1/4 Log Cabin quilt {a finish}

I spent a bit of time this week refocusing on my FAL Q3 list. 

Tally up time of 'finishes' for this last quarter is 30 September. 

So far - not surprisingly - I am a bit behind target, with only this one finish! 

Some of my quilt tops hang out together in the wardrobe for months while I work on something else, but not this one! I've just finished putting the binding on my 1/4 Log Cabin quilt, aka the Handkerchief quilt. I do love those vintage-looking handkerchief quilts, don't you? Here's my take on one...

The quilt is pretty busy with all the various AMH prints, so connecting circles was my choice of quilting pattern. Annette certainly worked her quilting magic here! It gives it a nice texture, sort of sinks into the piecing on the front, without competing with the fabrics. For more decision making details about this quilt, see this post here.

pieced scrappy backing 

and I guess you want to see the whole quilt...

Yayee finish #1
A few weeks to go yet, maybe I've still got time to tick another WiP off "the list".
How is everyone else going with their FAL lists?

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday  here @ my quilt infatuation

and TGIFF over there too!

revisiting an old WiP

Glenys & I are all signed up to go to a workshop at 'all things patchwork' with Kathy Doughty in September. I'm really looking forward to it! There are many options with this "Modern Wedge" workshop, we'll be learning all about using the Dresden Plate plastic template and how to put the wedges together to make (hopefully) really interesting quilts!

Earlier this morning I sat down with a coffee and one of Kathy's books, Making Quilts, that I had borrowed from Glenys. 

I was hoping to get a few ideas about patterns & fabrics for the workshop, but instead I came across a quilt that I remembered starting ages ago, Greenfields. I had no pattern back then, just a photo in an old quilting magazine, a bunch of  5" Denyse Schmidt charm squares and just over a metre of bright fabric, a Kelly Green spot. I had jumped right in making up heaps of scrappy strips. Then it all got put away for a rainy day!
When I retrieved it out of the depths of the wardrobe today, I discovered I had actually already made quite of bit of it. Here's a few pics...

... it'd be a shame not to keep going with this now, yes? 

Needless to say, I haven't got very far with any decisions about fabric selection for the workshop!

Linking up for "Oh Scrap" over here with Cynthia
pop over for lots of other scrappy inspiration
... and a lovely surprise to see one of my quilts featured!

and also linking up for WiP Wednesday over here at freshlypieced 

what a difference a day makes!

After standing back and looking for a day, I worked out what was wrong with this quilt top! And it was so simple to fix... I unpicked one light pink block that was glaring at me and replaced it with a pretty peach/brown one. It seems to all blend together a bit better now, and I'm much happier too!

Quilt Top Stats:

Sujata's rail fence design

Fabrics used included Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe, Denyse Schmidt 

and assorted others from my pre- modern stash.

My colour scheme was a selection of blues combined with brown 

- with the brown values ranging from peach, orange, brown, and cranberry. 

Block size 16" x 16" Finished quilt top size 2m x 1.75m
Waiting now for some quilting fairy magic! 

Here's the link to culturalfusion quilts for more inspiration!

Linking up with Lee for WiP Wednesday here 

this week...

... this week there has been no sewing! 

BUT

• I did receive a lovely package in the mail, a selection of the latest Denyse Schmidt fabrics, New Bedford from the Fat Quarter Shop. I notice too that katie jump rope yardage will be available in November, a re-run of a very collectable range! Linking up with Molli for sunday stash here
• And I have learnt how to make homemade Vietnamese spring rolls! My new sister-in-law has been staying with us and we are both learning lots of things from each other! 
• And I also sorted out some of my quilts, all ready now for our Monday Modern quilt group show here in Auckland, NZ.  "new quilts for alberton beds" is an exhibition of modern quilts in the historic setting of Mt Albert's Alberton House, built in 1863. The quilts will be all on display throughout the house, well worth a visit to see not only the quilts but the lovely old home too! 

it's a bit colourful Linda! {a picture post}

I've been making more blocks using Sujata's rail fence design

And as promised, here's a few progress photos

My main focus was to try & combine my Anna Maria Horner fabrics with anything & everything!

There's certainly been a bit of trial & error happening here in the sewing room 
I started out with a couple of 'safe' combinations, using AMH loominous...

Next I cut into a few of my real favourite AMH fabrics... 

I ended up rummaging deep into my pre-modern stash to make up some of my combinations...

Ha-ha, is it just me or do these next three blocks kinda look like 
"the good, the bad bold, and the ugly"...

hm-m-m, not too sure if this is actually going to work or not!

Here's the first 12 blocks...

The results are quite unpredictable
and there was one block that I just couldn't cope with - can you guess which one?

 After a bit of unpicking, here's all 20 blocks...

Yep I agree, it is a bit colourful! 
And a fusion of sorts I guess, the old with the new, plaids with prints
Finished quilt top size - it's big -  2m x 1.75m!

