Under-Estimation

I've been busy lately but it's not an excuse.  I plan in my head the whys and wherefors of what I want to do, allocate time and get into it only to find it takes me so much longer than I'd anticipated to actually get the thing done!  What's with this - is it related to age?

I cut this block out a week or so ago and as I was cutting it out, quietly getting excited thinking how much I liked the way the fabrics were working together etc,  so decided to cut another.  Then knowing I had plans the next day, I thought I'll just go and quickly stitch the block to confirm my thoughts.  Well I still like it, in fact I love the way it turned out, but it took me all day to get just the one block stitched!

 

The one on the left is waiting to be stitched (when I get to it, I'll plan to have the whole day to do it this time).  The one on the right is stitched, and I know all the outside seams don't match, but it's deliberately made bigger so I can trim the sides to be sure I get all the corner points in.  Here's a closer picture so you can see the fabrics I used...

 

 

Anna Maria Horner in the centre followed by some Amy Butler and I can't remember the two outer diamonds, but I like them and the outside fabric is one of the Pallete Pleasures from A Day in the Country.  Yummy!

 

The colours remind me of old movie posters from the 1950's - African Queen or Rebel With A Cause

so I might have to persue this when I get to cut more blocks.

 

This past weekend I've been working on secret projects (SSCS - sorry I can't post pictures yet) and again I've found I seriously underestimated the time it would take me to stitch them, so maybe my problem is simply that I should plan less and do more!

 

On that note I'm off to the sewing room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Show and (I Shouldn't) Tell...

Once a month I get together with a few friends to make quilts that we give away, not because we don't want the quilt but because there are so many reasons to make someone happy from the simple gift of a quilt. The quilts are given anonomously and we don't seek thanks, nor do we want recognition simply because the gift has really been ours in the planning, construction and especially in working together.  It is a wonderful priviledge to be able to participate in this craft of making quilts, particularly doing so in the company of friends. 

Our rules are simple, we all have wonderful stashes of fabric, and speaking for myself I doubt I'll ever be able to use all that I've accumulated (and continue adding to) in my lifetime, so we use what we have and then because between us we also have quite a collection of inspiring books, we take turns to choose a design from one of our books - we try to find a book we haven't already used and that is what we work on each month.  With a couple of us cutting, another stitching, someone pressing and most importantly putting the design together, we are amazed at what we get done in the day.  So far the quilts have been simple designs, but who knows what we'll get to next!

Bearing in mind what I've already said about anonimity, I'm going to share a couple with you, because I just love how they turned out!

This past month we worked from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book.  The pattern is called Stone Cottage and sadly we didn't have enough of the blue bali fabrics to make the wonderful border that is on the original, so we're going to leave it simply with a solid fabric.

 

This photo really does no justice to the lovely fabrics we used.  There's just so much detail in each fabric and it makes me feel quite relaxed, even refreshed just looking at it. 

 

 

Next quilt I've shared on the blog before, but here it is completed with quilting and binding.

 

Quilting really adds a whole new dimension to the quilt, doesn't it.  Sadly it's quite overcast and the colour isn't as good as it could be, but it is a lovely quilt and we will be proud to pass it on.

That's all for now, I'm up to adding the binding on my growing up quilt.

Happy…

Rarely do I get a chance to just go to the cupboard, pull out fabrics, give myself permission to not worry what goes with what and get into it.  My turn came around last Sunday, home with nothing else I was going to do, I started work on this quilt, a gift for a special person.


No work today meant I’ve been able to put the final borders on this morning!  I’ve used the pattern before, it’s from one of my favourite patchwork books - Geometric Gems by Cathy Wierzbicki.  Unfortunately it’s too wet and cold to go outside to try for better photos and these certainly don’t show it well, but it measures 57” by 76” so it’s a useful size.  I like it!
Just to celebrate, I might just go raid the stash and cut out another.

FrustrAtion....

