Shades of Green - part 2-

It's been a while and it certainly isn't Spring any more but my inspiration is certainly at the moment in that season. This weekend I finished the quilt top I started back in June.




And the colours make me smile and inject a dose of much needed happiness (so did by the way "Fantastic Beast and where to find them" that I watched Friday night !). There are so many Spring and a few deeper Summer greens in this quilt, all of which not so much take me back but forward to the next Spring.



And true to Spring there is the odd bit of bright pink, yellow and some pale blues and whites coming through.



I love working on a quilt like this. It is simple from a cutting point of view, just squares, but you need to think about the arrangement of the patterns and colours and you need to lay out the entire quilt before it can be assembled as the piecing is done on the diagonal rather than row by row. This by the way, in case any of my students are reading this post, is a very good skill builder quilt still using the humble square but with a more advanced piecing techniques and with a bigger design challenge.



I might baste this beauty today but quilting will have to wait a while as I have a very busy week coming up.

Happy crafting everybody !

Shades of Green - part 1 -

Would you believe it ? I actually have started a new quilt. Sunday mornings very early I run along the river. I do this all year and pretty much in any weather and there really isn't a season I don't like (though Winter is of course....well Winter) but my favourite time is May when the green left and right of the toe path is so incredibly riotous in colour and quantity that I sometimes can't actually see the river right next to it.



So I thought I must make a quilt that has all those shades of green in it. Got home, dove straight into my stash and pulled out everything I have that is green or yellow/green (you know that typical early spring green that doesn't know if it wants to be yellow or green). I recon I have easily 60-70 fabric pieces in various shades of green.



There is all sorts in there, from K. Fassett and Philip Jacobs via Flea Market Fancy to super contemporary "First of Infinity" - the motto is, if it's green and in the stash it goes into the quilt.

But all that pattern needs a little bit of order in my opinion so I am choosing squares on point in long columns for what will be a pretty large quilt.

Tote samples for class

Hello there. Yes I have a sewing related update, albeit not one of a quilty nature. This morning I made a couple of totes I want to use as samples for my upcoming classes at Fancy Moon. I love making totes for two reasons. One, because they are assembled really fast and two, because one can really have fun with the design.

Not much in terms of bag making accesories is required either. Just fabric, interfacing, wadding or needle felt  and if you can't be bothered to make the handles, just get some ready made leather or twill handles (which I love using). I keep all of this in my stash just like milk in the fridge....






For this smaller tote I used some of my precious Japanese fabric, much of it from the "First of Infinity" line - if I stack all of my Japaneses fabric it probably is about 2 foot high which really is rather ridiculous. Use it or lose, right ?

This smaller tote is quilted with 1/2 inch horizontal lines to give it a bit more structure as the fabric is quite fine.


 




The next one is much bigger (about 50 x 52 cm) and I used some of the precious linen I have from my grandmother and appliqued some VW Bullies onto it which I find rather cute in a flower power sort of way.





One of the Bullies is appliqued across the seam and all appliqued simply with a straight stitch twice around the outline.






And the lining as is the case with the smaller bag is again from the "First of Infinity" collecton that has many, many text prints in wonderful vibrant colours.

 


Happy shopping everybody !

Stash Note 91 'First of Infinity Route 66 by Kumiko Fujita for Lecien

Happy bank holiday weekend everybody. Isn't it the best feeling today knowing that tomorrow is not Monday...well it is but not the usual Monday...if you know what I mean.

So I thought this is the good day for a lovely stash note.
Please meet the 2nd collection of "First of Infinity" by Kumiko Fujita for Lecien. This instalment is aptly named 'Route 66' and is again all about number, letters and road signs.

This 2nd collection has a lot more whites in its set than the first and includes as the name suggests many signs that are on the famous Route 66.

The fabric is still available at Pink Castle Fabrics.

Stash Note 82

Following my last post about the quilt magazine 'Patchwork tsushin' I couldn't help myself and buy a good selection of the featured fabric of their last edition no 174. It is just to die for.

Meet the 'First of infinity' fabric collection from Kumiko Fujita produced by Lecien.

Don't you just love those fab text prints. And for a change we get text in bright and bold colours. Hurray !

And in VERY large letters

And in newspaper style !

And letters and signs to top it all.

Love

Bought at 'Sew Me a Song'