Nyan Cat Quilt Top

In November 2013 I found a Nyan Cat quilt a long on a site by an amazing textile artist Choly Knight. I decided having just finished my first quilt I would take it upon myself to undertake a second (technically 3rd as The Art of Quilting Magazine I collect started a Homestead Quilt in issue 91) 

I made the first block on November 11th 2013 because I had some Dark Blue Fabric and left over white from my patchwork quilt and decreed the Nyan Cat Quilt would be my project for 2014. 

The Next day whilst doing blocks for my patchwork Homestead quilt I realized I still had a sizeable amount of Blue left so I though what the Hell I will attempt the Second section of the quilt and I did..

I did the Third and Final part (for 2013) of the Nyan cat quilt a few days later and it was left untill Monday the 13th of January. When I decided to kick start the project again! I had planned to do one section a month and leave it at that......this was not the case! between Monday and Friday I got the fabric I needed and whizzed through the quilt top in No time. making all 8 small sections to sew into 3 big sections that were then sewn together to create the entire body of the quilt top

So here is the quilt top for my Nyan Cat quilt. 

Choly's method and pattern for this top made the process extremely easy and simple rather than cutting out a shed load of 2" squares pixel by pixel (which is what I originally intended to do) this method bunched pixels together in varying squares and rectangles to make the whole thing a lot easier 

My nephew who loves Nyan Cat also as seen it and wants one. I may consider making another one for him not sure yet though LOL..

If you are interested in creating your own Nyan Cat quilt I seriously reccomend you check out Choly's quilt a long pattern here: http://cholyknight.com/category/free-projects/quilting-free-projects/nyan-cat-quilt-along/ 

Paper Piecing

As you all might know,I enjoy quilting and sewing Its a very far off branch of the design family but its still part of it. Recently I found out about a method of quilt blocking called Paper piecing.

Its basically a paper pattern that you sew over. it allows you to create much more detailed blocks. I mainly wanted to try out this type of sewing because of some brilliant patterns I had found on a great site for all things sewing and fandom related Fandom in Stitches. They have a small selection of Hunger Games blocks based of the 12 districts and the Mocking-Jay seals from the covers of the adult versions of the books.

Below is my first attempt at paper piecing, it is the Hunger Games Block

As you can see the block was a bit of a disaster very wonky but you can still tell what it is if your a Hunger Games fan and if not you can pretty much tell its a bird carrying an arrow.

I was not going to let this outcome deter me though, Fandom in stitches has a great selection of blocks mostly paper pieced and a fair selectionof Hand embroider patterns also on my searches I found something I knew I had to make...The Rocky Horror Picture Show Lips!! Being a huge Rocky Fan I got pretty excited about finding this design rushed to print it off and get sewing. below is the result 

The pattern was a 7" long Rectangle so I added strips to the top and sides to square it off, I still have no idea what I'm going to do with this but I am very impressed with myself this time round. Their is hardly any issue with lining up the pieces and I only made 1 mistake that I wont tell you about lol...

So onto todays sewing. I decided to continue with the Hunger Games series (having all 3 patterns ready) and make the Catching Fire block, I technically finished today after starting yesterday and getting very angry with my self for making mistakes. But I persevered on today and finally finished the Catching Fire block. 

Their was again a small problem matching up the pieces for a perfect alinement and I again misjudged the size of fabric hence the white spot on the top of the Mocking-Jay's head but over all I am again pretty satisfied with the results here so much so that I decided to carry on sewing and make this into a cushion! 

From the start my plan had been to create a set of 3 Mocking-Jay cushions for my self so I figured I had better get a start on things as you can see below the cushion looks rather awesome if I do say so myself. 

Only problem with making this cushion is that I used up  a fair chunk of my stash of Black fabric so I'm pretty short on it now and not sure If I can make the final block 

Quilts again & Model Kits

Well it was my Birthday 2 days ago and I got lots of awesome Doctor Who bits (god bless the 50th Anniversary being in November) I also got an INCREDIBLE War of The Worlds Alien Tripod model kit from the 2005 version of the movie that despite working on for two days I am making rather fast progress.

I can't do much else after working on the hips & legs because I am planning on lighting the head as since I am a complete newbie to this Its going to take some time, Below is a photo of the Progress I have made so far.

Whilst I am talking about crafty projects I am very proud to say I have completed The Art of Quilting, Well the first 90 issues, they have expanded it on an extra 50 to make a 2nd quilt that I am working on, I have only quilted about 10 blocks so far just to get a feel for stitch-in-the-ditch. My partner doesn't think I can do the entire quilt as my sewing machine isn't very wide. I think I agree with him and are only quilting 4 blocks in each corner of the quilt. 

Finally, My Nyan cat quilt is coming along nicely I have gotten together 4 sections of the quilt and waiting a fabric delivery before I can start on the 5th section, I laid out 3 pieces along the top that I have completed to get a feel for the size, I got to say its not as large as I thought it was going to be. See you next time 

Quilts

Over the past 2 years I have been collecting a Part Work magazine from Hachette called The Art of Quilting, It consisted of 90 issues (now 150 issues) to make a patchwork quilt. The First 90 Issues created one and the additional 60 issues will make a second.

I finished the quilt top about a fortnight ago and I have just started to quilt it, Its going to take a long time on my little sewing machine haha But I'm glad its finished.  Below is a photo of me trimming it and of it in the machine closing the edges of the 3 layers (quilt top, wadding & quilt back)

This quilt has been a good journey and mega fun, Through out the process of it, I have planned several other quilts that I wanted to do (mainly pixel art quilts) and I have made it my New Years Resolution to complete the two I want to do the Most. Nyan Cat & Yoshi! I found a brilliant site that had a series of tutorial posts to create a Nyan Cat quilt. Its spread of 12 weeks. Below is the Week One tutorial. I will be posting each fortnight when I create the next patch I dont think I will be doing the 2nd part untill 2014 though but that being said I do have a fair bit of white/blue fabric so I could make the space parts over the new few weeks

If you are interested in the Nyan Cat Quilt Along  you can find it here: http://cholyknight.com/2013/09/10/nyan-cat-quilt-along/

The Day of The Doctor

With the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who fast approaching I thought I would contribute some fan art to the event and have a play around with the poster for the special using Springfield Punx amazing characters.

#SaveTheDay

I also have something new from the Lisa goes GAGA collection, its been a while since I got my teeth into that project I know but I'm back on it and theirs only 6 more left...This one is titled Touch The Skies!

Check out Dean over at Springfield Punx: springfieldpunx.blogspot.co.uk 

Chow for now Dah-Lings

Feedback

pretty self explanatory post, made a nice little piece that has feedback from some of my clients.
Enjoy x

Big Announcement

Hey Guys,

As you might know I am on the prince's Trust programme at the minute, and part of it is a 2 week work placement, and The team leaders Tracey & Lorraine have worked really hard to secure mine.

I am happy to announce that I will be on a two week work placement at Meep Meep.
Meep are a Graphic Design & Advertising agency is Gainsborough that specialize in Marketing Graphic design. I'm super excited to see were this leads, and have an interview tomorrow with them, least Tracey says its referred to as an interview when its just a risk assessment and a meet and greet.

I am also working on something crafty, I have been learning to crochet, and have only got the hang of Granny Squares so I am making a Pixel art blanket for my other half. Its going to be Yoshi from Super Mario Bros ^^