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I know it has been ages since I posted anything here. I have been overtaken with trying to finish my quilt before cold season, and basically failing. I know Africa is supposed to be hot, but it is so cold now! I am still working on the quilt but I think I will use it as a throw for our living room now.

If you are wondering what I have been up to all these months, then check out these blogs. Mainly I have been writing and working at the gallery. I am also now heading up a team that is planning on publishing an art paper for Lusaka and Zambia. So if you want to know more about that, go to this website.

I will try and be less negligent, but I think my posts will have to be once a week as I am considering a new Etsy shop that will be a radical departure from Phyllis B, but with some of the more crafty elements.

To be honest I have been taking this time to work out a new direction for myself, knowing full well that some ventures don't work out and then I have to find a new obsession! However I must admit that I am extremely lucky to have this time grow creatively.

My Pennant Quilt Progress

I am still squirreling away on my paper pieced quilt and about half done with the top. Superbowl weekend I laid my first lot of strips out and found one doesn’t quite match in size which is a little irritating and also mystifying, but I am sure I will come up with a way make it work. I have made a new template to add straight edges to each end of the pennant style triangles so that I have a straight rectangular quilt to work with when the strips are sewn together.

Quilting Plans

Even though I lived here before, I have seen so much in the time since we moved to Lusaka in September. I can’t pretend it has been easy, and coming back has made me realise I could never make Africa my home, but I also want to use my experience creatively. I have been mulling over ideas for a while now, but have come up with an idea in particular which I think might be the best. I want to try and document my time here with a series of quilts. In the past quilts were sometimes used as kind of pictorial journals but mainly in one quilt, with each block depicting an important even. I would like to try and make a number of quilts using different methods – appliqué, patchwork, embroidery, crazy patchwork.

It’s a big venture and I am always coming up with crazy and over-ambitious ideas, but I am going try this one out. Stay tuned for more.

Paper Piecing How To

I know a few months ago I gave a few pointers on paper piecing but I don’t think there is any harm in going over them again.
I generally use paper piecing for basic repetitive patterns but they can also be used for patchwork blocks. In particular if you have a block you want to copy but you don’t have the measurements, method etc. Paper piecing makes this easy because you don’t need to work out seam allowances.

You will need:
Cardboard for your template/s (for example old cereal boxes)
Scrap paper (magazines or newspapers work well)
Scissors
Tape
A thick pen
Needle and thread
pins
Scraps of fabric

First make your template:
The triangle I am using I made by using a rectangle of cardboard, placing it lengthways, find the middle then drawing to lines from the bottom two corners on the shortest sides to the opposite side dead centre.

If you are making a number of templates for a block, number them and then number the block you have to make it easier to work out how to place them.

Tape the edges of your template so that when you draw around it, you don’t soften the edges. Alternatively you could use template plastic, which is available at quilt stores – or use plastic from packaging. I am trying to use as much recycled materials as I can, plus I don’t have a quilting store here!

Next, use your scrap paper to make the paper pieces by drawing around your template with the thick pen and cut out. Make a stack so you don’t have to keep going back to make more.

Pin the paper pieces to the wrong side of your fabric, leaving about ¼ inch space. Cut out the piece a ¼ inch away from the edge of the piece – very important, do not cut flush with the piece!

Fold the excess fabric over your paper and sew with a large tacking stitch to the paper.

When you have enough for all the stages or patterns you want, you can start assembling.

Place the fabric covered pieces right side to right side with the edges lines up and sew together with a small slip stitch. Check carefully that you have your pieces lined up correctly.

Keep going until you have your quilt. Easy!

Life Etc.

uiI know it’s been a while since I posted, settling in and trying to find some ways to occupy myself kind of took over. The house is more or less how we want it now, and I really love our little nest. I am now helping out an art gallery here in Lusaka with promotion and consulting with them on how to create crafts and merchandise. It’s all voluntary but I really enjoy it and the people I work with are great, I am learning so much, there’s more on the gallery on my other blog Scrapbook and Lusaka Art Scene. On top of that I have started to do some freelance writing which was kind of an accident, I write for a local magazine and then decided that if this magazine liked my writing, maybe others would too! All of this would be fairly straightforward if we had internet at home, but we don’t because it’s just too expensive in Zambia, so every time I want to send a piece, it’s off to the internet café. The lack of internet is really driving us both crazy. Regardless, I am coming up with lots of new recipes and articles and my food blog – So Eat is going strong, not enough visitors to monetize it yet though.
I think a pretty big issue for me has been trying to stay motivated when not working, I suppose it has made me resourceful and since we are in a country with very few craft supplies and we are trying to economise, it has been a great challenge to my creativity – in a good way. I also want to use this new landscape as inspiration for quilting and other needlework projects. Time to get back in the saddle!

Become a Fan!

Hi All,
my little venture has a fan page on Facebook now where I will post updates concerning anything Phyllis b. I don't want to clutter this blog up with promo stuff, so if you are interested in the shop please check this place out.

There is also a page for Phyllis b on My Space.

Spring board

The season has been lovely so far, with blossom all over the place. One thing I missed a great deal was the singing of birds during the winter, hence the heavy bird theme of this board. The bird quilt in the top left corner is by Lululollylegs. The bird quilt in top corner and the dresden plate block beneath it are from Ritapizza, who also has a great blog - free-falling. A hearty thanks to both of these talented peeps for letting me reproduce their work.

Mexican Inspiration

I have never been to Mexico, but felt compelled to make this board after listening to the wonderful Lila Downs. Lila Downs is a singer of tremendous talents from Mexico, who uses many influences including Jazz, reggae and Mexican flavours to create beautiful and evocative music.

The painting in the left corer is by Diego Rivera, and the portrait is of Frida Kahlo. The two quilts are by the Boodilly, a talented quilter. You can find more of her pieces at her Etsy shop. The lovely fabric postcard is by Mandie, you can see more of her work on Flickr.