A Finished Quilt

 

I've finally finished my "Make it up as I go" quilt. My first and probably only quilt finish of the year.

Started back here in 2023, it's been a slow process.

Very much inspired by the fabulous seedling quilt from Tales of Cloth, I made a Mandolin block as my first block, then pieced or stitched other blocks I liked, but didn't necessarily want to make a whole quilt of.  In hindsight, I should have made the quilt in a log cabin sequence, it would have made fitting pieces a lot easier.

Always using my loved low volume and bright combination this quilt is approximately 70" square.

The backing is a fabulous rainbow Ombre from Northcott fabrics. 

The magical e2e quilting by Quiltmekiwi is Gingersnap design 

Binding is in Yarrow by Kona fabrics, I wasn't sure on the gold colour, but I think it frames it all nicely, and has a light brightening effect.

The final seal of approval has been given by Meeka.

Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE

Welcome to  Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share.

Linda and I are loving seeing what you are all creating or working on.  There are some amazing WIPs and finishes.  We have had a couple of comments from people saying they prefer link ups with more detail, IE: photos, link titles, blog names.  We have to admit, we like these link ups too, however it costs to add that option to a linky, (not a lot) but it's a cost that Linda and I would incur, so that is why we aren't using it at this point. We hope that won't stop you from joining us each fortnight and popping over to see some of the other bloggers who have joined us also.

There hasn't been a lot of sewing from me lately, still working on the hand quilting on my Liberty Bloomsbury but there are only so many photos of purple stitches on fabric I can show.   I have however started working on another border for my medallion quilt and have made some little paper pieced tulips blocks for it.  The colours  are more in keeping with the theme of the quilt this time.

So what have you been working on over the past few days.  Whatever you're sewing or stitching, link it up here, following these guidelines:

1. Link up from any post from the past week that features something you have been sewing or stitching,
2. Somewhere in your post, please link to this post.
3. Please comment on a couple of the other Sew,Stitch, Snap, Share links - it's fun to receive comments from new people, and we are trying to encourage people to read blogs and keep blogging too.

Weekending

I've been a little miserable with a cold all weekend, I have managed to do a little sewing, and work on my Bird Dance project, as well as lots of  reading, and spending time on the computer.

• Some gorgeous little 3" blocks for my medallion quilt - though I am not sure if I will use the flower blocks in it, at this point I am thinking the pale silvery background is now to light and bright.

• Border one is completed on my Midnight in the Tulip Garden Medallion

• starting my 15th bird - halfway there now.

• Lots of lovely applique and embroidery inspiration here, (I am so lucky Auckland Libraries has such a fabulous craft section) I am wondering whether the botanical applique patterns would transfer easily enough to be done in felt rather that silks,

I'm currently reading  Summary Justice by John Fairfax, a British legal thriller that I am enjoying immensely, and for a change of pace Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier set in 1800's America in the Cherokee nation.

This article caught my eye and made me think -  and yes I am probably one of the mediocre

Also planning  something new, and hopefully exciting with Linda from Kokaquilts, the big reveal will be April 1.

Have a fabulous week!!

Weekending

It rained. I sewed,

• Keeping up to date with my City Sampler blocks #100days100blocks - have I mentioned that I don't particularly like making HST, unfortunately this section is full of them.  Sigh ....
• Finally made that seashell block  for Miss B's Seaglass sampler quilt - it has only been a month since I wrote about making it.
• Made all 16 blocks for my pattern testing project - now I need to piece them together.

and read and ate chocolate.  Overall a good weekend.

PS: The Scout, Miss B and Mr J were on a  3 day Scout hike, so I wasn't  ignoring them.

Testing Times

Mosaic of identical blocks rotated.

Recently one of my blog friends - Allison at Campbell Soup Diary, made a beautiful quilt to a pattern of her own design.  It is paper pieced, and I absolutely love it , so was very flattered when she asked if I would be a pattern tester.  Of course I said yes.

Inspired by this quilt, I bought some new fabrics and raided my stash for others, with a rough idea of what I wanted to do.  Allison has very thoughtfully included colouring blocks to nut out fabric/colour placement, so I spent a little bit of time making some different variations of my scheme.

I made the first quadrant of a block, photographed and cropped it, then made a mosaic of what a four completed blocks would look like.  Initially I didn't like it, especially since it is so different from Allison's quilt.  However I persevered and finished the remaining three quadrants with some of the other planned fabrics, so I would have a completed scrappy block.  My block ended up a little smaller than the 12" finished size it was supposed to (and I suspect this is because it may have been printed incorrectly by The Scout).  I do quite like the look, however I am a little perplexed as to what colour I would applique in the centre of all those gold tones.

