Window to the Soul - A Quilt for Juliette

Back in 2011, I made my Marrakech Rose quilt and soon after it went to live in Paris with my friend Margot's young daughter.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Margot contacted me to see whether I would make a quilt for her other daughter, Juliette - aged 13 1/2. Juliette had seen a free Amy Butler pattern and wanted it in exactly the same fabrics - her Organic Soul collection.

As this was an old line, it took a while to track down all the fabrics.  Many were on sale at Hawthorne Threads (score!) but it took a couple of Etsy sellers to finalise things - and the centre fabric was ridiciulously difficult to find.

While it wasted quite a bit of fabric, I love the fussy cut centre and first border.

The top took no time to whip up before I straight line quilted it in vertical 1" lines. That took a bit longer...

I took these shots before rushing to the courier - I wasn't trusting this baby to the Moroccan postal system!
The bright sun doesn't do these fabrics justice, as well as the shadow from the railing!

I really love this quilt - it was quite difficult to part with but knowing that it lives with its warmer sister in Paris makes me happy. As does knowing this is my third finish of 2014.

Quit Stats
Pattern: Amy Butler's free Window to the Soul pattern
Front fabric: Amy Butler's Organic Soul collection
Backing and Binding: Amy Butler's Organic Soul collection
Size: 68" x 72"
Batting: Dream Orient

Help Needed!

Okay, that was a bit of a lie...it's me that needs you.

This morning I basted my long forgotten Cameo Giant Star.  Don't even ask me when I made this quilt top but it's been languishing in a cupboard and today its number was called.

I pin basted it and then quickly decided that perhaps I should hand quilt it.  I make no bones of how I don't enjoy machine quilting and so I plan to hand quilt it using perle. I love seeing those colourful chunky stitches and I love hand quilting.

I'm not looking for help on technique but rather what colours you would suggest.  In the patterned sections, would you use a contrast thread or a similar tone? Would you quilt in straight lines across the quilt or in sections?

Whether you hand quilt or not, I would love to hear from you!

Blogger's Quilt Festival : Field Study Triangles (Throw Quilt)

If you are visiting from the festival then a huge welcome to this comfy corner of the blogosphere! I am a Brit living with my family in N.Africa and I have been quilting for about 3 years.

A triangle quilt has been floating toward the surface of my bucket list for a while now.  I love colour and dense saturated colour at that! When I was thinking about how I could best show off my beautiful FQs of Anna Maria's Field Study, I plumped for 6" triangles.

So a few weeks ago on a dreary afternoon and completely on a whim, I cut up my treasured 24 FQs in to lots and lots of equilateral triangles.  I didn't use a special ruler - I just used this tutorial.

I then randomly pieced them together. No solids. No negative space. Just a riot of colour and designs in pinks, purples, mustard, orange, greens, blues and brown and not forgetting a little leopard print - the way Anna Maria Horner does best.

Did I mention this is a quilt for me? Oh okay, perhaps I'll let the family have a snuggle!  I know it will be used, loved and appreciated. So I went for something pretty special for the backing; I used a gorgeous Loulouthi voile - so soft and luxurious, which I found for a bargain $6 a yard.  The burnt orange and duck egg blue Coreopsis flowers are beautiful and work perfectly with the front!

I used Dream Orient for the backing - it was the first time I had used it and it is gorgeous - a mix of bamboo, silk, cotton and botanic tencel (a man made fibre from wood pulp apparently) and it gives the most perfect drape and is super soft.

When it came to quilting, I realized I was running low on thread! Living where I do, it's impossible to buy good quality thread locally. Luckily, I didn't want the quilting to be too dense as I wanted to maintain the softness of the quilt. So I reckoned I had just enough of some taupe Gutermann thread to quilt it in vertical lines 1 1/2" apart and then go over every other line with a wavy line.  I did but only just!

I love all things blue at the moment and so bound it in Amy Butler's Folly in zinc from her Cameo line.

A couple of days ago I finished the quilt - just in time for the festival!

It measures 62" x 73" and it's being suspended here by my 5 year old son!

Unusually, it was a dull and miserable day here yesterday but the quilt definitely added some colour!

Thanks as ever to Amy for hosting this fabulous bi-annual event.

Spot On

A final finish for March and just in time. I've rushed to take these photos as the light is dimming so they're not great but you get the idea. My scrappy granny quilt is finished. Ta-dah!


