Down Under Quilt Swap No.2

I received such a little beauty from my partner in the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap No.2.

Thanks partner!

And look at the back... gorgeous detail.  Sigh!

And as you know, Liberties are my absolute favourites.

I love it.

For Jasmine

It's been a while between posts!  I've missed you guys, although, I've been popping by at your blogs regularly.  I just haven't made time to pop into mine!

I've been working on a few things since I last posted.  My main project was Jasmine's quilt.  This little lady was born some time ago now (not telling how long!).  I'm so sorry it took so long, but hopefully she thinks it was worth the wait.

Sorry about the crappy photos.  I couldn't find my camera, so I've used my iPhone.

Here are some details.  Not sure if you can make it out, but I've used a combination of machine quilting and hand quilting with Perle cotton no.8.

The fabric is Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush in voile.

Heavenly!

This quilt was so much fun to make.

I just made it up as I went along!

The oatmeal coloured fabric is Workcloth from Cloth Australia.

It is a cotton linen blend and colour is called "Raw".

It doesn't look it, but it's incredibly soft to touch.

Here's the back, which is pieced in the liberated style as well.

And some detail on the backing.

This fabric range is perhaps my all time favourite.  I just love the colours.

I hope you like it Jasmine!

xxx

Finish - Down Under Doll Quilt Swap 2

I love this quilt and it will be hard to give away.

New Liberties with Perle cotton hand quilting.

Backed with a cotton / linen blend call Raw Workcloth (Cloth Australia).

Binding lovingly attached by hand.

And so incredibly soft to touch.

It's going to Aunty Cookie!  I hope you like it Shannon.

I decided to use 80% cotton / 20% polyester batting to try and achieve a more antique look.

I'm happy with the result.  Although I think it will look even better after a wash or two.

I want to thank my gorgeous friend, Kathleen, of Kathleen's Sewing, who sent Mary these gorgeous gifts for her first birthday.

Love the rounded corners!

Thank-you Kathleen!  Mary and I love them!

Down Under Doll Quilt Swap 2

Here is my progress...

Lots of pretty new Liberty and hand stitching...

I am enjoying working on this little project very much.

I've also got some Liberty hexies on the go, amongst other things!

Happy Easter!

Credit Where Credit is Due

I am currently working on a quilt that I'm more excited about than ever before.

The reason:  I feel like I have finally found my unique creative voice.

I was quilting on the machine just now, and I was suddenly struck with how much I love this quilt, how much I love the fabrics, the blocks, the quilting lines... I feel so happy working on it.

These feelings inspired me to write a post about the amazing quilters in blogland who have inspired me to create things I really love.

I will start with the two Victorias, because these girls, more than anyone else, have inspired my creative vision.  So, in no particular order....

1.  Victoria @ Bumble Beans Inc

This feisty chick from New York has got it SERIOUSLY going on!

Her work is a magical frenzy of colour and life and she's a really encouraging, generous soul.  Her creative bravery has fed my own desire to break some of the quilting rules and make liberated quilts with real personality.  Check out her blogs:

Bumble Beans Inc

and

15 minutes play

2.  Victoria from The Silly Boo Dilly

V2 seems to me to be a more serious, almost spiritual textile artist.  Her work, inspired by all things worn and weathered, is truly intriguing.  It was her hand stitching, the most beautiful I have ever seen, that made me want to do hand stitching.

Check it out at:

The Silly Boo Dilly

And now, on to the Aussie beauties who's work gives me so much joy!

3.  Nova from a cuppa and a catch up...

Nova is a vivacious, incredibly prolific, modern quilter from near where I live in Sunny (rainy!) Queensland.  We met though an online quilting bee and ever since, she has been wow-ing me with her stunning use of colour and her ability to make just about anything with needle and thread.

Take a minute to have a squiz:

a cuppa and a catch up...

4.  Rita from Red Pepper Quilts

I think every Australian Quilter in blogland, plus many more from all over the world, know the work of this very gifted, and also very prolific, quilter from Down Under.

Her simple lines, her unparalleled use of colour, and he willingness to engage with even the most humble of quilters, all make her one very cool lady.  It was her straight line quilting, 1/4 inch away from the seam, that made me want to take my first step away from quilting in the ditch!

I'm sure it's already on your bloglist, but if it isn't, you simply must pop over:

Red Pepper Quilts

5.  Kate from One Flew Over

A kindered soul... she loves Liberty as much as I do.  I adore pouring over her quilts, as well as her other work, which is subtle and beautiful.  In a word, her work is perfection.

Have a look for yourself:

One Flew Over

OK, I know, I'm gushing.  I feel really emotional!

Please also check out the following blogs if you haven't already, because I love these girls' work as well:

Cabbage Quilts

Texas Freckles

Quiltsalott

Kathleen's Sewing

Quilting for Happiness

Where does your inspiration come from?

Have you found your creative voice yet?

PS Giveaway coming soon!

Liberty Love

And now for a closer look...

As usual, I'm in love.  These Liberty tana lawns are so good I just want to eat them up.  The colours (muted greys, which are not at all my usual choice), the definition in the prints, and of course, the softness...  Just beautiful.

I picked these up online from Calico and Ivy.

And now, for a further peak at my Anna Maria Horner "Innocent Crush" project:

Pinned and ready for quilting.  Now to decide: to hand quilt or not to hand quilt.  These fabrics certainly are deserving, but time is a real issue for me with a beautiful 10 month old baby girl to care for, a demanding part-time job, lots of study to do and a busy household to run. :-)

I tried some hand quilting on this quilt during the week with regular hand quilting cotton, as opposed to Perle cotton, and my lack of experience was so much more visible with the thinner thread.  Maybe I will stick with Perles!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sneak Peak

Well, the postman delivered, so to speak, and I wanted to show you my new goodies!