I will print off some more templates from home, (lets see if these are the right size) and keep playing around, maybe I'll do one with more low volumes as Allison has done so the jewel tones POP more.

Luckily this is such an easy and enjoyable block, and I have a couple more weeks to work on this.

Here & Now

Loving //the vibrant green and yellow  of my lemon tree

Eating //The confetti cookies I made last weekend.

Drinking //Glasses of warm water,  I'm trying to cut back on tea

Feeling //Inspired by these fabulous books

Making //A butterfly block for my sea glass sampler quilt

Thinking //About picking some rhubarb to make a Rhubarb Crostata from this book in the pile above

Dreaming //Of what I can do in my garden, now a tree has been taken out.

Linking up with Here & Now at Say Little Hen.

Weekending

• Listening to London Grammar and Leon Bridges while sewing.  Tiny Happy has a great list of music recommendation on this post and I have been having fun listening to, new to me music.

• Sewing - another little butterfly - these are going to be used in a pouch for an upcoming birthday

• Reading:  Life After Life  by Kate Atkinson, is what I have been  trying to read this week, I must confess that I am finding it a little confusing with all the  turn backs in time, and am not sure if I am really enjoying it. The Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas turned up for me at the library on Friday, and yes, I started it, ( I am sure other people have two books on the go at the same time)

• Basting  and quilting -  the backing for my Scrappy Sampler Quilt has been made, so Saturday saw me crawling round on the floor, spray and pin basting.  Now on to the quilting, I have made a start on this, doing my usual, somewhat organic straight lines.

• Cooking -  beetroot and lemon chutney, I have to start using up the beetroot now from the vegetable garden.  Guess that means Chocolate Beetroot cake and brownies over the next couple of weeks too.

• A little visitor, discovered quite accidentally in my Star Jasmine. This is a green and gold bell frog, a species introduced to New Zealand.

I am making the most of my last day of the long weekend, and relaxing.  Summer holidays are officially over, life is back to  usual  this week - work for me, school for Miss B and Mr J.  It's going to be hard to get back into that morning rush routine.  Have a wonderful week.

Scenes from my Week

From the garden:

• I'm not the only one enjoying my zinnias - they are attracting lots of monarch butterflies too
• Scadoxus - Katherine Wheel/Fireball - four flower heads this year.

From the sewing room:

• a small project in progress, because I am procrastinating over making a quilt back - pattern from here
• after my holiday hand sewing session, I have one more cartwheel to finish, then this can be turned into a pillow.

From the kitchen:

• vegetables and herbs prepped for my first Cook the Books recipe challenge
• plums being stoned and chopped for a new summer dessert recipe too 

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Weekending

Well it's been a while since I did a weekending post, but here's what I got up to this weekend.

• relaxing on Friday night, after a somewhat manic week at work - a new magazine and a glass of chardonnay, the perfect way to start the weekend
• in the garden - lots of weeding, cutting back and planting new plants  Pleased to see my passionfruit vine has started flowering, lots more buds on it too, here's hoping I get a bumper crop after last years rather drastic pruning gave me a total of about 12 fruit.
• in the sewing room - finally I have made a start on the final Christmas placemat , so nice to be sewing again.  
• in the kitchen - this recipe for school (and work) lunchbox treats

Wishing you all a fabulous week ahead,

Weekending - A Finish

The SWAK envelope quilt has been finished - finally it is quilted, bound - completed!!

Last year a group of about 20 sewers joined a swap on Flickr.  Using the pattern from the book Patchwork, Please,  each month we had to paper piece 1 or 2 envelopes for the people allocated to that specific month, in the theme they requested.  My theme was for bohemian inspired ,bright jewel toned envelopes with a fussy cut floral.  I certainly think all the participants in this group met my criteria. When I had received them all, I put them in a box and put it away, unsure as to what I wanted to do with them. This year I decided that I had to at least get a quilt top made from them.  I did that and have since gone even further and made a small quilt.  Measuring just 48" square, it is backed in a linen like upholstery fabric, which is very soft, and has the added benefit of being very wide, quilted in the shape of the envelope flap and bound in with a fabric from Tula Pink's Moonshine collection. I am especially pleased that I managed to keep the row of envelopes on the back, aligned with the corresponding row on the front.

This special quilt will be kept and used in my sewing room as a memento of the fabulous people I have met through the online quilting world.

Thanks to all the SWAK swap girls.