Bloggers` Quilt Festival

Yes, it`s that time of year when Amy generously opens the doors to her virtual quilt festival. If you are a first time visitor here or an old time follower - welcome!

Last October, I entered this quilt. 

This time, I`m entering the 1001 Sleepless Nights baby quilt I made for baby George.

George was born last December. He`s my cousin Dan`s second child.  I first met Dan`s partner Jacqui when they visited Marrakech, our home, in October 2010.  Jacqui was taking part in a trek across the Sahara for Help for Heroes.  While it was my cousin`s first visit here, she is a long time visitor to Marrakech and absolutely loves it.

 
When I knew they were expecting George, I decided to make him a quilt and wanted it to reflect our connection with his parents and their visit here. Together with a little blue Terrain fabric, 1001 Peeps was the perfect line with its depiction of oriental life and the palette of blues and greens are boyish, bright and attractive. I had wanted to make a plus quilt for a long time and this was the perfect opportunity.


To give a pop of colour, I bound it in a zingy orange...

  and did a little hand stitching in orange perle.

I backed it in a simple green candy stripe...and lightly quilted it so that it was nice and smooshy for George.

...and it was well received.  Perfect for an afternoon lie down.

Now I`m off to the festival to have a look at the amazing quilts, which have been submitted. If you haven`t already, go see the amazing talent out there. Thanks Amy for hosting this fabulous bi-annual event!

Baby George Discovered that...

...while his Moses basket was snug and comfy and great for a mid afternoon kip...

...his new 1001 Nights quilt was great for lying back and admiring the view...

or for performing those oh so important stomach crunches...

...having a snuggle with mummy...

...and `thinking with his eyes shut` while catching up with a first cousin once removed...

but George also discovered that living in the fast lane could be totally and utterly exhausting!

1001 (Sleepless) Nights quilt delivered.

A January Finish!

It`s been a week since I last posted! With still not feeling 100% and a visit last week to the Midlands to see family and friends, I am still hopelessly behind with emails and blog reading.  I promise to do better although I think I said that last week.

I do have a finish.  The first of the year.  I calculated that last year, I made 5 quilts - yes, five!  I finished Zaki`s quilt, made a quilt for Elicia, the Across the Seas quilt for Mr. LRP and me, the Marrakech Rose quilt and the Red City quilt.  In my book that`s quite good considering that I didn`t have a machine for 6 months of the year and didn`t touch quilting for 2 months because it was too hot.

I haven`t resolved to make a certain amount of quilts this year but one a month would be nice.

I brought Baby George`s quilt top with me and basted it on Christmas Eve.  Last weekend I machine quilted it by echo quilting the crosses, keeping it light so that it was soft and snuggly for Baby George to roll on.

You may recall that when I made the top (using 1001 Peeps and a touch of Terrain) I felt it was a bit flat - a bit matchy matchy.  The hazard perhaps of using a line of fabric.  Many of you left suggestions and a couple included handstitching the crosses in a contrasting colour.  I did try this but didn`t like how it came out on the back of the quilt. Having heard much of the delights of perle cotton, I picked up some in a vibrant orange and outlined the scrappy border only going through the top layer of fabric.  It has survived a wash.  I`m hoping it will survive George and his wriggling and rolling.

I bound the quilt in a burnt orange binding, which ties in with the perle cotton.  While many of you made the brilliant suggestion of using a binding which would pick up on the chartreuse colour of the onion domes in one of the prints I liked the orange because this is a baby quilt and seemed less grown up.

I backed it in a simple green candy stripe fabric.

Now it`s ready to be handed over to Baby George later this week. It measures 41" x 41".

What are you up to on this Sunday?  For us it will be a quiet day in front of the log fire, perhaps a walk or a wallow with Zaki at the local pool, roast chicken and then curling up in front of Sherlock!

1001 Sleepless Nights

Baby George has arrived and he is totally gorgeous....and big, weighing in at 9 lbs!  He`s my cousin`s baby and I`m hoping to catch up with him and his mum and dad when Zaki and I are back in England over the holidays - just 5 more sleeps before we`re off and I have so much to do!

So today I finished the top of what will be known as the 1001 Sleepless Nights quilt (it`s not that bad is it?) and while I like it, I don`t love it.  I feel like it needs a contrast colour to shake it into life - perhaps an orange binding.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Like baby George, the quilt is going to be a healthy size and will really only be used in the coming few months for a bit of rolling on (I love it when babies roll) as it is far too big to put near a newborn but I like to give and receive something a child can grew in to.

In my ramshackle way of making quilts, I haven`t given much thought to the back yet but this baby needs to be on the plane on Saturday so a decision needs to be made soon.

