WiP Wednesday

Lots of little bits & pieces in the WiP line this week.

First up, two 'urgent' baby quilts. The babies have now been born, so I needed to get these little quilts finished asap! Luckily, I had two quilt tops here waiting in the "finish-it-up" queue, both at the quilting & binding stage, so I've been busy this week finishing them off.

This 1st little one is a "Squares & Bricks" quilt, something along the lines of what Rita from red pepper quilts makes. I did some simple quilting & made up a binding in a pretty yellow Kaffe floral to match the yellow gingham backing.

backing & binding close up

And the 2nd one is, I guess, almost a vintage! {hm-m-m- I must tell Kerry this, the mum of one of the babies. Not too sure re how durable it will be with constant washing!} I started this quilt way, way back, using a pattern from Alex Anderson's book, and all these fabrics are very dated believe me! I found a cute circus print by Nancy Wolff for the backing, used a variegated blues fabric for the binding, and again, did simple but functional straight line quilting.

backing & binding close up

... and voila, two quilts all ready to go to their new homes, to be used & loved.

I also have a little update from Glenys this week -  

She sent through a pic of her "small world" progress, lots of lovely scrappy goodness! 

and there's lots of versions out there of course just now

I really like Cindy's one too which she has based on her family visit to Disneyland! 

In the mail today I received my copy of "Emperor's Wheel" a pattern by Chris Jurd

I'm not that keen on paper piecing, 

but I'm toying with the idea of maybe substituting a few 'modern wedges' instead!

And, you know how we all play a little before we decide if something is worth pursuing or not, yes?
Well, my '15 minutes of play' turned into an hour yesterday
while I drew up templates and made a few trial blocks!
Not too sure what it's called, sort of drunkard's path version or snake trail?
More about details & inspiration next time if I decide to keep going with this.
Ha-ha, Mr D. not at all happy with the random-ness of this, but what do you all think?

Linking up with WiP Wednesday here

a taste sensation!

Yes, yes I have been sewing, 

but first let me tell you about where Glenys & I went this weekend

... to Banus cooking class.

We were made very welcome in Banu's home and it was such a great evening! We had entrees first, then stirred & tasted our way through a selection of yummy vegetarian mains, finishing up with Mango Mousse. There were eight of us, and we all had a go making Masala Dosa - that's me cooking in the 1st pic - a light pancake that was filled with potato curry and crispy on the outside. A delightful evening! And a lovely way to learn, all seated together around the dining table, guessing which spices were which, with candles & music! Thank you Banu, you and your daughter were wonderful!

... and sewing?

Well, I seem to be kinda stuck on dealing to my scraps lately!

This scrappy Tumbler quilt was started many years ago, in my pre-blogging days. And I can't even remember the initial inspiration for it, apart from wanting to try and use a few 'brown' fabrics! However, the recent focus on tumbler quilts as a Leaders & Enders project certainly re-sparked my interest in this long neglected WiP!
I started to hand quilt it, but months would go by, and I hadn't done a stitch! So this weekend I made the 'big decision' and switched over to lots of large stitch machine quilting.

I love this scrappy mix of fabrics, and I'm sure some of you will recognise many little bits here.
The backing was a scrappy stash-busting mixture too!
The batting is all wool, it will be a really snuggily buggily warm quilt.

And I even had the binding all ready, so it was simply a matter of just getting on with it! 

Linking up with 'oh scrap' here 

- follow the link to see lots of quilty inspiration! 

new quilts for Alberton beds

It's almost time for our 2nd Monday Modern group show! 
 "new quilts for alberton beds" is an exhibition of modern quilts 
in the historic setting of Mt Albert's Alberton House, built in 1863.

Our quilts will be on display throughout the house, 

well worth a visit to see not only the quilts but the lovely old home too! 

See you there! 

this week...

This week I've got two finishes to share, one quilt & one quilt top. 

 I made a pieced backing & stitched up some scrappy blue binding for my HST quilt...

