impressed with my train design, not stitched down yet but totally accurate in every way....

appliqued train design

I must confess that I have called in my train expert.... so husband, a bit of a steam train buff drew this:

Husband's train drawing

and then I converted into the applique design. I must be sure the wheels connect up properly too I'm told. We do see steam trains in Lincoln throughout the year, the Oliver Cromwell  steams into the station to the delight of lots of children and many grown ups too.

The Oliver Cromwell at Lincoln station in the evening

A bit different from the train at the funfair, they don't seem to paint trains pink often, or write barbie on the side... shame really but a possible colour for our proposed new high speed train HS2!

Barbie train at the fun fair

I must just show you this lorry which brings a fairground ride to The Common twice a year too...

Beautiful artwork and I hope the daughters drive this enormous lorry too...

 Here in Lincolnshire we also have the jewel in the crown of retro transport. The Bubblecar  Museum at Clover Farm near Boston in the south of the county. You can read about it here and there are lots of photos too. The mini caravans and the picnic baskets are so sweet ! Does anyone remember Bubblecars on the road?

So that is my retro wheels tour. I will show you the finished quilt next week. I hope all your wheels join up correctly too over the next few days, thanks for reading my blog,

Kind regards,

Sue 

A welcoming note

When you work at home all day, it is lovely when friends drop in for coffee. Jasmine and little Fred used to call in around 4pm most days for tea and a little play with the Duplo bricks before bath and bedtime. 

Yesterday three friends came for lunch and I really enjoyed their company.

But with my blog, when people visit I have the same feeling. I am curious to read about other people's lives, I read about their interests, hobbies, businesses and busy days. I have felt sad for their sorrow and happy for their triumphs. Sometimes they become real friends too.

So I have decided to welcome followers of my blog , just as I would if they knocked on the door and called in for coffee. Everyone has interesting blogs, websites  and it's lovely to link up with them.

So here are some of my visitors  so far, if you would like to meet them too just click on their names...
Nicola  who works as a freelance consultant in the overseas development field

Chelsea  who lives in New Hampshire, makes fantastic quilts and teaches too. Chelsea has inspired me to try making The Farmer's Wife quilt.... it is one of life's mysteries that my blocks have all turned out six and three quarter inches square instead of six inches....

Farmer's wife quilt blocks

Lorna   who runs a very established garden design and landscape business

British wildlife quilt detail

Maddy   who is a brilliant photographer and has wildlife at her fingertips

heron quilt detail

I will introduce other visitors soon...

Talking of wildlife, I have finished the British Wildlife single bed quilt for Jean. Here it is and I am really pleased with it: 

British Wildlife quilt 

If you are making the Farmer's Wife Quilt, do tell me how you are getting on with Those Templates, if you are, you know what I mean... and for those of you not struggling to print them the right size, enjoy your coffee!

Thank you everyone for visiting my blog,

Kind regards,

Sue

Vintage gals

At our quilting group we had two lovely speakers last week. Julie and Serena from Tempo Promotes came to give us their talk ''Rummaging Through Grannie's Drawers''. The title was a fine start to the evening! You can read about their business here and we had a huge laugh as well as lots of nostalgic chat as they talked about vintage fabrics, hankies, anti macassers ..... did anyone else have a mum who had a crocheted  apron for wearing on Sunday afternoons when we had visitors ? 

Lori Holt design for Riley Blake fabrics

Julie and Serena had a wonderful collection of vintage aprons and overalls and yes, we tried them on and the memories of the wash days, polishing days, spring cleaning weeks of our mothers all flooded back! We were only little girls then, but the need to carry a duster at all times was impressed on us from an early age! It has taken years to overcome this urge in my case....

vintage sewing items

The talk made me think about my mum's and even my granny's sewing baskets. Threads and incredibly fine hooks for mending stockings, enough hooks and eyes to start a shop and buttons, white fabric covered buttons for pillow cases, and replacement straps for petticoats.... 

vintage sewing items

The packets had wonderful names.... The Snowdrop and The Owl buttons and The Sentry waxed thread for sewing on army buttons.... The Defense button.... what for?  Sewn on to petticoats  or cotton bloomers maybe?

vintage sewing items

Does anyone remember Dorcas pin tins? Darning wools and silks in all sorts of colours, the tiny red buttons from a baby's shoes, the mother of pearl fancy buckle from a silk dress...all things I loved to play from her sewing box when I was little.

Then there are the magazines and leaflets, so carefully kept and valued as housekeeping money had to be stretched to buy them....

Home fashion leaflets from 1950's

Home fashion leaflet 1950's

Such elegance, sweeping skirts, little hats, gloves for every occasion and to my delight I find you can meet Mrs Hall.....

vintage home fashion 1950's

She's the not so slender grandmother, but she knows how to dress!! Love the tiny net veil too! Here is another treasured magazine from 1958....

Women's magazine 1958

and reading the love story I find some advice to young girls about handsome men with a taste for tartan ties....

Women's Weekly 1958

Well you might think that if your child was having a day of throwing pastry on the linoleum.... can you read the second column  at the bottom ?

Housewife magazines 1950's

So if you need the instructions for making a Coolie hat of your holidays on the beach, I have them right here!

Modern material by Lori Holt for Riley Blake fabrics

My wildlife quilt is coming on well despite me having an awful cold  and cough so I will show you it next week. I hope you have enjoyed my rummage through my Mum's sewing box, maybe it has brought back happy memories for you too,

Hoping you all have a lovely week,

Kind regards,

Sue

A nature walk

This week I am starting a new quilt. The theme is British wildlife and it will be a gift for Jean to give to her little grand daughter. I have really enjoyed the designing of this quilt, today I have been drawing a kingfisher pattern, this little bird is a flash of colour we see often along the river bank on the way into town. The colours of the quilt are yellows and greens, soft and subtle with little touches of brighter shades. Here is the first block...

This my favourite book for drawing birds from, I bought it in a thrift shop:

Kingfisher by Green Star Quilts

 There will be lots of other wildlife, but now I am making the fill in blocks...

I found I have some printed small panels which are just right with three squares added....

I hope the hedgehogs in our garden are waking up now and soon I will see them pottering around in the evenings. Last year I found one eating the fallen wild plums near the vegetable patch. 

Last year I went to an exhibition of one of the artists who most inspires me. Mark Hearld is a British collage artist and he had a brilliant display of his work over several rooms at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park...

From the exhibition catalogue of Mark Hearld 

I love his painted animals, both wooden sculptures and painted pictures, he captures the essence of each animal in simple shapes:

Mark Heald's wooden, painted animal shapes

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a marvellous place to visit, loads to see, places to walk, great food and Henry Moore sculptures in the grounds:

Henry Moore sculpture, The Yorkshire Sculpture park

Thinking about  places and everyday journeys as I was cycling to the library last week, I realised it must be one of the most beautiful journeys to a library a person could have, so come with me on a trip:

Over the little foot bridge on my bicycle and there's The Witham river flowing into Lincoln

Along the riverbank beside the allotments with Lincoln Cathedral all misty in the distance

Time to say hello to the Shetland pony in the field, I don't know his name though

Boutham Park lake

Past the lake with ducks and swans waiting to be fed, 

detail from Sam's quilt

Through the beautiful Victorian wrought iron  park gates

Boutham Library

To our local library, then back home again with lots of books, for coffee and some of Lucy's excellent Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lucy's lemon Drizzle cake

I hope you have enjoyed my nature walk, There will be more photos as the quilt grows bigger. The weather is warming up here, time to plant my potatoes, the weeds are definitely growing too! Thanks for dropping in to visit,

Kind regards,

Sue