WIP Wednesday #15

This has been a singularly unproductive week.

I only have three active projects right now:

1. Kaleidoscope QAL back



I haven't done all that much with this in the last week since my focus has been on a couple of writing assignments due this week and next. Mostly, the work was putting together the purple section, and then deciding on the fabric for the other end. I'll hopefully have some time to cut and sew all the sections together this weekend.


2. My own bedquilt!

This project has been sitting around for a very very long time. I finished it around 2008, got it quilted, and somehow never got around to binding it!

I figured, seeing as I'm doing all this binding for other quilt projects, I should finish my own, too!



This pic was taken at the August meeting for the Sydney Southern Cross Quilters' Guild - the first Saturday of every month they meet at a pub down the road, chat, eat, and work on their crafting projects!

The quilt pattern is from Stack A New Deck by Karla Alexander, and is one that I love using for Batiks - it looks so scrappy-quilt, but it's really not!

I'll post some finished pics...once it's actually finished!


3. Crooked Summer Sampler

So I'm part of a 'Crooked Crafting' swap, where people endeavour to make oddball and unusual crafty things. Many of the women in the swap are into 'alternative' genres - goth, the occult, and horror...and some of us just like being a little bit different!

I decided I'd go the Summer Sampler QAL...in blacks and reds (with a dash of bone and maybe some grey):



This is the current thought on the colour scheme:



The Kona Solids on the left will be the 'background' colour of the block, while the scarlet, black, and bone batiks on the right will be the other parts of the blocks.

That's the theory, anyway! We'll see how it turns out in execution.

As an alternative, I'm wondering if I shouldn't order some Kona Black and make that the 'background' of the blocks and then use the batiks and solids as the other parts? One can always do with more Kona Black...

Gothic Summer Sampler: Alternative Quilting

So...I joined a 'Crooked Craft Swap' on one of my forums - a forum that has a large number of people who are into alternative lifestyles.

The idea being that sunshine, flowers, and cute kittens are fine, but wouldn't it be cool to make something that was a little...left of centre?

Like a scene of zombie bunny carnage instead of a sweet little bunny pillow. Or (in my case) a quilt in the colours of black, white, and red.

For this, I figured I'd use the Summer Sampler Series at Freshly Pieced, Swim, Bike, Quilt, and Fresh Lemon Quilts.



I'll start just as soon as I have the back for the Kaleidoscope sewn together. I haven't had a chance to do anything on it yet - the weekend was madcrazybizay.

WIP Wednesday #14

I figured I should start numbering these. :)



Not a lot of progress this week - mostly finishing the borders on the Kaleidoscope quilt for Don't Call Me Betsy's QAL:



Colour is slightly yellowish because I took it on my smartphone camera.

Since I'm trying to piece together the back, I'm almost certainly not going to get it done by the due date. Just don't have the time right now.

Some shots setting up the back:

A block:


Most of the back fabrics laid out:


The purple will go all the way to the edge, but I'm trying different fabrics for the middle section to see how they work out.

Then it's just basting, quilting, and binding and then it's done!! (Okay, so maybe I'm never gonna do this again - it's just too much effort!)

I'm going to present Kate and Chris' quilt tonight at bible study: hope they like it!

WIP Whatever!

Did I mention I liked the colours in this? Because I really really do!

Planning the kaleidoscope QAL borders:


And the actual borders:


I couldn't match the cream in the kaleidoscope blocks perfectly, but it's fairly close.

The batting is purchased, the back is planned. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to complete it before the 4th. I'd have to sew every day from now until the 4th and I have some deadlines that need seeing to. No cigar.

A pity; I was looking forward to actually completing a quilt from go to whoa without handing it off at any point. It's been a while.

finished
- Chris and Kate's wedding quilt: Forest Chain

other UFOs
- Octarine Batiks
- Batik String cushion covers
- Shaz and Drew's wedding quilt: Sunshine and Lollipops (to be bound)

To Do
- Mum's quilt
- Scrappy Mountain Harvest (those fabrics have been sitting there for forever!

I have a Fabric Friday post for tomorrow - boy, do I ever!

And uh-oh... I just went and looked and the Fat Quarter shop is having an 8-day sale...

Another Finished Quilt!

