Classic Meets Modern QAL

I've made my first block for this quilt along hosted by Sew At Home Mummy Erin. You can read about the QAL here. 


It's fun to use these fabrics.  I had chosen a pile of 16 fabrics for a Symposium class last year in accordance with the needs list  but found in the class that we only used four fabrics.  So I had this big colourful selection that I was itching to use. 

My block turned out a bit big at 12 & 3/4 inches.  I might have trim down those centre strips but I'll see how the other blocks turn out first. 

Options

This is like one of those picture puzzles where you have to spot the 10 differences.  I'm trying to work out the best layout for my floral fabrics in my Shimmering Triangles quilt (started at Symposium with the fabulous Jenny Bowker).  What do you think?

 

I've been thinking about what I'm going to work on for the year ahead.  I want to use some fabrics that are in the cupboard.  I like the look of Auriful's Designer of the Month quilt, and  Sew at Home Mummy's "Classic Meets Modern QAL".  It's a while since I've worked on a block of the month type quilt and I miss them.  They're fun to have on the back burner and watch unfold during the year, and they are really handy to have up your sleeve to  use for gifts.  I have a another couple of ideas too that I'm mulling over but haven't settled on.   I bought plenty of solid white fabric today so that I can make a start.

Catch up on my pre Christmas sewing

In between finishing my course and heading off for holiday I got some sewing done for the first time in a while.  It was good to have some fabric in my hands.  First up this board bag for a friend (though I was quite tempted to keep it for myself because I loved the way the fabrics came together, but I do have a board bag and my friend doesn't).

 

Then these stockings just because it was Christmas...

 

And lastly this one for a stocking exchange amongst my quilt group.

 

What will we get up to in 2014?

Tomorrow, New Year's Day, I'm going to work on my Shimmering Triangles Quilt.  I have some lovely new fabrics from Stitch to add in so it is about to grow. 

This will be a colourful way to start the year.

What have I been up to?

What have I been up to since I last blogged? 

Well I adopted a new cat... Tillie.

I went to the Quilt and Craft Fair held right here in Palmerston North for the first time and saw the 12 x 12 challenge ColourPlay quilts (which amazed me with their quality) and some fabulous merchant stalls:
 

I braved the cold on the Desert Road and went to Quilt Symposium in Taupo...

 ... where I saw Carole's beautiful quilt in the Tutor's exhibition

... and I went to a class in making Structured Fabrics with Dena Crain - I think the class was more structured than my fabric turned out to be but that's okay.  Here is a layout being auditioned.

I had loads of fun in a class with Jenny Bowker working on Shimmering Triangles with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Jenny is an incredible tutor who shares lots of inspiration, funny stories, knowledge and above all she rolls with the flow of where each different student is at.

This is one of Jenny's quilts that she brought along for inspiration.

 

The burst of sewing at Symposium left me realising that I have withdrawal symptoms.  I'm on my last paper now for my course and am really looking forward to getting the machine out when I finish at the end of November.

 

Who am I?

I've been away from my blog for such a long time that anyone reading might well be wondering who this person suddenly posting is.   Thanks for sticking with me.  The lure of study has been strong and I've had my head in the books for much of the last 18 months.  And it will continue for the next 6 months too, but my goal is to be finished by July, in time for Quilt Symposium in Taupo.  I have my fingers crossed that I'll get into a Gwen Marston class, and am very excited about the idea of that.

I have done some quilting over summer.   This is a quilt for friend who is having her third child soon.   The greens with a bit of blue are my attempt at neutral.  I bought the fabrics in Taupo during my Christmas holiday and they just glow against the white.  Big shout out to the Janome shop in Wanganui where I found the beautiful white - they have a great selection of fabrics and had three plain whites for me to choose from.

Adapted from a Moda Bakeshop pattern, ready to bind

The back is actually light blue, with left over squares - love the effect of the sunlight making the pinwheels come through.

And these are the colours of my next project, for a colleague who is having a baby girl. 

Keep dropping by, to see if I'm here, I can't be a boring swot forever.

It's been a while

A lovely bloggy friend emailed me to ask if I was alright because it has been so long since I last blogged. I was shocked when I realised how long it has been.

I am fine, just busy with study, which takes up lots of my out of work time.  My quilting time has been cut back severely, and in line with that, so has time for things like blogging.

The picture is a project I've taken out and looked out a couple of times recently.  It's a row quilt from a swap a few years back... probably 2006.  It has some lovely Oriental prints, and I love the deep colours.  It needs some more rows and probably some sashing to pull it together.  One of the rows, the second from the bottom is longer the others so I will have to tweak that.