Hello Hive 3!
What is your name?
My name is Sheila Williams. I blog at mindfulquilter.BlogSpot I chose mindful because I view sewing, creating, crafting a very mindful activity. There is very little room for the chaos of everyday life while you are sewing!
What is your name?
My name is Sheila Williams. I blog at mindfulquilter.BlogSpot I chose mindful because I view sewing, creating, crafting a very mindful activity. There is very little room for the chaos of everyday life while you are sewing!
Where do you live?
I live in Bonnybridge in Scotland, about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I originally come from the North East of Scotland - a small town called Fraserburgh and still regard myself as a North East 'quine' (North East dialect for young girl :-)
Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)
I married my long term partner Mark 3 years ago. He is English so wanted a truly Scottish Wedding! we married in a local Castle in the chapel. A truly wonderful day.
I had a wonderful dog Bud for 11 years, he was my best boy. We said goodbye to him 2 years ago, he was my jogging partner. The only room in the house he was not allowed in was my sewing room, so he used to sit in the doorway with his paws just hanging over the door edge!
Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.
I have always done some sort of craft. Embroidery was my main passion for many years, particularly hardanger. Tendonitis in my arms put paid to that some years ago. A good friend suggested I take up sewing as it is not so hard on the tendons. I went to a sewing machine shop and never looked back!
How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)
hmmmmmm well I am a librarian so the stash gets organised in many different ways, there is nothing nicer that rooting about in your stash. I am on a fabric fast at the moment so the stash is quite scant just now. Scraps are organised by colour. The rest is organised by size, all FQs together, all larger pieces organised by how they will be used, for piecing, for backing etc.
Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?
I don't tend to go for designers as such I just know what I like. Nel Whatmore is always a favourite as is Kaffe Fassett (is he modern? I have no idea!) Joel Dewberry, Tula Pink also spring to mind. I just like big bold and bright.
What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?
That sometimes the quilting police are right! I have learned to be more respectful of good accurate piecing as I progress.
What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?
I don't know that my favourite tool is necessarily quilting related but I couldn't quilt without my ipad. I use it for blogs, for patterns, for blogging and most importantly for listening to audio books etc while I am sewing!.
Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)
Zoiks! I am a librarian, this is a hard question. I guess it would be Judge Dee from the Chinese historical detective mysteries by Robert Van Gulik. Dee was fair and honest and never afraid to admit he made a mistake.
Right onto the tutorial! any questions please ask me, I do hope it is all clear.
The block I have chosen is a really easy one, for me this is all about your fabric choices and I want the block to showcase those.
My normal quilts are bright bold and full of colour, one of my main issues is not havering enough contrast. So for my block I want only 2 colours, black and white. What you choose is completely up to you, I would prefer no blocks with both solid black and solid white but a block with one solid in it would be fine. If there is a little bit of other colour in your fabric choice that is fine as long as it reads mainly black or white.
I love text fabrics and ones with directional prints are great too but please read till end of tutorial if you plan on using one of these as it will affect your placement of fabrics.
Cutting is really simple from each of your fabric choices cut the following:
From the white cut - (2) 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips, (2) 2 inch by 5 inch strips, (2) 5 inch squares.
From the black - (2) 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips, (2) 2 inch by 5 inch strips, (2) 5 inch squares.
Great! Press seams to the black fabric and layout your blocks as follows:
Next take your four 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips and attach the black strips to the blocks with the white center squares and the white strips to the blocks with the black center squares as follows:
So basically you have surrounded your black and white center squares with a border on two sides.
Keeping the layout as above attach each black center square to a white center square, stitching down one of the unbordered sides:
You now have two halves of your block! Making sure you have the white and black center squares in opposite corners sew the two halves together down the unbordered edge.
Et voila!
Your finished block should measure 12.5 inches.I live in Bonnybridge in Scotland, about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I originally come from the North East of Scotland - a small town called Fraserburgh and still regard myself as a North East 'quine' (North East dialect for young girl :-)
Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)
I married my long term partner Mark 3 years ago. He is English so wanted a truly Scottish Wedding! we married in a local Castle in the chapel. A truly wonderful day.
I had a wonderful dog Bud for 11 years, he was my best boy. We said goodbye to him 2 years ago, he was my jogging partner. The only room in the house he was not allowed in was my sewing room, so he used to sit in the doorway with his paws just hanging over the door edge!
Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.
I have always done some sort of craft. Embroidery was my main passion for many years, particularly hardanger. Tendonitis in my arms put paid to that some years ago. A good friend suggested I take up sewing as it is not so hard on the tendons. I went to a sewing machine shop and never looked back!
How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)
Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?
I don't tend to go for designers as such I just know what I like. Nel Whatmore is always a favourite as is Kaffe Fassett (is he modern? I have no idea!) Joel Dewberry, Tula Pink also spring to mind. I just like big bold and bright.
What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?
That sometimes the quilting police are right! I have learned to be more respectful of good accurate piecing as I progress.
What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?
I don't know that my favourite tool is necessarily quilting related but I couldn't quilt without my ipad. I use it for blogs, for patterns, for blogging and most importantly for listening to audio books etc while I am sewing!.
Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)
Zoiks! I am a librarian, this is a hard question. I guess it would be Judge Dee from the Chinese historical detective mysteries by Robert Van Gulik. Dee was fair and honest and never afraid to admit he made a mistake.
Right onto the tutorial! any questions please ask me, I do hope it is all clear.
The block I have chosen is a really easy one, for me this is all about your fabric choices and I want the block to showcase those.
My normal quilts are bright bold and full of colour, one of my main issues is not havering enough contrast. So for my block I want only 2 colours, black and white. What you choose is completely up to you, I would prefer no blocks with both solid black and solid white but a block with one solid in it would be fine. If there is a little bit of other colour in your fabric choice that is fine as long as it reads mainly black or white.
I love text fabrics and ones with directional prints are great too but please read till end of tutorial if you plan on using one of these as it will affect your placement of fabrics.
Cutting is really simple from each of your fabric choices cut the following:
From the white cut - (2) 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips, (2) 2 inch by 5 inch strips, (2) 5 inch squares.
From the black - (2) 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips, (2) 2 inch by 5 inch strips, (2) 5 inch squares.
Next take your four 5 inch squares (you should have 2 from the black fabric and 2 from the white fabric). Attach the 2 inch by 5 inch white strips to one side of the black squares and the 2 inch by 5 inch black strips to one side of the white squares. If you are using a directional or text fabric you may want to read on till end to see which side you want to place your strip on as it will affect the placement of your strip onto the square.
Next take your four 2 inch by 6.5 inch strips and attach the black strips to the blocks with the white center squares and the white strips to the blocks with the black center squares as follows:
So basically you have surrounded your black and white center squares with a border on two sides.
Keeping the layout as above attach each black center square to a white center square, stitching down one of the unbordered sides:
You now have two halves of your block! Making sure you have the white and black center squares in opposite corners sew the two halves together down the unbordered edge.
Et voila!
I'm just gonna go ahead and say it - yippee for a quick easy block, Sheila! And I love the black and white. Looking forward to working on this : ) Also, planning to *try* for some of that mindfulness this month. My sewing is usually less than with littles interrupting and too many distractions, but I so wish it was as focused and soothing as you have described!
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