Two finished quilts in July! Two!

*whoops*

This is a very conservative Double Irish Chain for my bible study leaders who got married back in December 2009. They've been my study leaders in 2010 and 2011 as well, so it's a good gift to give them.



In the original plan, the 'double chain' was going to be the white/brown/gold fabric. Except that I miscalc'd when putting it all together, and it ended up as the 'single chain' fabric, which blends the dark green with the green-and-gold-flower-print. It still looks fine, but I keep thinking that it's not quite what I envisioned when I bought the fabric...

I've had the quilted quilt for at least four months now, and have been putting off binding it (like with the last quilt I finished - the Batik boxes). But with the encouragement of a RL quilting friend, and the cheery helpfulness of a local coffeehouse, I've been sitting down and finishing these babies.

It feels goooood.

And now I can wrap it and take it along to bible study tomorrow night! :)

I have a fabric post, but I might let that wait for Fabric Friday.

I'm going to submit this for the Gen X Quilter's Summer Fair Quilt And Recipe Show:

WIP Wednesday

started
1. The binding on Kate and Chris' quilt.

That's a very old pic of the raw quilt top. It's since been quilted. It's coming along a lot faster than one for Owen and Megs I finished earlier this week. I think it's because this backing is pure cotton. I think that the backing for Owen and Megs' quilt was polycotton. Will have to warn them about that.

2. String Block cushion cover:



Made from scraps leftover from trimming the "Cathedral Windows Quilt" I made for Rachel L in 2007, and the corresponding quilt I made for myself in 2008.

3. Batik 'coins' cushion cover:



Also made from the scraps of those two quilts. The black works really well as a background - but I think the fabric could be a problem since I think it's a polycotton blend. Oops?

4. Don't Call Me Betsy Kaleidoscope Quilt - Colour Attempt #2



The change in colour scheme has totally enthused me about this quilt. Given how cold, rainy, and grey Sydney is right now, it's very much needed!

A pic of the layout:


The current state of play:


It's a bit of a mess, but hey - WIP, right?

A focus on the blocks that are actually sewn together.


Look at those points! I don't think I've ever had anything match up so perfectly before!


I still have all the pieces I cut for the original colour scheme - I think I might mix it all up and see how it works. Perhaps with some golds and patterns to move things along?

What I Did On My Weekend

Saturday:

Went to North Sydney Produce Markets:


I mostly buy meats from the Produce Markets - specialised meats that are hard to find elsewhere, since the local butcher doesn't always carry them.

Sorted my quilting scraps and found a bunch of batik strips left over from when I trimmed my Cathedral Windows several years ago! (I need to make another Cathedral Windows quilt, really.)

Made my first string quilt blocks with the batik strings.


Turned them into a pillow cover:


Realised the pillow cover was too small for the pillow, and used more batik strips and black fabric to make a bigger pillow cover:


Sunday

1. Went to Kazbah for their breakfast tagine. Tagine was delicious, but restaurant service was very bad.
2. Bought three winter knits for under $100.
3. Bought supplemental fabrics for quilt along, and batting for the back of my Disappearing Harvest Quilt.
4. Put together a colour scheme for the Kaleidoscope QAL Take 2:


5. Played hockey. Drew 1-1 when we probably should have won. Discovered that I play better when I'm challenged.
6. Went to church and got an unusual sermon on a non-literal interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14 - the gift of prophecy, and the gift of tongues.
7. Helped out with church dinner.
8. Cooked delicious baked ginger-and-soy marinated chicken on a bed of brussel sprouts lightly cooked in butter, garlic, and white wine. (Highly recommended meal.)

finished quilt! and Blogger ugh

I just spent the last 90 minutes jiggling Blogger to display my new header properly - by which I mean, not off the page, approximately centered, and with the blog body and the widgets column correctly aligned under it.

What a bloody circus! And I'm a computer programmer by trade, too!

Anyway, I now have a header that actually displays a few of my finished quilts - since it is a quilting blog!

Which brings me to my next finished quilt!



It's 18 months late, but at least it's done. Poor Megs, probably wonder if she was ever going to get that quilt!

Just in time for the worst of winter, perhaps?