Here's the link to culturalfusion quilts for more inspiration!

is it Spring yet?

Daffodils from my garden

Well, the days have certainly felt warmer, but looks like we are in for more of the cold stuff this coming week. Here in NZ, and Australia too, spring doesn't officially begin until September 1 and ends November 30th, and our weather then is still like four seasons in one day ranging from cold & frosty to warm & hot, a little bit of everything really!

This week I've been busy revisiting a couple of older WiP's... 
I've spent some time sewing more blocks for my HST quilt. It's on my FAL Q3 list but I have neglected it lately! This quilt was inspired by a lovely Kaffe floral fabric, a simple design, and a quilt I'd seen in Jane Brocket's book. This quilt plays with the rhythmic value of the HST's, where the use of value is predictable &  repetitive. It's fun to see how all the different fabrics play together! One 'couch quilt' now all ready for basting, quilting & binding.

early morning pic

And I've finally finished sewing the binding down on my 'Beige & Red liberated log cabin' quilt. For details see earlier posts here and here.  I had a few issues running out of fabrics, lots of scrappy improvisation along the way which was a lot of fun! My inspiration came from a combination of ideas from Gwen Marston's 'Liberated Quiltmaking II' book and also from a lovely quilt I saw made by LeeAnn at nifty quilts quite some time ago. I made a pieced backing from a selection of blending 'oldish' fabrics. The lovely clamshell quilting was done by Annette de Raat. Finished quilt size 1.80 x 1.65m. 
Linking up with Cynthia here for 'oh scrap' and to TGIFF over here are quiltmatters this week.

And I'm still working away making more blocks using Sujata's rail fence design, exploring her free form process. I'm getting more adventurous with slicing that gentle curve too! It's addictive, the results are unpredictable, and each quilt will be very unique depending on your own lively fabric choices! More pics coming soon.

 here's the link to culturalfusion quilts for more inspiration!

rail fence QAL {update}

I'm really enjoying making these blocks, very addictive! Here's what has worked for me so far -
Love the free form style, but I found precision matters especially when using plain fabrics. My joining seam lines stood out a bit... maybe the soft pink plain fabric is too much contrast? maybe I'm not as precise as I could be? Pressing helped, and using two prints was great!
It's more pleasing to my eye if there is some connection between the two prints in each block, like one little bit of colour repeated. After making a few blocks, I'm now almost decided on having "brown" as my background colour in each block. {This will be interesting, it's not a colour I use much}
And it's definitely time for me to be a bit braver, and make those lengthwise slices just a bit wonkier!

Here's the link to cultural fusion quilts if you want to see what others are doing too.

rail fence... small beginnings

Sujata's book Cultural Fusion is a new favourite of mine! There are quite a few quilts in it that appeal to me, and the irregular piecing is an interesting & creative process that I'm keen to explore a bit more. Karen here seems to be enjoying her book too, she's made two quilts from it already!

So, I've been tossing up about joining in with the rail-fence-quiltalong! Love this quilt... and, while I'm juggling a few balls in the air, I figure I may as well throw in another and experiment!

Going now to sort a few fabrics and then I'll give this free form curvy cutting a go
From what I've read, the more solid fabrics included, 
the more contemporary and graphically bold the quilt will be, so we shall see!

... I'll be back soon to share more!

drunkard's path {a finished quilt}

Well, sadly no news about my other sewing machine yet! I am keen to get back to sewing a few more of these daisies but won't risk changing machines mid flight!
There's still plenty to be getting on with here in the sewing room though, using my faithful old Bernina. And I do have a finished quilt to share today... I just love how this turned out! Thank you so much for all the earlier comments about my Drunkard's Path quilt, I enjoyed reading them!

This quilt is all about the scrappy fabrics, and it's a real jumble of fabrics that's for sure... some old, some new, some pretty, and some not so pretty! I only used each fabric once, and kept the quilting minimal but functional, lots of simple straight lines running edge to edge, up & down.

I opted for a brown floral backing... not my usual choice, I usually go for blue! But it's perfect for this really as I wanted to keep it all feeling 'warm' and, more to the point, I had just purchased a large amount quite cheaply at the latest Auckland Guild meeting! The two tone orange-y brown binding brings bit of restful calmness, makes all those warmer tones 'pop' and also helps blend the front with the back too I think.

See here for more quilt details and here for the drunkards path tutorial that I used.

And, what's up next? As you know, I'm always on the lookout for ways to use up my stash and when I stumbled across a delightfully scrappy quilt here, I was 'in love.' I contacted Stephanie re the pattern, turns out it isn't available just yet. 
Well, sometimes you just gotta play, so I searched around and found something similar here, a simple basket quilt block. I played with the pattern a bit, altered it, downsized it, and ended up with a few cute little scrappy 7" blocks like this one... 

... perfect for another scrappy project sometime, don't you think?

Linking up with 'oh scrap' here
and with Lee here for WiP Wednesday
and with tgiff over here this week at quokkaquilts