Simple is Good

Sometimes you just want to throw a quilt together that you don't want to have to agonise over.  You just want to play with pretty colours a little bit outside your comfort zone to see if they play nicely together.  In your mind they do, but sometimes when they are actually sewn together, they just don't work.  Then, if you are lucky, sometimes they really sing.  Sweet.

I have called it Zigzag.  It can be made in about two days so it is ideal for that last minute gift for a teenager, child or even a cool auntie.

The pattern is done and we will be selling kits in the shop and on our website by next week for that Christmas gift that has to be finished in a hurry.

Happy stitching from Therese

W.I.S.P.s

On my last big "O" birthday I decided it was time to go through my cupboards and dig out the projects I was going to do "one day' because one day was here.  I gave away any that no longer held and interest for me and the others I put in order of priority.
The first one I finished was At Piece With Time and I am hoping I inspired at least one person to dig their's out to finish too. (How about it Siobhan).

The next one was a Secret Womens Business project from 2003 with my Friendship Group where we all got 2 fat quarters.  One was a large floral and the other was a stripe of the floral and an animal print. The quilt had to have a star in it and we had to use both prints.  I made the star and started on the log cabin blocks to go around the edge but ran out of the floral and the biscuit background so it got flung in a box and put in the cupboard of disillusion.

When I opened the box earlier this year and hung the bits on my design wall to study for a few days I had a lightbulb moment.  I could use several  biscuit coloured prints and a similar floral in the border so that I could still use the log cabin blocks instead of ditching them to start again with something else.

Then I worked out how many strips of the striped fabric I would need to go around the edge and worked out from the amount of fabric I had as to how wide I could cut the border. 

I really enjoyed finishing this quilt because it forced me to think outside the box several times and challenge myself.

The funny thing is that my tastes have changer so much in the last 8 years that I have given the top to a friend to finish because she loved it and the colours would be perfect in her bedroom.  Bye bye Feathered Star.Have a wonderful life with Cheryl.

I am now onto Number 3 WISP (Work In Slow Progress) and it will probably take me at least another 6 months to finish the top because there is lots of needleturn applique.  I started it in a class at Primarily Patchwork in October 1998.  All the appliques are prepared  so it is a perfect carry around project.

So, what's your oldest UFO and are you planning on ever finishing it?

Happy stitching from Therese.

Wordless Wednesday (A Little Bit Late)

Dreaming of Patchwork

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about new quilts?  I woke the other night and thankfully was able to sketch a quick diagram before it vanished. 

My grandmother left me a black vase with a beautiful gold floral emblem.  I dreamt that I used the design for an applique - a black, taupe and grey floral fabric vase on a crisp white background.   In my dream it was stunning!  Alas, I have 5 or 6 U.F.O's that I 'should' finish before I begin this new design.

What should I do? Do I continue with my U.F.O's (even though I am bored with them!) or can I start another project? 

Until next time,

Tasha

Where's Wally

This Wally has been finishing a new Country quilt design which is why I have been missing for several weeks.  The middle part is done and I am up to the borders and then I am on to the really boring stuff.  Writing the pattern, proof reading and then proof reading again, measuring every piece of fabric used so I can do an accurate costing for Block of the Month. Drawing the appliques and the piecing diagrams to make sure that anyone who purchases my patterns can make their own quilt with a minimum of stress.  But I actually love the whole process of designing, even the boring bits. 

The other thing I have been chipping away at is a quilt I started in 2004 called At Piece With Time.

I did it with my Friendship  Group.  We all bought a copy of the book and some of us actually started the quilt. I found the box of bits at the start of last year and realised all I had left to do was the middle block and the applique triangles. At friendship group nights all last year I stitched away at the triangles and then over the summer I started putting it together. However I was never 100% happy with the way they had put it together so decided to change the borders even though that involved another year of needle turn applique.  When I didn't have enough of one light fabric I used about ten different fabrics joined end to end. My personal rule at the moment is to "use the stash"  and I am so pleased I did.  I had worked out that the applique would fit on a 6 inch border.  When I finished the applique, of course I didn't have enough of any of the prints for a final border so I just cut any leftover fabrics from the quilt into strips, joined them end to end, cut the lengths I needed and sewed them on.

I am really happy with my quilt and I will get it basted by a long arm quilter so that I can hand quilt it over the next couple of years. It holds many, many happy memories for me.

I have a couple more long term projects nearly done too and I will have photos to show you soon.

Happy Stitching

 from Therese

Wordless Wednesday