A Handpieced Mini Quilt

Three months ago I signed up for Jo's #handpiecedminiswap on Instagram. I thought it might rejig my mojo. My partner, Fiona said she liked 1930s style fabrics in traditional designs. I EPP'd the central panel using 1 1/2" diamonds and Fresh Air by American Jane - using these fabrics took me well out of my comfort zone and I struggled at first to put them together. But in the end, I think I just succeeded.

Mini Quilt Stats
Central Panel: Fresh Air by American Jane
Background Fabric - pale yellow dot 
Binding: Fresh Air
Size: 25" x 25"

Time Flies...

Just over 3 years ago, I tried my hand for the first time at curved piecing and made a Drunkards Path panel using a charm pack of Kate Spain's Central Park. It was a success but it was small.

Over the years....don't ask me when....I added some white sashing and a scrappy border of some of my favourite fabrics.

Back in to the WiP wilderness it went before I rescued it and added some more sashing and a last scrappy border of Central Park and some of Anna Maria Horner's True Colors.

I did a pieced back using some Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner fabrics which I picked up at bargain prices over the holidays....

....quilted it with some organic straight lines about 1" apart and bound it with some more True Colors.

Et voila! A baby/girl quilt for this little sweetie - my niece, Amina. She is my youngest sister-in-law's baby who I first met when she was just nine year's old and here she is all grown up 16 years later with her own baby.

I hope she'll enjoy kicking her legs while lying in the centre and later sitting and playing with her toys on it. I hope she'll drag it around and it will be a quilt she can grow in to. For me, well it's a first finish in a long time and a first finish for 2015.

Thoroughly Modern Maples (Marrakech Edition)

It's autumn.  My favourite season. It always has been - from my childhood when I grew up in leafy Warwickshire to my life now when it signals the end at last to months of extreme heat.

Back in April, I asked my wonderful Stitch Tease gals to make maple blocks for my second round. I wanted my own bit of fall in a country where there are only two seasons.

I suggested this tutorial for a 12¨ finished block but left them to make smaller blocks if they preferred.

There are some great variations in Lynne and Kerry's 500 Quilt Blocks. I asked for one block in traditional fall colours and the second in jewel tones - both scrappy with low volume backgrounds.

They sent the most beautiful blocks but summer quickly arrived and they were packed away.

Before we left for England in August, I made some improv. pieced low volume filler blocks and assembled them with the maple blocks in a random arrangement to give the impression of falling leaves.

Fast forward to last month when I basted and quilted it using organic wavy overlapping vertical rows every couple of inches. The batting is my favourite Dream Orient - it has a beautiful drape.

The backing is something I picked up in a Pink Castle $6 yard sale - it's Honeycomb in Sunglow by Freespirit and is very pretty. The binding is a yellow chevron. I wanted a paleish binding which allowed the leaves to be free rather than a dark binding which would frame them.

There was a bit of 'accidental perfection' with the last mitered corner.

Thank you so much to my bee mates Helen, Hadley, Susan, Katy, Ange, Di, Dianne, Val, Cindy, Jennifer and Trina for the beautiful blocks they made.

Now I have my small bit of fall - Marrakech style!

We're now in the third round of Stitch Tease and it was my month again in September. The blocks have started to arrive and they are amazing. I may have caused my bee mates some pain in making them for which I'm sorry - I'll show you them another day and the colour palette may surprise you!

For now I shall link up with Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day.

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!

Getting My Tula On

My first designer crush was Tula Pink, and I'm still crushing.

I had to look back at my blog to see exactly when I started my Tula Pink City Sampler blocks and it was last October!

The last couple of days I've been making some progress. I've now completed 56 of the 100 modern sampler blocks. They are fun to make and quick - usually taking only minutes to complete.

The solids are either Kona or Oakshott. The patterned fabrics are all Tula Pink from various lines.

My favourite block still remains the first. Block No.1 The colours and fabrics are so pretty.

Having only a design floor, I laid out the blocks today on an old duvet cover.

After the last three quilt finishes having no negative space whatsoever, I know I want to sash these blocks. Perhaps Essex Linen in natural?

Anyway, I don't anticipate making the whole one hundred blocks.  For one, the quilt would simply be too big for me to quilt. So now I'm going to pick and choose the blocks I make and avoid some of those triangle blocks!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

I finished my Hand Drawn Garden Plus quilt a couple of weeks ago but have been saving its reveal for the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side - one of my favourite online events which happens twice a year.

I am a huge fan of anything Anna Maria Horner and unlike many people I have no problem taking my rotary cutter to my favourite fabrics! So a few weeks ago, I decided to make a simple patchwork quilt from my FQs of her Hand Drawn Garden line.

But when I laid out the 5 1/2" squares it didn't look quite how I had seen it in my head. So I decided to try a plus block layout and liked it. I've made a plus quilt before and don't normally repeat blocks but I broke a personal rule and I'm glad I did.

The plus design isn't always immediately obvious due to the eclectic designs and colours in this line but I quite like that!

After finishing the main panel, I decided to add a border of low volume fabrics in varying sized squares and rectangles. Then I added a second border of 2.5" x 3.5" rectangles of Hand Drawn Garden.

I backed and bound it using fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's True Colors line - so pretty and they work perfectly together. The batting is my favourite -  Dream Orient (a mix of silk, bamboo and cotton), which is beautifully soft and has the perfect drape.