--

I've picked new colours for the Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along:



The colour values aren't so dark this time, so I'm hoping it'll fit the pale fabric better.

kaleidoscope argh

So I laid out a few blocks this evening to get a feel for the colours of the quilt.



I don't like the colours. Maybe because the pencils I used to colour in the plan were more saturated and so, brighter. I thought it would be okay.

It's not.

This quilt is speaking to me, but all it's saying right now is MEH.

*wonders where to now*

Working Wednesday

Alliteration is such an amusing thing for my small mind!

First, the scarf for Tina:


Made from the Tea Rose Home Five Fat Quarters Scarf. I changed the pattern a bit because I couldn't find a fifth fabric that matched the others.

It's a bit modern for my tastes, but hopefully Tina likes it. If not, I can always make her another, more classically coloured one.

Also, a churn dash block for the 2011 Birthday Block swap on LJ and Flickr:


Very late June birthday. And July is a rather complicated one with flying geese and HSTs all over the shop! That's definitely gonna be a challenge.

I also sewed about 20 corners to kaleidoscope isos. More later, perhaps.

WIP Wednesday

Right, so finally a WIP Wednesday again!



It's a long edition this time. I've had WIPs for the last couple of weeks, just no time to get the pictures taken and up.

I signed up for Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QA and then got no further than picking out the fabrics.

Cutting? Hah! Piecing? Double hah! Finishing blocks? Nuh-uh!

Until today.



I'm way behind - still only at the cutting stage. Hopefully I'll have the corners on by Friday, though.

The Plan and The Pieces!


The pattern paper is thanks to my friend Jenn who sketched me out a kaleidoscope pattern for designing after watching me sketch quilting designs on a paper tablecloth in the restaurant we were having lunch in during our fabric shop crawl the other week - thanks, Jenn!

Jenn is my quilting partner-in-crime; we sat in a cafe today for two hours and did quilt-y things - she was quilting, I was binding. It's nice to have a friend in the locality who you can hang with while quilting!

And another pic, sans Plan:


Still Piecing

The Octarine batik quilt:


Still in pieces, although not laid out right now. Must get to sewing the squares together, then putting it together with a border.

I wonder if I could get away with hand-quilting 'WIZZARD' all over this one... *geeky giggle*

Also still being pieced: the back of the Sanctuary Kaleidoscope.

Yet To Be Quilted
Disappearing Harvest Charms:


I'm going to baste and quilt this one by hand myself I think, with a really simple design. After I swore I'd never hand-quilt again, too! We'll see how it goes...

To Finish Binding
Meg and Owen's wedding quilt - Bold Batik Boxes - 85% done!
Shaz and Andrew's wedding quilt - Sunshine And Lollipops
Kate and Chris' wedding quilt - Irish Chain

Being Quilted (at Thirroul Custom Quilting)
- The Penny Batik (postage stamp)
- Rail Fence
- Supernova

In The Planning Stages
Tina's scarf
Mum's quilt (RK Imperial collection)
Harvest Mountain Magic quilt (probably for Sue)

my cousin, cancer, and patchwork ideas

My cousin Tina was diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago and is presently undergoing chemo, which is having the expected result on her hair.

Tina and I are the same age - in fact, she's only two weeks older than me, and we were in the same high school for Year 11 and 12 - junior and senior years to the Americans, fifth and sixth form for the Brits. We drifted apart in our twenties, she got married to a lovely guy, moved to London, moved back to Sydney, had a kid...

We lost touch: she's a big social butterfly and I'm...me. :)

Her cancer has hit her hard, especially given her son is barely a year old. However, with the grace of God and the support of her family and friends, she's getting through it.

The reason I'm posting this here is because she's asked for ideas for covering her bald head after chemo and I suddenly realised I could make her something.

Tina's always been fashionable. My memories of Tina are always of her being impeccably dressed, the picture of a gracious hostess and elegant woman. I can put on the elegance when I want/need to - with Tina, it was natural as breathing.

So I'm looking at patterns (free, right now) to make hats or scarves from my fabric collections.

- Sunhat with a bias tape brim
- Bucket hat.
- a nice scalloped-brim hat
- a scarf from Amy Butler's Free Patterns
- Boho chic patchwork scarf pattern
- a lovely fat-quarters scarf from Tea Rose Home

I might start with a scarf and then work my way around to the hats.

