Quantcast
Channel: MessyJesse - a quilt blog by Jessie Fincham
Viewing all 205 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Double Irish Chain Quilt Top Finish

September 18, 2013, 8:40 am
$
0
0
I finished my double Irish chain quilt top a little while back, and I had planned to take some photo's of it outside but unfortunately we've had some pretty miserable weather recently, so we'll have to make do with a couple of indoor shots that I took quickly this morning before work :) This is the biggest quilt I've made yet, it's huge! measuring roughly 85" square it will be perfect for our king-size bed. 
Although the top has been completed for some time, there's no sign of any basting going on. I think I'm putting it off as I'm totally freaked out by the size of it. Also, I've been procrastinating whether I should add a border to it? I actually forgot about it initially, but I think it might be a shame not to do something as it will be such a special quilt for us? I've picked out the perfect backing, It's a vintage sheet I've been saving for just the right occasion. It really brings out the bold yellow and aqua colour scheme.

So now I officially have two quilt tops in the works, I think this officially makes me a quilter!
↧
Search

Patchwork Christmas Decorations

September 23, 2013, 9:18 am
$
0
0
I don't know if it's too early, but I have had Christmas on the brain! I haven't stopped dreaming up quilts and decorations I want to make for the festive holiday. Perhaps it's the sudden change in weather we had? normally we have quite an extended summer in September here in Cornwall, though this year was quite different and it seemed to turn to Winter almost overnight. Whatever it is, I'm thinking it's a good thing as every year I leave all the Christmas making to the last minute and never get half my list of things done. I'm *really* hoping this year will be different, as I have a whole host of things I want to make and share. 
Do you ever think so much about something you want to make that you literally obsess over it? Well, I do - only sometimes though. Case in point, the Radiant Star block. This design is featured in a Christmas quilting book I acquired over the summer. I've thought about it so much and even went to the trouble of buying in the Kona solidsTomato and Willow for my Sew and Quilt shop! I can't stop looking at it, it's one of my favourite things I've made :) I really love the traditional quilt blocks, combined with the crisp red and green solids. Now I know the piecing is far from perfect! but actually I really don't care so much. Normally it would bother me but I just can't wait to get it quilted and hung up on the wall somewhere!
Next up on the list of things to make were these padded tulip hearts. I love this little block, and thought they would look really cute in country style hearts. I took some photo's of the process and once I figure out how to transfer a paper template I've drawn out onto the computer for you all to download for free - I will share the tutorial! (if anyone can enlighten me with this sort of thing it would be much appreciated!).
I'm excited to get cracking on more festive things! Have you started yet? xo
↧
↧

Lately

October 3, 2013, 5:30 am
$
0
0
I've been working on some embroidery designs for a commissioned embroidery project recently. Birds have been the chosen theme, and although I'm really not much of an artist - I eventually sketched out some cute little birdie's, all of which look rather plump! It seems there's no such thing as delicate skinny birds in my imagination! ;) The floral background is a new vintage sheet I got last week!
I also finished up two more farmer's wife blocks this morning before work. I have been neglecting my FWQ for so long! It was great to get back into the swing of it yesterday. Now I have a good selection of 1930's reproduction prints in my stash it's becoming a lot easier to make up the blocks carrying on with my vintage'y vibe. 
#18 Century of Progress / #2 Autumn Tints
On the subject of fabric, I also picked up a few fat quarters from the Briar Rose collection. It was Amy from nanacompany that inspired me to purchase after I saw those delightful pot holders. I couldn't resist any longer! I'm not sure what the future hold for these, but there will be petting and admiring in the mean time. xo
↧

Books, Book, Books!

