Thank you quilts

The black, white and hot-pink quilt was the final quilt I needed to finish so I could return with James and Eleanor to their old child care centre (which even Eleanor left 18 months ago!) so we could deliver the thank-you quilts to the rest of the wonderful staff. I'd been working through a few a year, but this last one took ages, for myriad reasons (some of this batch have been waiting a long time!).  It was lovely to see everyone again - and also rather nice to reduce the pile of quilts in my studio! Here they are with the last seven:

And below is a quick run-down of them all; they added up over the years, although there were very few staff changes!

Sue's Quilt (2008)

Our Favourite Star (2008)

 

Hushabye Stars (2009)

 

Hidden Star (2009)

 

Cuggle (2011)

 

Growing (2011)

 

Pink Feathers (2011)

 And this recent selection:

 

Reflections

 

The Gardens Meet

 

A Gaggle of Goslings

 

Bursts of Illusion

 

Charmed

 

Dziekuje

 

Star Gazing

They were all well received, and I'm very glad I made them all - but equally glad they're done!

I've solved my photo uploading problems for now by using Firefox and adjusting my settings on that. I hope it continues to work.

Star Gazing

I finished this quilt last year, back in November! The photo shoot was a bit of a rush before it was delivered, and unfortunately the best place for photographing the black left a shadow from the phone line at that time of day...

It's made from solid fabrics, but my main idea (apart from using the recipient's favourite colours of black and hot pink) was to 'complete' the partial stars through quilting - as well as adding some entirely wholecloth stars.

The pieced and wholecloth parts of the stars are quilted the same way, although I used a deeper (more burgundy) thread to quilt the wholecloth parts.

I used a ruler and Hera marker to draw out the remainder of the stars, which meant no lines to erase afterwards.

The completely wholecloth stars are different. I quilted the outline of the star in deep pink thread, then echoed either side of that with black BottomLine thread to help them stand out better. Then I filled the centre with varying sized pebbles, each with a little swirl/spiral inside.

I filled the background with the same black BottomLine in a freehand swirl design which I've used a lot recently, and which has a very different effect when used to fill odd-shaped spaces; instead of looking like smooth swirls, it takes on the tone of what feels to me like an arabic or middle-eastern motif.

It measures around 52in square.

My extended break from blogging started when I first tried to post this and had issues getting the photos in. I'm still having trouble; both computers result in different problems. My laptop can't seem to upload photos at all since it upgraded to the new version of IE, and my older desktop can only upload one at a time, and I can only navigate with the arrow keys, not the mouse (though ti still works fine elsewhere, and still does some tasks in blogger). I am trying to post more frequently - I'd appreciate any tips to help me do so!

Etsy sale

I have been adding a few quilts (below) to my Etsy store, and am offering a 10% discount on all in-stock quilts and patterns (i.e. everything except custom-made quilts) throughout December 2013. Just enter "SPACE" at checkout and the discount will be applied.

 

 

Melted Icecream

Melted Icecream is an appropriate name for this quilt which is scheduled to post while I'm out at a family picnic on a hot day for the start of summer!

I made Melted Icecream as a quick summer project for Australian Patchwork and Quilting, and it's the cover quilt on the new issue, Vol 23 No 3.

I chose to use the beautiful roll of 2.5in pastel batik strips I won in a blog giveaway some time ago (shown below with the backing and the subtle snowflake I used as a background). And apart from the border, all the background is 2.5in strips, too. Select 24 coloured strips, and the parts of the strips that aren't used in the blocks are used to make the binding - very economical!

It comes together really quickly, especially if you use pre-cut strips, and is nice and easy, and there are no seams to match within the blocks!

The blocks are actually square - and simple as they look, it took me a while to draft them just how I wanted. As I was piecing them, it made me think of going around the corner to the deli for an ice cream as a child. The local deli closed just after we bought our house - pre-children - but not far away there's a lovely café near our local playground, so James and Eleanor get ice creams from there.

Yet again I quilted this with my favourite open feather pattern. My excuse is that a quick summer quilt needs quick quilting! I chose a glossy pale yellow Glide thread, which adds a nice sheen.

Starting in 2 weeks, I have a month off work over Christmas and New Year and am planning lots of activities and relaxing with the children - and lots of quilting for all of us. But I'm hoping (weather-wise) for a short summer and a speedy return to the current, balmy days.

Christmas is coming

While I was blog-reading today, I came across a lovely post by Frances, who had been inspired by my Winter Baubles quilt (below).

She took the idea and made it her own, and the results are delightful:

(shared with permission)

I just love the different layout with the swag of foliage across the top, and they way the more selective quilting creates prettier patterns on the baubles. A lovely way to roll into December and a nice reminder that even though we don't get our tree until the week before Christmas, it might be time to hang my Christmas quilts and enjoy them! Thank you for sharing, Frances!

