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.

A Drunk in Central Park

It`s been a chilly, windy and rainy day here today.  Zaki finished pre-school yesterday as next week it is Eid here (the biggest religious holiday of the year) and so we will be off to the in-laws for a few days.  Everything shuts down for 3 days and it`s difficult to get bread and vegetables for it seems like forever as everyone enjoys the holiday and takes a well earned break.

So today I got on with piecing my Drunkard`s Path (DP) blocks for the QAL.  Apart from a couple of initial blocks, I soon got the hang of the curved piecing and there was scope for trimming them down built into the dimensions.  I do like a block where you can trim it to size as however hard I try, my blocks are never exactly square.  Why is that? So I`m all caught up and while there`s still a little tinkering to do with the colour layout, I`m pretty much ready to sew them together.

I used a Central Park charm pack and even though this is going to be a baby quilt, it`s still pretty small and will need a border round it to pad it out a bit.  So 2 QALs caught up with.

When I was writing yesterday`s post I was surrounded by hungry people asking when supper was going to be ready so I was under pressure to get it done and completely forgot to show you what I received in The Scrappy Swap 2011.  My partner turned out to be Hannah who lives in Columbia, Missouri.  She sent me some gorgeous scraps, a lovely needle-case and some chocolate.  Win.  Win.  Win.

So thank you Hannah for a great package and to the lovely Kat who organized a fabulous and energetic swap.  It`s not quite over as my partner still hasn`t received her swap goodies.  I hope she doesn`t have to wait much longer!

I`m now off to work more on my second design for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap and I`ll show you that tomorrow. Have a great Friday.  Anyone in England doing fireworks this weekend?

Fingerless Thursday

Well almost.  With a Kona solids drought chez nous, I decided to cut out my Drunkard`s Path blocks for the QAL being hosted by Kate and Kristie. It`s going to be one crazy mix up of Central Park with no solids.  That`ll be because I basically don`t have any until the big silver bird brings some over the pond.  So until that happens, I can only make blocks using patterned fabric.

So today I printed off the template.  Call me old fashioned you gals with your Go! Babies but I used my hands, picked up a rotary cutter and cut some curves.  All fingers on my left hand are still intact and it took less than 20 minutes.  Phew.

So I had a little play this evening and got myself completely befuddled by the amount of options available as to how to lay these pieces out. I`m not sure why I`m worrying as it is going to be a big crazy mix up of oranges, yellows, greens and purples.  And you thought I was going in the direction of muted. Shame on you.

What else?  With fingers intact it meant I was still able to tap away on the computer and use a credit card.  So I bought Lark in the Glamor colorway and to say I`m excited is a slight understatement.  I love Amy Butler and all that she comes up with and this collection is so beautiful.  Here are 3 of my favourites.

and I forgot to mention that the other day I also ordered the Swoon pattern so as soon as my Kona white arrives, I`ll be whipping up a block or two.  I wonder what I`ll use.

November promises to be another busy sewing month.  I have my modern Christmas tablerunner to start working on.  I`m shamefully behind everyone else but while I wait for fabric supplies for the back and binding,  I am going to offer my secret partner an alternative design involving stars.  I saw the most beautiful Christmas star block today and am very excited as it could look beautiful.  I`m quite `starry eyed` about it. More on that tomorrow.

I think I`ve kept you long enough.  I`ll just quickly mention that I`ve made it to the gym 3 times this week and that means my lovely fitness buddy won`t be making the 8000 km trip over here to give me a pep talk.  I had the old weights and measures taken yesterday and they did not make pretty reading.  Hoping next month may be better!

Thank you for all the lovely comments about my FMQ. Keep fit and happy - it`s nearly the weekend!