Sunday, May 22, 2011

Jumping to it....

My long term Katie Jump Rope quilt is finally a finished project! I think it's been on the go for nearly two years if you count the process of purchasing the fabric. Measuring 70" x 63", made from 5" blocks featuring about 26 fabrics from the range and quilted in straight vertical lines about 3/4" apart, this quilt has lost none of the charm that I imagined it would have. It's very vintage...slightly at odds with the 'mod' back that features a range of solids in co-ordinating colours pieced together in strips. The binding is the bandana print in blue which I acquired after the top was pieced otherwise it would certainly had been included. However, using it only as binding frames the quilt beautifully. Now back to the work in progress pile!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Adding to the collection....

I admit it....I'm a Denyse Schmidt fan....big time. I have two quilts in the 'works' featuring Denyse Schmidt fabrics - one Katie Jump Rope and the other Hope Valley, I've also been collecting OOP Flea Market Fancy and have a little bit of County Fair. I'm reserving judgement on her Greenfield Hill line BUT as soon as I saw her DS Quilt collection for Joanns in the US I just knew I HAD to have some. I've read some posts relating to the line coming to Spotlight in Australia but my interpretation is that it's only 11 fabrics and they'll be different to the lovely set of red, blue and green floating around US blog land. The Australian shipment was slated as May but hasn't materialised (pardon the pun) at my Spotlight stores.....much to the assistants chagrin!!! (please read as annoying/pesky customer asking wierd question) So, given my 'addiction', I've had to take advantage of a very strong AU dollar and purchase via Etsy. 21 gorgeous prints in colours and prints that are worthy of the collection!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Baby Bliss Bow-Tie.....

The 'Baby Bliss Bow-Tie' quilt is finished and is even more divine than the first bow-tie mini quilt I attempted a few weeks ago. This one is slightly bigger at 32" x 36", made up of 4" blocks (8 x 9) that feature triangles cut from 2 1/2" wide strips. All of these triangles are from the off cuts from a Bliss jelly roll (Bonnie and Camille for Moda). Bliss really lends itself to cream, pink, aqua, grey and green backgrounds. I've also used white in some of the blocks and whilst Bliss is cream based, these blocks really pop and look lovely and crisp.The quilting is straight line in between each of the joins in both directions....simple! I've used a Moda plaid fabric (sorry, I've forgotten it's name after cutting off the selvedge) in grey which is a lovely choice for a neutral backing that doesn't fight with the front or the binding. The binding is a Spotlight version of honeycomb in red and white which also works well Bliss. This range was a lovely quality and I'm kicking myself for not stashing more as the red has run off the shelves at my local stores.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Wonderland delight.....

After a lively conversation with M, one of R's friends, about our mutual love of pretty much anything Alice in Wonderland, particularly the completely out of our price range, Marc Jacobs ballet flats, I purchased some Alice in Wonderland fabric off eBay. The seller didn't know the source but I think it's Kokka. It doesn't have a brand but instead has the most divine selvedge with little houses depicting the colours used. So when M's 14th birthday rolled around yesterday I made her a little covered note book and a co-ordinating pencil case. The pencil case measures about 43cm across x 33cm high, large enough for a ruler and the plethora of stationery these girls have to carry around to each class. I added a gusset to the bottom to help it stand up on her desk. The note book worked out really well and I love the little ribbons that I found in my 'must keep that for something' tray. Both received seals of approval from R....in the form of 'that's sooo cute, I want one too!'.And on the floor at the moment as part of my mission to finish off UFO's, my Katie Jump Rope quilt. It too has been in the wardrobe (of shame) since January 2010! Looking at it again, I haven't lost any love for it since I decided to cut into this precious fabric....just as well! It's now basted and ready for quilting.....soon!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Belated bloggerversary....

