OMG!

The last time I did two posts in one day it was to have a moan but this time it is to admit to having succumbed to buying some fabric full price as soon as it appeared. A big thing for me, I normally, always, pretty much most of the time, go trawling through the sale section of fabric websites. But this was different, love at first sight. So I rather rashly sensibly bought  a half yard of the whole range in all the colours. Look at this...

 ...and these...

...and this.

No idea what I am going to do with them just yet but then that is not the point, is it?

I bought from here but for those of us this side of the pond, Mandy is going to stock this line too.
Definitely my latest favourite fabric line until my next OMG moment.

Don't hang a quilt on a rose bush...

Bored with hanging quilts off half-finished kitchen units, I thought I'd venture outside into the garden and seductively hang a quilt from a climbing rose in full bloom.

Possibly not the right thing to have done. Took 10 seconds to throw it on the bush and 10 minutes to gently dislodge the quilt from all the thorns that were sticking into it.

Anyway, continuing with my pledge. This quilt came about because it was a fat quarter pack on sale (always attractive to me, the word 'sale') here. It was my first purchase of gorgeous Lecien fabrics and the feature fabric was a panel of squares of little French scenes (think Eiffel tower) with French writing. Definitely meant I was going to keep it simple and just cut up into squares.

However, when I started sewing the squares together it looked...well...just square really and didn't do anything for me. So, I decided to group the squares into blocks of nine (three rows of three) with the centre panel being one of the feature French squares. I then separated each block of nine with a thin line of white Kona.

The back was a complete act of randomness. I just strip pieced together all the left-over bits.

Having pieced it on a sewing machine, it then became a 'downstairs' quilt (see previous post for high-level explanation) and I hand-quilted it.

Another Kaffe explosion

I've had this on my side bar for a few weeks now and not really entered into the spirit of it yet. I do agree that perhaps it is better for others to read and see more than just your final 'tah dah' of a quilt and explain the process behind it. However, all my quilt ideas are not sketches or long thought-out plans. I have ideas...but they are other people's ideas. And then when I get an idea, I never write it down and I never buy fabric specifically for that idea. I revert to my stash to see what I have. And I never work out if I have enough of a particular fabric before I start because I am happy to discover half-way through that I don't because that makes me make another different decision than I had perhaps first planned, which invariably turns out better. Each to his own but I am not a fan of 'safe' quilts. By that I mean where the whole quilt looks like the fabric allocation was planned from the beginning. It's nice but it is 'safe' and doesn't excite me.

So, my inspiration for this quilt initially came from here and how beautiful is this one? I see someone else's idea and I have that 'oooh, I want to make that' thought. But I wanted to make a quilt for two work colleagues who are getting married later this year so the circle idea morphed into...

...hearts. I already had a set of heart templates so all I did was cut out the shapes on as many different Kaffe fabrics as I could lay my hands on.

I then placed each heart on a square of fabric (Kona Coal) and machine satin stitched in a metallic gold around each heart thereby attaching it to the square. I then sewed all the squares together, added an initial border in Anna Marie Horner's first fabric line - Bohemian Beauties - before adding a final border of scraps of the same (and more) Kaffe fabrics that appeared in the hearts.

When it came time to quilt, I decided this would become a 'downstairs' quilt. I can make a quilt in its entirety in my sewing room at the top of the house, or 'upstairs'. It has been noted more than once that if I am awol, this is where I can be found. So...to still appear sociable, I have to have a 'downstairs' quilt to work on when I am with others. I am not very good at just sitting in from of the tv or just talking...I like to multi-task with a quilt as well. So this quilt could well have been finished a long time ago (like last year when I originally pieced it) but hand-quilting it meant it took a lot longer.

A close-up of the quilting, or an ant crawling across it - the choice is yours.

For the back I used a Jinny Beyer fabric I have had for yonks and yonks and as it wasn't quite wide enough I used alternating fabrics to make a strip down the middle. The binding is the same fabric you can see in the stripe that looks like beads/sweets.

And here is the 'tah dah' moment...

I hope they like it.
And all quilts from me that go as a gift have to have one of these labels attached. Just the funniest comments, particularly the 'This seemed like a good idea at the time but now I am not so sure' labels ;-)

Postscript.

A conversation I had today with Daughter No.2 while waiting in a waiting area (with other parents)for Daughter No.1 to finish her music lesson.

Daughter No.2  'Mum, you've brought your quilting with you, people are staring. Put it away and just talk like normal mums do.