Do you have any other suggestions?

charm pack confusion

Back when I first started getting into precuts (about 3 years ago), I bought up a bunch of charm square packs - just colours and styles that appealed to me, with no real idea of what I was going to use them for.

Over the years, I continued to have very little idea of what I should create with them...

One set I turned into HSTs for a darks/lights quilt, which has never been finished. I buried my cat in it earlier this year, sort of as a reminder of all those quilts she parked herself upon through the years.

Then I sorted several 'classic' charm packs into a shade-oriented layout...and then never worked out how to put it together. The original plan was for hexagons in rows, offset by triangles in contrasting solids.



However, I believe the hexagon blocks I had in mind require fairly careful and precise quilting, so not an option.

Right now, I'm tending towards making a Li'l Twister out of it.

That left at least two charm packs that still haven't been used.

And yesterday, I decided I'd just turn them into a disappearing nine-patch lap quilt.

Cue: dropping everything and sewing!





It'll be a cot quilt - not more than 40" square, if that. I might consider hand-quilting it for a change. Or else practise my machine-quilting skills on it (such as they are).

I'm still deciding what to do with the remaining three blocks. Perhaps put them on the back of the quilt? Or else add them to my 'orphan blocks' and finally end up putting them all together in a 'random block quilt'?

Fabric Friday!

I've been busy writing for the last week (to a deadline) - 10,000 words in the last three days, so it's time for a break!

Time for Fabric Friday!

Recent acquisitions include:

Yardage from Robert Kaufman's 'Valley Of The Kings' series, in the Jewel colourstory.


It's going into a single quilt, I think. I still have to work out the design.

My purchases from the Sydney Quilt And Craft Show last week:


Including a Sunkissed layer cake which I think I'll turn into a nice large quilt top for Spring (when it comes), and some colour-heavy fat quarters. Such lovely colours!

Yardage from Sew Fresh Fabrics:


Just a lot of stuff I liked, including Zesty Zinnias, Flowers from Just Wing It, Spring Street, Mariposa in Swirl, and Dogwood Blossoms...

I started sorting through my batiks this week, trying to work out what and how to use them. And deciding whether I need to buy more of any colour. *coughs*

Most came in FQ bundles which I've finally undone and started sorting by colour:


But I left one group together because I like the colour scheme:


It needs some strong yellows, but I'm thinking this one's going into a quilt that I'll call Hawaii Five-O, after the TV show which is presently making my days happy!

And then I bought a lot of stuff from Fabricworm while they were having a sale (damn you, sales!):

Bundle 1:


Bundle 2:


Bundle 3:


Lots of Silent Cinema in this one. I have plans for it later this year.

Anyway, that's quite a lot of purchasing. Now to see if I can use it!

Disappearing Impe... uh-oh...

My plan for the Disappearing Imperials just went out the window...

Did I say this was going to be easy?

I laid out the fabrics, took another look at the fabrics and went, "Disappearing Nine-Patch will never do for this!" So I went looking for quilt inspiration...and found it in the Yukata By Numbers quilt pattern by Diane Weber. (Big Pic of the Quilt)

It's the panel in the Imperial Collction that's the problem - I want to cut it into smaller chunks, but not put it in a 'window style' frame - not so explicitly.

The Yukata By Numbers pattern would allow me to mix and mingle the various fabrics with each other in blocks and patterns, while still retaining the panel display.
But I really really need a simple quilt right now. So, I guess we're going to skip Mum's Imperial quilt and head for the Hourglass Batiks then. How complicated can that get?

kaleidscope - DONE and DONE!

Ever had a project you just wanted to get finished and out of your hair?

This is that project for me. At least for this year! (So far, anyway!)

TA-DA!!


It's almost certainly the most finicky quilt I've ever made, and I'm still not sure that the fabrics are right for the quilt type itself, but what's done is done and I'm not going to unpick it all!

Out in the sun in the garden:


And another, closer up.


I might do some patching for the back, but the goal right now is more to get it actually quilted - along with the other four quilt tops I've made this year.

Next up is the quilt I'm going to call "Disappearing Imperials" which is a gift for my mum. Because if I don't get it done soon, she may disown me...