I started these blocks back in March 2012 when grannymania had taken over but then other things got started and projects needed finishing and they lay abandoned in a heap until early this year when I added them to my FAL list.

The blocks are made entirely from scraps and I really love the deep saturated colours! I used Kona Snow for the background but wish I had been a little more adventurous.

Aftersashing the blocks and adding a 3" border to all sides, I kept to the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) and did 'organic' straight line stitching 1/2" apart and it took ages!

For the backing I used some Hopscotch fabric from Amy Butler's Cameo line and some Robert Kaufman Spot On in navy for the binding, which I love.  All my bindings may now be spotty and navy from now on!

I think it was Jude who said that scraps are the memory keepers of quilt making and she's absolutely right - there are some of my favourite fabrics in this quilt - either because they are my favourite colour or design or remind me of a swap, QAL or a person who sent them to me.

I love this quilt.  It's sooo last year but it's very pretty and perfect for spring.  It's a quilt for my mum's room so now she has two quilts!  She was in Marrakech just recently after bringing forward her trip but it's on her bed waiting for her when she's here next.  In the meantime it may just get a snuggle or too...or not as it's warming up here and my quilting days at the machine are shortening.

Statistics
Front Scraps, Kona Snow
Back Hopscotch in Lake, Cameo Amy Butler
Binding Spot on, Robert Kaufman
Batting Quilters' Dream
Size 60" x 60"
Quilting Vertical Straight Line

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!

Hip to be Square

This quilt top is in making terms what Heinz baked beans on toast is to a snack.  Instant gratification.

I held out for 2 months but resistance was futile.  I started something new. Ever since I saw Katy's giant Indie star, I knew I wanted to make one.  I happened to have 8 fat quarters of Amy Butler's Cameo but I needed some background fabric.

Despite carrying only hand luggage for her trip from the States to Morocco, I asked (cheeky? moi?) my friend Elizabeth to play fabric mule and bring over the requisite amount of Kona Navy and she agreed!

It's a lovely size of 68" square and I love it! I've always loved square quilts.  I see more in my future.

As a very small thank you to my friend, I made her a travelling tea bag wallet using Charlotte's tutorial, which is excellent! Well what else do you make an Englishwoman in New York? Again, a super quick and easy make. The only thing I fell down on was the ribbon as I only had a white one and a pale blue, cream or yellow one would have been infinitely nicer but we'll ignore the ribbon and concentrate on the fabric, which matches my triple zippie.

Then I filled it with some Earl Grey, Chai and lemon verbena tea bags.

Instant makes?  You gotta love 'em!

The One that Sneaked Under the Wire

We're in England!  Well we've been here almost 2 weeks actually and it's rained here almost every second. It was raining when we arrived, Christmas came and went and it's still raining. I understand now how difficult it is to take pictures in natural light as ... uhmmm, there is very little!

Converging Corners quilt

A belated but very Merry Christmas to everyone.

The first thing I did after arriving was to take my machine back to the shop I bought it from.  It's under warranty and they have promised they will fix it before we leave.

After sporadic periods of quilting, interspersed with shopping for presents and a trip to the local panto, I finished sewing down the binding on my mum's quilt on Christmas Eve.

I waited to share it with you as I wanted to wash it and show it to you in all its crinkly loveliness on some glamourous country location but the incessant rain have put a stop to that one.

You may remember this was secret sewing for my mum. With some Kaffe Fasset fabrics, I used Film in the Fridge's tutorial for her Converging Corner's block - when I showed a teaser here - most of you guessed right. These blocks are super easy to make but more time consuming than you might think.  With no sashing, you also have to make quite a few of them to get a decent sized quilt.  After 20 blocks, I called it a day and added a 6 " border.

For the backing, I used Amy Butler's Harriet's Kitchen from her beautiful Cameo line.

The binding is also from the Cameo line - Folly in zinc. I would love to make a shirt from this fabric.

I'm really happy with how the Cameo fabrics work with the Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

For the quilting, I did organic straight lines - while I like the effect, it took a long time to quilt!

So this is a very late birthday early Christmas present for my mum, and a satisfying late finish for 2012.

Quilt Statistics

Quilt Top Assorted Kaffe Fasset and Kona White
Backing Amy Butler's Harriet's Kitchen from the Cameo Line
Binding Folly in Zinc also Cameo
Batting Quilter's Dream 100% cotton
Measures 72" x 60"

Like a lot of people, I have tried to stay away from the computer over Christmas so that I can enjoy my time with family. After New Year, I am looking forward to getting my machine back and resuming some kind of normal service...

