Something old, something new...

Some quilts come together quickly, occasionally a little to efficiently for complete satisfaction...sometimes it is immensely satisfying to conceive and execute the whole thing in a short period of time...and sometimes there are quilts which take longer than you anticipate to finish.

Oh yes, I have many WIPs (works in progress) in my collection.  Some are completed tops that while lovely, don't have a known purpose yet and so have not had the life breathed into them.  Some are blocks from bee circles, which need to feel owned and loved or at least just finished off and gifted or donated to their forever homes.  Some are learning curves shall we say, ones where I was trying a new technique and got a bit stuck along the way...

The gypsy quilt probably falls best into this last category although it was a quilt idea without the perfect destination, until now.  I started it during a class what I thought was a little while ago (a friend in the same class, on seeing the finished product said "Love it!  Isn't this the one you started when you were expecting (your 4 year old son)?"  Hmmm.  So yes, it started life as a learning curve, learning how to incorporate unconventional fabrics into a traditional cotton quilt, learning to be bold with colour and fabric choices...In fact learning lots of things I actually feel pretty comfortable with nearly 5 years down the track.

My friends' marriage this year inspired me to revisit this quilt as a gift for them.  I had in my head that I had made decent progress on it and "just needed to finish it off".  One length of pieced sashing and 2 completed blocks out of a 12 block, double bordered and sashed quilt was what I found.  Better get to work then.  The fabrics I found in the project box blew me away - I had set them all aside for completing this project so there were an amazing amount of (in particular) Kaffe Fassett and Jan Mullen designs I hadn't seen literally for years.  It was a lovely surprise and a real Aladdin's cave of treasures.

It took longer than expected due to other time constraints, a bride who was very laid back about when she received it and the fact I initially just sat and stared at the fabrics, what I had achieved and the huge amount I still had to do.  We had to spend time getting to know each other again.  Once we were reacquainted though, progress was smooth and organic.  I started to become inspired about the next step  - what fabrics to emphasize in the borders, how to back it, how to quilt it, what hand details to add, what sort of binding it needed.

And here it is finished:

 And a detail of the stitching...

I am really glad I progressed this quilt for them, especially after my initial reaction at seeing how (not) far past me had actually got with it!  I can't see a lot of these quilts in my future, however I can see a lot more unconventional materials in my quilts - the interest and luxury they can add makes them really valuable little gems.

Charming!

Been absent a bit longer than anticipated and therefore have a couple of posts to do.  You know how it is, working on secret and not so secret squirrel projects that you *can't* post about (or forget to post about, ahem) and then they all creep up on you!

So this first post is dedicated to a quilt top I whipped up in a frenzy of inspiration (and as I admitted on facebook, procrastination), and I am rather glad I did.

A few months back I joined my very first charm swap run by the super organised and lovely MsMidge.  Why did I join?  Because it was for fabric by possibly my most favouritest designer Bonnie and Camille!  (And not just because the current line is called Miss Kate, I'm not that shallow, honest...)

So for the uninitiated, a charm swap is a bunch of fabric enthusiasts tracking down fabrics (and sometimes trying to outdo each other), sometimes hard to find ones, cutting them up into little pieces (charm squares which are 5") and then sending them to the organiser who then drives herself crazy ensuring everyone in the swap gets one of each 112 charms...and then most people make something with them.

I am not a huge charm square fiend.  I have always found them a bit limiting but loved the idea of having 112 pieces of Bonnie and Camille fabric.  And of course once you have it, you get the urge to do something with it.  My urge just happened to hit late at night when I was trying to force myself to finish another project I wasn't so inspired about.  Hence it becoming a procrastination quilt.

I had found a few charm quilt designs on the web, which I liked as they kept the integrity of the charms (ie they were squares :) ) and this appealed (read, I didn't have to do much more cutting).  I decided to challenge myself to use as many of the 112 charms as I could and to use a solid other than white/off white or grey...given I wasn't challenging my cutting abilities.

I sorted the charms into colour families - yellow/orange, green, neutrals, reds, blues and pinks and set to work... 

Border after border like a square medallion quilt I suppose!
And this was the result - All except 4 of the charms were used, so I was pretty pleased about that.

The turquoise? aqua? or as I like to call it "Bonnie and Camille blue" was just what I wanted.  I can't remember what it is call exactly but it is in fact a linen and the pattern, I suppose, although inspired by things I have seen, is my own design and measurement.

The combination of florals, checks and pretty designs which Bonnie and Camille fabrics are known for plus the addition of the solid gives this quilt top a really retro 50s feel, which I love.  I can't wait for the opportunity to quilt it and finish it off!

The link up for the Bonnie and Camille Charm Along with Ms Midge runs until October 27.  Looking forward to seeing inspiring charm quilt ideas!

Giving Hands

I am a member of Giving Hands, a charity quilting group who meet once a month to hone skills, learn new ones, have a cuppa and a chat all while producing beautiful quilts for charity made from donated and upcycled materials.  How good is that?
I have loved our first year together, the wisdom and friendships I have found in these women is incomparable.  As I am often encumbered (in the sweetest possible way) by my wee man, who likes to sort out bottle tops, check out the garden and chat with the chooks while we are there, I sometimes don't get as much done as I would like.  I have therefore only managed to fully complete one quilt this year.  As a group we have made about 20, which is a wonderful effort.  You can read more about it all here.
This one is my quilt:

As you can see if you follow the link, they are all based on the red family colour group and use this same "Fresh Beginnings" pattern by Jan Mullen but it is amazing to see how diverse the results are.  Next year we are making a foray into juvenile fabrics and a different pattern.  Can't wait for those! 

K's quilt

Another gift given and received and so another quilt to blog about. :)

 This is a "string" quilt of lap quilt proportions (48" x 56") made for my sister in law for her 40th birthday.  She loves pink and green together so I took the pinks and greens from the "Ruby" line of fabric plus a pop of aqua and a fresh Kona white and put them together using this as inspiration.  I didn't paper piece it however as I don't do paper piecing, stubborn person that I am.  Instead I centred the string strips either side of the white to create 8" finished blocks and set them to create this lattice effect.  All that pink and green reminded me of a climbing rose so the lattice seemed to fit nicely.

I bound it with a pink on pink hummingbird print that can also be seen on the back and which went perfectly with the pink on the front.  Most of the back is the green gingham.
So that's my first ever string quilt.  It isn't my last, there is already a finished small quilt top using the aqua and grey from the same ruby line waiting to be basted and quilted.  More of that anon hopefully. :)