queen of the may {a WiP}

It's Auckland anniversary weekend here in NZ, and luckily it's a lovely long weekend as I got totally distracted today. This was so not on my latest 'to do' list, but I just had to keep making these blocks.

Inspired by Kathy from materialobsession and her use of contemporary fabrics with traditional designs, I've been experimenting, mixing and matching bright fabrics from my scrap basket ...

I'm using a template set from way back, it was my favourite block from a Material Obsession BOM quilt that Glenys & I both made ...

I'm machine piecing these 'queen of the may' blocks. I started out tentatively mixing things up a la Kathy style and the more I made, the easier it got. So then I began to play more ... with more fun fussy cutting ... and more quirky fabric combos from my stash ...

A floral here, a spot there, and lots of prints on prints on prints everywhere ...

I noticed not too long ago that Wanda from exuberantcolor has also been playing with some happy colour too. She's making some vibrant blocks for her 'color works' quilt from Kathy's Mixing Quilt Elements book, follow the link for a little peek.

And what about the block backgrounds? I hear you ask. Well, after making up a few, I did start playing with options. Maybe a variety of neutral plaids, spots and stripes ...

Or maybe something quite different, like a yellow? Traditional cheddar quilts always seem to catch my eye. Using a yellow background on something, even though it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before, has always appealed ...

or maybe even this :)

The jury is still out on this, but yes... totally distracted {again} today.

Oh, and I don't know about you, but my stash has always been low on green fabrics. Not sure why, I just don't actively buy green. However, not so long ago Glenys passed on a few Amy Butler 'greens' to me and I was able to put them to good use here ...

... is there a colour you tend to shy away from too?

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here
and with Sandra for here for DrEAMi a new linky party this year
for sharing those 'I-gotta-SEW-this-and-sew-it-NOW' moments

back on track

One thought I had at the beginning of the year was to go through my little pile of quilt tops once in a while and see if I could change or add something extra, anything really that rekindled my interest enough to get the quilt back on track and finished. So this week I'm relooking at a WiP from May last year and having another play with this star quilt top.

Sometimes it is good to leave things, have a break, and then come back to it... it's all part of the design process, yes?

I used Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 'mostly manor' fabrics for this star quilt. After finally settling on a layout, once it was all together, it always felt just a bit too small to be very useful.
Relooking at it today, I suddenly decided to add a border in VFW gold & white fractured stripe and then a nice wide border of her gorgous yellow floral. And I'm much happier now, have a look...

I've been wanting to use that gold & white fractured stripe in something... wonder why it took me so long?

All back on track now and ready for basting & quilting

Linking up with Em here for 'moving it forward'

a lovely little finish

My auntbets quilt #2 is finished. Initially, I did some machine quilting to accentuate the horizontal lines and to stabilize the whole quilt. And then I spent some time in the evenings hand tying randomly with cream candlewicking yarn. It's ended up a very lovely, soft & cuddly quilt.
Thanks for stopping by, Linda

Linking up with Kelly here for 'needle and thread Thursday'

my friday favourites #9

Here's my pick for this weeks Friday favourites- it's bound to brighten up your day too

Love this colourful project in my latest Quilters Companion magazine

'pickled fish' by Chris Jurd...

Love baking with Olive
gingerbread men, and flowers and fish oh my...

Love all the recent yarnbombing action up in the village...

What are you loving this week?

stashbusting

Back from a lovely family break at Waihi Beach
Lots of holiday fun... walking, cafe coffees,
and splashing about with Olive & little Evie in the surf ... wonderful

No stash at the beach house and so once back home
{and all caught up with all the washing}
I was distracted totally from my 'to do' list, and began cutting shapes for a new quilt...

it's all about using my stash this year

- and channelling my inner Kathy with lots of prints on prints on prints

and you?
have you been distracted by anything in the new year too?

Linking up with Lorna for 'show & tell' here at sewfreshquilts

back to needle & thread

I finished piecing my 2nd auntbets quilt top this week and am very pleased with it.

Here's a few pics... and a few thoughts about hand tying a quilt.

mixing the old with the new

{a Jennifer Paganelli floral and Blueberry Park fabrics by Karen Lewis}

- my favourite fabric

I decided to hand tie this little quilt. There's lots of tutorials around, like this one I found that was nice & simple here with great needle threading tips too! After quickly stitching some leftover batting pieces together on the machine, I spent an hour or so crawling around on the floor pinning all my layers together.

Then it was back to using a needle & thread, a chenille needle and some candlewick yarn to be precise {a chenille needle has a large eye & sharp point}. And it has certainly been a learning experience for me!

Firstly, I really needed to tie the knots fairly closely together to ensure all the layers stay secure. And I found scissors  proved very useful to help pull that needle through! Oh, and despite what I've read, I avoided tying any knots over intersections after trying it just the once... way, way too thick! And finally, a little bloodshed is all par for the course!

I'm about half way now and it's looking ok so far.

I did read somewhere that 'it's not a quilt until it's quilted', so I'm wondering now,

when you tie a pieced quilt what do you have... a quilt still? a comforter?  

Love to hear your thoughts.
*I  just came across another good tutorial here by Sarah from thelastpiece

Linking up with Kelly for 'needle and thread Thursday' here

a new year.... a new quilt

I've been busy making hexagon blocks and there's a pretty selection up on my design wall now

I'll do an end-of-the-month round up so you can see too.

Wondering about starting a new quilt today

Revisiting auntbets quilt has been on my 'to do' list ever since I finished this first one
so I made up a couple of trial blocks you know, just to see...

I do love the simple scrappy design of this,

with those larger pieces that are perfect for your special fabrics to shine...

and the 1/4 log cabin and flying geese blocks add some scrappy 'quilty' interest...

It reminds me a bit of those Australian wagga quilts

{for a few pics of what I'm referring to, see here on pinterest}

Lots of different fabrics are finding their way into this...

along with a bundle of fabrics I stumbled across on Trade Me, an early collection from Denyse Schmidt, Greenfields.

I'm using them as my focus...
{insert smiley face} new-to-me fabric really helps my creative processing!

What starts you off on a new quilt?

a pattern? a colour scheme? a special fabric?

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here