building blocks {photo edition}

some certainly love taking center stage...

... while others are ok playing a more supportive role! 

another cute 6" block

just checking everyone is playing nicely together! 

Linking up with WiP Wednesday here

more moda "modern" {update}

these little 6" blocks are so cute! 

Well, I guess this project has now just been elevated... from the 'sew slowing' pile to a current WiP! Warning: these blocks are a bit addictive! There is a lot of cutting out, and yes, the large blocks - those 36"x 36" and the 30" x 30" ones - do take some time. However, I'm really enjoying all the piecing, the blocks are traditional but the asymmetry & bright colour play is such fun! I just love that solid green fabric - it's Moda Bella Solid in Leaf! As I sew, I've been thinking this is a great refresher for some of us, and a real skill builder for others. Linking up with WiP Wednesday later in the week.

a quilty slice of my weekend

I made a few more modern moda blocks at intervals over the weekend. I'm sticking vaguely to the pattern's colour scheme, but adding in a few florals as well as I don't want that totally all-solid look of the original. I just love AMH's vintage-y looking florals, the colours seem bright but blend ok so far. I must admit too, the larger blocks do look a bit out of proportion to me, but I guess it'll all work out in the end! You can lots of other progress in our Monday Modern flicka pool here

 .. a little yellow goes a long way! 

And in the cool of the evening I shifted from the bold brights of those blocks to something a bit calmer. I layered up my strippy neutral quilt, it's all pinned up & ready for some DIY quilting now. I selected a few larger pieces from my stash for the backing that were similar colours & pieced them together, I do love a randomly pieced back, do you? And then I basted some larger sections of leftover batting together too. I like to hand baste my batting, always have, but as I crawled around the floor I did remember a post I saw sometime ago, someone - sorry can't remember who now - had spent a very productive sewing session machine zigzag stitching long pieces of batting together, all ready for the next few quilts! {note to self ... I must do that too, soon!}

Hope you have all had a great weekend ... 

... and a small slice of sewing time too! 

remember alice?

  A little parcel came from Westwood Acres Fabrics in the post today.

     Lovely Liberties... such a delightful selection!

                       

do you remember alice, and the mad hatter...

... the queen of hearts, the white rabbit...

... the crazy tea party...

                                            

                                  

                                           ...and all that topsy-turvy world of wonderland!

Just delightful!
Linking up with Sunday Stash over at Molli Sparkles here

up on the design wall

Firstly, many thanx for all the suggestions regarding my AMH quilt last week. I really want to extend the size so I am going to make 10 more blocks! But I'd run out of the fabric I was using for the 4" squares, (grr-rr-r-r-r!). I've ordered more and am now waiting patiently for the post!
So what is up on my design wall this week?

beige adj. pale brown

I came across another WiP that I've had sitting around for some time, and it's one project that really should have been on my FAL list actually! Never mind.
The basic pattern is from the popular Sunday Morning Quilts book. I started out just using low volume scraps that were leftovers from other projects, too large to throw into the scrap basket, too small to fold nicely and put back on the shelf. The actual sewing was the easy part, but I do remember the cutting out took some time, plus I spent some time deciding just how low to go with the low volumes! And, I also remember really agonizing about throwing in just a little bit of 'beige' to add some interest!
Relooking at it today as I sew more blocks, I'm very ok with those 'pops' of beige, and those other little 'pops' of colour too! I just want to get a few of my WiP's finished... whether they are on "the list" or not!

I'm also spending some time this week catching up with making a few more blocks for the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt - I will show you next time! Our Monday Modern group is steadily working thru' the blocks all together, and you can see lots of their progress in our flicka pool here. Linking up with 'Oh Scrap' here and WiP Wednesday here. Pop on over to see what everyone else has been working on this week!

a bit more #26

Yesterday I picked up a book I'd ordered from the library - 

Thomas Knauer's Modern Quilt Perspectives: 12 Patterns for Meaningful Quilts. 

Wonderful read! Many thanx to Claire here for recommending it! 

timeless

I first saw this layout in one of my earliest Kaffe Fassett books, and I have always loved it! It was a lovely old vintage Handkerchief quilt, made in lively primary colours, no borders, timeless! Since then I've seen different fabrics used in different settings for these quarter log cabin blocks. For my version, I've mainly used Anna Maria Horner fabric - leftover scraps of her different prints, from the last few years & last few fabric collections, I kinda feel her fabrics have some of that timeless appeal too! {teal social climber is a classic example here!}
12 1/2" blocks, set 4 x 5.
Similar width strips added to each side of the 4 1/2" corner squares.
I tried to use a wide strip for the final strips each time to allow for squaring up, but this didn't always work out! And I discovered that I needed to control the scrappiness by alternating the warm /cool colours {see last post for more about that!}
To extend the quilt size I did wonder about adding borders, but am still v.undecided. What do you think... borders or no borders?

a little light-bulb moment

I've been making a bit of a dent in the scraps from my overflowing scrap basket! I sorted them into several 'important' piles, and was really quite ruthless about what I would actually enjoy sewing with again or not!
I also singled out all my scrappy bits of AMH, trimmed them up, and started making more of those quarter log cabin blocks. I find quite a few AMH fabrics beautiful individually, but the initial blocks I'd made were looking very intense to me, with all the various fabrics stitched up close & personal against each other!
My daughter came over this afternoon with the girls, Olive & Evie. I asked her to have a little peep in the sewing room, with a sort of "what's wrong with this picture?" question for her! Instantly she said, there's too much pink in these squares here and way too much blue over there, and I suddenly realised where I was going wrong!
I didn't unpick all of my blocks, just little bits of them, and I began alternating the strips of warm/cool colours more with the newer blocks, and wow, what a difference! This block appeared simple enough, amazing how a little bit of thought and feedback made it even better! Think I'll keep going with this!

Inspiration came from two books 

Sunday Morning Quilts and The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking by Jane Brocket 

oh and from Jodi over at Tales of Cloth here {pop over sometime for some lovely colourful pics!}

Linking up with 'Oh Scrap' here
and with WiP Wednesday here