design 101

Lots of fun in the sewing room this weekend. I've been working on this quilt - it's my version of 'Vintage Spin' from Kathy Doughty's book 'Adding Layers' following her inspiring Modern Wedge workshop a couple of weekends ago.

Over the years I've enjoyed collecting fabric and making quilts, scrappy quilts being my all-time favourites. And you know, this quilt was supposed to be 'just another scrappy quilt'  and like Megan here I just grabbed lots of fabrics, turned up at the workshop, and hoped for the best!
But it didn't all just come together and just magically work out quite so easily! Actually last week, my 'vintage spin' quilt was starting to look pretty chaotic at one point! And I really wondered if I'd ever get there!

I continued piecing the wedge blocks, creating delightful pairings of vintage-y pretty colour, and I got so close to the finish line... but then to top it all off, look...

... yep, spot the odd man out - sigh- back to the design wall bed!

I've been sewing for a few years now, but I must admit some things still don't come easily to me. This little number has been a bit of a design challenge, trying to get these blocks to all play nicely together! I wanted some sense of overall colour balance, so it was back to shopping my stash for other suitable fabrics, making up a few more blocks, reshuffling a few blocks around, and a few more photo shots - which really did help get a sense of how things worked together, or not!

While I've used quite a scrappy mix of colours, prints & textures, I did as Kathy suggested, and tried to get a subtle colour connection in each of my pairs of fabrics for the individual blocks. And there are three touches of very light value in these wedges now, which I think hope helps calm the chaos! I've strategically placed them to form a triangle, leading the eye around the quilt - a trick I've used on a few quilts before. Most of the blocks have a little black in them, so I used that as my cue and opted for the Spotlight black & white pin-dot for my centres & binding.

Joining it all up really was the easiest part, the seams lined up beautifully! And occasionally where there was a little hiccough, the whole block is quite stretchy so it wasn't a problem.

So if you are thinking about making something similar, I hope my photos and thoughts inspire & help a little. And yes, this quilt top has quite a few of my favourite fabrics in it now... don't think I'll be able to part with this when it's all finally finished!

Linking up for the 1st time with quilty inspiration here
and 'oh scrap' here

off the bookshelf

I can't resist a good book, can you? 

Here's what caught my eye at the library this week...

First up... "Unconventional & Unexpected American Quilts below the Radar" by Roderick Kiracofe, a wonderful collection of quilts from between 1950-2000. These are quilts not often seen, quirky, improvisational, and sometimes not perfectly made, but a visual delight!

From the kitchen..."Healthy Every Day" by Pete Evans, a judge for one of those cooking programs. He tends towards the Paleo way, but there are no hard & fast rules. I enjoy trying out new recipes, but tend to pick ones that use what I normally have here in the pantry. I'll test a couple out this weekend, like his 'super summer salad', and 'spiced crispy chicken' using quinoa flakes - which I do have in the pantry - frying organic chicken first then baking it. A few of these recipes do call for a few ingredients that I will need to go shopping for first though! There's a section on cultured food, one of the oldest ways of preserving but seems to be the newest craze just now!

And in the post this week... The Tula Pink Colouring Book, just perfect for the 'rainy day drawer'! I think I'll photocopy some pages and Olive & I can get busy colouring-in next time we have a rainy day.

back soon with a sewing update

Linda

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