Sunday 24 January 2010

First attempt at a circle quilt






I got the idea for this quilt from here
I liked the idea of cutting the two pieces from one square...if that makes sense. If you start with a eg 12" square and cut your two pieces out, when it comes time to sew them back together, technically, you shouldn't be able to because you haven't factored in the seam allowance.
She suggests squashing and squeezing it to make it fit but I did it a different way. I took the 'pie' bit and instead of aligning it with the end of the 'wedge' bit,I pinned the pie bit a good half inch in, then sewed. Then, when you're done, line up the edges on your rotary mat and square the new square down to 11"...I actually went for 10" just because. Minimal waste and less faffing around time (imho) than cutting two individual pie and wedge pieces with the correct seam allowances factored in.

Fabric I have been hoarding collecting for a while, lots of different Robin Pandolph Moda collections.
Not the best piccies in the world because got excited again that the sun had put in an appearance so felt should be an al fresco sort of a piccy but then the sun went behind a cloud and I was forced inside again.
Hopefully you get the general idea though.
Backing fabric I got from here
Anyone even been?
We were on holiday here and I happened to mention to the lady behind the front desk that I liked quilting (as you do). It turns out she was a quilter and before I knew it I had a list of quilt shops to visit. Only problem was I was supposed to be skiing.
Next day I felt it wasn't the right kind of snow to ski in so I sloped off, turned right and came to this place. Day after that the snow still wasn't quite right so then I sloped off, turned left and came to this place.
However the front desk lady was adamant I needed to visit a Mardens so even though it wasn't really on our way to our next destination, I decided that the road back to the freeway looked better on the map towards Mardens and off we went.
Discontinued,discounted, call-it-what-you-will...it was cheap! Definitely worth a visit if you can.
Things could not have got any better I thought but later that day we checked into our hotel for the night and I spotted RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD this .Imagine if you will, I went to sleep that night knowing that when I got up in the morning and looked out of the window, I would see A Quilt Shop, aka The Nineth Wonder Of The World.
By the time I snuck in here I realised I was going to have weight problems (the aircraft baggage type) plus there is a monetary limit you are allowed to spend. I clearly went over the latter restriction but decided to resort to peeling all the price stickers off my purchases, feeling sure that fabric (lots of)is not a drug (well not an illegal one anyway) and that I should be OK.
When you live on a Little Island with not a sniff of a quilt shop, the above measures are essential.
Anyway, I digress, backing fabric was $1.99 a yard!

Monday 18 January 2010

A charm(ish) quilt





Charm(ish) because a charm quilt historically has only one piece of each fabric (apart from one that you are allowed to sneak a second one in) and this charm pack had several duplicates.
Made with a Moda Blush charm pack, sashing is a Kona solid - Seafoam.
Backing is Cherry Blossom by Chris Chun, Clothworks and the binding is from the Jinny Beyer Millenium collection which gives you an idea of how long I've had it.
My husband says he prefers the back. Anyone in the market for a new husband?

Friday 15 January 2010

Two laundry bags and ANOTHER Little Island bag




This is supposed to be a blog about quilts but I am taking a meandering route to get there. An outstanding request from my sister (over two years ago) for laundry bags for her and her husband for when they go on holiday has finally been seen to and popped in the post to her today.
And then eldest daughter came home from school with a party invitation and a request from the birthday girl for a Little Island bag and 'she only likes stripes and animals mum'. I've done my best to meet the exacting brief of a 10 year old and lined it with some nice soft Minky fabric.
To celebrate the sun shining today (hasn't been often this winter) I rushed outside to photograph my latest makes. Celebrations will be short-lived though as it is due to cloud over by 3pm today.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Another Little Island bag




This time made for elder daughter as she felt the first one I made her six months previously was looking a bit 'old' ;-)
This is a good way to use up odd bits of fabric and it seems the more mismatched they look when I put them next to each other when deciding which ones to use, the better they look when sewn up together as a bag...or so I think.
For some reason, two of the images are overlapping and I can't work out how to un-overlap them. Still, you get the gist!
01 09 10