Woven

After a very unproductive period, I managed to get my quilt top together this weekend. It still needs a border (black), but at least I can give a preview of sorts. I find it difficult to photograph large quilts, because there isn't much wall space to hang them from, but I think I might have come up with a solution - I'll let you know. For now, I just draped this top over the bookshelf without moving stuff away, but you get the idea. This is made from a designer roll of 2 1/2 " strips from Westminster Fabrics. It's all florals designed by Philip Jacobs. I just stitched two and two half strips together (to get more variety than if I had stitched the whole strips together), and cut them up to make fourpatches. I think the black edges set them off nicely, and I really like the woven effect you get at a distance.

I'm thinking of piecing the back from my stash of green fabrics. What do you think? There are several there which never seem to be just the right green for whatever I'm working on, so it might be a good way of pressing them into service. I think green would be OK as a complement to all those florals - you need some foilage to go with them, right? And since there are all sorts of greens in the florals, I have an idea that I might make this work.

Woo hoo!

Woo hoo
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

Meet my new little friends. They are just flying through, on their way to my little sis. She suddenly got this bee in her bonnet about needing some feathered friends as gifts for her college friends, and who does one turn to when such needs arise? The Crafty Sister, of course ;-)
Actually, making them was a delight, from getting the idea, to going through several drafts to get the look I wanted, and then trying to translate that into these finished critters.
Oh, and in case you didn't guess: they are supposed to be owls!

And I never learn...

... that stating on the blog that "tomorrow I will make..." is the best way of making sure that it doesn't happen! Sure enough, I woke up the next day feeling terrible, and spent most of my time Sunday through Tuesday sneezing and coughing, huddled under a quilt on the sofa, watching some 28 episodes or so of Friends. So, at least I've gone through the whole boxed set of DVDs now, but not done as much sewing as I had planned. I did spend some time at the sewing machine, though, so I've finished adding the black strips to my blocks. So as not to jinx it, I'll say nothing about stitching them together until it is actually done.
Not today, though, I will do a bit of hand stitching while listening to my new favourite CD: "The Sea" by Corinne Bailey Rae - love it!

Playing with a new roll

This arrived from Hancock's a little while ago. I had almost forgotten about it, since I'd ordered it back in October. It was sold out at the time, but lo and behold, three months later, there it was in my mail box! Not a Jelly Roll, but a Westminster Design Roll, with fabrics designed by Philip Jacobs. He is one of the designers of the Kaffe Fassett Collective, and his quilting fabrics are supposed to play well with those of the other designers in the collective.

They didn't stand a chance here, though - no auditions with others at all. I had a quilt design on my mind and after just a brief period of gazing lovingly at these florals, I got my rotary cutter out and the strips have become long and skinny four-patches. I'm happily adding black strips today, and might be ready to start assembling the quilt top tomorrow.

I'm saying this a bit tentatively, because I'm sniffly and my throat feels itchy, so I might not be up to much sewing. I'm hoping that a hot chili, some red wine and a good night's sleep might improve matters. Otherwise I might end up soing a bit of retail therapy - have you seen the new extra wide quilt backing Balis at Hancock's? Gorgeous!

Interwoven ribbons

Another cold weekend meant more sewing, and a few episodes of Northern Exposure (I adore John Corbett, and treated myself to the boxed set of DVDs) into the evening I managed to finish the binding. I had originally thought I'd use red for the binding, but didn't have enough of the one I wanted, so I ended up with a black and white stripe instead, and I'm glad I did. It picks up the black lines in the white fabric in the middle and makes it a better match for the smaller quilt I've got on the wall already. I quilted it with (sort of) straight lines randomly criss-crossing from edge to edge trying to avoid corners between the blocks, where you get a lot of seams meeting.

And here they are together. They are very bright, aren't they? But then I tend to go for bright, clear colours, because they are the ones that make my heart sing. The trend in my guild is very subdued, taupe and soft pastels at the moment, so mine don't really fall in line. But then neither do I ;-) Or maybe I'm right on the cusp of a new trend: I just noticed that the Pantone colour for 2010 is Turquoise. Anyone visiting my blog will have noticed that this is a colour close to my heart. So maybe 2010 is my year?

According to the Pantone site, Turquoise is believed to be a protective talisman in many cultures, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky.

"With both warm and cool undertones, Turquoise pairs nicely with any other color in the spectrum. Turquoise adds a splash of excitement to neutrals and browns, complements reds and pinks, creates a classic maritime look with deep blues, livens up all other greens, and is especially trend-setting with yellow-greens."

You just can't go wrong with Turquoise it seems. ;-)