WIP friday

This is one of the projects I'm working on at the moment. I fell in love with (can one fall in love with fabric?) the Café de Paris print in the foreground with flowers and café signs - very romantic! - and bougt several yards of it. I'm making a lap quilt with six blocks with big appliqué hearts set on point, alternating with blocks of the café print and with sashing in between that will give the effect of a trellis lying on top of the blocks - sort of a 3D effect - I hope... I have only one heart left to appliqué and then I'll start stitching the whole thing together.
I have a great fabric lined up for the backing as well - one with French (?) windows and doors that will be great with these florals. I'm very particular about my backing fabrics these days - they should form a harmonious whole with the fabrics on the front, I think. This is especially important with lap quilts where the backing will be on display as often as the front. In my first years of quiltmaking I used whatever I had on hand for backing: old duvet covers and curtains in hideous patterns - anything big or cheap enough - and those quilts really make me cringe when I get a glimpse of the backs now. It just won't do - if I spend a lot of time (and fabric) making a quilt top and quilting it, I owe it to myself to use quality materials that are pleasing to the eye, throughout, I think. Sorry to make such a big song and dance about it, but that's my "humble" opinion, anyway ;-)


I have other projects lined up as well. Here are most of the fabrics for my house quilt. It also needs some brown and golden bits and pieces, but I trust my huge scrap bag - I will find what I need there, I'm sure! This is going to be my summer project starting tomorrow. There, I've said it - no excuses now, tomorrow it is!

These gems arrived last week. Isn't it funny that mere fabrics can give you a happy feeling and make you want to sing? I can hardly wait to do something with these beauties. Something autumnal (is that a word?) I think, with maybe a dash of turquoise for contrast. I'm thinking maple leaves here, but that seems rather obvious, so maybe not. Something more abstract, perhaps, something with big pieces so the beauty of the fabrics will play the main part. No doubt I'll spend some time playing with the colours and different patterns in EQ during the next few weeks to try to decide...

These are some glimpses of what I'm planning at the moment, but only some of them. What a good idea to use Fridays to show off our plans! It will give a good incentive to get something done so one can show off one's progress a week later, I think :-)