More of autumn

I've finished all the Orange Crush blocks. I still have lots of fabric left so I'm hoping that Bonnie has a setting planned to use that up and pull it all together to make it look stunning.

I've also been working on my next journal quilt. Also the stitchery BOM from Capricorn Quilts - I'm a few months behind on this one so it's time to get back into it.

The autumn photos are for Sandy as inspiration for her leaves quilt. The trees are really starting to be past their best now - a bit much wind and last night it rained hard so they all lost more leaves. I love autumn.

Doing the Orange Crush - Part 2

The whole blocks are finished and now it is on to the half blocks. I have laid these out in the setting that would seem "obvious" and they look ghastly. I'm hoping Clue 6 will contain a miracle that completely changes the way it looks - LOL. I still love my feature fabrics, but they all just seem to blur into one when I alternate the blocks. That the "joy" of mystery quilts I suppose :o)

Doing the Orange Crush

Today I'm working on Clue 5 of the Orange Crush mystery. I'm excited because I get to use my orange and blue,which is actually 5 different blues because I fell in love with them all and couldn't narrow it down to just one.


Don't they look awful on the ironing board cover?

Autumn at last

Here's the autumn colour I promised Sandy






These have been a while coming due mostly to a bout of shingles which slowed me down. I took these photos on a walk through the Victoria Esplanade. The sun kept moving into cloud so the light wasn't good for all of them, but I think the colours show quite well.

Cos I'm on catch up with pics here is my May journal. The technique for the month was *recycling*. I have been making lots of tote bags lately to use instead of plastic bags so it was easy to choose a theme. I made the letters for "Ban the Bag" by fusing several layers of plastic bag together. They come out with a nice wrinkled texture and so I hand stitched them down. The "Take a Tote" letters are made from junk mail, layered onto computer paper and painted with ModPodge. The binding is another plastic bag which I sewed on and then shredded to give the frilly look. It was a lot of fun putting this one together.


It's Queen's Birthday Weekend here so I'm planning to get lots done and having lots of pictures to post to make up for being silent so long :o)

Recycling

My friend Helen came up with an idea a couple of weeks ago that the two of us should make bags from recycled fabric. We set aside a Saturday and spent the morning exploring the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Hospice stores. Helen fell in love with denim and chambray shirts for her bags, and I found tablecloths and scarves for mine.

This first bag is made from a small souvenir tablecloth and lined with homespun. The front:

The back:


The lining:

This bag is made from leftover fabric from an earlier bag project and lined with a 50 cent silk scarf.



It's challenging working with these fabrics because you have to make the pattern fit the fabric. Both bags turned out smaller than I planned and the designs changed along the way.

My April Journal Quilt was from another silk scarf bought on the same shopping trip. I wasn't happy with the first try so recycled it into this. It now has lots more texture (one of the themes for the month). I think some beads down the panel on the left would be good.


This weekend I also finished the Split 4 Patches for Bonnie's Orange Crush mystery. I cut far too many big triangles so now I've got lots ready for another project. Roll on clue 3.

Weekend catch up

Sandy at Comforter Quilts is working on an autumn quilt called Third Week in October and she is looking for autumn inspiration. It's still quite green here but this vine on the drive way is starting to colour nicely.


The border are on the Bargello Quilt and I love how it turned out. I think I'm going to call it "Bonnie's Bargello Quiltville Cat Quilt" because when making this quilt from Bonnie's Quiltville site I finally cut up some "precious" cat quilt which I had bought in bulk and never found the perfect pattern for.

This next pic is my first attempt at an April Journal Quilt. The techniques for the month are "painting on visofix" and "texture". This is a hand-dyed silk scarf that I bought at the op shop for 50 cents. The two pink flowers on the left are painted on visofix, ironed on and quite roughly stitched with gold thread. I have quilted to the background of the top (blue) section but the bottom (green) section is unquilted to give different textures.


I'm not all that fussed with the effect of the paint on visofix. I've seen other people do it and get great texture but this is quite smooth. I think I will have another try at this one.

I have a busy week planned at work this week with lots of visits to promote the community awards we run. I'm looking forward to being out of the office. Hopefully tomorrow the ruler I ordered for the Orange Crush mystery will arrive and I will be able to make a start on step 2.

Have a good week everyone.

Catching Up

Now that I have a lovely new camera I can catch up with sharing pics of some of my projects.


This is my March Journal quilt. The technique for the month was *abstract from photo* and the theme was *reflections and memories*. Our clocktower won an achitectural award in March so I chose to try and abstract a photo taken last year when the new lights were officially turned on for the first time after a major refurbishment (to earthquake proof the tower). The clocktower is actually white and very solid looking but I chose to just use the colours of the lights. The shiny patches are angelina which is a bit more subtle in real life and is meant to be rain in the sky and puddles on the ground.


This one is my first village quilt after hearing Karen Eckmeier (check out her website here) speak in February. Another village is in progress and nearly finished, and I'm even more pleased with it because I changed some of the techniques.

Thanks for looking!