Lotta fly away - not quite fluttering

Midweek and I thought I post a little update on my sewing endeavours from the weekend and the last days.

It was a short weekend but I still managed to sew all the flying geese units (only one of you guessed right actually !) for my new quilt 'Lotta fly away', laid them out and started piecing the units together. And when I wasn't doing that I was hand quilting my 'Countdown to x-mas' quilt which proves a lot more work than I had anticipated but I am still enjoying the hand quilting and that can only be a good thing.

I am also eagerly awaiting the arrival of my pillow from the Pillow fight Swap which should arrive in the next days. My cushion was already very warmy received by the lovely Renee. The best thing about this swap was that I got to make the pillow for the same person that in the last swap round made a mini quilt for me !

Enjoy the rest of your week or if you aren't then start looking forward to the not so distant weekend.

P.S. Dont' forget the Riverfabrics giveaway is still ongoing until the end of the week.

Stash Note 30

Not just a Stash Note today but already a work in progress.
I came across DelRay fabrics a few weeks ago thanks to the suggestion of  Fiona. They had free shipping for a while which of course is a massive bonus when one orders from the US. Browsing around I found that they stocked a jelly role and yardage of the new x-mas collection "Countdown to Christmas"  from the fantastic people of Sweetwater. I do love their collections and used the Pure collection recently to make my 'Laugh and Happiness.

So I bought my first ever Jelly role (they are messy things I can already say that much)

and some wonderful yardage.

I think this is one of the cutest Christmas fabric collections around at the moment and I immediatly resovled to use it for a quilt with Christmas trees. I did a few test blocks to find the best size and came up with these two. They were all slightly to small (truth be told I messed up the mesurements of boths) so I made them into mini-mini quilts. The instpiration came actually from a Sweetwater quilt for their new collection 'Hometown'  which is meant to inspire a nautical theme but I kind of thought immideatly of Christmas trees.

 Isn't the background fabric the cutest ever ?

Backside of the mini-mini quilts.

I have already cut all the pieces for the tree and started on the background fabric. The measurements are now for a 8 1/2 inch finished block to which I will add sashing in the red fabric.   If anyone is intersted then I will post a pattern link for this block  I am also almost tempted to propose an x-mas quilt along if people were interested but I am a little bit reluctant as there are so many quilt alongs around anyway and I have very little time at the moment. I would have time in the second half of October though.

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.

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.

Laugh and happiness quilt (formerly known as Monochromatic Dresden)

I have rename this quilt to 'Laugh and Happiness quilt' inspired by the writing on the fabric and because Monochromatic Dresdens really sounds a bit Ueberposh. Last weekend I managed to finally get to terms with the Dresdens from Lynn's QAL. I had sewn the ring together some two weeks ago but that was to soon after finishing the Single Girl quilt and I sort of couldn't face this one. I needed to have something easy and fresh to do in between which is why I started the Springtime Quilt. Sometimes I think quilting is a bit like eating. When I eat something really spicy or savoury then I grave something sweet afterwards and visa versa. This I think is to balance out the flavours  or some other process that is going on in ones (maybe only my) body. And quilting it is a bit like that (for me anyway). If I make something really colourful with strong bold colours (i.e. very strong flavoursome food) then I grave to make a quilt with lighter brighter colours afterwards (i.e. eat something light like fruit).  Now, that is not to say that the Pure fabric from Sweetwater is heavy because it isn't but it isn't light either. I wonder if this is just me being very weird or does anybody else feel that way too about foot and quilts ?

So last weekend was the weekend to get back to the Dresdens and I did that with gusto. It was much easier than anticipated. At first when I finished the circle it didn't lay flat so I was a bit concerned that I did something wrong with the templates but then I stitched some of the pieces with a more generous seam allowance and this did the trick. The inner circle and outer proofed little problem then and the whole thing lays pretty flat now. I think what makes it standing out is the half inch sashing as it really frames the block fantastically. I absolutely love this block and it took me by surprise how beautiful it is. I am going to make 4 in total for a sofa sized quilt but the remaining three have to wait until I return form the US.
Please no detention Lynn !

Happy sewing
Judith

Springtime - an update

What a week it has been. I haven't sewn a stitch since Sunday and am desperate to spend some quality time with my Janome today. It's been a long week with lots of work that had to be done in the office. I am going in holiday towards the end of next week and as always a mountain of work seems to be flooding towards me in the days prior to leaving. Does that happen to you too ? I am going to the USA visiting New Orleans, Savannah in Goergia and a few days in New York to finish it all of. I have got some quilt shop addresses in New Orleans from Rick at WhimzeeStitches but could do with some in Savannah and New York (apart  from the obvious that is Purl Soho where I will be camping out front). If any of you know any shops then I would be grateful if you could let me know.

Also when I am back from the States I will just have passed my one year quilt anniversary. Yes that's right, Easter about a year ago I started my first quilt. And to celebrate I will hold my first super fantastic give-away. So please stay tuned until May when I will share some goodies with you I may have bought accross the pond !!!

But first things first, here an update on my Springtime quilt from last weekend's sewing. I will press on today to finish the top and make progress on the Monochromatic Dresdens before Lynn will give me a detention for being unbelievably late...tall order as usual.

Ohhh....see what arrived on my doorstep - Stash Note No. 8

...yesterday. My fabric for Lynn's QAL has already arrived thanks to a super speedy delivery from Noveltyquiltfabric. Thank you !!

Meet "Pure" from Sweetwater for Moda. Isn't it super gorgeous. I can feel a great quilt coming up (that is if I manage the Dresden plates.....)

Tataahhhhhhhhh !!!

Will start cutting into this gorgeousness as soon as the Single Girl Quilt is finished (Probably not before Sunday).