What??? A Finish???

Well I don't like to spoil you with a finish too often but I have one today.

Now this is the kind of quilt that people knock out on a Saturday afternoon and it's just the teensiest bit shameful that women have conceived and given birth in the time I took to complete it but my Lark quilt is done.

In the end I took quilting inspiration from Hadley's Across the Seas quilt. Funny to think that we were just finishing those up this time last year...

Anyway I digress.  The quilting is circular ripples emanating from one corner. My idea was to have soft undulating quilting in contrast to the angular patterned fabric squares.  I seem to like circles at the moment.  I read somewhere that if you have circles in your home decor, they are de-stressing.

I drew around a plate in one corner and echo quilted until I reached the opposite corner. Quilting wasn't without its incidents.  When I got to the centre and the quilt became more difficult to manoeuvre through the throat of my machine, I thought I would turn the quilt around and start from the opposite corner and have the ripples meeting and crossing over in the middle.  I can feel Trudi wincing.

 The huge risk is obviously that there would be some bunching....and yep, I committed quilting suicide and that's exactly what happened.  So a day of unpicking later, I was able to finish the quilting and bind it in a couple of the Amy Butler FQs which Helen sent me earlier this year.

Linking up with Sew Modern Monday. Click on the button below and you will be magically teleported to lovely and inspiring finishes.

Weekend Whim

A huge thank you for all the brilliant suggestions as to how I should quilt my Lark quilt, which I got all basted up on Friday.  I particularly like any suggestions for 'organic' quilting as my quilting is quite naturally wonky organic.

We had surprise visitors of the family variety over the weekend and so I still haven't gottten to the crucial quilting decision yet. I make no secret of the fact that I really don't enjoy the quilting bit.  I'm a patchwork girl and love the piecing process...and I guess that's why I have so many unfinished projects!

With it still ridiculously hot here, we went up in to the foothills of the Atlas mountains yesterday for lunch and some relief from the heat.

The simple cafes make the most delicious tagines and in the summer the tables are placed in the glacial stream so that you can kick your sandals off and get cool.

Here's my handsome boy leaving a sulk on some steps down to the cafe. He is so difficult to photograph now as 'we' have entered the silly photo face season. I'm reliably informed that this phase lasts quite a long time.

And here are some jolly musicians crossing the wibbly wobbly foot bridge.

Hope you had a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday

When does a work in progress become a UFO I frequently ask myself as I stare at the growing pile of quilt tops on the spare bed (or granny's bed as it is affectionately known in our house).



For example, do you remember my Lark quilt top, which I made one afternoon back in.... January? No, I don't expect you do.  I know it's very simple but I really wanted to show off Amy Butler's fabrics, most of which are large scale.

While I was in England I picked up some batting and my mum bought me this Amy Butler fabric for the backing as part of my birthday present. So guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?  Yes - I'll be on all fours basting.

So my question for you this fine evening is: what do you think about the quilting?  I would like to do some straight line quilting and any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

So in honour of resuscitating this UFO and Lee's return from her summer break,  I'm linking up for the first time in a very long time with WIP Wednesday here. Head over and see what more productive people are up to.

A Case of Discombobulation

I`m feeling discombobulated.  I have hardly sewn the last 10 days and so have very little to share with you.  I`m feeling out of sorts in a way I can`t really describe.  So I shall just share with you a taste of what`s been going on around here.

It`s really quite warm at the moment and so there has been quite a lot of this...

...walks in the souqs where sunglasses wait in the shade...

...a trip to a vegan restaurant with sun-kissed balconies...

...a realisation that I shouldn`t have thrown away that broken plate...

...pumpkin adorned staircases...

...and weird stingy spider`s web affairs outside the Koutoubia mosque...

I made this Kaffe Fasset selvedge pouch for Mother`s Day...

...and the ends are improving...

...and lastly, a huge huge thank you to my lovely bloggy friend Helen who sent me these Amy Butler Soul Blossoms FQs!  A few weeks ago Helen was looking for suggestions for quilting retreats and said that she would send a `small something` to the person who suggested the retreat she chose. I was the first to suggest the FQ Retreat and she took me up on it!  Thank you Helen - you are too generous! I love Amy Butler so so much and I can`t wait to meet you in June!

We are half way through the My Modern Muse series and I`m loving all the interviews and hope you are too.  I still have some amazing ones coming up so thank you to everyone who has joined in.

Hoping you are having a wonderful weekend!