Last week I past the two year milestone of this little blog. I didn't forget, I just wasn't sure what to write. Last year I wrote about how I'm constantly inspired by my surroundings and how I see quilts everywhere. Nothing's changed! And in fact, many of these sightings are generally right under my nose, like this 'little' beauty two streets away from my home. This is a very large shed wall that is part of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Adelaide. About 20 years ago the Thebarton Residents Association lobbied to paint a mural on the wall. It reflects the spirit of our neighboured with elements such as the large Greek community (the biggest in SA), Aboriginal housing, local schools, services and the history of the area. My friend Tara, who is a reader of this blog and now living in Portland was involved in the painting of one of the diamonds (sadly now painted over). We were very worried when the wall was barricaded a few months back, fearing it was to be demolished when the roof was pulled off but thankfully Coke kept the wall and just renovated the attached structure! I love looking at this wall because of its quilt attributes, its small diamond patchwork pieces gathered together to make one large mural. In this case many hands have combined to leave their mark on our world....often like the process of making a community quilt. It's a neighbourhood treasure and something to be admired for many years to come....again just like a quilt. My own recent finish is also a lot like the patchwork mural featuring many pieces of fabrics left over from numerous projects and formed into a network of diamonds using the string piecing method. I had actually finished this quilt top back in January 2010 and it has laid idle in the wardrobe all this time! I'm on a mission to finish up the many incomplete projects I have and to use up fabrics that have a habit of being purchased because 'I have to have them' only to store them away. So no starting anything new until then....well that's this week anyway. Let's see how many I can bowl over!
The quilt is really bright and cheery and I'll be gifting it to my mother in law who is in hospital at the moment facing a second cancer diagnoses. She is very fond of bright colours so I hope it does indeed brighten up her day. The quilt is straight line quilted which I'm a big fan of these days because of its speed and economical use of thread but it also proved the perfect quilting method for the plethora of seams found in string pieced blocks. The straight lines offset against the angles of the strings also looks really great. The back features the lime hippos from Ikea. I don't think you can get this fabric any longer. I've had mine tucked away for this quilt for a long time and also have some red hippos in the cupboard for the right project to come its way. The pink and lime backing works perfectly with the binding which is a multi striped fabric that was purchased from Spotlight. This is the same fabric that's also used in the inset border. It's one of those crisp cottons that I find myself using less of in favour of better quality cottons but I had it stashed for this quilt and thought it was a good opportunity to use it up. I had to laugh though when I noticed that Sarah Fielke (AKA Material Obsession I and II co-author) had used it as a binding in her Woodpile mini quilt in her new book 'Quilting From LittleThings' which I was lucky enough to get from the family for Mothers Day last week. Just goes to show that even great quilters use any fabric so long as it works!And if you're still reading after this long post, here is a gratuitous shot of a little project I've been working on lately. It's actually at binding stage but I think the colours are just gorgeous and I love the look of it all pinned down. It's another 4" block bow tie quilt made up the triangles left over from yet another project I've also resurrected this week. Again the triangles were cut from 2 1/2" strips, so they're pretty tiny. The fabric is Bonnie and Camille's Bliss. I still love it. Now, I'm thinking of pulling yet another UFO from the wardrobe but have to also jump over a mountain of washing first!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

One person's trash.....

Is another person's treasure. Some months back Joe found this little stool on the footpath during our neighbourhood's hard rubbish week. At the time it was covered in white contact. I peeled it off and found this dilapidated finish underneath. I'm in two minds what to do with it as I quite like the shabby-ness of it. Then a few weeks back I was driving along and saw this stool on the footpath, thrown out with a couple of other bits and bobs. I put the brakes on and my kids ducked down, groaning "oh...no, it's hideous!"Yeh, yeh, yeh....it's frightful and the finish was almost 3D! But the other night whilst I had the stripper and course grade steel wool out for another project, I thought I'd throw some on. It took more than a casual splash of stripper to get that coating off I can tell you that for free! I kept wishing we still had a heat gun which died a few years ago from over use! (that's another story).
However, with a bit of persistence, elbow grease and I dare say, blood, sweat and tears, I got that wretched folk art cat OFF! Look at my stool now! It's fabulous pine and oak and quite sturdy.And the two of them together.....well that's a collection in my book!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Fairytale finish....

I've finished the little scrappy quilt featuring Heather Ross's Far Far Away (edition 1). It's free motion stipple quilted which I haven't done for a while so I was a little rusty. Needless to say it gave me my fair share of grief but I got there in the end! However, being baby quilt size, the quilting was done in a couple of hours with just two bobbins used in total. No wonder small quilts give so much satisfaction in between bigger projects! I've bound it in some of the Spotlight honeycomb fabric that's in store at the moment. I've chosen the orange which is a slightly burnt orange and goes quite well with the orange and peach in the FFA fabric. I'm thinking this one might go in the wash to pre-wrinkle it before hand over. I generally don't do that as I like my quilts to look new but I think this one will improve if it's softened up. To be honest, I'm not totally enamoured with this quilt. I love the stars but am a bit wrankled over the rectangle....but I also know that that's me and my penchant for symmetry.