October 9, 2013, 6:46 am
$
0
0
There's a new book hitting the shelves at the moment - with some of MY pictures in! Yes, that's right, I'm *IN* a book! Erin Burke Harris has published an all encompassing reference guide to quilting. Full of helpful hints and tips for us quilter's. I found the section on 'calculating quilt sizes' to be very useful, since I struggle with my quilt math! It gives clear instructions on bed quilt measurements, yardage and shapes per metre. I was contacted a few months ago by the picture editor asking if I would be interested submitting some images; of course I jumped at the chance! It's always such a proud feeling seeing your work in print :)
I purchased a few other quilty related books recently too. I got an old 1988 issue of the Quilter's Newsletter on eBay as I fell in love with the pink and green star quilt on the front. I just love the look of this Lone star quilt too! 
As well as a couple of other Amazon used bargains to bulk up my crafty book library! 
Oh, and for all my lovely readers that commented on my Radiant Star mini quilt - you can find the templates and instructions to make the block in 'Christmas Quilts' by Marsha McCloskey. Please click this link below to view or purchase!! It will help me find more great books in the future to share with you all. Thanks so much, xo
↧

Christmas Heart Tutorial, Patchwork Tulips

October 10, 2013, 11:25 am
$
0
0
Hi all, I have a fun Christmas decoration tutorial to share with you today! Let's try and get organised ahead this year with our making! Why not whip up a bunch to decorate your home for the festive season or gift for friends and family. You can create them as a garland, or as a hanging tree decoration :)
I've used a traditional red and green colour-way for mine, you can change it up as you wish and make a non-Christmas theme to use all year round! 
Cutting
- (2) 3.5" x 11.5" - heart
- (1) 2.5" x 11.5" - heart
- (2) 3.5" x 4.5" - heart

- (3) 1.5" square - tulip background
- (2) 1 7/8" square - tulip background
- (1) 1" square - tulip background
- (1) 1" x 1.5" - tulip background
- (1) 1" square - tulip centre
- (1) 1 7/8" square - leaves
- (1) 1 7/8" square - tulip
- (1) 1" square - tulip

1. Print heart template, available to download for free here. Ensure you print the document at 100%, and un-check the 'scale to fit page' option.

2. First off, cut all the 1 7/8" squares in half to form half square triangles.
3. Sew 1" background square with 1" square tulip centre.
4. Sew with rectangle to the right. 
5. With the half square triangles you have just cut, sew a background triangle to a tulip triangle.
 6. Finish assembling the block as shown above. Once you have 3 strips, press and sew the strips together to form the completed flower block.
7. To both the top and bottom of the tulip block, sew the two rectangle pieces (3.5" x 4.5"). Note the direction of the tulip
8. Sew 2.5" x 11.5" rectangle to the right and 3.5" x 11.5"rectangle to the left.

9. Fold along the centre of the block (creasing at the angle with the tulip centre). Use the heart template to guide the tulip block in the centre, as shown in the arrow above. 
10. Pin in place and cut around the heart shape. Using the completed heart shape you now have, use this as a guide to cut out a further shape from backing fabric and batting.
8. With the heart shape on top and the batting underneath, quilt 1" lines running down the seams of the tulip.
9. Lay your backing heart with the quilted heart front on top (right sides together). Stitch around the edge using a 1/4" seam allowance, making sure you catch all the layers together and leave a small gap for turning. Snip into the curved edges of the heart to reduce the seam bulk.
10. Turn inside out and stuff with polyester toy filling, being sure to pack them firmly in order to hold their shape. Slip stitch the turning hole closed in coordinating thread.
After I made the hearts I decided they would look cute as a garland, and also because I've been saving up a use for the cute folky ribbon I've used. I cut a length long enough for both end pieces to tie with a bow and then cut smaller pieces to join them together. I then just used a seam ripper to make a small holes where I needed to join them and a few stitches later it was complete! 
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Happy sewing! xo
↧
↧

