2010

1. Sultry Garden Quilt, 2. First Doll Quilt, 3. Baby Boy Star Playmat, 4. Twin Girl Quilt, 5. Twin Girl Quilt, 6. Millie Moon Quilt, 7. Moda Sweet Coasters, 8. Sorbet Pinwheels, 9. Simple Squares Panache Baby Quilt, 10. Moda Sweet Placemats, 11. Red Hippo Craft Bag, 12. Authentic Quilt, 13. Space-Boy Quilt, 14. Christopher's Quilt, 15. Bronwyn's Quilt, 16. Crazy Sweetness in the snow!

I can't believe it is the end of this year already but here it is - my mosaic of 2010's makings.  I love that both the first and last quilt of the year have been photographed in the snow!  I have had a really great year learning to quilt.  I took 4 classes, visited several quilt shows including Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, took part in some swaps and 2 Bees as well as making lots of virtual quilt friends.  I can't wait for 2011 and to start making some of the 324 quilts that are running around my head!

Crazy Sweetness

 I finally finished the quilt I started in January using Camille from Simplify's pattern Piece of Cake.  I finished the quilt top back in April and then put is aside as I was terrified at the thought of basting and quilting such a large quilt. I finished hand sewing the binding on Christmas Eve and gave it to my parents for Christmas.  Happily it now lives on the bed in my old room so I will still get to use it when I visit.

 The quilting on this one almost drove me insane (hence the name for this quilt) and it is a long way from perfect.  Whilst it was in progress I finished a few other quilts and learnt a lot from them but I was determined to finish this one in all its imperfectious (is that a word?) glory anyway. 
Note to self for the future:
1. A plain coloured back is not very forgiving when you are newish to quilting (there are a lot of puckers in this quilt)
2. Diagonal quilting is very ambitious for your first large quilt (next time maybe stick to straight lines)
3. Use 3 times as many pins as you originally planned to use when basting
4. Your Mum will love anything you make (no matter how many imperfections you point out!)


In an effort of full disclosure here is the puckery back:

Bronwyn's Quilt

The twin quilt of Christopher's Quilt from yesterday.

Made in 20 hours over 3 days!

The recipient, my neice (aged 2 and a half)  jumped up and down for 2 minutes shouting "I like it I love it I like it I love it".  Worth every minute!

Christopher's Quilt

I finished this quilt for my nephew for Christmas but can't come up with a more imaginative name!

I loved the idea of squares inside squares as a way of showing the fabrics off and was inspired by these lovely quilts 

 
This is a first for me for lots of reasons:

1. First time I used this design

2. First time I used fabrics that aren't all from one fabric line

3. First time trying wavy line quilting.

The back is Ikea fabric.

Sunday Stash

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been in Ireland for a weekend in November - we stayed with my parents for a weekend and attended my best friend's wedding.  In between we spent 3 days in Galway in the west of Ireland.  The hotel was gorgeous but it rained all day for 3 days (minus a 2 hour hiatus when I dragged my husband for a walk to a beach I used to visit as a kid.

By Day 3 cabin fever had kicked in but a quick Internet search revealed a Quilting Shop just half an hour's drive away.  So the husband was instructed politely requested to drive me there in the pouring rain.

Once there it would be rude not to buy something - I think the packs above are Moda Arcadia made up by the shop into charm packs.  I thought the colours would be perfect for boy quilts.

And these I bought just because they looked pretty!

And an update on Bronwyn's Quilt from yesterday that needs to be finished by Friday.  So did I get up early and crack on with it?  Of course not its the weekend, I work hard all week (or so I told myself when the alarm went off this morning)!  The morning started with coffee and the papers in bed, catching up on posts on my google reader, flicking through magazines before a lazy brunch of French Toast & Bacon at noon.   Did I mention this needs to be finished by Friday?!!! 

PS It is all cut now and the piecing of the blocks is in progress - why do I do this to myself???

Catch up

As I said my Work in Progress page hasn't changed as much as I had hoped for but I have made a little progress with some projects.

The quilting is finally finished on my Crazy Sweetness Quilt and the binding is all ready to be sewn on.

 Quilting is finished on Christopher's Quilt - binding and then it's finished!

This little collection of fabric is going to be the twin of the one above (literally as it's for Christopher's twin sister, Bronwyn).  Lovely as it is having twin nephew and neice it does mean making 2 of everything - the same but different.  It is Saturday night and this is still a pile of fabrics and it needs to be finished by Friday . . . .

I'm Back!

Where did November go?

November is usually a really dull month for me but this year it was crazy.  I spent a week in Ireland and 5 days in New York on holidays.  In between I spent a weekend in London and also tried to do my day job.  Quilting and blogging have taken a little bit of a back seat recently.  But I do have some posts to share of a lovely quilting exhibition I saw in New York and a little fabric shopping I did in Ireland and New York.

