Happy Mail

A walk to the mailbox yesterday delivered a nice little surprise for my String Quilt. Linda had found several yards of a soft blue-grey fabric in her stash that she thought might work well as the backing it, so Jane tucked a sample into a card and sent it off so that I could see if it matched. As my dad used to like to say, "I think we're in business".

Jane and Linda make wonderful cards and this one just seemed custom made for the message it was carrying. I was surprised to turn it over and see that it had, in fact, been made a while back. Guess she knew she'd be mailing notes her quilting buddies.

Not only does the fabric work, but the card is colour coordinated as well. She thinks of everything.

The sample was tucked inside and when I flipped it up I found this happy little message. :)

Today's surprise came from the gardens. A couple of years ago my sister Dori went commando on my gardens and planted about 8 new peony bushes for me. They have gradually been coming into their own and this year they are just gorgeous. I'm thrilled, because now I can cut more to have in the house without totally eliminating them from the beds. LUV peonies! Thanks again, Dori; it's the gift that keeps on giving....M

Minnie Me

There's been lots and lots of intensive computer work for my day job lately and, as much as I'd like to keep going with the String quilt (it needs a different name), my eyes and neck and shoulders just weren't up for sitting for a couple of hours in front of another machine, so I moved to one of the many little quilting bundles around the house and found several Minnie diamonds that have been made for a while and pressed them.

There are 12 in this batch, and lots of new colours, which has been fun. I'm certain that after a while they all look the same to you, but they are like kids, each unique in their own way.

Love this rustic little gingham; it's adding a new dimension to the whole thing.

I know that I keep threatening to put together larger combinations of diamonds but it's so much fun working on the little ones that I don't seem to get there.

I think I'll pick up a needle and thread and see where it takes me. Either that or go for a quick nap - I'm pooped!....M

p.s. A while back I had a question from a no-reply blogger and since I couldn't get in touch with them I thought I'd answer it here. She wanted to know why my stitches don't show through on the front of my work. I suspect that it's because they are hand stitched and not EPP.

A Little Klepto Quilting and I'm Off and Running

Jean's String Quilt has begun and, the more it comes together, the more my jitters about it seem to disappear.

Earlier I mentioned my challenge finding soft blue prints that weren't overly juvenile. Problem solver that I am, I decided to do some klepto quilting in Jane's stash last weekend and found a few lovely little pieces that she generously contributed to the cause.

Still feeling that I needed a little bit more variety, I picked up a few more fat quarters this afternoon. That's it. No more blues. At this rate I'll be sewing a king-sized quilt and all Jean wants is a quilt to lay over the back of the sofa!

The blocks will finish off at 7" and I'm using squares cut from telephone book pages as my foundation. After sewing a few I noticed that the white strip wasn't always staying centred on the corner, so I've started putting a very small dab of appliqué glue in two opposite corners, laying the fabric strip right side down, and then positioning the paper square to the back of it to keep it secure while the first seam or two go in.

Once a block is sewn I flip it over and use the paper as my trimming guide and then, when I'm not particularly motivated to sew, I take a pile of blocks and tear the papers off.

Eager beaver that I was, I forgot that I had decided on a 1.25" white strip rather than the original 1.5" width I had planned. I was four blocks into it before I noticed the difference, so two were made with the wider strip. They might get made into a pillow - or maybe incorporated into the backing. We'll see.

Anyway, I think I need 120 blocks, so time to cut and sew!....M

Shades of Grey

My quest for soft blues and greys took me into a colour zone that I don't normally go to and ended up hurting my head at times because I seemed to be thinking waaaaay too hard about it. It just wasn't coming naturally. I wanted blues that weren't juvenile prints and just a few greys to make it interesting, but at the end of the day I ended up with many more greys than I expected/wanted.

Despite seldom, if ever, going to greys, there were some beauties on the shelves, so I have a great little collection to work with. I think a few are too dark for this project but they'd be nice with citron & white.

After adding a few pieces from fabrics that I already had, this is where I have landed. There is one more shop down the road that I think I'll check out to see if I can mix it up just a little more.

These are for a wedding gift quilt that Jean has commissioned, and it probably didn't help that I wasn't totally sure of the pattern that I was going to use. The bride requested baby blues, greys and either cream/white, which suggested something a little more contemporary to me. Somehow I thought that the fabrics would define the pattern for me, and, after much wringing of hands and changing my mind, it did. It's going to be a string quilt....M