Daughter No.1 then appears, looks at me quilting and says in a withering tone)'That is soooo not cool what you are doing.'

A girl can never have too many bags can she...?

This one I am thinking will be heading towards Daughter No.1's Year 6 teacher at the end of term...

...although I am sorely tempted to keep it myself...

...so I may yet downgrade my generosity to a box of chocolates.

And this one...

 ...I thought was mine but Daughter No.1 thinks it is 'cool', so has already appropriated it for a sleepover.

Dear Mr Kitchen Fitter/Maker: Should you perchance be taking a break from what is the long and arduous task that appears to be our kitchen and instead are gaining a little light relief by reading this blog, I would like to bring the following to your attention:

• On your website it says 'from consultation to completion in eight to twelve weeks.' We've been ready since January and although my maths is not brilliant I think that may be a tad longer than you have on your website.
• It also says on your website that you make quality 'kithchens' What may I ask are they?
• And it also says 'When we design your new kitchen, we will spend time with you assessing your own individual requirements.' To be honest, a fairly major requirement of ours was that we had it completed some time this year. I've loved staging my quilts and bags across half-finished units with no counter surfaces but it's starting to wear a bit thin now. Surely you could pop in some time this month and give us some work surfaces?
• And I also see that every kitchen from XX XXXXX is unique . Would that be the lack of work surfaces that you are referring to or that half my knobs are missing, that some of the doors don't open (or shut) properly or the cracks that appeared in some of the doors you very helpfully used wood-filler in to patch up?
• And it's very reassuring of you to put on your website 'you are making a substantial outlay and you will have to live with the end result for many years to come.' Believe you me, we have been living with the end result (no kitchen) since August last year. Eight more weeks and then it will be a year. 

  

Blogger's Quilt Festival entry

Here is my entry to the Blogger's Quilt Festival:

You can click on the image to make it bigger.

The pattern was from the Karen K Stone quilt book. I made it a couple of years ago and it was my first attempt at curved paper-piecing. Not convinced I could machine quilt it without masses of puckers, I reverted to hand quilting it.
It was a brilliant excuse to go wild with Kaffe Fasset fabrics and although some of the curves are not perfect, I still love it.

I got so hacked off picking all the paper out that I had a 'bright idea.' I completely soaked the quilt top and then hung it on the washing line because for some non-logical reason I decided it would be easier to pick soggy paper off it. 

It wasn't.

And so I left it on the washing line for a day or two and the wind helped spread all the paper bits all over my garden and next door's garden too just for good measure.

I still love it though.

A 'designer' quilt

Question for you. When is a jelly roll not a jelly roll? When it's a 'designer' roll of course.

And what's the difference between a jelly roll and a designer roll?

 Up to 18 less strips in a designer roll. That's right. Up to 18 strips less than a jelly roll. Of course I didn't realise that when I bought it. I thought all rolls were equal.

But they are not.

So, for the roll-uninitiated of you out there. A jelly roll normally has around 40 strips of width of fabric and a designer roll seems to waver wildly from anything from 22 to 28 to 32 but never seemingly 40.
What does that mean if you are making a designer roll quilt?

 It means you're going to have to dip into your stash to supplement your designer roll if you want a half decent sized quilt...which is exactly what I did.

In this case I added random pieces of Kona Celery and Kona Parsley.

The back is a bit random as well. Used up all the last 'designer' scraps, built a panel of Kona Parsley around it and then added on a different fabric either side which I have now decided looks a bit curtainish. Looks like the curtains have been pulled back to reveal the block in the middle.

Tah Dah

So the moral of this story is. As in life, with anything that has the word 'designer' in it, you are going to pay more for less ;-)

A winner...and another finished quilt

I was totally overwhelmed by the two people who decided to play along and enter my giveaway. Two is even better than the nine I thought it might be - definitely a case of quality over quantity. So Daughter No.1 had such a big decision to make, finally deciding that both are winners.
So, Renee G gets the fabulous Fancy Nancy At The Museum plus the fabric as described for being the first to play along and Alysowl I will also be sending some fabric to - please email me with your address: robins@cwgsy.net. Renee I have your email address so will be asking you for your snail mail address. Well done ladies!

Meanwhile, I took two charm packs of the Amy Butler 'Love' and made this:

First charm pack I cut the squares up to make half square triangles:

And then I took the second packet and made quarter squares and used it to make a border:

And the plain fabric I used on both the front and the back centre panel was Kona Pond.