Magic Carpet

A few weeks back, Magic Carpet came out in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 23 No 2. It should still be at your local quilt store/newsagent, but the next issue is due out here any day now.

The block is one I drafted myself, and named Bazaar because the quilt reminded me of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I don't claim that the block is original, but the design was mine.

 

 

This quilt has a scrappy appearance, but I don't really consider it scrappy quilt - though it could easily be made as such. My fabrics were carefully grouped and chosen from my stash, and many of the large centre squares were also fussy-cut to show-off certain parts of the large prints.

I do love the colour and print combinatons in the different blocks and their spicy jewel-tones, so here are a few more of my favourites...

I quilted it simply with the open feather I love so much. I used a light taupe Superior Bottom Line thread top and bottom, which blended well into the myriad prints and colours.

Now I'm off to do more feathering on my friend's quilt...

Continuous butterflies

I'm so far behind, it's a  bit hard to know where to start. So I'm starting with the easiest thing, which is the quilting I've been doing this evening. I offered to quilt my friend Joy's lovely quilt for her daughter, and have been busy with it this week. I've used a lovely pink champagne coloured Bottom Line thread top and bottom throughout. It blends nicely with the beautiful colour-scheme of white, cream, chocolate and soft reds of the pieced blocks, and shows up just enough for the butterflies on the solid cream.

The blocks in the centre were given an all-over treatment of open feathers, but Joy had mentioned she'd like some butterflies if possible, so the plain inner border has butterflies. I recalled this concept of swirling into and out of the butterfly from a pantograph I saw once, and adapted it for my purpose. Then I marked it on a piece of cardboard and cut out sections as needed, so I could transfer enough of a guideline to the fabric with an air-erasable marker.

The marks left me with a continuous design around the border, and I fudged the spacing a little so that each corner is the same.

Although I didn't mark the actual loops between butterflies (too fiddly to bother cutting the template!) I did mark the lines into and out of them. The extra cut-out was just an easy way to make space to cut the actual lines I wanted.

Frequency

So, it would seem that despite all intentions, my new blogging frequency is, well, infrequent! I've actually not been doing all that much quilting, although I do have a new finish to share as soon as I've photographed it. But this weekend I've been working on a customer quilt; here's a look form the back.

That circle is about 8in, and there are several the same size, and several about 12in. I really enjoyed quilting them, although the 12in ones were more difficult, as I couldn't quilt across the circles in one smooth movement on my DSM, despite the large space of the 820.

The quilt is roughly single (twin) bed size. I marked the circles by drawing around two different plates with an air-erasable marker, and everything else is quilted freehand. It's almost finished, and will be parcelled this evening, ready to post tomorrow.

Desert inspiration

I spent some time in Coober Pedy for work last week. Coober Pedy is a desert town of around 1700 people, bang in the middle of South Australia - 850km north of Adelaide and a good 650km from any town of size. Pretty much the middle of nowhere!

Most of Coober Pedy

We left behind Adelaide under cloud cover and flew up the gulf, then quickly over the farmland around the top of Yorke and Eyre peninsulas and reduced cloud cover, before the clouds disappeared altogether and large areas of what appeared to be scrubland and large, dry salt lakes, then nothing but red desert for a very long way.

Opal mines seen just before landing

Coober Pedy came into being because of opal mining, and is Australia's (and hence the world's) opal capital. There are even opal mines in the main street! For some long-ago-determined reason, opal mining was restricted to small-scale operations, and the whole area is scattered with small holes (about a metre across) and surrounding mounds of white rock.

Looking back over the main street from a small lookout before dinner

 

 

Looking northwest out of town

It's an odd town, unlike anywhere  I've been before. It's a bit unsure of its identity, and full of surprises and contrast. Up to half the population lives in dugouts - houses dug into the side of the rock hills, which stay much cooler than typical homes. We were lucky with the weather - the week before it had been around 40C, which is not atypical even though it's over a month until summer, but we experienced tops around 30C - much more civilised!

 I went for a wander at dusk one evening, but most of my photos didn't
accurately capture the amazing colours or vastness of the desert sunset.



We had very little spare time around our work, but did manage a bit of a look around the place, and of course I took a heap of photos.

On the road to the airport - 2 minutes from town yet miles from anywhere!
The mines below were only about 100m from the road.

On the flight home I was also lucky to get this photo of the Moonta/Pt Hughes area on the Yorke Peninsula where my in-laws have their holiday home:

Surely there has to be a quilt out of the trip!

I'm in the middle of quilting one of my own quilts, and while it's coming along well enough, I'm just not inspired by it, so procrastination has been the order of the week. And as it's mostly black on black at the moment, any photos wouldn't show much, so I've not bothered.