Very Berry - part 3

Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK - the only holiday we have between the bank holiday Monday at the end of May and Christmas. Most people go away but I like to stay put and use the precious extra day either for lying in the sun in my garden (no chance of that this weekend, more like lying in the rain) or sewing. So given that the weather was disappointing (I really would like to use another word here !) I spend it sewing. The 'Very Berry' quilt commission I started here several weeks ago for my friends Mica and Claire had to move forward.

You may remember that it is a super sized quilt at 2.5 x 3.2 m that is 98 x 126 inches and so far I had only finished the first third of the top.
My goal was to get the whole thing basted.

I apologize upfront for the poor quality photos but I could not find a wall high enough to hang the pieces nor a wall high enough to stand on to properly photography the quilt from atop. In addition the sun kept peeking out of the clouds when I least wanted it.

On Saturday I finished the top

On Sunday I pieced the back with some lovely Kaffe Fassett prints and lots and lots of Kona coal. I wanted to keep the back in a more neutral colour but with just a bit of red. Piecing it made me feel like being in  'Gulliver Travels'. If you look at the back you see that it really is just rectangles with some sashing in Kona coal but we are talking series measurements here. The rectangles are each 36 x 20 inches and the sashing in proportion around it.

 And on Monday I basted the beast...................
(sadly no picture) 
I wrestled with it for hours in my small living room basting it in 3 stages. That actually worked surprisingly well although I could only unroll 2 meters at a time.



 Next is the quilting and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) it will be done in 10 days time......

Stash Note 27

In this week's stash note I would like to share with you fabric that has become really precious to me; my growing stash of numbers and letters fabric. I am sort of starting to collect these and am particular interested in monochrome prints. If  you know of any such fabrics then please let me know. I think they make excellent additions to quilts and add interest and fun.

These two are from Cosmo Cricket and are called 'Tailor Made Ruler' and were bought at FreshModerFabric.

This was bought at the fabulous 'Simply Solids' on-line store in in the UK. These two prints are from Lakehouse and are called 'Seed Catalogue'. The one to the right is white on white and doesn't photograph well at all. I just think they are fabulous. 

The vintage linen blend newspaper fabric is a superb Kokka print bought at the Eternal Maker. 

 This fabulous print here is Lecien Vintage Art Store and was bought at my local quilt Store Tikki Ltd.









 The following prints where all bought at Celtic   Fusion fabrics:

This here is Domestic Goddess by Kokka.

 And this marvellous print is Lecien Vintage Art lables

Lecien Vintage Art Store is this one

And the last one is a panel from Kokka called    
                                                                                 Feed Labels

Winter White

Before I get to the actual post I just wanted to say a very BIG thank you to everybody who commented with advice and suggestions on 'A story in red and white'.  It was incredibly helpful and I now know how to progress. I will sash in white with red corner stones as was advised by some of you and for the back I will make the giant log cabin as suggested by Katy. However all of this will have to wait now for several weeks as I am going to pick up the 'Very Berry' quilt commission first as my dear friends have already been waiting to long for this.

I know we are in the middle of Summer, actually coming to the end of what was a questionable summer but I tend to knit winter garments in the summer and visa-versa although to be honest I hardly ever knit anything that firmly belongs into the Summer anyway.

This jumper was finally finished a few days ago and has been in the making for a while as I only took this particular knitting with me on long train journeys. In fact I started this sweater when I went to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh about a year ago so it is fitting to share with you the finished piece now that I have just come back from another visit to the Fringe a year on. Kitting is easy to carry as you mostly don't have to juggle a variety of wool balls which one often has to do for crochet projects.

This jumper has given me a hard time too and I am surprised (but no less delighted) that it turned out so beautiful.
The wool is called Silk Twist from Rowan and is a luxurious blend of silk, wool and the finest super kid mohair. The colour I chose is 'Parchment'. The wool was bought at Liberties London but that was last year and I don't know if they still stock them. Two of the balls had discolouration in them which I at first ignored because I thought it to be dirt that would wash off. But I got a bit suspicious and when I finished the front I realized that it was rather a lot of discolouration so I washed it thinking that if this isn't disappearing then I have a problem.
And ? Oh yes, Huston I had a problem. Half of the front had to be undone and I had to buy new wool which I luckily managed to get in the same lot number. Needless to say I was furious with Rowan for producing substandard wool.

But in the end the jumper turned out fantastically and I am glad I didn't wait until I had all parts stitched together and the collar knitted as I am sure I would have binned the whole thing rather then undo and redo it.

The wool in incredibly soft and this jumper will be lovely to wear in the cold winter days that surely are coming sooner rather than later. The pattern is from the Rowan magazine 'Silk Twist Classics'.

Stash Note 26

Yes you can see some more blenders. I came across the Perl Bracelet in Galosh the other day and loved the color and the pattern so much that I had a look at the collection. I am not a big friend of the 1001 Peeps pattern but somehow overlooked the very good blenders that are part of the collection. 