'New' Vintage Fabric + Latest Farmer's Wife

October 16, 2013, 8:35 am
$
0
0
I don't know if I've mentioned this before? but I'm addicted to shopping on Etsy! especially for vintage fabric. I normally go through faddy stages where I can end up spending hours, yes hours ... (and I wonder where all my time goes?!) hunting for lovely fabric to add to my stash. These two below are the latest additions...
I have a real weakness for kitchen inspired fabric, so I couldn't resist this delightful fruit bowl print. There's over 5 yards of it - which was the main reason to buy! So much potential. I do love a gingham too, and these primary colours are right up my street ;)
I picked up a vintage sheet this week too, I do a little happy dance whenever I get one nowadays as I can never seem to find them. This one is a bit of a gem as it's so bright, it will make a great quilt backing. Talking of fads, I've added five more farmer's wife blocks to my collection! I scratched an itch when I made two the other week, and I haven't been able to stop. Though I have to take a break from them again as I have other *must* projects to be getting on with.

From top left; #71 Puss In The Corner / #72 Railroad 
#106 Wild Rose & Square / #80 Single Wedding Star / #52 Hovering Hawks
↧

Red and Green

October 22, 2013, 9:12 am
$
0
0
I have two finished Christmas projects to show you today! I feel quite good about getting things done on-time this year. Over the weekend I started drafting an ocean waves quilt pattern, with the intention it would become a pillow. I decided on a large block size to accommodate a 20" pillow form and quilted it in grid lines to accentuate the design. 

As you can tell I'm really into red and green solids right now! They look so fresh and crisp. I have a bunch of old quilting books featuring vintage quilt patterns and I couldn't help but be inspired by the traditional Christmas colour's and styles. 
I also finished my radiant star mini quilt! So happy with this :) is it Christmas already so I can hang it up!? Who know's, maybe I'll have time for an all red and white quilt before the season is upon us? p.s. I the measurements for my ocean waves pillow so I will post a tutorial soon, be sure to check back. xo
↧

Quiltessential Book Giveaway!

October 24, 2013, 9:37 am
$
0
0
Hi friends! In case you missed my bragging post last week, I'm in a new book called Quiltessential by Erin Burke Harris. They kindly featured some of my quilting images and I had a nice little mention in print, which is always exciting! I had the book on pre-order from Amazon for some time and had it shipped out to me as soon as it was released - of course I completely forgot that the publisher was sending me out a complementary copy, dohh! So I figured instead of selling it on Amazon, I would offer my lovely reader's the chance to WIN IT!


To Win:
Become a blog follower of my blog

And / Orfollow me on social media;
Facebook | Instagram @messyjesse1 | Twitter 

Post a comment on this post to tell me (separate comment for each social media platform to count as multiple entries). 

[Competition will close Thursday 31st October. Winner will be announced Friday]

Now be social, please share this post! Best of luck!
↧
Search

Vintage Dressmaking

October 28, 2013, 8:37 am
$
0
0
I had a crazy urge over the weekend to begin a dressmaking project. Sometime's these creative sparks just hit and I have to go with it. So late Saturday night, after much decision I chose my vintage 6788 Simplicity pattern. I've collected a few vintage patterns over the years, with the intent 'I will make this one day'. Saturday was that day! After the tedious cutting process (not my favourite part) I was soon making the bodice - by midnight I had finished the top!



If you read my blog regularly, you'll know I'm not a dressmaker! So this sort of thing is a great sewing achievement for me :) Although, as I'm writing this, I realise I have actually made one (and a half) dresses in the past - the finished one being the Staple dress. I will have to share that on here very soon! By Sunday evening I'd almost finished the dress, but work had to come to a stop as I needed to purchase a zipper! 





I'm using a lovely, blue cotton chambray fabric - which is available at Sew and Quilt! The colour has a real shimmer to it. Finger's crossed the zip section goes well! xo

p.s. don't forget to enter my Quiltessential book giveaway, competition closes Thursday.
↧
↧

EPP Diamond Progress

October 30, 2013, 9:42 am
$
0
0
Hi friends! Just a quick post today to share with you my progress on the english paper piecing quilt. Technically I have just finished my final 3" 8-point diamond #35, which would make it 5 x 7 stars around 52" x 72". Would you say that's big enough, or should I go 6 x 7 stars? I don't have a plan for it's 'use' right now but in the future I would like it to be a nice size for a child's bed! ;) so in that case I guess it's about the right size already for a single (twin) bed...



