Flat 36

This quilt is inspired by a doorbell panel on a block of flats. I saw a photo somewhere and the image just stuck in my mind. The doorbells had obviously all been identical, but over time some buttons had become stained with nicotin, scribbled on with felt tips or replaced with buttons of other colours. The diversity in the nametags also told its own story about the change the place had seen over the years.

I made a quick sketch of one doorbell in my notebook at the time, and added the information that there were 4 x 9 doorbells and I promptly forgot about it. Ages later I came across my sketch and sat down to work out the proportions of the block in EQ before leaving it to stew for a while. Earlier this summer, I decided it was time to do something about it and I started pulling fabrics from my stash. Initially I thought about writing or embroidering names, but I decided to go more abstract and just use fabrics with random text on them instead (somehow my stash seems to have oodles of chatty fabric...) after all, this quilt is only a doorbell quilt because I say so, it could just as easily be an abstract arrangement of squares, rectangles and strips.

Anyhow... Once I started, the top went together quite quickly, but the quilting took a while. I decided on an allover pattern, and quilted a wavy line across the quilt and a big dart in  from the top and from the bottom before filling in the space with echoing lines. By the time I had filled in the empty spaces I had realized that the lines were too far apart, so there was nothing for it - I just had to double the amiunt if quilting by adding new quilting lines in between the ones already there. I think it was worth the effort though, and for a wall quilt, that amount of quilting works quite well.

I used a remnant of a great IKEA house fabric for the backing. Finished size of the quilt: 39x32"

Polka dots and more

I must confess to a little retail therapy ;-) I seem to be really drawn to polka dots recently, and although I have made two red and aqua quilts already, I just couldn't resist these. Now, what do I make from them? Any suggestions? There is a length of solid Kona in Sand there as well - I'm slowly but surely adding to my stash of solids and I just got myself the colour card from Kona. There are almost too many lovely colours to choose from!

I thought I might as well start getting ready for Christmas as well. Not really, but who could resist these beauties from Sweetwater? Placemats from these, I think.

And Tula Pink's Prince Charming line in Indigo was way too tempting. An unusual colourway for me, but with the right solid to set them off they will be great, I think. I really love the one with the silhouettes on top of the pile there - I might get that in an other colourway as well...

These birdy, collage like fabrics are just so lovely, but hard to cut into - maybe pillows or totebags? And I also found some lovely yellow polkadot fabric from Sweetwater at reduced price.

I added these great buildings as well. I'm thinking that the windows on the fabric on the left also could be appliqued onto a house block of some sort - I might have fun playing with that! The black and white with sewing notions on the right is one I won at a guild meeting.
Wow, I didn't think I had bought that much fabric lately, but seen all together here, there is quite a lot of it. It's a good thing my holidays have just started - it's time to sew!

All decided - more work ahead

When in doubt, make a mug rug. That's what I did to come to a decision about my quilting lines. I stitched some of the leftover bits and pieces from the quilt top together and started making a mug rug. First I quilted it all in parallell(ish) lines using the same distance as on my quilt. Then I started stitching in between the lines. You can see the tighter quilting here, on the right hand side. Much better, I think. That means that I still have lots of work ahead of me, but I will be far happier with the outcome, I believe. And what's the rush anyway?

Anybody in?

I'm contemplating titles for my new quilt, and "Anybody in?" is one of the options. You  might have to see the whole thing to get why?  Can you see what inspired it from this glimpse?

I'm halfway through quilting it - or am I? I'm beginning to wonder if the quilting lines are too far apart - maybe I should add new ones in between? It will be very compact if I do, but it is meant to be a wall quilt, so that doesn't really matter. I've gathered some of the off-cuts to make a mug rug where I can try out the tighter quilting before I decide.

Working

I've been incredibly slack when it comes to blogging lately, but in case somebody's still out there - I'm alive and well. A blurry picture attests to the fact that I'm actually working on something as well, but more about that in my next post.
This morning has been given entirely over to housework - days and weeks of rain could have been spent doing all those chores instead of moping around wondering if this summer will ever start, but wouldn't you know it: today the sun is shining and here I am busy hoovering and washing... Well, doing the laundry makes sense on a day free of rain and with a gentle breeze to help the drying process, I suppose, and my energy levels are much higher on a bright day, which helps in getting the work done quickly.
I've still got two weeks left at work before my summer really starts, so now's the time to get everything in order so I can really enjoy it. I need to sort out some craft projects, some fabric is making it's way here through the mail and I have a pile of books to enjoy, so although I'm staying at home the entire three weeks, they will fly by in a blur once I get there, I believe. I can hardly wait! Now if I could only talk the sun into staying put for a while...