In the first image from left to right you can find 'Jewels' in Jinnee Orange, Basra Blue and Persian Blue (aren't these marvelous names !) and the next three are 'Illusion' in the same colour range.

 The four prints in this image are Pearl Bracelet in the same color range except for the one on the far right which is in the color Galosh.

All are bought from Fresh Modern Fabric on Etsy.

Pincushion No 4

It was time for another pincushion.
I wonder who is going to get this one........

A story in red and white - {advice needed}

... is what  I will be calling my Sampler quilt that has been created by the Brit Bee Ladies.

I have now received all blocks and also added my own.

These two blocks are from the lovely Terri who gave them to me when we met at the Festival of Quilts last weeks. Terri forgot to take photos of them so I am doing it for her. Isn't this one utterly cute ?

Brit Bee block from Terri

2nd Brit Bee block from Terri

The next two bocks are my own.  These were very much driven by scraps as I wanted to make good use of all the scraps and left over fabric the Ladies returned to me. Also I felt the quilt needed another good dollop of red.
This first block is actually a collaboration between Terri and me, though unintentionally. Terri returned eight HSTs and I thought I  could make these into diamonds surround by more red.

 

 And this second block is actually my first paper pieced block !!! I used the 'Rocky Road to Kansas' block from the Summer Sampler Series.  Isn't this gorgeous !

What I learned about paper piecing is that it wastes a lot of fabric which is something really hate and that you get the most accurate piecing done which is something I absolutely love.  Not sure how I am going to merry these two......

 

Then I did another layout test and wasn't happy at all as I find it way way to long.

So I made another block. This time with some leftovers from Trudi  and some scraps.

 

And then changed the layout to square which I think works much much better.

Now it's decision time. I need to decide which sashing to use (I think no sashing is not an option as the quilt will look to busy). The above layout images show one in white sashing and the other in red. I really would appreciate your input and there is also the question of the back. Normally I am never lost for ideas but in this case I am somewhat. I kind of want to stick to the red/white scheme and was thinking to just do a four-patch of very large white and red squares with the siggy blocks scattered around. But maybe I am wearing red and white glasses at the moment. Any ideas ?

Previous post can be found here and here.

And before I close I'd like to show you the two blocks I made for our lovely August Queen Bee who is Sarah from Narcoleptic in a cupboard. Sarah send us stunning fabric in all sorts of blues and some rather daring black plus chocolate, music and a super sweet pulverised drink. And after consuming all of that I was ready for some improve style blocks. She didn't want anything traditional so I went for the wonky and modern instead.

Stash Note 25

For this Stash note is only one word necessary. Cool.

Cool because it is the new collection from Melody Miller 'Ruby Star Spring.'
Cool because it is another superb collection by the very talented Designer.
Cool because I am probably the only one who has a half meter of the entire collection in the UK
Cool because we in the UK actually have the entire collection before the US for a change
Cool because the Eternal Maker stock them
Cool because I bought it at the Quilt Festival on Thursday and met Terri and Ceri from the Brit BEE

Look at this gorgeousness. Aren't the colours fabulous !

 And this bee is just something else.

All-occasion-baby-quilt II

A friend of mine held a baby shower the other day for which I made another 'All-occasion-baby-quilt', this time in dark purples and pink.

As a back I again used a Kokka print that I matched in pattern with the Russian dolls of the front.

All folded up ready to go walkabout.

The quilt is roughly 24 by 20 inches in size. The binding is from Kaffe Fassett's dot range.

Sugar and Spice - part 2-

Before I report on the progress of  'Sugar and Spice' I wanted to say that I am at the Quiltfestival in Brimingham this Thursday. If any of you are there too and would like to meet up then please let me know. I would love to.

And now to the progress report. After I cut a large number of HSTs I started to think about possible layouts.

First I tried the mosaic block from the Summer Sample Series. But I think the individual HST squares are to big for this and I don't want the quilt to be to large. I only would have 4 mosaic blocks in a row within the size range I have in mind for this quilt which I believe isn't very effective.

On to the next possible layout. I rearranged the squares and ended up with this sort of square in a squares ensemble but again the quilt would have to become large for the patterns to work but I really really like the look of this so....

... I rearranged the blocks a bit more and came up with this which is exactly what I want except that I have to make more HSTs...........big sigh........

Giveaway Winner

 Thank you very much for everybody who participated in my Oakshott sponsored giveaway. I tried to sent a little note to everybody but as I was away over the past days inadvertently missed some.

Michael from Oakshotts sent me a mail last Monday when he noticed an unusual influx of sign-ups for his newsletter and needless to say he is delighted.

And without further ado the WINNER:

First a little bit of this

 

followed by a bit of that 

and the winner is Nikki from Sew Quine who actually said that she visited the Oakshotts webpage several times before but never managed to decide on anyting. Well, hopefully the sunrise pack I am going to sent her will make here a lot more decisive.

