WIP Wednesday #22

It doesn't feel like I've been very busy this week. On the other hand, I've finished a lot of projects.

Maybe it's because I've found my writing inspiration again and have gone back to spending a lot of time writing, while just putting in the effort to finish off those last few lingering projects? Could be.

Finished!

Gothic Cushions
I have to get these babies into the mail for the recipient. It needs to reach the US before Halloween. Here's hoping!



Did I mention the hilarious and awesome tutorial on how to make Quilted Pillow Covers? Yes? Well, I'll mention it again!

I never realised cushion piping could be so easy to make! *rubs hands together in glee*

Modern Rail Fence
I haven't really got a better name for this. But I love how easy it was to put together, and how the design just works. It'd be an awesome pattern as an even smaller block than it is!





Postage Stamp Quilt: "The Penny Batik"
After nine months, it's finally done!






I'm thinking of selling the Modern Rail Fence, and the Penny Batik - but I've never sold quilts before and I have no idea how much is 'reasonable' - or whether people would actually buy them. I know other quilters sell their stuff, but their stuff is, well, fantastic! And, you know, not made by me. :)

So my finished quilt pile for 2011!


This is way more productive than I've ever been in my quilting history!

And now for the WIPs:

Kaleidoscope QAL: Santorini Sky And Sea
You've seen the top:



Now see the back!

The purple is very purple. I'm not sure I like it.

Now the question is whether or not to hand-quilt it. If not, it'll have I was planning to follow the circles and waves of the pattern...but I hadn't thought very had about it.

Procrastination, procrastination, procrastination!

Birthday Blocks
A nine-patch:


And a cottage block:


No Progress
- Have fabrics for Dead Simple QAL; haven't done anything with them yet.
- Mum's Impstar (although I received the correct materials in the mail - hurray!)
- Supernova binding.
- Harvest blocks. They're cut. They're marked. They just have to get sewn together...only I don't think I like the fabric anymore...

Planned
- am considering making a pattern/QAL for the Central Park Boxes pattern
- a Hunter's Star quilt with Moda's Kansas Winter fabric set (I have a layercake, jelly roll, and charm square pack.)
- a small throw for a craft swap. Or maybe cushions?

WIP Wednesday #21

I know that Lee isn't doing the WIP link-up this week, but I'm going to post this anyway and see what comes of it. Partly, because the WIP Wednesday comes of age on my blog!



Can you believe I've done 21 weeks of this? (I'm a bit shocked myself.)

To celebrate, there shall be Rainbows Around The World!


And resurrection from the dead:

(I call it 'frankenbatting'!)

For the purpose of hoisting the colours high!


DRINK UP, ME HEARTIES, YO HO!
(It was 'Talk Like A Pirate Day' on Monday 19th Sept.)

The cushion covers are to match the Gothic Summer Sampler quilt (see below), and I found this awesome tutorial on how to make quilted pillow covers - practical, good pictures, nice humour, very useful!

If you look reeeeeeallly closely, you might be able to see my free-motion quilting on the blocks. It's wobbly as heck and not exactly the most stylish, but it's not bad for a first try.

And then there's the Gothic Summer Sampler - the top of which was completed this week!


Now, I gotta work out how I'm going to quilt this baby!


I've finally started layout out my palette choices for this quilt, although I still think I'm going to go with the Bloggers Quilt Uber-Fest QAL in October.

And lo, there was much stash digging:
The uncovering of the stash:


Looks kinda pitiful when all laid out on the floor there. I'm sure it is pretty pitiful when compared to other people's stashes...

So far Petaled Purples is winning my vote:




Although Autumn Leaf might give it a run for its money:




The colours don't look right because of my phone camera, which is adjusting bluewards. But they match pretty well in RL, I think.

No progress
- Mum's Impstar
- Kaleidoscope QAL
- Modern Rail Fence Binding
- Postage Stamp Binding
- Supernova Binding

Dead Simple QAL - palette choices

Time for colour choices!

