A Confession, A Lover`s Tiff & A Full Blown Affair!

Pinch punch - it`s October and the September Sewathon has drawn to a close.

It doesn`t look like much, but this month I started and completed - 

6 community blocks

3 mug rugs and 2 fabric baskets for Cindy`s Goodie Swap 2011

the first block for The Blogger`s BOM QAL

I also started a baby quilt using Kumari Garden

and ordered way too much fabric...

I held a giveaway sponsored by The Intrepid Thread and Hadley was the lucky winner

I participated in The Goodie Swap 2011 and joined 2 new swap
Susan`s The Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap and Kat`s Scrappy Swap 2011

and I am super proud that I participated in and finished my Across the Seas lap quilt

Across the Seas lap quilt

  and joined 3 new quiltalongs (QALs)

The Duo QAL , The Blogger`s BOM QAL and the Drunkard`s Path QAL

I said goodbye to an old friend and said hello to a new one...

I have a confession to get off my chest. Towards the end of August, I signed up for the Across the Seas Quiltalong with Jennifer and Sarah.  I had been following Jennifer for a little while when in August she made her `big announcement`.  I was thrilled to see it was a quiltalong (QAL) but I didn`t really get the Greek cross on which her and Sarah`s design was based. I wasn`t sure whether I should join.  Then I read some of the comments on the announcement post and saw that a good bloggy pal had already put her hand up.  I knew that I had to trust Jennifer on this one, I joined too and  that was the beginning of a big love affair.

I love this block and the scrappy border - they have a vintage feel to me

I made my blocks for the quilt using my huge FQ of Parisville after Lynne at Lily`s Quilts gave a tip off that a stack of all the Parisville colourways was on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop for something ridiculous like thirty odd dollars.  I love this fabric so so much - it`s eclectic and a little bit quirky but has deep rich colours and gorgeous design detail.

As I started making my blocks, I fell deeper and deeper in love with Jennifer and Sarah`s design and my fabric.  This was going to be a great QAL - everything was coming together beautifully until it came to the  time for my creative input.  The quilting.  We had a lover`s tiff. I acted badly and like all romantic fall-outs, I blamed my own inadequacies on the other person quilt. Everyone said to calm down (get over myself - no, no they are too sweet to say that) and put the binding on, wash it and admire its lovely crinklyness.  All would be well.

The binding is Opal from Heirloom by Joel Dewberry

Well of course they were right.  It`s finished and I`ve broken a personal record.  It has previously taken me anything from between 4 months and a year and a half to complete my previous two quilts but this one took just 6 weeks.

I love the bordered blocks designed by Sarah for the back

I am totally in love with it and it is my all time favourite quilt so far.  Looking at comments made by others who have completed their quilts, I am not alone in feeling this. The icing on the cake would have been to stipple quilt it but that wasn`t to be.  No biggie.  A huge shout out to the fabulous Jennifer and Sarah who gave such amazing support and such beautifully clear directions, directed us to great tutorials, and to the QALongers who made the experience such fun. Here`s to the next one and the sooner the better.

I think quilts look almost better folded up.

To celebrate this finish, I`m delighted to be linking up for the first time in 6 months with Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily`s Quilts, and thanks again to Lynne for the great Parisville shout out.

Warding Away Evil Spirits in Parisville

So we arrived back home yesterday after our lovely week away...and I was reunited with my fabric choices for the Across the Sea QAL.  Time to make some inroads into my `ambitious` To Do List. It is ambitious but I`m seeing it as more a list of future projects, which will probably take several months to complete.

I had intended to use this pretty fabric for the QAL - Kumari Garden.  It`s bright and fresh and its Indian design and colours would fit in well here in Morocco. However, from across the other side of the room where my humble fabric stash resides, my Parisville FQ bundle was winking at me.  So I walked over and took a closer look. Parisville is warm and has autumnal reds and golds as well as greens and purples and blues and perhaps it was hearing about the changing seasons or I was flattered by the wink but they were appealing to me...and Parisville it is.

Parisville by Tula Pink

The eye design in several pieces of the fabric and at the bottom right reminds me, when turned round, of the eye you see here in Morocco believed by some to ward away evil spirits. The eye is usually contained with a hand with the fingers pointing downward. I hope I don't have anything to worry about on that score!  So now to get cutting...

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.