You know how it goes...misguided, feeling so pleased with myself last week for almost finishing a quilt I started back in 2009 (it's now back in the pile), I grabbed yet another of those UFO boxes (from 2010 this time) from the cupboard and thought I'd get into it...started back here  as a Mystery Quilt. 

It surely would have been kinder if one of you had simply hit me over the head.

Shall I say that after many, many hours of cutting half square triangles, carefully, carefully, carefully pinning and then stitching to get all those points and seams to match this is where I'm at...

I'm slow, but it's taken me until now to really read the instructions properly and realize that I've got green where there should have been blue and vice versaa.  My choices now include:

1. Continue and make it up as I go
2. Spend a lot of quality time with Mr Unpicker
3. Put it back in the box it came from and hide it at the bottom of the cupboard

Help! These two friends are no help at all...(although Sara Lee is doing her part)

Who likes half square triangles....

Sorry, I know it's been a while - Peggy keeps reminding me!  I have been busy - a bit of quilting, a bit of travelling, a lot more work and suddenly I realise it's a couple of months since I've posted. 

In between times I've been ditch stitching this quilt - a real favourite of mine.

For those of you who might not know, back in 2009 I owned a Patchwork shop with my friend Peggy (which we closed in 2012) - Peggy and Bev's Place.  For fun, we decided to invite our friends and customers to join us in a mystery we called the White Elephant Swap.  The rules were simple, no-one was told or shown the design until the day of the swap only that if you wanted to join in you would need 28 fat quarters to make the quilt,  14 dark & 14 lights.  Further, we then asked all participants to choose 7 each of their darks and lights and package them in 2 brown paper parcels marked either light or dark which were then swapped randomly.  Whatever fabrics you received in the swap must be used in the quilt and finally, somewhere in the design you had to incorporate an elephant.
What a leap of faith.  It surprised me that not many joined in, in fact most of our friends decided not to participate giving lots of reasons but mostly I think because they weren't comfortable with the uncertainty not knowing beforehand what the pattern was to be, and not able to trust that all that was required to consider was whether the fabric was light or dark.
It really was a great exercise.  Peggy chose well when she decided on the design as it simply worked!  In the end we only had 7 participants and to my knowledge only three of us have completed our quilts, so far.  This is mine and it really is special to me.  (I  admit that I was one of the doubters, but I decided to go along anyway).  The lunch when we swapped our packages and the pattern was revealed was a very fun occasion - I especially remember my friend Christina who had decided to make hers in just blacks and whites, she loved the fabrics she'd chosen and decided to hide the parcel in a special place so no-one could get them!  Being the multi-talented lady she is, she did eventually relent and the exchange was made.  Peggy received what I considered to be some especially ugly fabrics in the swap, but wow she made them work beautifully.
Here are the three completed quilts - Peggy on the left, Christina in the middle and then mine:

and the elephants (mine is pieced into the bottom corner):

It's taken me some time, but I really wanted to quilt this one myself, so here I am only a few more rows and then I've got to decide what to do with the outside border.  

It's Good to Go Back....

A friend came to visit this morning and I brought this quilt out to show her.  Completed a while ago now, it's still a favourite of mine (shame I didn't take the time to press it before taking the photo).  The simplest of piecing from a selection of bali dyed blues surrounded by a white border with lots of free motion quilting.

More recently, this is what I've been slowly working on.  Now the centre section is all pieced and quilted - I've done it quilt as you go so I could stitch it with my  Bernina 440.  It's time to start on the borders.  I've decided I'd like to use this on my bed so I'm going to add a wider border at the bottom of the quilt both to add length, but also because I love those gorgous big flowers on this print - LouLouthi from Anna Maria Horner.  I've used many fabrics from this range in the quilt and the more I work with it, the more I like it!  Incidentally the pattern is Growing Up by Wendy Williams.

Last photo has been put in for my daughter Melanie - see my constant companion Louie the Sheltie here watching over the process, the only surprising thing is that he's not actually sitting on the quilt.  He considers any fabric that goes on the floor to be his personal sitting space!

Till next time - Bev