You are of course a very clever bunch and guessed straight away that the fabric I had received was of course Echo in the warm colourway.  To say I love it is a slight understatement.  I ordered it from Julie during a manic sale over Black Friday when she had a crazy 20% off everything in her shop.  It was a bit of a tussle and very hit and miss as to whether I would get some but in the end, all was well.

I have no idea what I`m going to do with it but it`s mine all mine!

Off to check out all the amazing crazy giveaways - so wanted to join in but didn`t get to make anything in time.  Stupid flu.

She once was a lazy pinner...

...sounds like the beginning of a limerick doesn`t it?  I had big plans to get lots done today but the cold which was coming on yesterday made a full blown appearance and with family arriving this afternoon I just couldn`t do what I wanted to do. 

I needed a small project so I spent an hour or so this morning looking for a block for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.  I have had a pinterest account for quite a while now but it has lain mostly redundant a) because I didn`t really `get` it and b) because I kept reading how addictive it was and early signs are that this is the case.  Be careful, I may pin you!!

I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try something I wouldn`t normally do and plumped for HSTs.  The one that finally got my vote was this Blockade Block by Faith (she of The Summer Sampler Series) at Fresh Lemons.  So called because it symbolized the Union`s strategy to surround the confederacy..apparently.  I love Faith`s quilts and if you don`t know her blog it`s full of free patterns and tutorials, including one for how to piece a Y seam, which is just what I need for my Camelot blocks, which are full to bursting with Y seams!  Anyway, I love how Faith took a traditional block and made it look so contemporary.

Here`s a Blockade block made by Becky Brown after the Civil War.

Yes, it`s a Civil War block.  If you had asked me a few months ago whether I would be making a Civil War block, I would have probably said, `No!` but today I did, and here it is.

It`s a 12 inch block. I looked to Leila`s  Skill Builder Sampler QAL for how to measure HSTs so that you don`t chop your points off when you come to join your blocks - a mistake I made earlier this year when I was making a block for Ayumi`s Tokyo Quilt Festival quilts. 

I admit to being ever so slightly pleased with my points.  They used to be baaaad. One of the best things I came away with from the Across the Seas QAL (apart from my quilt) was Sarah`s tip to pin, pin and pin again and sew over your pins.  I was always a lazy pinner but since I took on board Sarah`s advice, my points while not perfect have improved and I haven`t broken a needle yet.

1001 Peeps quilt top assembled!

By blogging we learn so much from each other.  I hope one day that I`ll be giving advice rather than just taking it! What`s your tip of the day?

So I`ll stick this audition block up on flikr and hope the rest of the hive like it.  If they do, I`ll be making 5 blocks each in their colours.

Lastly, here`s a photo I took from our roof terrace today - not very 1001 Peeps is it??  Over the satellite dishes - typical of the Marrakech skyline, are the Atlas Mountains with snow-capped peaks. The recent rain we have had has turned to snow and that`s the reason why our evenings are so c c c cold!

W.i.P Wednesday

Well that was a slightly unscheduled blogging holiday.  We`re back from a few days at the in-laws where there was an abundance of favourite aunties and cool cousins and so I took full advantage of the childcare and read some books on my kindle! What a luxury that was.

The front path at the in-laws

So now we`re back and I feel quite out of the loop both in terms of sewing and blogging.  If I haven`t been to visit you for a few days I apologize and will try and catch up soon. Promise.

So before we left, I assembled my Drunk in Central Park baby quilt for Kate and Kristie`s QAL and here it is in the beautiful sun we have had today.

One of the things on my Winter Stitching List was to learn to piece curves and while I wouldn`t say it`s quite mastered, I`m pretty pleased with how these blocks came together.

Today I set to work on making a baby boy quilt for my cousin and his partner`s baby, which is due to arrive any minute.  Did I ever mention that I work much better under pressure?  I met Jacqui when she and Daniel visited Marrakech last year.  

While she had visited Marrakech umpteen times it was my cousin`s first visit.  They were here because Jacqui was doing a sponsored trek through the Sahara for Help for Heroes. As a reminder of our fun time together I knew I wanted to use 1001 Peeps but I have been dithering over how to use the fabric to its best.  In the end I went for an `Addition` quilt (well the baby will be a new `addition` to the family) and managed to get the strips pieced.

The pale blue fabric at the bottom of the shot is Terrain

I`m hoping to finish assembling it tomorrow before adding a narrow white border and an outer scrappy border (I love scrappy borders ever since the Across the Seas QAL) as I want the quilt to be a decent size and for the baby to be able to grew in to it.

It`s an anniversary edition of W.i.P Wednesday today as it`s a year since Lee at Freshly Pieced started this great weekly link up - congratulations and thanks Lee!  So why don`t you click on the button below and say `hi` and link up something you are working on?