I did some straight line quilting along the diagonals, simple & functional
then spent an evening stitching down the binding, and voila -
  #2 ticked off my  FAL list, the finish-a-long hosted by Adrianne at On the Windy Side
and this quilt has gone off to a new home already!

... and I've also just finished putting together my 'rediscovered'  'Greenfields' quilt top
It took sometime I must admit as I didn't have the book anymore,
just my very rough drawing of how it was to all go together.

But I got there in the end.
very vintage - all ready now for basting, quilting & binding. 

and in the garden... friendly Mr Tui getting nectar from the last of the camellias
Can you spot him?

Linking up to Needle & Thread Thursday here @ myquiltinfatuation
such a nice surprise to see one of my quilts featured over there!

Also linking up to tgiff over here this week
- follow the links for lots more quilty inspiration! 

1/4 Log Cabin quilt {a finish}

I spent a bit of time this week refocusing on my FAL Q3 list. 

Tally up time of 'finishes' for this last quarter is 30 September. 

So far - not surprisingly - I am a bit behind target, with only this one finish! 

Some of my quilt tops hang out together in the wardrobe for months while I work on something else, but not this one! I've just finished putting the binding on my 1/4 Log Cabin quilt, aka the Handkerchief quilt. I do love those vintage-looking handkerchief quilts, don't you? Here's my take on one...

The quilt is pretty busy with all the various AMH prints, so connecting circles was my choice of quilting pattern. Annette certainly worked her quilting magic here! It gives it a nice texture, sort of sinks into the piecing on the front, without competing with the fabrics. For more decision making details about this quilt, see this post here.

pieced scrappy backing 

and I guess you want to see the whole quilt...

Yayee finish #1
A few weeks to go yet, maybe I've still got time to tick another WiP off "the list".
How is everyone else going with their FAL lists?

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday  here @ my quilt infatuation

and TGIFF over there too!

revisiting an old WiP

Glenys & I are all signed up to go to a workshop at 'all things patchwork' with Kathy Doughty in September. I'm really looking forward to it! There are many options with this "Modern Wedge" workshop, we'll be learning all about using the Dresden Plate plastic template and how to put the wedges together to make (hopefully) really interesting quilts!

Earlier this morning I sat down with a coffee and one of Kathy's books, Making Quilts, that I had borrowed from Glenys. 

I was hoping to get a few ideas about patterns & fabrics for the workshop, but instead I came across a quilt that I remembered starting ages ago, Greenfields. I had no pattern back then, just a photo in an old quilting magazine, a bunch of  5" Denyse Schmidt charm squares and just over a metre of bright fabric, a Kelly Green spot. I had jumped right in making up heaps of scrappy strips. Then it all got put away for a rainy day!
When I retrieved it out of the depths of the wardrobe today, I discovered I had actually already made quite of bit of it. Here's a few pics...

... it'd be a shame not to keep going with this now, yes? 

Needless to say, I haven't got very far with any decisions about fabric selection for the workshop!

Linking up for "Oh Scrap" over here with Cynthia
pop over for lots of other scrappy inspiration
... and a lovely surprise to see one of my quilts featured!

and also linking up for WiP Wednesday over here at freshlypieced 

what a difference a day makes!

After standing back and looking for a day, I worked out what was wrong with this quilt top! And it was so simple to fix... I unpicked one light pink block that was glaring at me and replaced it with a pretty peach/brown one. It seems to all blend together a bit better now, and I'm much happier too!

Quilt Top Stats:

Sujata's rail fence design

Fabrics used included Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe, Denyse Schmidt 

and assorted others from my pre- modern stash.

My colour scheme was a selection of blues combined with brown 

- with the brown values ranging from peach, orange, brown, and cranberry. 

Block size 16" x 16" Finished quilt top size 2m x 1.75m
Waiting now for some quilting fairy magic! 

Here's the link to culturalfusion quilts for more inspiration!

Linking up with Lee for WiP Wednesday here