Miss Modd set of fat quarters from Fabricworm

Cloth Australia's Workcloth in "raw" (cotton-linen blend) from Duckcloth

Now I'm just waiting on my Jay McCarroll (yes, the guy who won Project Runway with his patchwork inspired fashion collection a few years ago) fabrics from Fabricworm and some Liberty of London Tana Lawn from Calico and Ivy.

And now, for a sneak peak of another of my current projects using the GORGEOUS Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Voiles I blogged about recently...

As you can see, I've combined the raw workcloth with the voiles for what I think is a pretty lovely effect.  This piece is an improvisational piece inspired by the amazing work going on a Victoria's other blog - 15 minutes play.

Have a great weekend dear reader!

Liberated scraps! Yum!

This is going to be a crib quilt for a dear friend of mine who's just given birth to a beautiful baby girl.

I couldn't get enough of this block, having recently made a table runner using the same one (see post below).  I have used scraps of Michael Miller, Denyse Schmidt and Liberty fabrics, with some Moda solid pink thrown in there for good measure.

It needs a border, because it's only a wee quilt top so far.  I just kept making blocks until I ran out of scraps and this is what I ended up with.

There is one problem, however....

CHUNKY!

BULKY!!

I am thinking that I will need to get a long-arm quilter to quilt in the ditch along these really bulky seams, so I can then go ahead and do my hand quilting inside the white stars.  There is no way my little Janome could handle these seams!  It could barely manage piecing them together!  I am hoping quilting in the ditch will help flatten it out a little.

Any other suggestions?

Table Runner Finish

I finished attaching the binding by hand on my table runner the other night.  I'm very happy with the result.

Sorry about the poor quality of the pics.  I haven't been able to take photos in natural light for one reason or another for days and days but I really wanted to load these pics up as soon as possible.

I've been looking for a way to use these fabrics for ages.  I bought 36 fat quarters of this range - French General Rouenneries (I think it was the whole range) many months ago, and I finally found the right project for them.

Of course, I still have a lot of fabric left from this range and look forward to sewing with it again.  The colours are beautiful and the feel of the cotton is soft and light-weight.

I hand-quilted this project with Perle cotton no.12. 

I have splurged on some new fabrics for the first time in a while.  This is Anna Maria Horner's range, Innocent Crush, in fat quarters.  I can't believe I haven't seen more of it in blogland.  It is simply divine!  The feel is very similar to Liberty Tana Lawn (ie perfection) and the colour scheme is modern and in my humble opinion, sublime.

And there are more splurges to come!  Bring it on Mr Postman - I can hardly wait!

What's up, Doc?

Well, I've been pretty busy actually and unfortunately that has not left me much time for quilting.

Having said that, here is a sneak peak of a little project I've had on the go since before Christmas.

I'm also working on a baby quilt for a friend who has just given birth.  Hopefully she is too busy with the baby to read my blog!

I think it is a little too liberated, even for my liking!  I am planning to cut all of the pink squares back to the same size and just liberate the yellow "twinkles".

Hand quilting finished!

I'm so happy with this "quilt".  It doesn't have batting, so I feel weird calling it a quilt; it does have three layers, but the middle layer is muslin.

I love it!

I like the backing nearly as much as the top.

I'm not finished yet, of course.  Ive still got the binding to go.  Not sure when that's going to happen though, because I put hand quilting cotton in my machine and now the tension is buggered!

Stay tuned!

Nearly there...

Does it need more?

I enjoyed quilting this little number so much.  The Perle cotton no.8 is a joy to sew with...

Hand quilting is so much fun.  I'm surprised that I like it as much as hand piecing.

I was going to create a cross-hatch pattern with the quilting, but a seed of doubt has been planted by someone else's opinion ("Cross hatching it would kill it.... Have you thought about doing something less structured in keeping with the modern look of the piece?").

Now I'm stuck.  Frozen.  Blocked.

Maybe it does need something more "interesting" that the same stitching running in the opposite direction.  I don't know.  And I really love this little piece.  I don't want to mess it up.

Another option: leaving it as it is.

Playing with hexies

Just playing with the layout of this future beauty...

Because Liberty prints are so detailed, I wanted some structure with the layout, to make sense of the fabrics.

What I've done is made rows of blues and pinks, using both colour and tonal value to balance the picture.

I really like where this is headed!

But before I even "go there" I still have Mary's hexagon quilt (the 1930's reproduction one) to quilt and the civil war reproduction hexies to piece together.  Not to even mention all the other UFOs in my quilt basket!

Liberated Log Cabin - more progress

I've started hand quilting my liberated log cabin...

I'm using Perle cotton no.8 threads.

They are so lovely to quilt with.

I'm using blues and purples in the dark sections and red, pink, orange and yellow in the light sections.

The back is looking ok.  The stitches aren't great, but I just love the look of the stitches on the solids.

The dissecting lines are where I have quilted in the ditch, also with Perle cotton by hand.

It's going to take a while to quilt this project, even though it's only about one metre square because the rows of quilting are only one inch apart and I plan to create a cross-hatch pattern.  Eek!

PS - thanks to those readers who advised me on how to create straight lines of quilting.  I am using one inch wide masking tape and it's working really well. :-)