The Big Reveal

My little Doll Quilt has made it safely across land & sea to Utah and thankfully has met with approval from my swap partner :-)

This month's theme was based on the ever popular 9 Patch, and my partner's tastes are 'country' which I wasn't quite sure of .

Whilst I did start off with 3 x 1 1/2" strips , this is what I ended up with which is a kind of  " 9 Patch-gone Seminole-gone Shabby Chic " which finished at approx. 16" x 21" .  Think maybe I failed on both counts,  which is why I am so relieve she likes it :-)

Minis Month

August is quickly turning into a month of mini quilts, first there was this one that I so enjoyed making I just had to try again

My attempt at a Celtic Knot, and the back is almost as good !

   
Finishing  at 15 inches square, it was another fun personal challenge.


Just a little larger at 29 inches square, another red & white mini

  Both are waiting for binding, and there is a reason for this  -  I'm scheduled to go into hospital mid September for a knee replacement, so I'm trying to organise some sewing whilst my new knee settles down.  Now we all know about my aversion to hand sewing, so I thought stacking up some binding might be one way to keep occupied.

There is actually a third finished mini, but I can only show you a sneak peek of it at the moment as it is on the way to my swap partner in the Doll Quilters Monthly Group,  and I know she follows my Blog :-)

 

As the weather continues to be in the 30s most days, it's been great working on these smaller quilts rather than wrestling under a full size project - and my display wall is filling up nicely ! 

Learning Curve

Some months ago I decided that I really would like to be able to improve my free motion quilting, so I joined Cindy Needham's   'Design It, Quilt It' course at Craftsy.

If you're a fan of Cindy's then you know that she does some seriously gorgeous work  and to be able to quilt anywhere near to her standard is just a pipe dream, but -  we all have to start somewhere don't we ?

After hours of drooling over the  instruction videos, then drawing on any scraps of  paper lying around and followed by many more machining hours spent producing samples like these

I finally took the plunge and tried my hand at my first whole cloth quilt

 

 

 

Just  14 inches square, and not perfect by any means - I don't think Cindy has to worry too much about the competition (!)  - but not too bad for a first attempt.

It's been a While ...

......but a finished quilt at last :-)

My floral half  hexies done !

Think the feathers are improving too :-)

Talking about feathers - have you seen the videos on this Blog -  amazing !!

Finished !

At last enough dry weather to manage a couple of photos of my 2 finished quilts for 2013

Some time back I was given a bag of plaid fabric samples roughly  3" x 4 1/2" which I cut into 2 1/2" squares and made this version of a Log Cabin/ Confetti quilt

The white areas are quilted with one of  Patsy Thompson's Fast & Furious designs, plaid squares are cross hatched and the borders are feathered.  Just about lap top size this will be a donation quilt.

Second finish is an old friend which I wrote about here

 All over quilted with  Pajama Quilter  (Dawn Ramirez)  Wonky Feathers this one was a bit of a challenge, but as Dawn gives you permission to make the feathers as wonky as you like ( and you better believe that there are some beauties in this quilt !) it turned out OK in the end.  I think this will be staying home  - at least for a little while :-)