#48 Old
#23 Technology - It may be old, but it was at the start of technology :o)
#16 Balls or Spheres - Sun-kissed Marbles :o)
#22 Embellished or Fancy - How would you like this for a bathroom suite? Beats the avocado range from the 1960's :o) Taken at the Gladstone Pottery Museum at the toilet museum! (…and now I know A WHOLE LOT more about toilets than I ever wanted to!)
Until next time....Some of you commented on this post that you liked the quilt in the last picture. It is in fact my variation of Lori's Cheese and Crackers Quilt from a Sew-along that she host a few years ago.
It’s just made up with little scraps (1 1/2” squares) and the finished quilt is about 24” x 24”.
I thought I’d finish it and pass it along to Lynda for Project Linus. It will serve someone well and is better to be out there than to be finished and stuffed into a closet. :o)
Until next time....
Never satisfied with one method, I’ve been experimenting with a new method of basting my quilts using a Q-Snap floor frame. I bought my frame years ago when I was living in Canada and it really hasn’t had much use in recent years. I thought it might be just the thing to get my quilts basted where the front and backs would be nice and smooth and free of pleats.
The first quilt I basted I used thread and that was a bit tricky in that I had to contort myself to get the needle back to the surface. So then I had a brain wave and thought about buying a Micro Stitch Basting Gun. I had one of these when I was living in Canada, and it was rubbish, but regardless of that, I decided to do a little research and see if things had improved. From I could gather, the technology is better now and the tacks smaller…so I bought myself one for my birthday…and I can say, I’m rather pleased.
The largest quilt I basted was about 75” square and I think that was about the limit of for me and the frame, but for anything smaller this combination of frame and basting gun seems to be a winner. It was fast and once I worked out the angle I needed to get the tacks through all the layers in one go, I got a rhythm going. I now have all but 1 quilt top basted and ready for quilting. I’m quite excited to see how well the layers hold, but I may be less exciting when it is time to remove the tacks! If only they were water soluble! :o)
Until next time....
#110 Unfinished
#44 Souvenir or Memento - The lace maker explained that for each memorable occasion she would get a new bobbin to commemorate it.
#14 Sign
#65 Wheel
#104 Edges
Until next time....Last week I celebrated my birthday, but as it occurred mid-week I decided to wait until this weekend to bake a cake. As I’ve had wonderful success with this cake, I decided to stick with what works and make it again and I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t have quite the spectacular setting to consume it in as Alison did in this post, but with my eyes closed I could imagine it :o)
From real cake to cute cupcakes… Judith posted about her daughter’s new venture into the world of Etsy (Poppy’s Pocket) and how she makes this adorable charms. Well within 5 minutes flat of seeing these earrings I knew I had to place an order and get them for DD1. She is thrilled with them!
On the sewing front, I’ve still been taming the scraps in the basket and I now have a nice pile of blocks started. I’ve decided to make them 4 1/2” and think I will border them in a coordinated fabric. I’m still mulling about the ideas in my head, but that’s one I’m contemplating.
In between sewing scraps, I’ve been sewing the units for my Sew into Solids quilt. I’m a little closer to getting the remaining 8 blocks finished and can see the end in sight.
If you get the chance…have a look at these links of some of the other Sew into Solid work…
Until next time....
#19 Music - Taken during the parade for the Jubilee.
#17 Hill Mountain or Slope - Taken at Burton Dassett during some interesting moody weather.
#26 Narrow Depth of Field - This would have made a good #102 - Vanishing Point too, but I've already done that one :o)
#108 Legs - Who can resist baby chubby legs?
#11 Headwear - Jubilee headwear
Until next time....
Along with that, I’m still working on my Sew into Solids project and have pressed all the HST…all 120 of them. (See I did show them to you after all!) I just need to clip the dog ears and I’ll be good to go :o)
I’ve also rummaged around in the orphan box and found 5 blocks left over from when I made my Crossed Canoe Quilt. They will get finished and made into a little Linus Quilt.
During this week while I was busy with all this productivity, Karen awarded me the Liebster Award. She didn’t realize I didn't qualify (I have over 200 followers) but I thought I’d jump in and award it on to a few blogs that do ;o)
Liebster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is awarded by bloggers to other bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.
Here are the rules for the Liebster blog award:
1. Link back to the person who awarded it to you.
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
(If you have done your math, you’ll see I’ve awarded 6 bloggers to make up for my disqualification :o)
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.
5. List 5 random facts that people don’t know about you.
Until next time....
You don't want to see my HST for my blocks trimmed and pressed, so I thought I’d do a little post on something that I have noticed in the last few weeks that might inspire you to try a new project with solid fabrics.
There seems to be a new trend to use solids with printed fabrics. The solid fabrics act as the neutral background where once we would use a white on white fabric… how last century! :o) Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson does that a lot with her work. Just look at this latest post.
And Cindy over at Hyacinth Quilt Designs used a combination of solid fabrics and prints to make this very striking Pyramid Quilt (with tutorial) that is definitely on my to-do list!
1. New quilt top, (blogged here)2. Snoopy and Friends, 3. [Quilty] Dulcie's Quilt top, 4. Octagonal Orb (tutorial can be found here )
Of course I have seen the opposite where the solids are the feature fabric and the print acts like the background. Check out Fresh Lemon’s Dresden Plate or Red Pepper Quilts Kona Jelly Roll quilt.
1. Retro Flower Quilt, 2. Basting, 3. Dream On quilt - finished!, 4. Patchwork Chevron Quilt 4/12, 5. Hillside quilt (3), 6. Kona Jelly Roll in Progress
Either way it might be nice to have a project that has a bit of both types of fabric. All solids can be a bit daunting… and monotonous (well, at least that’s what I’ve found) so perhaps combining the two would make it easier… hmm is this another project to add to the collection?
Now before you go, here are some links:
Until next time....
Last weekend while the Jubilee celebrations were being televised, I wanted something mindless to sew. Something that would be easy to put down as I went to the T.V. for the highlights and easy to pick up while the commentators filled the air time. So I started a granny square quilt and I have to say I fell for it hook, line and sinker! What a fabulous pattern that easily chewed through the scraps and made up to a decent size quickly.
Lynda recently posted about a slight variation on the construction method in that you treat the inner 9 patch as one unit and then the four corners are made and then sewn to the 9 patch and I have to say that was sheer brilliance and made the construction so quick compared to the original instructions.
The quilt as it stands measures 40” x 50” and I can’t decide if it needs a border? I’m almost tempted to say it looks done especially if I put a nice bright pink or red binding. What do you think?
Until next time....
Oh boy, late again, but this time I have a really good excuse for why my “Sew into Solids” update is late by a day… you see there has been a rather large event taking place here in the U.K. and to celebrate we have been given 2 bank holidays (Monday and Tuesday). What this means in reality is that it feels like Sunday night, not Tuesday… and Sunday felt like Friday… which isn’t the night I get my post ready for the Sew into Solids update… Are you still with me?
Well whether Sunday or Tuesday an update is an update. :o)
I now have 4 blocks made!! And have only 8 to go :o)
AND I have all my HST trimmed and ready to press… it made a little dust!! But should speed up my productivity as this was the bit I was dreading.
Katherine on the other hand is steaming ahead and has begun quilting her quilt! Make sure you visit as she has a great tip for keeping on track when your quilting a panto type design on your domestic machine!
Also pop on over to the Flickr group…there have been some new pictures added by some of the members and they are quite beautiful!
Until next time....