The colours in the photos don't exactly match the colours of the cards...I think my camera phone colour-adjusts into the blue range, which means the shades don't match exactly. Plus, it's tricky to compare a backlit graphic on a computer or phone screen with a fabric.

















I know the Dead Simple QAL is supposed to be, well, dead simple, but I'm thinking of doing it in concert with the Bloggers Quilt Uber-Fest QAL that's taking place in the 1st half of October. Because, really, I already did my 'Dead Simple' quilt - The Colour Of Magic. Sure, I could do it again, but I'm still new enough to quilting that I'd like to try different blocks - have a range of styles and materials.

Crooked Summer Sampler!

It's done!

Looking back through my blog, I'm rather surprised how fast it was made - just over a month to put together all the blocks, and if I'd just kept piecing from go to whoa, it probably would have been a week.

The blocks are amazing - it was excellent practise for my piecing skills and taught me new stuff at the same time. (Although I taught myself Y-seams. Note to self: avoid assiduously in future.)

It's a good project to undertake when one doesn't have much time - you can cut and make a block in a couple of hours (if you're like me) and then put it aside for whenever you have time for the next one.



I think the sashing gives each block the space to be itself. And, of course, the colour choice makes the reds and creams pop!

I'm definitely going to try this again sometime.

Thank you Lee, Faith, and Kate for this very enjoyable project!

WIP Wednesday #20

So it's been a pretty exciting week. Not as busy as last week, but still pretty hectic.

I had friends over on Saturday and so had to clean up my quilting stuff (my sewing room is actually the lounge/dining space of our house). That put a dent in the time that I could be sewing, of course, although now the area looks wonderfully neat!

I got another block for my 'birthday quilt' in the LJ Birthday Block Swap, and received a package of fabric I'd ordered a fortnight ago.

And on Tuesday came the news that I'd won some quilting magazines in a giveaway at Quilt Inspiration!

FINISHED!
Shaz and A's quilt: Sunshine and Lollipops!





Now I just need to sew the label on, and then get it into the post... It's only two years late! :)


Gothic Summer Sampler



I did a hard push to get the blocks finished over the last week - I had 9 blocks and needed 16 for a four-by-four configuration. Cripes. That means I made 7 blocks in 7 days!

Evening Star:


Rocky Road To Kansas:


Denise's Star:


Breaking Out:


Pennsylvania:


Grandmother's Puzzle:


And Bear Claws:


And all together now, sewn with the vertical sashing:


I'm trying to decide on the colours for the posts. Then I'll just throw together a back and quilt and bind it very simply. In black, natch. :)


No Progress

Mum's ImpStar quilt
I received the next bundle of fabric for my mother's Imperial Stars quilt.

Unfortunately, it was the wrong fabric! Imperial Collection 7 instead of Imperial Collection 6! The seller had the wrong picture up on her etsy shop, and I looked at the picture rather than the description!

So I got this:


Instead of this:



D'oh!

So now I'm stuck. I can't find Robert Kaufman's Imperial Collection 6 in any shops anymore, and most sellers only sell one or two fabrics out of the collection.

Do you have any of RK's Imperial Collection 6? I can't remember the colourstory, but it was blue and gold-cream and green. Would you be willing to swap fabrics? Or do you know of someone selling it and can direct me to them?

This quilt is a gift for my Mum and I was hoping to have it done this month. It can wait, but it's already waited longer than I like and I don't know where I'm going to find this fabric now that the major sellers have all sold out of it.


Binding to do

- postage stamp (from ps. i quilt's QAL in January this year)
- supernova (from freshly pieced QAL in April this year)
- modern rail fence


Planned Works

The Dead Simple QAL
I'm thinking of doing this with the Quilt Uber-Fest being planned for October, but I really have to pull my finger out and hunt up a design seed and the fabrics to match it!