slow Sunday stitching

All the components are sorted for my 'tulip' quilt now - the improv blocks are made, the borders are all ready, and I've made the binding.

Spending some time today slow stitching, doing some needleturn applique, enjoying the process, one tulip after another . . .

. . . and then I'll be ready to stitch everything together.

If you are a scrappy quilt lover, these string pieced tulips are such a great way to use up some fabric snippets. I've used mainly Anna Maria Horner little leftovers for this, some of her earlier fabrics, with lots of those {everso} useful neutrals.

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

and with Kathy for 'slow sunday stitching' here

how does your garden grow

I've started to work through a few unfinished projects lately. Ones where I can either bust out a few pesky scraps or maybe breathe new life into fabrics that I'm out of love with because they’ve languished in the wardrobe way too long.

You may remember this WiP from back here, these string pieced tulips have been floating around for some time now. I took a while to decide which way to go with these, red backgrounds or scrappy neutrals, and I had no idea even how to set them.
Not so long ago I spotted a quilt pattern in one of my old Quiltmania magazines no.90, "brooklyn follies' by Sheena Chapman. Her "new york beauty" blocks alternated with improv pieced blocks, something a bit different and it looked very effective.

So I decided to give it a go, and here's how it's all looking up on the design wall so far . . .

I've still got those three blocks on the left to finish up, with some improv narrow blocks inbetween, but I'm very pleased with how this is going. And, I'm thinking I need to add one more final outer border, something quite neutral. Oh, and I'd really love to add some green wide ricrac for a couple of the tulip stems.

My tulip garden is steadily growing,
and I'm so happy these string pieced tulips are getting a new lease of life

Linking up with Kelly at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread' Thursday

my 'Ms Bouquet' quilt

This quilt started out as just a vague idea - an adventure in improv - using a large floral for the centre panel and it grew from there. I didn't know where I would end up, but wanted something like you see in vintage medallion quilts where random strips are added, linking the colours one border at a time. Of course, once I got started, things changed with every round!

A few quilt stats:

Fabrics included a quirky selection from my stash of vintage, ginghams and modern prints 

I used an "Outback Wife" floral as my starting point, hence the name "Ms Bouquet"
The backing is an old cotton duvet cover and I used a 'basic grey' fabric for the binding
Machine quilted in an overall swirly flower pattern by Sandy Mayo
and I have been slowly adding a few bits of extra big stitch hand quilting, using no.8 perle cotton
I'm a pattern follower not a pattern maker, but enjoyed dabbling with a little improv
{see back here for early details}
Quilt measures 66" x 60"

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' over here

zigzag finish

Way back in December last year I dipped into my 'outback wife' fabrics to make my 'zig zag' quilt. These lovely barkcloth florals are a really interesting fabric, with a unique texture and vintage vibe. I loved reading the design stories about these fabrics too, like this one here about Elaine - follow the link to check out more.

I'm a big fan of LeeAnn from niftyquilts work and my initial inspiration for the 'zig zag' quilt came from this photo here that I had saved ages ago.

I had my quilt custom quilted by Leeanne from 'quiltmekiwi'. I find it’s always a tricky thing, deciding on a machine quilting pattern that doesn’t compete with or overpower the actual piecing. Leeanne-my-quilter lives up north, so we chatted via email quite a bit, with lots of photos going back & forth, before I settled on a quilting pattern.

And when it’s being quilted ‘away from home’ I never know if I’ve made the right decision until the quilt comes back to me. However, if you look closely I'm sure you will agree, the quilting on this is amazing. 

- meet Johnny, my little helper today

A few quilt stats:
Pieced by sewing up HSTs
 - lots of 'zigzag' tutorials can be found online, like this one here
Fabrics included 'outback wife' and a selection of other scrappy bits from my stash
I used a Jen Kingwell stripe that had been sitting in my stash for sometime for the binding.
Cotton batting
Finished quilt measures 52" x 62"
Heaps of inspiration for a 'zigzag' quilt can be found here
I'm very excited to get this one finished.

Linking up with Myra for 'finished (or not) Friday' here at busyhandsquilts
with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework
and with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread Thursday'

spring is in the air

Recently I've seen tulips popping up everywhere, here, here and here and over here too. Well, a long long time ago, I began these scrappy, string pieced tulips. I used Gwen Marston's pattern, from her book Liberated String Quilts, and a selection of mainly Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

And today, as we free-fall into Spring here in NZ and with daylight saving coming up this weekend, I decided to dig them out to try and move this project forward, even if just a little bit.

Flashback Alert: My original plan, years ago, was to applique each tulip onto an assortment of scrappy neutral backgrounds, something like this . . .

Like many, my tastes have changed evolved over the years and the blocks don't look right to me now. The different backgrounds & sashing colour combo appears dated and it all seems to me to fight with the tulips. Luckily I had only stitched two tulips down, so it's an easy unpick.

I've decided to try out a few different options - like maybe a selection of reds {and, I won't have to go shopping which is always a plus}. My inspiration came from the cover quilt of Georgia Quilts by Anita Zeleski Weinraub.

or maybe even something a bit more like this . . .

I've had these tulip blocks floating around in my head all this week,
waiting til I had some time to play,
and I can't wait to see where this goes . . . watch this space!

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework
and over with Lorna too for 'let's bee social' here at sewfreshquilts

a new spin on tradition

Quilt stats:

'Star Crossed' quilt

pattern from the book "utility style quilts for everyday living" by Sharon Holland

I used a fabric stack of a recently released fabric collection as my starting point
- lovestoryfabrics by Maureen Cracknell
I then added in a DS plaid, a few quirky vintage prints and a couple of blending peachy solids

. . . the surprising colour and fabric combos put a new spin on this traditional block
 don't you think?

Beautifully custom quilted by Leeanne Hopper @ quiltmekiwi using cotton batting
Finished quilt measures 62" x 88" 

Linking up to the bloggers quilt festival here at amyscreativeside