Sunday Stash

Dots from Bliss by Moda's Bonnie & Camille 

My Fabric Diet is going well - I've lost 9lbs so far this year.  This is my first purchase this year as I am saving most of my money for the release of Sherbert Pips in April. But I couldn't resist these lovely dots on sale from Simply Solids.

A finish!

I started this sampler quilt in a 6 week class nearly a year ago.  The blocks were finished quickly, even the sashing was but I hit a mental block when it came to quilting it.  

Eventually I decided to outline quilt each block and the individual design.  It took forever but I am really pleased with it.

 The back is an Amy Butler design and is interior weight.  I found this kept it from moving too much when quilting.

 The binding is a Kaffe Fassett spot in purple and green.  This one is going to be a picnic quilt as its quite robust.

Sunday Stash - the Bee Quilted edition

I am a big fan of Amy Butler.  At first I wasn't so sure about her new collection Love and didn't buy any fabrics from the line.  And then I starting adding the odd fat quarter here and there and soon I had fallen hard.  I decided to use this fabric for my month in Bee Quilted and quickly collected up the fabricsI was missing from the collection.  

I have added a few fat quarters from her new Soul Blossoms line too.

The dots in this collection, as always, are my favourites.

But I did pull together this little collection of aquas, blues, pinks and tangerines too . . . .Luckily I still have some of each fabric left after sending out for my Bee!

Bee Blocks

I have been taking a break from blogging over the last 2 weeks and to be honest I haven't got much sewing done either.  Work has been really busy as I have been preparing for an office move, 2 weeks away from the office and some appeal cases in the Crown Court.  I do however have quite a few things I haven't blogged about starting with my Bee Blocks from December/January.

In Bee Quilted I made this block called Stir Crazy for Nursey Girl.

It's not my usual colour palette but I really like the way the coloured strips stand out against the dark green and it came together really easily.  I also did partial seams for the first time and was pleased with how they turned out.

January in Fresh Modern Bee 2 was all about circles reqeusted by Krista.  She sent us some linen and fabric in a colourway and asked for any size blocks.  The linen proved a real challenge for me and I stuck to a fairly simply snowball block for both of my blocks.  I love how the snowball block shows off the fabric and see a quilt of these in my future .. . . . .

Slow Quilting Progress

I have spent a lot of time in January working on one of my Unfinished quilts.  I finished this top in June last year but haven't been able to motivate myself to quilt it.  I had this Amy Butler print picked out months ago for the backing.

I decided to outline each ampler block 1/4 inch from the seamline and then outline some of the shapes in the quilt also a 1/4 from the seam line. 

This makes for very slow quilting, lots of turning and starting and finished and pulling threads through.  But the quilting is finished and the binding (purple and green fabric below) is ready to attach.  Hopefully my first finish of 2011 is not too far away.

I can't wait for Spring if only so I can take better photos of my quilts - any tips?

A little progress

 I mentionned here that I need a little focus so once a month or so I am going to post my works in progress to see how I've done that month and motivate me to keep working on them.  Here are Januarys:

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

2. Sampler Quilt - currently being quilting.  I am taking this one slowly a block at a time, outlining each block and then outlining various parts of the design in each block.

3. Wild Oddyysea - this one is all cut out and I am starting to piece the blocks. 

4. Red & Aqua Little Windows

 
5. Nine Patch - gradually progressing with 6 new ones added this month

6. Tilda Hexagons - which I will be working on until I am at least 83 80 and a half! (but I have started the next colour with 2 new ones added)

7. Tilda Red Quilt - lots of squares cut and waiting to be paired with squares of Kona Bone which are yet to be cut.

Well 4, 5 & 6 are ongoing projects but I am determined to finish one of the others before starting another new quilt so all efforts are going into number 2 at the moment (because its the closest to being finished which means closer to starting something new!!!

Sunday Stash

Wonderland - how I love you!

When I first started quilting I fell in love with Moda's Momo Wonderland but it was already a year old and difficult to get hold of.  I bought what yardage was left in my local quilt shop and other UK online shops before snapping up a great bundle of 8 FQs and a couple of yards at the Festival of Quilts in August last year.  I had most of the red and brown prints but was missing almost all the green and pink (or pistachio and  jam) ones.  Prices on Etsy seemed extreme until just before Christmas I found this gorgeous set of 40 Fat Quarters from this fantastic Etsy shop.  I think almost all the lines are included and I have more than enough variety to make a Wonky Log Cabin Quilt.  It arrived just after Christmas and wasn't stopped by customs so even including postage these worked out at £7 a yard.

This will be the last new fabric for a bit for me.  There's a lot of talk of Fabric Diets in blogland and I am doing my own version.  For every lb of weight I lose I get a certain amount of money to spend on fabric.  No other fabric buys allowed (except fabric for my Granny and Dad's quilts).  Week 1 I lost 3.5 lbs so it looking good so far.