Improvisation

When I set up my machine over Easter, I realised I'd forgotten to take my improvised but perfect quilting extension. Luckily the house at Port Hughes is fully-equipped - right down to a Tupperware cupboard. So I re-improvised. It worked perfectly!

Here's a little peek at some of the quilting I did.

And a close-up of some of the tiny piecing with quilting added.

And here's something else tiny and improvised I made tonight:

Quilt Sale extension

Just a quick reminder that I have some quilts on special in my Etsy shop until the end of the month - I'm extending that until my birthday on the 5th of May.

Quilting is a Hoot

While we were away, I quilted this beautiful single bed quilt made by Nell.

The fabrics are lovely (Moda's It's a Hoot), and because it was well-pieced, it laid flat without fuss - a definite plus for a quilter!

Nell wanted an swirly/flowery type of allover, and I chose this open meandering feather which I really like.

I had the perfect colour Aurifil thread to match the border fabric and blend nicely with the rest of the prints and it quilted up beautifully; this was a real pleasure to quilt.

I didn't have my usual set-up for photos, but the glorious afternoon sunshine helped accentuate the quilting.

Nell is also working on some Quilts for Queensland tops, which I'm going to be quilting, and I'm looking forward to receiving those next!

Hand-dyed fabrics

This is my newest selection of gradient fabrics hand dyed by Vicki Welsh, which arrived just before Easter

My next quilt appearing as a project in Australian Patchwork and Quilting in a month or so features Vicki's gradient fabrics. You might like to visit her shop, too...

Stitching up the looong weekend

With Easter and ANZAC Day combined this year, we had an amazing 5-day long weekend in Australia. Perfect! As we have done in previous years, we went with Simon's parents to their holiday house.

James started the weekend with some excitement; he rode along the beach track with Simon and Pop to the little shop to get the paper on Friday morning, and was mucking around on the way back. As they were telling him to stop putting his feet on the crossbar, instead of on the pedals, the front wheel turned sharply and he went over the handlebars. They were only a few minutes from home, but called me to come and deal with the bleeding. Despite still being in my pyjama pants, I drove straight there, and one glance at the gaping gash in his chin as I replaced the newspaper they were using to cover it with, with a sterile wound dressing, told me we needed a doctor, even though James was coping remarkably well. Luckily the hospital at Wallaroo is only a 10-15 minute drive away. We stopped home to get a few things we needed (and allow me to dress properly!) and headed off. I can't say enough about Wallaroo Hospital; the staff were excellent, and they were quick - we were home within an hour! James has five stitches in his chin, but the incident didn't appear to dent his enjoyment of the weekend, and he still went riding and fishing, and all sorts!

Simon and James with Tuesday morning's catch;
Sweep (including the one James is holding),
one Snapper and one Red Mulloway.

Naturally, I did a lot of quilting, and will share photos in the coming posts.

Maybe Colour Play

I finished quilting this today. Each row is quilted with figure-8 loops, in colours to match the fabrics. Some strips are all one thread colour; others change 2 or 4 times. I've almost finished hand-stitching the back of the plain black binding, too.

I think I might call it Colour Play, but I'm not sure yet. It's the simplest quilt I've ever made, but I just love the fabrics. I need to come up with more ways of using them without losing the effect of the gradients.

I really should be in bed...

...but I had a lot of sleep last night, and have been watching 'Around the World in 80 Days', which has just finished at 3.40am! I remember Mummy reading it to Sarah and I when we were children, but haven't read it since.

I managed a bit of quilting while it was on - and a little shopping. I have a long list of fabric lines I want to get - most of which aren't out yet, and of which I've seen only glimpses so far...

Wrenly (Valori Wells)
Secret Garden (Sandi Henderson)
Heirloom (Joel Dewberry)
Terrain (Kate Spain)
Prince Charming (Tula Pink)

Gorgeous fabrics

I started a new quilt last night, just a simple one. More Vicki Welsh hand-dyed gradient fabrics, and I can't wait for the new ones she's just dyed for me!

Now I need to decide how to quilt it - it's for a baby boy, so nothing too feminine...

Border auditioning

It took me a long time to find the inner border for this quilt. I looked through my stash and several quilt shops, before finally unearthing something - from my stash! The trouble was finding something exactly the right shade that wasn't too light or dark. I'd have preferred it wasn't a fairy frost, but I'm running out of time and options! This is an example a quilt which was much easier to find suitable fabrics for on-screen in Electric Quilt than when I actually made it.

While I was hunting through my cupboards, I also refolded and tidied several piles and managed to fit some of my more recent purchases in - though where any upcoming deliveries will fit is more than I can say! At least the sewing room is a bit tidier than it was.

Good Foundations

It's no secret that I love foundation piecing. I use it in most of my pieced quilts. And consequently I use a lot of foundations. Back in December when I bought a new printer, I deliberately chose an A3 monster so I'd be able to print larger foundations.

