Freebird - Part II

Before the progress report on the Freebird quilt some much needed housekeeping.

Caroline from "Contented Caroline" asked me where I got my labels from. They are from this shop. I contacted Anna directly as she didn't have them in her shop at the time and she was so kind to make me some on cotton tape. I got this tip from some other blog but can't really remember from where to be honest.

I was last weekend in Germany and gave my mother the 'Laugh and Happiness' quilt with a lot of trepidation in my stomach. But she absolutely loved it. Exactly as all of you knew who so kindly commented with encouragement. So, thank you very much ! Also a lot of people said the quilt reminded them of "Kaffee and Kuchen" (cake and coffee) or cappuccino which my sister echoed too. I never thought about this but now I obviously see cappuccino and cake everywhere when I look at the quilt. I really should have thought about it right away as my Dad is a baker and we have a cafe and bakery.

Lastly some of you got very close regarding the Brit Bee blocks I am planning for July. All will be revealed tomorrow.

And here is an update on the Freebird progress. Reading your comments to my first post I was rather surprised at how popular the range is. I obviously bought it because I was drawn to the colours but mainly because I wanted to see what I could do with a charm pack. A jelly role of Freebird is still available at Puddleducks and it is on sale if anybody is keen.

As you can see I moved forward rather quickly and created a reversible quilt. The front is on the right side for which I alternated a full square with one with a piece of Kona white in the middle. Then I added white sashing around them to make the squares stand out against the Caramel background.

For the back I used the remainder of the squares for the centre piece and again added white sashing for effect before I added a lovely fresh light green border. I sort of think of the quilt as a two-season quilt. One side represents Spring and the other Autumn.

But I still wasn't quite happy with the front and I had a few squares left (I had no idea how long one charm pack lasts) so I added some appliqued flowers to the front to liven it up a bit.

Now I'm happy !!! But have no idea how to quilt it with the flowers sticking out ????

Stash Note 19

I have written previously about my love of 'Oakshott' shott cottons and  I couldn't resist to indulge the Brit Bee members and myself with some of this gloriously luxurious fabric for my turn as the Queen Bee for the month of July.

This here is 'Cranberry' and 'White Sand' from their Colourshott range. So Brit Bee member and non Brit Bee followers what do you think I am going to ask the Brit Bee Ladies to make for me ???

The one who guesses the closest or even spot on will receive one of my pincushions as prize. So don't forget to leave an e-mail address in your comment.

One Brit Swap mini quilt done

So here is my finished Burgoyne Surround (aka 'Charlotte Sometimes') mini quilt all ready to be sent out to my swap partner at the end of the month. I hand quilted it and used the Echino print as a back fabric instead of the Lecien vinatge print. I think (hope) my Swap partner likes this better because there is a colour in their that is one of her favourites. I really enjoyed working with the old linen from my Grandmother. With every touch it gets softer though that does have its drawbacks as it stretches considerably while being worked on. Normally I don't pre-wash any fabric since the invention of colour catcher with the exception of linen. Linen has the naughty habit of shrinking unreasonably .

Gosh I do hope my Partner likes it but if not I don't mind if she sends it back :-). 

Anyway here are the pics

And no my friends the cherries are not included in the swap !! Just didn't have anything else handy to cover the name quickly.

Stash Note 18

Don't you just love blenders !

Look at this goodness from Patricia Bravo. The collection is called 'Oval Elements' and although this is quilt weight feels a lot more like voile. Striking colours and geometric elements.

 Isn't this orange here delicious.....I kinda want to bite into it.....might be a wee dry though.

All bought at Fabricworm.

Laugh and happiness quilt - all done

So here it is the finished 'Laugh and Happiness quilt'. I finally finished it yesterday evening. And guess what ? Finally I am also really happy with it. I quilted it in one continuous circle starting in the centre. I was a bit apprensive about it at first as I have never done this before but really it was a breeze and it gives another dimension to the quilt.
All I need now is my mother to love it (but if that doesn't happen I think I'd be quite happy to keep it after all :-) ).

 

For the back I chose a print from Fabric Freedom in London called 'Chocolat'.  It is a beautiful dark, rich chocolaty colour with a floral print. It wouldn't have been my first choice but again I chose with my mother in mind.