These are my latest blocks, lots of 30s repro's and some cute Lecien Old/New - my favourite! They're so nice to do when the feeling takes me, normally I'll go whip up a bunch and then forget about them for a while, I like projects like that.

psst; my Quiltessential book giveaway ends tomorrow, enter to win here!
↧

Quiltessential Book Winner

November 1, 2013, 2:17 am
$
0
0
Happy Friday everyone, I hope you all have a fun weekend planned. It's my birthday tomorrow so I plan to sew ALL day without any interruptions! :)

Thanks to everyone that entered the Quiltessential book competition. The lucky winner is... comment #20 Pauline G !! Congratulations, please drop me an email at; hello@messyjesse.co.uk with your address and I will have this sent out to you.


↧

Gingercake Pattern Giveaway! + Sew and Quilt Fabric Discount

November 4, 2013, 4:33 am
$
0
0
I'm so excited to share a super fun giveaway from the lovely Virginia of Gingercake today! She emailed me a while back asking if I would be interested in sewing one of her cute PDF sewing patterns as part of a holiday gift sew-a-long. After a browse around the Gingercake shop, I knew I had to make the Modern Folksy Bunny! My dear friend has just had her first baby, so I knew immediately this would be the perfect gift for the new mum.


My first bunny was the yellow one, I loved making it so much I whipped up the blue and red one straight after! Normally once I finish a project I'm straight onto the next, so it's quite unusual I would make the same thing again. But really, this sweet little bunny was a pleasure to stitch. I also had to use both of my Aunt Grace bunny fabrics from Sew and Quilt, they are the perfect match :) You can make him in just a few hours, so it's a fun little evening project. Each measures 11" tall, plus ears! So they are fat quarter friendly, you can fit the body and outside ears in a single fat quarter.




To Win

Just leave a comment on this post telling me which is your favourite Gingercake pattern
-
For additional entries, please share this post on social media sites (separate comment for each)
-
[Competition will close Midnight GMT 08/11/13]



So, in the spirit of gift giving; not only is Gingercake is offering one lucky reader a Folksy Bunny PDF sewing pattern, I will be offering everyone 20% discount on the delightful Aunt Grace bunny fabrics used to make the soft toy! There's no excuse to not get making!


To receive 20% on selected Aunt Grace fabrics use the following code at checkout; BUNNY
[Promotional discount is valid until Midnight GMT 11/11/13]
↧

Gingercake Pattern Winner

November 8, 2013, 12:03 am
$
0
0
Hi! Thank you to everyone that entered the giveaway, the lucky winner of the Gingercake Folksy Bunny pattern is comment #40. Nicola Preston! Please contact Virginia, at gingercakesews@gmail.com to receive your pattern.



I'm away over the next couple of days, my sister is treating me to a spa weekend! I plan to come back completely relaxed and rejuvenated, with an extra dose of energy for sewing activities next week :) Have a great weekend friends, Jessie. xo
↧
↧

A Treat.

November 20, 2013, 5:34 am
$
0
0
Hi friends, I didn't mean to have such a long blog break! We've been busy around these parts fitting new a new loft hatch, boarding out our attic and lots of *spring* cleaning. Including sorting through old clothes, 'vacuuming bagging' out of season clothes, ebay'ing and making charity shop runs. We're almost there, I'm hoping to sell a now, unused wardrobe to clear some space up in our spare room and then we're done ;)

But of course none of that is photo worthy. So instead I wanted to show you some recent crafty purchases. I went on a bit of an Etsy buying bender, ha! I couldn't resist, plus I had some birthday money to help me out… 
From top left; a vintage feedsack fabric, my first! I love the primary colours. Underneath are also vintage fabrics from a seller needing to de-stash. Top right; I am completely in love with, I was searching for a palm tree, fruity fabric like this for a future dress-making project next year, and boom! there it was in the search results. It was exactly what I wanted, I just love it when that happens. Below are some super cute 30s repro's I got from this shop that accidentally all seem to work so well together? I also got a rivet maker from here and some leather for a bag handle. I've wanted to make a bag with leather straps for ages, so I got the supplies in order to start. Though it will probably have to be in the new year after all the Christmas gift making I need to be getting on with! 


