Life (like my quilting) is slightly off kilter.
I was a little reluctant to sign up for Sew Sisters Kona Club, but I was thrilled with my first package of goodies! 4 delicious FQs of spring colours – gorgeous! All those yummy citrus shades have me thinking of a summer tote.
I can’t wait for my May bundle, which is due to arrive in the mail next week.
Managed to complete the back of the quilt today. I wanted to incorporate the stars (above) which I had originally sewn for the quilt front into the quilt back. Lots of scraps, lots of colour, and I even threw on a new print… a strip from a fat quarter of Space Invaders themed fabric, which I had picked up at Creativ Festival. I know, I know… I said I would not buy any more fabric for this quilt, but who can resist something as nostalgic as space invaders?
Here’s the back, not as yet squared up. I’m pretty happy with the bright colour, especially as I had a chance to use all those 2.5 inch strips of that yummy orange hawaiian print – I had originally cut that for the borders on the front, and changed my mind at the last moment.
The quilt sandwich is now pinned together, and I’ve started machine quilting. Hope I have some time this week to work on it.
Say Cheese… The shot above is some great colour from my stash. I love a good stashshot, it makes me happy.
Shop ’til You Drop… I bought a Ticklish by Me and My Sister for Moda charm pack from Sew Sisters a while back, and of course, stashed it away… somewhere. The fabric line is bright, sunny and Spring-like, and has lots of great color and pattern. Very sweet and perfect for a baby quilt. But I only bought one charm pack. So when I came up with a great little sketch, I realized I would need some solids, but I was 4 charm squares short! Sew Sisters had sold out the stock by the time I checked. What’s a girl to do? I bought some Kona Snow, 2 shades of Kona Grey and Black solids, and decided to compare my stash to the charm squares. Surely I could find a substitute? After digging through the 4 corners of my apartment, I came up with the finalists (see pictures above and below).
Camera, Lights, Action!… After some auditioning, I chose the green and white fat quarter -7872 Luna by Gail Fountain and Maywood Studio. The scrolling pattern mimics some of the scrollwork in the Ticklish line, and this green fits the Spring theme I was going for. Everything’s been cut, and is ready for sewing… in the near future.
Sneak Preview… Wanna see the sketch? The one on the right is the original design. When I had sewn most of the charm square blocks already, I almost gave up in despair once I realized I would be a few charm squares short. Mr. Engineer peered quietly over my shoulder for a little while, and when i wasn’t looking, he redesigned the quilt (that’s his sketch on the left). With this redesign, whatever oddball fabric I eventually found in my stash would go in the middle. I have to admit, it’s a great idea!
on the way home from work on Friday, I stopped off at the Creativ Festival show, for a little retail therapy.
Here’s a quick snap of some of my loot from Sew Sister, Hamels, Fabric Spot, Kallisiti Quilts, log cabin yardage and Hyggelit. I will share some close ups soon from each of these retailers. it was a lousy day for photos, although I had everything piled up on the window sill ready to go, just in case a little sun peeped through. No luck today…
This is such a cool idea. I got nominated for a Liebster blog award by Esther from ipatchandquilt a short while ago. Had no idea what this was. So I googled. Here are the rules that I’ve found at In a Room of My Own:
The Liebster Blog Award is an award for blogs with under 200 followers. Apparently Liebster is German for “beloved” and a blog nominated for this award is “worth watching”.
There are 5 rules attached to this award:
1. If you are nominated for the award and accept it, then you have won!
2. Link back to the person who presented the award to you. Answer their questions.
3. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers who you feel deserve the award. Ask them questions.
4. Let the nominees know by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Attach the Liebster award badge to your site.
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I’ve found other blogs with slightly different rules, but I think the spirit of the award remains the same. I’m happy for my nomination, and want to include others! So here goes:
Answering Esthers Questions:
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My Nominations
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My Questions to the nominees
- What or Who inspires you lately?
- What’s your favourite song/movie/tv show?
- When the going gets tough, what do you do to keep going?
- Share a favourite quote or saying (it could be yours)
- Share a favourite picture
I’m lately inspired by colour palettes – paint swatches at the Home Depot, flower bouquets in the supermarket, magazine spreads – especially design and home decor. Somehow, I find myself dissecting what I’m seeing into colour swatches and trying to understand what makes each hue work together.
My favourite song (Crazy – Patsy Cline), movie (Up), TV Show (The Big Bang Theory). My favourite quote – “change is good – you go first”. My favourite picture… well any shot of a Caribbean beach is my favourite – the one I’m sharing is of Pigeon Point, Tobago 
How many times will I change my mind? I completed 3 of the 4 two inch “floorboard” borders, and cut the orange and red Hawaiian print for the 4th. I laid it all out, and decided I did not love it. So I’ve decided to try something completely different. I have this gorgeous green, black and white African print which I’ve mixed with a green, yellow and black numbers print (the “matrix” print) to create a final border. Here’s a snapshot of the border strips laid out next to the quilt top. I plan to sew them on during the week… I believe it will work, although none of the green fabric is referenced in the quilt top. So it’s risky – but I’m gonna try anyway. If it does not work, I can always pull out my trusty seam ripper
Following the success of the sleeping hut pour deux, I was asked to create some lounging huts – or liming huts, if you’re Trini 
I created these from IKEA home dec weight fabric – the same fabric I used for the tango dance shoe bag. I used white twill for the inside and cut “windows” framed with grey store bought binding. it was a challenge to sew the binding on the windows, particularly where the circular top meets the straight “window sill”. The end result is two washable liming spots for the birds, and a very relieved bird owner. My sister got a rare shot of both Pickles and Bubbles liming together above – they are just too cute!
I’m psyched! I had a really productive day yesterday. After squaring up the centre panel, I added 2 sets of blue pieced borders, that extend the panel by a few inches and subtly frame the Phoenix centerpiece.
Then I took stock of my stash. I had dreams of a wide substantial border, but I don’t seem to have enough of any one fabric to make a statement. Then I thought, why not mix several reds to make a modern pieced border of 2 inch wide (finished) strips? I got the idea from floor boards, often set in random lengths, but even widths. I’ve finished 2 “rounds” already, and am eyeing a gorgeous orangey-red hawaiian print for my next 2 inch border. Mind the poor lighting, it was really late – hopefully I will get better light soon to show off the stunning reds in the “floorboard” pieced border.
I have some ripping planned first, as I found more of the purplish red circular batik (in the left corner of the photo) – much nicer than the smaller circular orange and red batik that’s in the bottom border of the quilt.
One of my struggles with this quilt is a constraint that I cannot buy any more fabric for this quilt. I’ve bought tonnes of fabric towards this quilt, and I’ve got to make it work with what I have. I had an Ohio star sewn in at the top right of the existing quilt top, and while it was gorgeous, it just did not work. So, I ripped it out and replaced it with more blue random patchwork. The picture below shows the quilt top with ripped out section, and a righteous mess on the living room floor as I pulled out tonnes of fabric to audition for borders.
my plan for today is to resist other projects, and focus on moving this quilt top along. It’s time to make this a reality. Wish me luck!
I am a sucker for precuts. in my stash cleanup a few weeks ago, I came across several packages of precuts…. too many packages! I put any precut batiks aside for an upcoming project, and I decided to take the 5″ squares and just sew the whole sets together to make simple scrap baby quilt tops. Good Plan, right? Quick Project, right? Stash Busting Is A Good Thing.
Halfway through I had an idea. A really good idea. So now I have sets of 4 and 6 squares sewn together. And I’m stuck, because to realize this idea, I need some solids. Sew Sisters, here I come!