  

The binding is from the 'Punctuation Collection' from American Jane for Moda. Both, back and binding fabric are from my local quilt store. The binding is a lovely blue pinstripe cotton that contrast well with the top and back. I wanted something that wasn't earthy or brown but would fit well in the overall colour scheme.

Quilt size: 60 x 70 inches (152 x 178 cm)
Fabric for the top: Pure Sweetwater from Moda (bought online as a layer cake in the US but can't remember the shop).
Pattern: Dresden plates with superb instructions via QAL from Lynn

Wadding: Hobbs 100 % cotton
Quilting Thread: Guetermann Sulky 30 variegated col 4036

Other entries regarding this quilt can be found here and  here and here.

Freebird

Last year when I went to the Quilt Festival in Birmingham I bought a charms pack from the 'Freebird' collection from Moda not knowing really what to do with it. Those little squares were laying in my house forever giving me a hard time. I felt they were staring at me accusatory that I wasn't doing anything productive with them. So I thought I lay them out and have a look and then .........I packed them away again and so on.

The other day I gave myself a kick and lay them out again. Just before I thought of binning the whole lot I added some Kona white and then it started to look a bit more promising. Phew..... I hate when I am lacking any kind of inspiration. Hopefully this will take me somewhere creative after all. It's Friday morning and this has been an awful week, really. I can't wait for tonight and the beginning of a creative weekend. I have to finish the Brit Swap quilt and the 'Laugh and Happiness' quilt for my mother. As they say no rest for the wicked.

Happy sewing everybody.

Brit Swap - front finished

Hello there on this rainy Sunday morning. I was all ready to go for my weekly 10 k run when the heavens opened........ so I thought I wait a little and use the time to appliqué a few more circles on my Brit Swap mini quilt and as it so happens a couple of hours later it was still raining but all circles were attached.
Not good for the body and that very much needed run but good for the mini quilt. ( I could go in the rain but it is just to awful today......and that is a feeble excuse).

So have a look and let me know what you think. I am very pleased with how it turned out and I could easily keep this quilt to myself if my Swap partner doesn't like it. But I think we share a similar taste as there is nothing in my partner's mosaic that I don't like so I am quietly confident that the mini quilt will have a reasonable reception. You may remember that I somewhat adapted the 'Charlotte Sometimes' quilt pattern (read here ).

I am also auditioning for quilt back options and would very much love to hear your opinion and advice.
To the left of the image below is a wonderful Echino print and to the right a fantastic Lecien vintage inspired print.  What do you think ? Or something else altogether ?

Pincushion No 3

This one was made from Oakshotts' Lyon collection that I bought a while ago. I had some scraps lying around as I was thinking to use it in my Single Girl quilt but decided against it in the end.

Oddly enough it is very satisfying to make a pincushion. Is that weird ?
This one is on its way to Fiona from my Brit Bee group.

Stash Note 17

An overdue stash note is to come but first a little bit of housekeeping. First of all I would like to thank all of you for your inspiring suggestions for my new commission. They were really helpful and I have already set in motion to add a bit of texture to the selection of red with some shott cottons from Oakshott. I am also grateful for your comments regarding my 'Laugh and Happiness' quilt that is intended for my mother. In a couple of weeks time I will travel home and will find out if she likes it (if I have quilted it by then.......). So I keep you all posted.


But now to the all important stash note. What I would like to share with you is the arrival of some rather sumptuous voile. I ordered the entire Prince Charming collection by Tula Pink (8 prints) and all the Loulouthi prints by Anna-Maria Horner I could get my hands on from Fabricworm (4 out of 6). Two prints are out of stock and will be back mid months, unfortunately the most spectacular prints of the collection. You may wonder why I ordered voile instead of the quilt weight collections. To be honest I am not so sure but when I order the last Anna-Maria Horner Collection 'Innocent Crush' I was a little disappointed because I think it isn't a very coherent collection in terms of colour. I used it in my 'Cranberry Crush quilt' and am very happy with the result but if I had to order it again I would not. So I was a bit apprehensive when the new collection came out last week. Though I have to say it is growing on me steadily the more often I see it and I probably will order it anyway. But I thought rather than jumping on the bandwagon without thinking (yes I am guilt of that all to often) I check out the voiles  instead. And when I went onto the Fabricworm voile section I was struck by how well the Prince Charming voile compliments the Loulouthi set so I ordered these too. I might wait for the two missing prints before making a quilt but I might add some of the other voile I have .... I am rather impatient to cut into this goodness but on the other hand need to finish a few other bits and bobs first.
Happy sewing weekend everybody.