Oh, and some wash-tape's >.< I'm not normally mad for them, but I thought these particular ones were so sweet! 

So now you've seen my greedy purchases, I hope you enjoyed the eye candy. Right, I'm going to hide them in a cupboard now so Robin won't find them! "oh these? I've had them ages!" ;) xo
↧

English Paper Piecing - Appliqué Tutorial

November 25, 2013, 9:35 am
$
0
0
Hi! Happy Monday folks. I've been making a start on the next phase of my diamond paper pieced quilt. A couple of people asked me "How do you join all the diamonds once you've finished basting?". There a tons of tutorials online on how to baste the shapes to the paper, but not much in the way of joining them to form blocks. 

So I thought I'd share a couple of photo's and instructions to help if you're a little unsure… 

1. Decide on your finished block size you would like. In my case, my diamonds measure 10" square so I have cut the blocks 10.5" square to allow for seam allowances - as I would like my stars joining together at the points, like this quilt - which was my inspiration for the quilt ;)

2. (EDIT: As my very helpful reader's pointed out :) I failed to mention to remove the backing paper from the diamonds before the next step). Pin your paper pieced shapes to the background fabric. Take a neutral thread and knot the end and pull from the background fabric to the top of diamond, push the knot inside the diamond point with the next stitch. 
3. Use a blind hemming stitch to attach the diamond to the backing fabric, pull slightly every few stitches, this will allow the stitches to almost disappear. 

4. Once you get to the tips of the diamonds, trim of the excess 'dog-tails' - be careful not to take off too much. Use your needle to to tuck the excess into the diamond point, and carry on stitching as normal. 

Background fabric: Kona Pearl Pink | Diamond Fabrics: 1930's Reproduction | Thread: Aurifil 2410

Voila! Easy as that! ;) hope this helps friends. xo
↧
Search

Patchwork Christmas Stockings

December 9, 2013, 7:48 am
$
0
0
Hi friends! Have you got in the festive spirit yet? I have yet to decorate - or even start finish my handmade gifts, but I thought I would start the ball rolling over the weekend with some simple patchwork stockings. I picked out a bunch of Christmassy fabrics, and got cutting! I traced around my old handmade stockings to get the template, then placed the 2.5" squares randomly. These are going to be gifted, and are currently on their way to their new owner.

Meanwhile, I am us new stocking this year too - they're turning out so cute. Once I have progressed more on them I'll show you, promise. I also have to share my dressmaking projects I've been working on - I finished my dress ages ago and made some trousers as well! More to come this week ;) xo
↧

EPP Christmas Stockings

December 17, 2013, 9:41 am
$
0
0
A little bit of a Christmas house tour with these photo's today! For the last week or so I've been working on another EPP project in the form of these super cute stockings. They were really enjoyable to make and I'm so pleased that they turned out exactly as I'd hoped :)




I was completely inspired by these stockings I came across on Etsy, they are made from a recycled vintage quilt, which is such a great idea! Since I don't have a collection of old quilts I thought I would make new 'old' ones. I used 2" 8-point diamond paper pieces to baste the diamond shapes and then laid them randomly on the white stocking background (although they were placed to look like they would form a quilt, so they would have joining intersections if you catch my drift?). I then machine quilted the paper pieced sections, and hand quilted a petal design using this quilting stencil. To give it a nice vintage feel, I wiped it with a clean wet cloth and gave it a good scrunch and left it to air-dry naturally. 