Naturally, I didn't need to print any large ones straight away, but for my current quilt the blocks are around 10in (too large for an A3/letter sheet) so I've been testing out a pad of newsprint paper - with excellent results. So good that I'm tempted not to even bother with trying the other 2 types I bought to experiment with!

A good foundation paper should be cheap, run smoothly through the printer, sew easily, tear out easily (but only along the sewn lines, not haphazardly all over the place), print nicely, and leave the printing visible through to the back of the page. This paper fits the bill perfectly. In fact, I think it's better (as well as much cheaper) than Carol Doak's, which I've sworn by for years (but only comes in letter size).

I've sewn a lot of blocks with it, and it's held up well, and been easy to use. It runs through the printer way better - I don't even have to feed it in one page at a time, which is an enormous time and back-ache saver! And at $5.95 for 100 A3 (that's approximately ledger size, I believe) it's an absolute bargain!

I bought mine from here, and it's great to be able to buy locally (well within the country at least!) for a change, and still save! I imagine it's available at many art supply stores, though it was easier to hunt online at the time. I will be looking in local stationery shops next.

Next time I run out of foundation papers, I'll be buying more of this. Mont Marte 50gsm Newsprint. It's available in A3 and A4 sizes. It does come in a pad, but it's easy to tear out, and I just put it cut-edge-first into the printer tray. I suggest you give it a try - just don't tell them you're using it for quilting, and it might even stay cheap ;)

PS - I have no association with either the shop or the manufacturer, I found this by chance while searching fro soemthing that might work and just wanted to share.

Good Morning, Hoot!

I finished and gave away this quilt about a month ago, here at last are the photos.

It now belongs to a gorgeous little girl (who I very luckily get a cuddle with about once a week - a fair exchange, I think!).

I designed the quilt around this adorable owl from Valori Wells' Della flannel range, but the little birds are from her Urban Flannel collection, and the circular print form her Bliss flannels - don't they go together well?

I really like the crispness the white gives this quilt, yet the flannels are deliciously soft and snuggly - perfect for a baby.

To keep it snuggly, the quiting is very light - some heart-shaped swirls...

waves in the border...

and I used matching threads to outline the owl and its perch.

When I first pieced the top (way back in November, when I cut my finger!) I wasn't entirely sure of its final destination, but a comment on the photo ensured I kept it aside for the right little girl.

I'm now certain it's in the right home - always a good feeling.

Another peek

Just a quick peek at part of one of the blocks I finished tonight...

Quilt sale!

From now until the end of the month, the pre-made quilts in my Etsy store are on sale, marked down by around 10%:

Fruit Punch Baby/Play Quilt:

Bear in the Woods Quilt Art:

Apple Falls Quilt Art:

Obsession Quilt Art:

Feathered Heart Quilt Art:

DQS10 quilt received

Here is the gorgeous DQS10 quilt I received during the week from Susan at PatchworknPlay.

I know how fiddly feathered stars are to piece, so I really appreciate the work involved in this one. Funnily enough, Susan foundation-pieced hers, which is the same way I did mine!

I love the way Susan has used colour to create even more movement in the design.

And as usual, the restrained use of hand-quilting really adds something. I can't bring myself to spend the time it would take to hand-quilt properly, but I admire those who do. The centre even has little French-knots as well!

Thank you Susan!

And I heard last night that the quilt I sent has been received, and Carla is thrilled with it, so that's me finished for this round of the swap, and very happy.

Swiss chocolate times two!

I was lucky enough to win a roll of Amanda Murphy's Swiss Chocolate fabrics from Ryan's blog a few weeks ago, and it arrived yesterday. Thank you Ryan and Amanda! I've already ordered some yardage of several of the prints to go with it.

And in a case of perfect timing, yesterday I finally found this:

All I can say is that I will hold Stacie responsible for every single gram I put on due to these! YUM!

Photographing the photographer

I'm having trouble downloading quilt photos from my camera this evening, so instead am sharing some photos of James and I which I meant to blog ages ago.

I've been busy cutting and piecing, but can't get too much further just now, as I'm waiting for some fabric. I ran out, and my wonderful LQS (Riverlea Quilts) has spent considerable time chasing down the exact shade (there are at least 5 different 'creams' in the range - why-oh-why can't fabric manufacturers print the colour identifier on the selvedge, it would make life so much easier?!) I need and should have it in stock by the end of the week.

Curved cross-hatching

I had hoped to show a peek at the new block I finished and blocked last night, but the distort functions in PhotoShop have disappeared, and I probably need to reinstall PS before I can edit and share the image.

So here's another peek at the front of the black and white quilt - some of the curved cross-hatching from the front.

Teeny-tiny

You know you're using small pieces of fabric when...

 ...you have used an entire bobbin piecing a single block, and it's still not quite finished!

Really small

Really, really small!

How small?

Piles of rectangles cut and ready to start sewing...

...yes, that's a one-inch grid on the cutting mat.



Peek from the front

I posted this quilt today, but I still have a few few more peeks to share...

This quilted border is my favourite part - and the whole reason I designed the quilt.