Laugh and happiness quilt -progress report-

Finally.... I managed to finish this quilt top that I started rather a number of weeks ago (actually almost months) together with Lynn and lots of others who joined in Lynn's QAL. God only knows why this one is dragging its heals. This is very much unlike me as I usually start a quilt and finish it in good time. I don't really do UFOs, they would drive me mad and this one was almost turning into one. 

I think one of the reason why I am procrastinating with this quilt is that I really, really like the Dresdens as a single pattern on a mini quilt like this:

But I have realised that I don't much like to use this pattern in a repeat on an entire quilt. I can't really put my finger on it but I think the single Dresden looks perfect to me and if it wasn't for the fact that I had cut all fabric for the remaining 3 Dresdens I would have left it as a single perfect mini quilt. The reason why I joined the QAL was actually Lynn's perfect Sherbet Pip Dresden mini quilt. Whereas with the Single Girl quilt for example I felt the opposite way and thought that one single ring looked lost. I don't think there is a reasonable explanation for this. It is just personal taste.

But I still think that my 'Laugh and Happiness' quilt has turned out to be a really elegant quilt top and I have my mother in mind as recipient because these are all her colours. I added a border at the top and bottom to stretch it a bit because this will make it easier to snuggle up under on the sofa (which I am hoping she will do). My mother, although a very talented knitter is not as convinced about quilts as I am and doesn't really know what to do with them.

I think this is because quilts aren't all that popular in Germany (but that is changing fast). She loves woollen blankets though and I don't really see that it is such a stretch to a quilt.....

But I am determined to make her love them. Hopefully this one will do it.

A commission and an interview

 I have a new commission which is great because I love commissions. It gives me the chance to work to a brief and collaborate with my client at the same time. In this case my clients are Michael and Claire who are friends of mine. Apparently they have a very, very ugly sofa they wish to cover up with something pretty. I suggested at first to buy a nice throw but they want a quilt because that also gives them a chance to snuggle up under.
Claire's brief was that she wanted to have a quilt that shows "shades of red ranging from raspberry to the deepest darkest cherry with some patterned fabric in between". Claire and Mica's style is veering towards the minimalist so I came up with this design:

Basically two curved parts in the top left and bottom right corner that are pieced from patterned and solid fabrics all in shades of red. Then one small pieced item in the middle and the entire thing is connected by large blocks in various shades of red solids.

This will challenge me in terms of curve sewing but also and here is the catch in terms of size. The quilt has to be 3.2 x 2.5 m that is 126 x 98 inches !
In other words a monster quilt. Has any of you ever attempted something as big as this ? The reason why it is has to be so big is that the ugly sofa is rather on the large side. Apparently nobody knows how it got into the living room....

I have shown Claire the design and she approves (phew !) and we also looked at patterned fabric and solids. I took along my Kona shade card which helped enormously.

And this is the fabric selection I am going to be using with 'Berry Red' (that is how I named the quilt).
To the right are a number of K. Fassett and Philip Jacobs prints amongst some others. I think I will also use the odd dark yellow or cream piece to accentuate. My hope is although this selection here looks quite intense and wild that the overall effect of the quilt is a lot calmer with some small bursts of excitement (ie. the corner sections) as the solid parts joining the two corners are rather on the large side due to its size. What do you think ? I would appreciate some advice and honest thoughts from you my wonderful readers.

Ahem...........................and here comes the bit about the interview. The lovely Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap asked me a while ago if I would agree to be interviewed and God only knows why but I agreed.
Rhonda did a great job putting a coherent story together from my garbled answers and she makes me look a lot cooler than I really am.

I just listened to it and I would have never imagined that it is so excruciating having to listen to someone speaking about me in such a complimentary way.

So if you want to hear a a bit about me then hop over to Rhonda and have a look and listen. She is a great story teller and has produced three podcasts so far that are fantastic to listen to. The best thing though is that there is lots of other stuff on the podcast, one of them is something about free-motion quilting and here experience on the longarm quilter.