It's Looking More Like a Quilt

What a difference a few new blocks make! It seems that I've been sewing tiny red blocks for Martha's Star until I am seeing them in my sleep so I decided to switch things up a bit and start putting together the cream pieced blocks that will finish off the edges of the quilt.










It's amazing what a difference filling in those blocks makes. Not only does it finish off the edges and really make it look like it will be a quilt some day soon, it makes the cream tone-on-tone fabrics that I've used throughout much more prominent. The variety is really providing the texture and interest that I was hoping they would.





See how nice that left edge is looking? And it's getting pretty big too - I can't fit it all in to the photos anymore and it is consuming all of the space at the foot of the stairs, so I'd better get into gear and finish it up.

So now it's the bottom right corner to finish off and then the border pieces. I think I have 7 stars to go and about 12 Irish Chain blocks so still lots of little red blocks before I'm done, and then all of the blocks will need to be sewn together, but the end is in sight. Enough for now though because I've had a hankering for chocolate cake so I'm of to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing - more on that later!...M

Fussy Cut Boo Boo

Work on Candied Hexagons has been at a bit of a stand still lately because I needed to sit down and do some serious fussy cutting (you can only get away with using so many small prints before there is an impact on the look of the hexagons & the quilt itself). Well, yesterday I headed off to Jane's cottage for a day or two with her and was able to spend several hours cutting. In the process I ended up with a bit of a cutting mishap. I got lazy and rather than tracing the diamond onto the fabric and then cutting I tried to cut a piece directly just using the blade and the template. Needless to say, I missed slightly and cut through the template, almost slicing off a piece on one side. I'm so close to finishing cutting my fabric pieces that I didn't want to have to cut another template, so after a bit of tape 'first aid' to keep the piece in place I was back in business.

By the end of the evening I had a lovely new stack of pairs that I can now pick up while watching TV that will soon become hexagons and move this project along. I can't believe how time-consuming fussy cutting can be, and in some cases, how much fabric is wasted to get the repeats. Despite really liking the way the quilt is turning out I think it will be a while before I do another one.




We also took a short drive to Barry's Bay and discovered great fabrics at amazing prices in the Stedmans store - I hadn't been in there in years. I feel like I hit paydirt! Who knew??? Such a great selection of light summery prints...I couldn't resist.  I got enough of the bottom one for a backing. We were just giddie with our finds and marvelled at how happy small pieces of fabric can make us.




And there were lots of fabulous fat quarters at an even more fabulous price...I saw a great tutorial for a lovely little baby bib recently and I'm thinking of making a few for the Holly Bazaar using some of these. One or two will also be incorporated into Candied Hexagons. Can you tell that I really liked the periwinkle and white print on the left?





And then there were these three fat quarters that I also had to bring home. Not sure what they will be for but they really appealed to me for some reason.

Anyway, we had lots of fun and also managed to repaint a few antique wrought iron beds and rake up the yard and flower beds in the sunshine today, so a productive few days. I think I might need a good soak in the tub to deal with a few aches, but they are good aches. Thanks for a great couple of days Jane!...M

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope it is a day of renewal, joy, and time spent with the ones you love. We are enjoying a spectacular sunny day here, and (over)indulging in chocolate, of course! Our bulbs are just starting to pop up so there isn't any colour outside yet but Stephanie dropped this lovely basket off yesterday which brought Spring inside so beautifully. And yes, that is a half-eaten chocolate bunny lurking in the background.

This weekend also marks the beginning of Mike & Lili's new life in Beijing so hopefully they are enjoying fresh Spring blossoms there as well.

I got a lovely treat this morning when Anne surprised me with a dozen more random blocks all stitched up for my Postage Stamp. I've been working on completing the bottom right corner and this will give me a great leg up so I'll need to pin that section together now and get stitching.

Yesterday we took a drive to see if I could find a few more cream tone-on-tone cream fabrics to finish off Martha's Star, which we did, and found a great sale too so I came home with a few lovely treats - my Easter prezzie to myself. Not sure what they will ultimately go into but they do look great together, don't they?





Enjoy your day, and for those of you who have tomorrow off as well, enjoy the extra long weekend...M

More Inspiration

I bought myself a treat a week ago and have not been able to get my nose out of it for more than five minutes. It's Material Obsession 2 by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke, two Australian gals whose blogs I have been following for quite a while now. I first saw the book last winter and have continually migrated back to it so it is now part of my library.

I'm not sure if it's the difference in climate or what it is but I find that many of the Australian bloggers have a much different sensibility than North American quilters - they have an overriding love of bright, bold prints and produce exhuberant pieces that just make your heart sing. That might sound funny coming from a book with a black quilt on the cover, but look closely and you will see how they have reworked traditional patterns and made them refreshingly new.

What I particularly like about it is the notion of shared inspiration that they have used. There are 10 pairs of quilts and each pair was developed from a common concept (scraps, foundation piecing or a repeating block) or fabric. I am continually intrigued at how the same pattern is interpreted so very differently, depending on the quilter, and this book is a perfect illustration of that. It also encourages you to take their inspiration and continue to work it so that it reflects your taste and style. To colour outside the lines, if you will. There are no wrong answers.

This is the outside back cover and one of my favourites in the book. As is so often the case I'm already redesigning it in my mind's eye...I don't know that I would use the same application of the blossoms and I don't particularly like square quilts so I'm thinking that the blossoms could be incorporated into a more rectanglular centre block and then the quilt would also become rectangular. But that's what would make it mine, right?


There's also some really tempting applique to try. Look at the detail in that blossom!





















And a fantastic, bright, scrappy Spider Web...

Oh, and did I mention...the photography is superb - Kathy's husband took the pics. It all adds up to endless hours of flipping and dreaming and who knows, maybe some day creating.









Sarah's new book, Quilting From Little Things, is just out recently. I've seen bits of it online but have yet to lay my hands on a hard copy, and it looks like it might be tempting too...








But quilters know that inspiration can be found anywhere. Like, say, on the street. Dori sent through this shot that she took on her way home from work one day. It is simple pavers but obviously creative little hands (maybe future quilters) took chalk in hand and made the time to make it their own...M