I quilted it in straight lines, vertically and horizontally echoing the squares. This is the largest quilt that I have made, measuring 75" x 85" and will be perfect for snuggling under in the cooler months.

Oh and it seems my hubby is finally becoming more comfortable with quilts these days.  Here's a shot of him walking us back to the car after bundling up the quilt in his arms.  Happy Days!

Quilt Stats
Quilt Size: 75" x 85"
Quilt design - Plus blocks using 5 1/2" squares
Fabrics for Quilt Top - Anna Maria Horner's Hand Drawn Garden and various low volume fabrics
Fabric for quilt back -  Medallion in Aquamarine from Anna Maria Horner's True Colors
Binding Fabric - Sealing Wax in Amethyst from Anna Maria Haorner's True Colors.
Batting: Oriental Dream

Thank you so much to Amy for hosting this fun event. Now to hop over there myself and get me some inspiration!

Like the No.33 bus...

...you can wait ages for friends or family to come visit and then 3 lots come along at the same time.

Hand Drawn Garden Plus flimsy

It's been pretty busy round here lately. As Ferris Bueller would say, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Two weeks ago, fellow Stitch Tease bee mates Di and Helen came to visit, and stayed in our little riad. On their first morning, Zaki and I gave them a basic orientation of the souqs.  Here's Di and Zaki having a chat and putting the world to rights.

And here's my 'How am I going to carry 2 stools home!" face. Thank you Di for your help!

Photo credit - Helen at Runquiltknitwrite

I'll admit it was sometimes difficult to make conversation or share a joke. Not.

Photo credit - Di at Quiltova

 

 

It was great fun to show Helen and Di around - by Day 2 they were old hands...sipping mint tea, negotiating like a local and telling me about places I should go to!

Of course, you can't have 3 quilters in the same room without the obligatory show and tell.  Here are the three of us holding my first Stitch Tease quilt. It was snapped by our guardian while Helen and Di's taxi to the airport waited outside hence it is a little fuzzy.

I hope they'll come back and visit again. It was fun to have them around.

 It was also lovely to catch up with my best friend from high school who came to visit too!

And yesterday my mum left after staying for 2 weeks.   Here she is waiting for her camel burger at Clock Cafe.

...and here's the camel burger. A-MAZING!!

...and here's a snap of me having a cuddle with my boy.

So has there been any sewing going on I hear you cry.  Well yes there has.  

A few weeks ago, I cut up most of the half yard bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Hand Drawn Garden bundle I bought from Jennifer a few months ago.  I cut it in to simple squares as I wanted to make a simple patchwork quilt.  Only this line is very eclectic and I wasn't sure the whole thing was working.  After asking for advice on Instagram and receiving some good stuff, I ignored it and made a plus quilt.

Crazy and eclectic.

I added a 2 1/2 scrappy border of low volume fabrics to frame the craziness and then added a 2" border of more Hand Drawn Garden.

This may not be everyone's cup of Orange Pekoe but it's most definitely mine.  I absolutely love it - it's big, bold and beautiful and I can't wait to baste and quilt it.  I just have to order some backing!

So now it's back down to earth with a bump. Back to work but with the promise that summer hols offically start in 10 weeks - woohoo, oh and a quilt commission too.

More of that next time. Happy Days.

Lost

Well where to start? It's been a while.  I confess I've felt a little lost the last few months.

It all began with the small person who shall remain nameless dropping my lap top and breaking the screen so that blog reading and posting was impossible for a while.

But it wasn't his fault. The screen was easy to fix..but then there were computer glitches of the viral kind.

They got fixed too and after finding a spare moment to sew, I basted the scrappy trippy and started to quilt. Straight lines quelle surprise! Nothing fancy.

But a couple of lengths in to quilting, the needle fell down...and then again...and again...and again.  The quilt was thrown in a corner. By now, mojo was dissipating by the second. I was 1500 miles and several months away from getting the machine fixed or serviced. I felt completely lost. I couldn't read blogs. I stayed away from Instagram. I seriously thought about throwing it all in...  stopping blogging...trying something else.

But I missed the emails and contact with bloggy friends. After a couple of weeks, I left the pity party and tried to find a solution to the needle problem. I looked online and found a forum where someone had posted the same problem. Despite never having had to do so before, I tightened the screw using the metal key and it worked! I was surprised by how much further it turned than simply by hand. I quilted and bound the scappy trippy and have my first finish of 2014.

I love it! It's the biggest quilt I have made at 72" x 82" and I hope it'll fit in nicely on our soon to be re-modelled roof terrace. The front is pieced entirely from scraps and definitely a few fuglies! The backing and binding are Cameo by Amy Butler.

So that's it! Expect more from me...I'm not going anywhere for the time being and I'll be getting back to commenting on a regular basis...I promise.

Linking up for the first time this year with Lynne over at Lily's Quilts.

Something for the New Year

Back in April, I posted the first few blocks of my scrappy trip around the world quilt. For one reason or another, they were then put away in the WiP cupboard and that was that...

...until a couple of weeks ago when I found them and wondered why I had left them languishing?

I cut up a bunch of strips and started making blocks; Instagrammers encouraged me and soon I had 42 blocks. Ignoring housework, visiting guests and internet shopping, I sewed them together.

...

And now?  Well now I have a flimsy measuring 72" x 84" ready for the New Year when we get back from England.

Without sounding like a creative lovey, I feel like I have gone back to my quilting roots with this one. Little or no negative space, bright and bold.  That's me.