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!

on the horns of a dilemma

Man, it's been a busy morning!



I went up to the mailbox and found a package waiting for me - hurray! The Imperial Collection #6 that I'd been waiting for so I could finish my mum's quilt!

Except it wasn't Imperial Collection #6. It was Imperial Collection #7. In a very different, non-matching colourstory.



RATS!

I went back and looked at the listing - the description of the item says Imperial Collection 7, but the picture is definitely Imperial Collection #6. I ordered on the basis of the picture, only glancing at the description. *sigh*

I spoke with the proprieter of the shop, who hadn't realised. But now I have a fabric collection I didn't really want (it's pretty and I can eventually use it, but it's not what I wanted to get), and still no fabric for mum's quilt.

I'm not sure anyone sells Imperial Collection 6 anymore - maybe people have it in their stashes or quietly on the side, but it's tricky finding anyone who sells it anymore. I thought I'd hit the jackpot in this small Etsy shop, but...obviously not so.

If the worst comes to the worst, I can use some of the Imperial Collection 7 fabrics in Mum's quilt - some of them will work, although others may not so much:

I won something!

I never win stuff! Except that now I can't say that any more!

Quilt Inspiration ran a September Giveaway with lovely things (aren't they always) and I although I never win these things, I thought I'd give it a go!

I admit, I was hoping for the Batiks or the Kaufman fabric, but I expect that my being international meant posting them wasn't an option. Still, winning is winning and I'm happy!

It certainly makes up for not being fast and smart enough to buy up all the Momo 'Just Wing It' fat quarter bundles on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop last night. I'm kicking myself - at the reduced price they were $6/yard and I've had a yen for Just Wing It since I saw it. But I balked at the shipping (as so many have done before) and lost the opportunity! Drat!

And there will be photos of the blocks of the Gothic Sampler shortly - I finished the last block last night!

WIP Wednesday #19

Busy week! Busy busy week!

Took three four quilts off to the quilter today: The Colour Of Magic, Sanctuary Kaleidoscope, and Central Park Boxes (below).

It was originally three, but the quilter pointed out that the backing intended for Central Park Boxes could be a quilt in its own right.

Evidence A:


I spent yesterday and this morning frantically piecing this thing together so I'd have a back for the front of the Central Park Boxes:


The blocks for the back were simple enough (yay hourglass blocks!), but it was the additional troubleshooting that wore me out!

"Uh oh! Not enough hourglass blocks...uh, just make some nine-patches!"
"Uh oh! The columns aren't wide enough...uh...just add some extra patches at the top and bottom of each column!"
"Uh oh! The backing we cut isn't enough...uh...just cut some more!"

Anyway, I decided it's going to be a quilt all its own. It's not exactly my idea of 'pretty' but...it'll do, I guess! I should think of a name for it - no idea what.

And now I have three returned quilts from the quilter to bind!



They are really very pretty. I love this quilter's work - although I did end up spending 2 hours at her place this afternoon, chatting and picking out patterns for the next four quilts...

I also pieced together a backing for the Sanctuary Kaleidoscope:


That was mostly Monday and Tuesday, too. A lot of trying to get disparate fabrics to play together without hitting, and I'm not convinced they do!

Binding to do
- Shaz and A's quilt ("sunshine and lollipops")
- postage stamp (from ps. i quilt's QAL in January this year)
- supernova (from freshly pieced QAL in April this year)
- modern rail fence

Quilting For Kids project
Finished my blocks!



I don't think the extra colours in the purples show up too much... If no-one complains, I think I'll just leave it that way!


Mum's Impstar Quilt
I got tired of waiting for the rest of the fabric and started making the stars:



Could do with more contrast for the black star on the chrysanthemums or the green star on the fireworks, but...maybe those can end up on the back of the quilt or something!

I like the design. It'll show off the fabric, while still upholding the pattern. Now I just need to find something that will do the same for the Australiana and Valley Of The Kings sets that I have...


Gothic Summer Sampler
Slowed down on this something dreadful, although I got the Minnesota block done!


And the set so far!


Working on the Evening Star now, and I have a list of blocks that I'm going to use to finish it and make it a decent size.

It has to be posted by the 3rd October. Here's hoping I can get it all done by then!


Planned Works

The Dead Simple QAL
Still thinking this one over. I like the theory, not sure I have time for it in practise.

I'm going to put the Harvest Fabrics Quilt into this pile as well, because...well, I'm trying to decide what pattern to do...

Gothic Summer Sampler - finishing off the top

Confession time! I'm not really eager to do the Kansas Dust Storm - too much paper piecing. So I'm skipping that and replacing it with others. I actually want a 4x4 block quilt for the squareness and to make it a little larger - hopefully I can still complete it in time for the craft swap!

So, with 9 blocks, here are the remaining 7 planned blocks for the Gothic Summer Sampler:
1. Evening Star
2. Rocky Road to Kansas
3. VOS Denise's Star
4. Pennsylvania
5. Texas Rose
6. Bear Tracks
7. All Hallows Variation

That'll make it a 4x4 block quilt, of around 50 inches square.

Or I might decide that enough is enough and just stop here at 3x3...

I'm debating whether or not to give it a 4" black framing border, or just bind the edge in red. Or perhaps a thin black border, a wider skull border, and the edge bound in red.

