I'm on a Roll

Despite Sunday's heat, I made a really good dent in sewing down the bindings for the three Rhubarb Crisp runners and all three are now complete. Yay! I didn't let my needle cool down one bit though and moved directly on to start sewing down the binding on Danuta's Garden.

I had bought this mauve print hoping that I could squeak a backing out of it but there just wasn't enough, so a pieced backing it was. Backings are not my thing at the best of times and knowing that I had to piece it was enough to delay making it til the very last minute. The only thing that made me get it together was knowing that I had to drop it off for Roberta to quilt, so...

a blue/mauve floral was added to the mix. I like the contrast between the graphic and the more romantic feel of the two fabrics, and if you want to let your imagination roll a bit, it sort of reminds me of a garden with a lattice or fence. Sounds like it would work for a 'garden' quilt, don't you think?

That floral has been in my stash for soooo long that I was happy to have a reason to use it. So happy, in fact, that I decided to bind the quilt with it as well and I'm thrilled with how it looks. Here's a peek of the back. When I come up for air after all this hand stitching I'll share pics of all four pieces....M

Busy Binding

I swung by Roberta's place this week to pick up an armload of quilted pieces, my three Rhubarb Crisp table runners and Danuta's Garden. I spent yesterday making and attaching bindings to them all, so there will be lots of binding in my future.

She used this darling pumpkin panto that she used on my pumpkin table topper last fall, and it looks just great. Two of the three runners are backed in the same large toile from Laundry Basket Quilts and the third in a coordinating smaller print. I only had a metre of each but, thanks to Roberta's careful placement I will be able to bind both with the large print and the third in the same smaller print that it is backed in.

I was so happy when I pulled these backings out from my stash and they worked because I have tried several times to use them in a project and found them really tough. They show as green/brown in the photos but they are closer to a copper colour.

The runners go to the top of the list because they are small and easier to work with in this heat. It should cool down a bit through the coming week so I'll tackled Danuta's Garden when it does. I have to say that I was a little surprised at how tiny all of those flying geese are (they finish off at 1 x 2") even though I sewed them all. So sweet!

I'm joining Kathy and the gang for some slow Sunday stitching, and because I am, I'm sharing a link to this amazing video that Anne shared with me. It speaks to the love and craft of hand stitching and the wonderful group of Irish women to helped a family realize a dream 60 years after it was begun - a beautiful ode to WIPs. Love the line, "My house is like a church." Happy stitching!....M

Duelling Design Walls

Because my large design wall is occupied with Halo I've been using a smaller one to start laying out Country Cousin.

It currently sits across the room from the large design wall, perched atop a stool that has several bundles of fabric on it, and leans against the cubbies that hold my fabric - all very technical 😏. This allows me to flit from one quilt to the other, depending on the mood that I'm in.

The wall is starting to get a little crowded so it will soon be time to start sewing squares together. I still haven't decided how large this one will be. Originally I thought I'd just make a baby quilt but I have lots more block pieces than that so it will either be a throw or a larger quilt. At some point I may just keep assembling blocks and then when the larger wall is available, lay everything out there. Or, heaven forbid, use the floor! I've gotten really spoiled having a design wall or two to play with and do not miss rolling around on the floor on my hands and knees to lay out a quilt....M

I Took Your Advice

Summer is in full swing and the July calendar has been busy so there has been precious little stitching done lately, not even hand stitching. Despite the fact that I drag it wherever we go it doesn't seem to come out of the box; catching up on my reading seems to be taking priority. That said, I did escape into the cool of the basement a few nights this week to work on Halo a bit.

A few weeks ago I was toying with making this quilt much whiter than it is, ghosting in several of the orbs, but when I asked what you thought of the idea the feedback was overwhelmingly to stick to the original plan, so I'm following your advice.

I love the scrappiness of it all...

how traditional prints meet up with more contemporary patterns.

And it amazes me how it changes as every new pie shaped piece is put up on the wall.

Sewing curves isn't the fastest process in the world so I have to just try and find the zen in it. I started out pinning one at a time, sewing it, pressing, and then starting another, but I found that if I pinned small batches of three or four and then sewed them all at the same time and then pressed them all it seemed to go faster, so that's where I'm at.

This looks a lot like the picture up above but if you look closely you'll see how it is slowly filling in. None of the blocks are together yet because I keep moving things around as new pie shaped pieces are made. Still lots of curves in my future!....M

Gifted

This lovely wall of colour is Anne's latest creation - a baby gift for her dentist. Isn't it sweet?

The bright solids paired with all of those happy ginghams are a lovely combo for a new baby boy - there's lots here to keep his interest.

When I first saw it she had started laying out the quilting design with wide painter's tape so that she could quilt it by machine.

Ultimately, she sewed the same design horizontally and vertically, creating a nice open crosshatch that worked beautifully with the simple blocks.

And that quilting was echoed somewhat in the lovely flannelette that she used for the backing. So sweet.....M

Surprise and Delight

Last weekend while celebrating Canada Day out at the lake we also celebrated a bit of a milestone birthday of mine and I just had to share Jane's gift with you. It's this gorgeous, lush, Kaffe-inspired beauty. All that saturated colour in such fabulous prints - LUV!!! Talk about surprise and delight!

We couldn't remember how long ago she made this flimsy but every time that I've seen it through the years it has just left me weak-kneed. Well, all of that gushing finally paid off! 😉

It is just the right size to use as a throw in our living room so now my challenge is to find the perfect backing and get it quilted.

I simply cannot believe that it is mine. All that coral and pink and periwinkle in one place, well, it leaves me speechless. I'm not sure that I'll be able to nap under it very well though - I'll be spending all of my time pouring over all of the fantastic prints that she used.

This periwinkle is one of my faves and not one that I have been able to find for sale. How can you not love all those funky dots? And that colour?

Of course I had to get a photo of the talented maker and I wrapped up in that amazing sea of colour.

Even Baylea in her matching collar got her picture taken with it (almost makes you wonder if she didn't know what was coming...). This is a gift that will be cherished for years to come. Thank you again, Jane.

And today's mail brought me this - a beautiful hand-crafted card from my sister Dori.

The block is stitched to the card so after I have enjoyed it for a while I plan to carefully remove the block and work it into one of my projects. Again, more spectacular fabrics....M

Going Halvsies

In anticipation of soon being able to start laying out my large diamonds for Minnie I realized that I need to be making several diamond halves to fill in along the edges, so I started with the shorter version for across the the top and bottom edges of the quilt.

After doing the outside rings on the large 4-diamond blocks which each take 44 hexies these go together like a breeze.

And at about 5" tall, they're pretty cute , too.

Here's a sense of what they will look like in place, giving me a straight edge to trim and work with....M