WiP Wednesday

I decided to make this quilt a little bit bigger
- it's my version of 'Vintage Spin' from Kathy's book 'Adding Layers' 

following her inspiring Modern Wedge workshop a couple of weekends ago.

 I've been raiding my stash
for a few more fabrics to make up a few more blocks.

{he-he, the next pic is just-for-you Mel!}

Back to sorting warm & cool fabric selections
back to combining trialing more pairs ...

back to lots of leftovers...

sigh... hope it all comes together ok in the end.
I'll just look at it for a while before going any further,
turns out now I'm going to be v.busy helping my sister paint her lounge for the next few days!

Linking up with WiP Wednesday here at freshlypieced
- you might like to pop on over & see what everyone else is up to!

St. Louis 16 patch in Kaffe

I have a finish to share today...

and here's a close up of the quilting & binding -

Quilt Stats:

The 16 Patch is a quick block to piece and the result is a very traditional patchwork quilt style 

- which I really like paired up with these Kaffe pastel fabrics. 

The piecing is large and allows the fabric patterns to really shine. 

Steffani over at Sew with Sass has a good tutorial if you are keen. 

Finished quilt measures 145 x 170 cms

Machine quilted in interlocking circles by Annette de Raat.
And thanx to Karyn from millymadeit for the company at Alberton while I sewed down the binding! 

For more details about this quilt see an earlier post here.

weekend sewing

Just a little bit of sewing time this weekend on my present WiP. I had fun pairing up my fabrics, playing with contrast, and also doing a little fussy cutting on some of the wedges for added depth & interest. I've cut my circles into squares now - my squares all ended up at 15" so quite big really, bigger than those from "Vintage Spin" in Kathy's book. And now I'm having a play with the block placement... and auditioning fabrics for the centres... and I think the same fabric will be repeated for the binding too. Here's a little peek at what's been happening at my place -

on the design wall floor 

squaring everything up 

layout trials

centre auditions

Which centre do you prefer?

 For earlier details about my 'vintage spin' blocks see here and here

- and to see lots of other creative versions from Kathy's workshop
have a peek at Rachel's here, Megan's here, Sue's here and Karyn's here
Linking up with sewcanshe here

Enjoy, while I go back out into my poorly neglected garden and get busy there...

new quilts for Alberton beds {final days}

Only one more day left to see the show!

I popped back to our Monday Modern quilt show at Alberton today. 

It's quite exciting seeing your own quilts on display...

Gypsy Wife quilt hanging in the (dark) ballroom
- a scrappy sampler put together in a unique way

around the back of the house

 Modern Buzz Saw quilt

I couldn't resist a pic of the nursery!

Summertime Chains quilt

-a scrappy quilt using a controlled colour range

my 1/4 Log Cabin quilt in the sewing room

-using up lots of little leftovers of AMH fabrics

Alberton also do 'high teas' out on the front verandah

We are spending a couple of hours Saturday & Sunday with activities for children & demonstrations
Here's a pic of me demonstrating sewing down binding on a quilt 

- along to the accompaniment of a wonderful pianist, a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon! 

my Building Blocks quilt in one of the big bedrooms

and to top it all off, afternoon tea for us too.

And if you can't get to the show, here's the link to the Monday Modern flickr pool to see more pics

Enjoy!

I've got a couple of scrappy finishes in the show 

so I'm also linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

'right out of granny's linen cupboard' {a WiP}

We had the local La Leche group morning tea here today
Once I'd set up the teacups and had my cuddle with babe Evie, I disappeared into the sewing room

At present I've been busy slowly piecing more wedges together
... slowly, as in the decision making part, the actual sewing part is easy! 

Hm-m-m- 'right out of granny's linen cupboard'

well, all I can say is that this granny must have had a few memorable moments!

a little bit of fussy cutting!

and just a little bit more... oops run out of material!

 Here they all are spread out on the design wall  floor.
Only a few more to make then it's the scary bit of trimming these circles down to squares
... wish me luck!

Linking up with sew cute Tuesday here
WiP Wednesday over here
and with Needle and Thread Thursday here

class show & tell

Well what a day we've had! Up bright & early and out to 'all things patchwork' to take part in the Modern Wedge class with Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession. It was an excellent day, lots to see, and lots to learn, and lots of time to play with fabric... exactly my sort of day!

Here's a few pics of the examples Kathy showed us today

From the 'how-we-used-to do-it' pile (which I actually still love!) ...

... to the all so easily do-able endless possibilities  - now we know how! 

Large prints, small prints, pastels, jewel colours, 'modern' fabrics, vintage, dark fabrics 

- it all went into the eclectic mix and all totally perfect! 

And she brought lots of quilts to show us too, here's two that caught my eye... 

a recent version of 'vintage spin' using solids too & with borders

and a recent version of 'Garden Party' 

And just what did I get up to all day?

Well, some of you may remember my attempts at this - 'Vintage Spin' from Kathy's book "Adding Layers". I drew up my own template & made a few blocks using my 'old-looking' fabrics, but somehow they just never seemed quite right! So I was really glad of the opportunity to attend this workshop today. I decided early on that I was going to give 'Vintage Spin' another go, but this time doing it a bit differently!  I wanted vintage and I wanted pretty, but first I needed to sort my scrappy selection of fabrics into warm & cool colour piles...

... and then the fun began! 
Matching up the pairs, cutting out & sewing, time just flew!
 Kathy's comment about my choices - "right out of granny's linen cupboard" - that'll do me just fine! 

I can see now that 'contrast' is the key
and how the color of a fabric is not really known until it is actually playing beside it's neighbour! 

I can see how fussy cutting really adds an extra dimension!

I can certainly see how easy it is to use these templates, and it's a lot of fun experimenting too!

my favorite so far

 Oh, and I can see that I'm going to be v.busy over the next week or so getting this all together!

For more pics of today pop on over to millymadeit 

scattered petals {update}

This week I layered up my 'scattered petals' quilt, did a bit of machine quilting to secure the whole quilt, and am now adding some hand quilting. I've been combining my hand & machine quilting lately, practicality plus some obvious big stitch quilting is a pleasing 'hand made' mix for some quilts I think. I'm using no. 8 perle thread in a soft green.

close up of backing, an old chintz

Hopefully it shouldn't take too long to hand quilt around those pretty petals
- happy sewing!

I wasn't going to...

I wasn't going to make another free form quilt...

 but the temperatures are getting warmer, the trees are blossoming,
and I'm thinking it'd be nice to whip up something fun & pretty in pastels 
- like this 'scattered petals' quilt

trial free form block

using up every last piece of those lovely silky fabrics

Quilt Stats:

 Inspired by the colour scheme in one Sujata's latest quilts 

and based on the 'windmills' pattern from her book, Cultural Fusion Quilts. 

Made from a scrappy selection of stash fabrics 

including Amy Butler, assorted solids, along with a little bit of Kaffe. 

I quite like the idea of those petals continuing to cascade over the edge 

-so I may just add a border!

and a bit more #34
for all our overseas quilty enthusiasts -
here's a little peep at our Monday Modern quilt show, 'new quilts for Alberton beds'
happening right now in Auckland, NZ

  just follow this link to Monday Modern flickr pool to see more
Enjoy!

Linking up with 'oh scrap' here

Cultural Fusions over here

and WiP Wednesday here at freshlypieced