Stash Note 24

Today I would like to share with you some fabric that isn't your typical quilting cotton. And it  perfectly fits with the release of issue No 6 from Fat Quarterly that is all about alternative fabrics.

The first stash item is this wonderful fabric that I bought in East London where I work around the area of Middlesex Street and Petticoat Lane Market. The area is home to a large number of African textile shops. I often roam these street but had not bought any fabric for quilting purposes there until last week. Often I find the prints to large or a little bit to traditional for a contemporary quilt.  But I came across a shop last week that had prints with smaller designs and this one here caught my attention in particular. The fabric is a 100 % cotton but is heavily starched which makes it feel rather stiff but softens considerable after a wash. The fabric is printed with a kind of wax technique and there can be small faults. The downside (is it really a downside ?) is that the fabric is only sold in larger quantities with the smallest being 3 yards, then 6 and then 10 yards. But none of this really matters because price is senational. I bought this 6 yard beauty for GBP 12 (in words twelve pounds).
I can't remember what the shop was called but if any of you wish to know I will find out when I have a wonder around there next time. The prints comes in various colours. 

Next of are those four fibrant hand printed pieces that I bought a while ago from Malka Dubrawsky at 'A stitch in dye'. Malka makes wonderful quilts in which she uses her own printed fabric and other quilting cottons together. She will have a fabric line coming out with Moda soon and I for one am keen to get my hands on the collection. I love hand printed fabric but they do have a price understandably.

And the last piece I'd like to share with you is also hand printed. This was bought in February this year in Stone Town on Zanzibar where I sometimes holiday. I love this print as it reminds me of coffee beans and that reminds me of spiced coffee at the Zanzibar coffee house and then I get what is called in German "Fernweh".

None of these prints have been made into something yet but I am sure inspiration will strike at the most unexpected moment.

Have a lovely week.

Sugar and Spice - part 1 -

Well I did say at the beginning of the months that I had an HST urge. And if one has an urge one should do something about it, shouldn't one ? Thankfully this particular urge is fairly easily satisfied.

So, I have been turning this gorgeous little tower of fabric

first into this

and 

then

 into this

and that













before making it into
 
this wonderful little tower of neatly cut and stacked half square triangle....

Urge not quite gone but phew.....I am getting there

Don't forget the giveaway which is still open until Sunday !!!!

Brit Bee news and a Giveaway

The month of July has been good to me as I was lucky enough to receive commissions for three bags,  ( I will publish a pattern for the 'I'll see you later' messenger bag and a tutorial on the zippered inside pouch in a few weeks time) sold a quilt via my on-line shop, past my 100th blog post and 200th follower and to top it all basically had Christmas every other day with my fellow Brit Bee members producing truly astonishing results with the fabric and brief I gave them. And to celebrate this I am offering a fantastic giveaway sponsored by Oakshotts. But first some words of gratitude to my fellow Brit Bee Ladies.

So far I have received 16 of 22 blocks (my own blocks are still missing too) and I thought this is enough to share with you a possible layout.
Isn't this stunning ?

When I set the brief for the Brit Bee I never ever imagined in my wildest dreams that I would end up with such a wonderful sampler quilt. It has everything; the most gorgeous shot cotton one can find and a truly contemporary mix of blocks that all have a personal touch from each Brit Bee member. For that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The red in the quilt is called  'Cranberry' and I already used it in my 'Cranberry Crush' quilt that I love and adore. The white is called 'White Sand'. Over the past year I have ordered a number of shot cottons (here and here) from Oakshotts and Michael has been fantastic in advising me and his customer service is nothing short of perfect. I met Michael last year at the Quilt Festival in Birmingham. Oddly enough I didn't remember meeting him but he did and told me so when I spoke to him on the phone the first time. He has customers from Germany and we must have talked a little about me being originally from there.

Oakshott specialises in colourful shot cotton weaves that are ethically sourced from along the Malabar coast of South West India and I cannot emphasis enough the vibrant colours and quality of the shot cottons.


Michael has agreed to sponsor my giveaway with this superb set of fat 8th shot cottons called 'Sunrise'. Michael and his team are of course again at the quilt festival this year and their stand is H25 where you can visit him and have a chat and a good look at his fabrics (and don't forget to say hello from me).

Here are the conditions for the giveway:

• the giveaway will be open from Monday the 1st August until Sunday the 7h
• the winner will be drawn and announced on Monday the 8th
• no contact-email no participation in the draw (if you don't have an e-mail on your blogger profile visible you need to leave one in the comment)
• all are welcome to participate, nationals, internationals, E-Ts, ghosts etc. 
• to participate you have to sign-up to Oakshott's e-mail newsletter that you can find here. Let me know that you did so with a comment on this post. Michael will sent out a newsletter soon with special offers for the festival that I am sure you won't want to miss
• for a bonus point you can follow me on either my blog, facebook or twitter and leave me a comment that you do so now or are already doing so

Good luck !!