plenty of pretty progress

Here's a few pics of my pretty progress!

- just checking I'm getting "the look" happening!

 

Super happy with this mishmash of colour and

... I love 💕 how this block creates those appearing & disappearing circles.

I've got sixteen pieced 12 1/2" blocks up on the design wall now and 

... I think I might just keep going.

Linda

sparking that joy!

Here’s my design wall today,

{wink wink} I have far too many WiPs!

But sometimes, as I'm sure many of you will agree, it is ok to leave things to brew for a bit. Even if it does mean there’s a bit of trial & error happening around here, it’s all fun!

Take my Kaleidoscope quilt for example. I've used a large selection of AMH florals in these blocks - using the good stuff first - along with a few other bits & pieces that helped to create some contrast. I was super keen to add in the rose solid, as it seemed to go so well with lots of the florals ...

... but after looking at it for a few weeks, it was beginning to feel like the focus had shifted from the florals to the solid.
Over the weekend I decided maybe it was time for a change in direction. Sparking that joy here now and going for the full colour burst! Not surprised, are you?

I’ve also been focusing on using my stash up lately. I always think a great way to create a unique vibrant top is to mix the older fabrics in with a favourite range of quilting fabric ... either coordinating or contrasting ... combos that spark joy!

Guess what happened to a bunch of leftover hand pieced 8-point stars that I had stashed away in one of my project baskets?

I pulled them out over the weekend too and popped them up on the design wall. I had used a mix of oldish but pretty vintage prints, and I had started adding in the neutral background segments, but again, it wasn't ticking the boxes for me. 
So, first up I started cutting out a few Tilda additions from my stash to mix in too...

And then, after a little bit a lot of unpicking, I also trialed a few solids, 

et voila ... 

- I love the play of colour in these blocks now ❤️

Sew interesting - I chuck the solids out of one project and add the solids in to the other 🤣🤣

Anyways, now I have new plans for moving both projects forward ...

Linda

string quilt love ❤️

My "Evie" quilt is a sweet little string quilt I started way back in August 2021 {check back here}, using a pattern I downloaded by Tara @quiltdistrict {see here}. Her quilt was inspired by a delightful vintage quilt in her collection, and I must admit this quilt captured my heart straight away too as one of my granddaughters is called Evie!

Lots of strings and scraps in checks, spots, vintage florals and leftover pieces were used in this scrappy delight! I had it machine quilted in an edge-to-edge pattern called 'Van Gogh' by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi. I backed it with a vintage sheet, and I finished everything off with the teal binding. 

Loving the secondary circular patterns in this one! 

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

❤️

pas de deux: the finale

I absolutely loved this adventure!

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Rachel’s fabulous pattern, pas-de-deux-bom. There is so much scope for creativity and I’ve had great fun playing with colour and value.

It all began with a rainbow fabric pull, which certainly changed over the first few months as other sections were added. Following Rachel's excellent monthly suggestions, I fine-tuned things and made a point of adding in lighter shades of cream/pink florals to create some visual space and project a softer ethereal-like look!

Super happy with how these ensembles all look together now. It's a scrappy, sparkling quilt, and I think what really helped was the cohesive nature of the Anna Maria Horner’s fabrics which I mixed in with my other fabrics. The dark value elements jump out, while the medium and low value elements offer layers of pattern to explore as the eye continues to wander.

Texture is such a satisfying aspect of a quilt finish, don't you think? For the quilting I chose a clean, diagonal straight line, called Mirage. With so much to visual energy already on offer, this quilt didn’t need anything complicated. This simple edge-to-edge quilting pattern brings a hint of unity and allows the patchwork to speak for itself.
This wasn’t one of the most complex quilting requests I made of Leeanne, {from quiltmekiwi} but for me, who doesn’t enjoy machine quilting, it still seems difficult to pull off on a king size quilt. Hooray for quilting-by-cheque! 

The quilt back is a fabulous Tula Pink print, 'Wonder'. And for my binding I chose 'Social Climber' by AMH, the teal blue with its large-scale floral design breaks up nicely in the narrow segments of the binding. It's lighter than I would usually use, but I love how those intermittent roses draw out the 'pops' of citrus yellow in the main quilt. And {wink wink} it was really the only fabric I had enough of to bind this big quilt with! Finished quilt measures approx. 64" x 77". 

Now how about an even closer look ...

- my perfectly imperfect 'still point' ensemble, the trickiest one in the quilt!

- binding close-up

Linking up with Kelly for 'NTT' here and with Wendy for 'peacock party' over here

and with Cynthia here for 'oh scrap'

Until next time, Linda

what my Monday morning looked like

I've been quilting ... again!

Is it perfect? No 🙃. Is it done yet? Not quite 😂.

Today I'm quilting my 'pinwheels & stars' quilt, {see here for early details}. Unlike the quilt in my last post, this time around I'm spending a lot more time on the machine quilting, doing lots & lots of straight organic lines. {Just channeling my inner Jolene from blue elephant stitches with the quilting!} I didn’t realise it would be like a full-on workout though😂, but I'm getting close to finishing now. 

I used a selection of fabrics with a vintage inspired whisper palette in pink, mustard & blues, with little accents of raspberry.  The background is a selection of different whites, all of which give a tiny bit of movement and bit of a make-do look to the quilt.

I’ll save the glamour pics for when the binding is on! 

{wink wink} ... if I only wrote about finished quilts, I’d only get to post about 2 or 3 times a year! 

Have a happy week! 

Linda

scattered petals

This weekend I decided I'd relook at a few unfinished projects and try to move them further along. My 'scattered petals' quilt was 1st in the list. 

You may recall in my last post I mentioned Sujata Shah's book, Cultural Fusion Quilts, well I suddenly remembered an improv quilt I made inspired by a quilt in her book. I started this quilt back in September 2015 roughly following the 'windmills' guidelines. 

I made a bundle of practice free-form blocks - no ruler, no templates - enough to join them together into a small quilt!  

I used a scrappy selection of stash fabrics including Amy Butler, assorted solids (some cotton, some silk), along with a little bit of Kaffe and AMH. For my backing I used a lovely early soft green floral chintz. 

I did a bit of simple straight-line machine quilting to secure the whole quilt. I've been combining hand & machine quilting lately, practicality plus some obvious big stitch quilting adds a pleasing 'handmade' look to some quilts ... so I decided to start adding in some hand quilting using no. 8 perle thread ... but then {wink wink} my focus shifted elsewhere!

I've now finally added the binding, luckily, I still had the fabric here - a multi coloured stripe from Amy Butler. And I'll probably add some more hand quilting over the next few evenings, although I do remember reading somewhere this quote from Sujata herself ...  "Not every quilt needs to be heavily stitched. Some patterns need to have their own space to shine." ... just saying!

The quilt has ended up a modest 58" x 48" maybe a cozy one-person sofa size or a great new favourite blanket on a child's bed ... either way, it'll be perfect for another colourful donation quilt. Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here