Not sure what I'll do for the back. Maybe the skull fabric?

One thing I can say about this quilt, though: no careful sewing of the binding! They're going to get zig-zagged scarlet thread sewing! And they're going to like it!

I'm hoping to get them done this week, and then sew it all together on the weekend. We can hope!

Busy Day, Busy People

I've been very busy today!

Started my mum's quilt. I cut the fabric I already had a couple of days ago, and was only going to piece two blocks this morning. Then I figured 'oh why the heck not' and pieced another two blocks!



I think I'm going to call this this Imperial Stars Quilt. Colloquially known as the 'Impstar' quilt, thereby giving Star Wars nerds a chance to geek out. :)

Actually, that design would be quite awesome if they made Star Wars fabric for quilting... *coughs*

Right. So. Anyway...

Gothic Summer Sampler



Finally did the Minnesota block. I'm a little disconcerted that at least two of the remaining 3 blocks require paper-piecing. While paper-piecing is rather nifty for fine designs, it's a bit of a mess. Plus, the templates waste so much paper! In fact, I so disliked printing out each template individually that I downloaded a PDF editor so I could copy and remap the templates - why print four templates on four sheets of paper when I could print four templates on two sheets?

And so we have the Gothic Summer Sampler as it stands so far!


Not the best photo. I may have to start taking photos with my regular camera again, and not with the phone camera - at least, not at night and in questionable light.

Tomorrow is the Southern Cross Quilters meetup at the local pub. Looking forward to sitting around for a slew of hours, chatting away, and starting the binding on Shaz and Drew's quilt!

WIP Wednesday #18

A little early this week, because I'm headed out this afternoon.



Colour Of Magic quilt
Top and backing done! Now to quilt!

I'm going to see if my usual machine-quilter will do this one - the backing may not have enough leeway for her requirements. If not, then I guess it'll be up to me to do the sandwiching and quilting...

The front:


I like the simplicity of the border - more squares, to give it a nice framing. Not sure what colour I'm going to bind it in - may have to hunt up some jelly roll strips in black and purple and greenish-purple-black.

The quilt name is a reference to the first book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series - thereby betraying my geeky origins. 'The Colour Of Magic' there is described as a colour called octarine which is a greenish-purple colour.

And here's the back!



Gothic Summer Sampler


Not much done on this quilt this week - my attention was mostly taken up by The Colour Of Magic.

The Lucky Pieces block was pleasantly easy, though - just a load of HSTs!




Quilting For Kids
I answered a call for quilters to make blocks for some quilts being put together for a couple of girls in foster care.

The flickr group is called Quilting For Kids:

A star block in pink:


The makings of a star block in purple:


Not sure if the purple is 'purple' enough - most other people seem to have monochrome fabrics for their backgrounds (the stars must be white), while mine are 'mainly purple with a little bit of extra colour'.


Mum's Imperial Quilt
This quilt has been on the 'to do' list for a very long time. And as of yesterday, it moved to the 'WIP list' - so hurray for that!

I promised Mum a quilt a few years ago (oh, heck, I hope it wasn't as far back as when she got married, because that was about 7 years ago...) and found the material a couple of years ago...but never knew what to do with it. I've been through a dozen different possibilities for making up the quilt and discarded each one by one.

Finally, I settled on the Moda Bake Shop Charming Stars Quilt by Stefanie of Little Lady Patchwork - but with more of a deliberate design feel rather than a patchwork feel.

Each block will be a single fabric, and the stars will be a contrasting fabric to the background. I may end up using the panel in there as a highlight - or the panel may end up on the backing. We'll see.



I cut these out and then realised that I needed another FQS of the Imperial Collection to have enough fabric for the design. (One of the reasons why I now by half-yard sets, not FQSs.) So that's on order, and this is on hold!


Harvest quilt
This FQS was bought at least five years ago and has been sitting around, waiting to be used. (I started off buying lots of traditional fabric sets.) My thought for the last few years has been a Scrappy Mountain Majesties as described on Quiltsville, but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just go for a large-sized hourglass quilt?



Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?


Still to bind
- Shaz & A's "Sunshine And Lollipops"
- three quilts that are coming back to me from Jo of Thirroul Custom Quilting
.

Planned Works

The Dead Simple QAL
Haven't even started looking at fabrics for this. I'm hoping that they'll hold off until, oh, about October, by which time I'm hoping to have a lot of this stuff done and complete.

And th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!

If you have the chance (and aren't already doing it, which I suspect most people coming here already are), check out the other WIP Wednesday links over at Freshly Pieced!

Tuesday is...fabric day!

Joel Dewberry's Aviary II!



I know everyone's gaga over the Heirloom collection right now - and I totally plan to get the Sapphire colourway (just as soon as I have a job and money and...) - but I love the muted colours of this: grey, black, white, and that dull yellow-buff colour that adds almost-warmth, with a dash of dove blue-grey to add almost-cool.

It goes into the stash to be used together, I think. Something simple - perhaps the Modern Basics cover quilt?

I bought a bunch of batiks, but don't know that I like them enough to use them in the covers of my quilts, so I'm presently using them in backings:


I have several WIPs in the works as of tomorrow, but that'll all go into WIP Wednesday, complete with pics. :)