I did the same for the back too, and tried my hand at baptist fan quilting. I love the effect it gives, and it's quite a manageable quilting style so I'm hoping to try it on a full size quilt soon :) 
     I hope you like our little house too! It's been fun decorating it for Christmas this year as I've made a few more quilty things to have out on display, including the Radiant Star mini quilt on the wall. I was so excited to hang this! and my red and white pillow. I think you can tell it's a quilter's house! xo
↧
↧

Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour: Week 8 | Trees

January 6, 2014, 3:33 am
$
0
0
Hello, hello! and happy new year! I'm back with the next stop on the Quilty Fun sew-a-long and book tour. There was a little break for Christmas festivities just after Pam's Cups blocks on week 7, but I'm back with week 8 to share with you my Tree blocks! You can find the PDF cutting instructions for these blocks here. 



These were a real pleasure to stitch, Lori's book is just delightful. Full of all the bright and happy projects you would expect from lovely Lori :) It features the famous Row Along Quilt; which we'll be making for this blog book tour, and ten coordinating projects (one of which I've made already!).




It's all laid out in such a clear way, so it's easy to follow and not get lost. The spiral bound cover is also super practical and saves me valuable space on my sewing table - I wish more quilt books can follow suit ;)



It was great to read more about Lori and her work in the intro section, and how she started the Bonnet Row Along for her local church group as a beginner's quilt course, so they could practice the blocks over and over again, so clever! Oh, and the photo's - amazing. It's such a treat to see those beautiful vintage pink and aqua sewing machines up close!




GIVEAWAY

Now are you ready for a giveaway?! Fat Quarter Shop are kindly giving away two sets of the Bee In My Bonnet Ruler Sets, and a pack of the new Alphabitties! 



To enter, simply join us in our quilty fun and upload your tree blocks to the to the Flickr group. The winners will be announced on Monday 13th January on the Jolly Jabber blog.

You can purchase the Quilty Fun book here. Happy quilting folks! xo
↧

Scrappy New Year!

January 8, 2014, 8:04 am
$
0
0
New year, new quilt, that's what I say! Since my Scrappy Trips quilt this time last year (wow, where did that go?) I've felt another urge to sew up something scrappy and bright. I think it must have something to do with the new year and new beginnings perhaps? I may make this an annual tradition; January = scrappy quilt of sorts >.<

What I've been plotting is a rather large scale Irish chain - very much like this one. Though I'm not quite sure how big I plan on going! 
So... the blocks you see above are completely wrong! I drew up the design, pieced about 8 blocks or so, laid them out and realised I completely ballsed it up made a mistake! The white centres were too big so it didn't make the correct pattern. I can happily tell you since taking these photo's I have corrected the mistakes and I'm back on track ;) hey I guess these things happen to the best of us!? Once I've got the plans down 100% I will share it on the blog if you want to join in too. On the plus side, I've made a nice dent in my scrap pile.

Now I know I already have another Irish Chain quilt in the works, if you read my blog you may have remembered... well it's currently in the sewing room taking up far too much space. I'm tackling quilting it and it's going, well, slowly. very, very slowly actually. It's the biggest quilt I've done so It's quite a workout to wrestle it through the machine!

What are your sewing plans for the new year? Adding another project to the works, or finishing off quilts which have been laying around for months ... like I should be! xo
↧

Sew & Quilt SALE Ends Sunday!

January 17, 2014, 6:07 am
$
0
0
Hi folks! Just wanted to drop by and let you know; 1. my Sew and Quilt shop is having a January SALE! 2. It ends this Sunday! You can find these beautiful Lecien Old New 30's fabrics, along with lots of others up to 40% off!

Sorry I haven't let you lovely blog followers aware of this sooner!


You can keep up to date with all the latest shop news via Facebook or follow me on Instagram. Happy friday friends! See you next week, xo
↧
Viewing all 205 articles
Browse latest View live
Search