I have 600 unread posts in my google reader to catch up on too.  But for now Christmas is looming and I need to keep working on my neice and nephew's quilts - this is the finished top for my nephews which I have now basted and started the quilting:

Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is my first entry in the Bloggers Quilt Festival - which Amy has organised again this autumn.

I am entering the Authentic Quilt I made for my brother's 30th birthday in July this year.

I followed Dana from Old Red Barns Quilt Along several months after it was finished.  This is the first big quilt I have made and I learnt so much quilting it particuarly how much easier it is to quilt if you have basted well.

The female members in my family were a little disappointed that the first quilt I gave away was to my brother and warned me he may not appreciate it.  His reaction was so funny "You made it?  What with?".  When I said fabric he replied "But it looks like newspaper!".

Go check out the other amazing entries:

Sunday Stash - the Bee edition

 

Dolce by Tanya Whelan 

From the moment I first saw this quilt line, I had to have it, all of it and not just a small amount full metres or yards (yup I'm greedy).  

Purchased from Allegro Fabrics, Pink Chalk Fabrics and Fresh Squeezed Fabrics in the US and Saints and Pinners  in the UK.  The grey at the bottom right  is Kona Medium Grey and is from Simply Solids also in the UK.  

I love them all :

Pinks

Lavenders

Oranges

Blues

Greys

This is my current favourite.  I am currently cutting some of this beautiful fabric up to send off for my month in Fresh Modern Bee 2.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Bee Blocks

I am finally caught up and ahead on all my Bee Blocks.  In Bee Quilted I made as my Sept/Oct block for Marlynn.  This was a real challenge for me and I had put it off for ages because I was scared of applique.  Marlynn had a great set of instructions on how to applique and I found it really straightforward.  I really like the look it gives and might try it on a quilt soon (though probably a simpler shape like a heart or circle!).

This Bee is Quilt as you go and the Oct/Nov block (see how caught up I am!!) for Lucinda was a log cabin made out of gorgeous Alexander Henry and Keiki fabrics.

For Fresh Modern Bee 2 the October block was for Danielle who requested blocks made of squares from this selection of fabric.

We have really similar tastes in fabric (I particularly love Wonderland) and I love working with these fabrics.  These are the blocks I came up with - I liked the idea of the blocks being window or frames for the fabric:

I am really struggling to get good photos with the light at the moment - its dark when I leave and get home from work.  I can't wait until the clocks change so I don't have to get up in the dark!

Hippo Bag

Well the Works in Progress is working - I finished this bag which has been sitting around for ages waiting to have a strap and buttons sewn on.

Red hippo fabric is Ikea and the linking is a white and red polka dot. Pattern is from Quilting in No Time by Emma Hardy. 

Does this mean I can start a new project now???

UFOs

No not the flying spaceship ones - the ones clogging up my sewing room.  My UFOs Works in Progress are many, in fact at Sewing Club last week I was struggling to remember exactly how many.  So its time to face the music and count them up and maybe try to maintain a little order and a lot of progress.   

First up are those that really should be finished if I just got a move on:

1. Red Hippo Bag - just needs a handle and some buttons sewn on, no excuse really . . .

 
2. Crazy Sweetness Quilt - needs a little perseverance to finish the quilting and binding

  Then there's the ones that need a little more work to finish:

3. Baby Girl Coin Quilt - needs ironing (a lot),  backing, basting, quilting, binding, someone to have a baby girl to motivate me to finish it.

4. Sampler Quilt - needs quilting (I just can't decide how to do it) and binding.

5. Wild Oddyysea - needs everything except cutting done to it!

And then there's the long term projects which I have convinced myself don't really count as UFOs do they?

6. Red & Aqua Little Windows

 
7. Nine Patch

8. Tilda Hexagons - which I will be working on until I am at least 83 and a half!

And finally the newish projects that are distracting me from the oldish ones:

9. Christopher's  Quilt - deadline Christmas

10. Tilda Red Quilt - deadline Christmas/Valentine's Day?

Hmm seems rather a lot listed out like that - I will try for an update in a few weeks which hopefully will keep me motivated.  Though knowing me as I cross one thing off the UFO  Works in Progress list, I will almost definitely add another.  Just as well I'm not listing all the quilt ideas running around in my head . . . . .

Bee Blocks catch-up

Finally catching up on my Bee Blocks!  For Bee Quilted I made this Robot Block for chez-j  using the Quilt as you go method.

In August (yes I do know it is now October!) Lynne in Fresh Modern Bee 2 sent these beautiful Whimsy fabrics and requested Union Jack Blocks for which she has a fantastic tutorial on her blog.

These are the blocks I made - for some reason the first block is actually better than the second!

I had never done paper piecing before and these were definitely challenging but that's why I joined this Bee and I actually quite enjoyed them.  I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

For September Jessica in Fresh Modern Bee 2 sent these beautiful solids and black and white spots.  She asked for modern pieced rectangles.

These are my 2 blocks.  I loved making these.  I have never worked with solids before or made up a design for a block so this was great fun.