{quilt} while you're ahead

52-2015 { Malvern Quilt Show 2015 part 1 }

Today I hit the road (Jack) and got myself to the Malvern Quilt Show.  

I needed it.  It's been house/house/house lately and soon will be end of year exams/exams/exams (all three boys... sigh) AND Mr M left for a week long business trip to China today too so that was another thing I had to forget.  

Incidentally whilst he's away I'll have to fly solo through THREE cricket matches, one concert, once sleepover and one evening at school.  Gulp.  I see a lot of pizza nights in my immediate future!!

Anyway, it was lovely to switch off for a few hours and not think.  

Of course I have a lot of photos to show you... I took over a 100 but fear not, you shall not exposed to them all at once, it might kill you.

Tonight I'm going to give you a little starter.... I'm going to begin with an art quilt which I found staggeringly incredible.  

This is completely machine embroidered.  Talk about skillage in the village!!

It's by Juanita Buchan and it's called 'David'.  And although I wouldn't exactly call it 'a quilt' (would you sleep under it?)... it's definitively a work of art made with fabric and thread (a lot of thread!)

 

Isn't it amazing?  I love the details on the book.  Sweet.

You can see more of her work here.

 

Well it's Friday night... I have 36 recorded episodes of NCIS to catch up on so... see ya!

27-2015 { table runner }

Wednesday already? I can't believe how time is running away from me at the moment... but at least is nice and sunny, right?

And it's time to through away the last vestige of winter around the house and make it more spring-like.  By the way I have the smelliest daffodils in my kitchen... is it possible that sometimes daffs positively stink?  I mean REALLY smell bad... urgh...

I made a small table runner with the onion dyed fabric from last week and I'm smitten with it.

I used facing instead of a border and the back is onion dyed too.

I'm thinking turmeric next (given that we haven't eaten enough onions yet) ... nice and bright...

20-2015 { red and white quilt }

The WIPs are being ticked fast and furiously... soon I'll have nothing to show you!  Can you believe I have ONLY 1 quilt top to quilt (and I have all the necessary stuff for it too) and 2 knitting projects on the go?

Shocking.

And I'm study has been tidied up too.  I know, it's too much to comprehend...

Whilst you recover from the news let me show you the latest quilt top, already nabbed by No 2 as you know.

 

Simple triangles, a bit fiddly and not too exciting by the end I have to admit.  I'm still trying to use as much fabric from 'the stash' as possible and although I had to buy a little of extra white, the red is now gone.

As you can see from the back... every little scrap was used.

The recipient has been sleeping with it even though it's not a bed quilt and only 58"x58"... but if you saw the state of his bed you'd understand that it doesn't matter at all...

 

Now if you'll excuse me I have some mending to do... oh yes, I'm on a roll!

 

PS: quote of the day.  No 1 calls on his mobile (he was under strict instructions only to call in an emergency!!) from Spain... we're suddenly worried... what could have happened? lost? mugged? injured? Oh no.... nothing like that... "mum can I connect to the web on my phone and use it to find a sombrero shop for my mate, he'll refund me later?"

A sombrero shop.

Need I say more?

17-2015

... so I said to him "choose a fabric for the binding"...

... and he choose the last piece of my favourite fabric...

Sigh.

9-2015 { 'broken', a quilt }

I don't normally name my quilts.  I don't give names to my car or my sewing machine either.  I'm terrible at remembering people's names too. 

This quilt however, has always been 'broken'.  When I first started it many months ago a friend of mine was going through a pretty bad patch, her life was spiralling out of control and my 'happy' image of a red and white log cabin quilt went out of the window and this emerge instead.

It felt very cathartic at the time.

Lots of 1 1/2 wide strips in white, black, red and grey.  I didn't want the quilting to be in the way but at the same time I wanted it heavily quilted so I matched the threads to the fabric.  

Except when I didn't.  Because life does throw curve balls at you sometimes.

 

I'd like to hang it somewhere, but there's not a free wall in this house... and really red and black are not my colours...

 

 

If you want more details you can buy the Jan/Feb issue of QUILTY magazine... (sneakpeak here)

 

The sun is shining, I'm heading out.

(143)2014 - red and white quilt -

I seriously doubt my sanity after starting a quilt ten days before Christmas and with all else going on... kids off school, tons of washing, getting the house ready for visitors and celebrations...

It's never going to be finish during this festive season as I intended (we distinctively lack in the Christmas quilts dept) but No 2 said he'll have it any time of the year so that's ok.  As a matter of fact his exact words were "OMG mum!  One word: MINE", which I though was very sweet so he bagged himself a quilt.

It's simple, it's graphic, it's bright.  It gives you headache if you stare at it for too long... right up its street, I can see why he'd want it.

Anyway, I'm half way through it and I have to say, there's something quite calming about doing the same thing 144 times.  Measure, cut, pair up, draw a line, sew, cut, iron, pair up, draw a line, sew, cut, iron and so on and on and on... 144 times.

I'm strangely drawn to it and I welcome it's simplicity.  I think that there's the misconception that in order to do something different and worth-mentioning it needs to be complicated or difficult.  Let's bring it back to basics... Nothing wrong with simple.

Right?

Anyway, I need to put fresh sheets on the beds and then I'm going back to my tantric 1/4 squares triangles... all 72 missing ones...

Toodles!

(140)2014 - quilt for a girl -

I can still make quilts entirely out of my stash.

And not a dent.  Surely sooner or later I must ran out of fabric....  Geesh.

I even have pink fabric which is remarkable given the lack of x chromosomes in this households.

 

This one is for one of Mr M's colleague new girl.

Sigh.

A new girl... can you imagine? (She says eyeing with despair the basket full of size 11 socks next to her...)

The fabric is a total mix of designers, which is what I like... I can't bring myself to use a whole range on something...  I always feel a little lazy when I do that, as if somebody else has done the work for me.  Anyway here, Anna Maria Horner sits side by side with Riley Blake and who knows who else because I've owned some of it for years. (Pink.. why?  I have three boys... whatever..)

Simple squares, small enough for a cot or as a mat...

 

It surely felt good sitting at the old machine again.  Got the old juices flowing... shame that time is not on my side at the moment...

I thought I was really organised and well ahead of myself this year: everything is wrapped up and hidden, Christmas cards have been posted, a menu of sort has been drafted, teachers presents are ready... It turns out I'm merely level to where I should be given the various Carol Services, matches, visitors to prepare for, seasonal haircuts and roots retouching, etc. etc.  Kind of disappointing... I wanted to feel a little smug given the ridiculous stress of the previous years.

Oh well. I mustn't indulge in idle chatter... I have laundry to fold!

 

(136)2014 - pincushions -

I have a new obsession.

Small foundation piecing.

And pincushions.

Some of them are presents.

Some of them are just because I can't stop making them.

And it's not that I don't have anything else to do... ha ha ha (insert hysterical laughter here)...

There's the 5th rugby game in 8 days, plus hockey tournaments, and football matches, the 2 concerts to attend, the parties (not mine, I'd like to point out) to drive people to and from, the school fayre, the presents to wrap and ahem purchase or finish... the food to prepare...

I could go on, but I'm scaring myself.

I'll go hide in my room and make another pincushion... it seems the most sensible thing to do.

Not.

Sigh.

 

(135)2014 - a quilt -

This weekend I finally quilted one of the two finished quilt tops that have been haunting me for a while.  You must know the feeling... that little voice at the back of your mind that whispers 'quilt meeeee.... quilt meee... don't start something else QUILT MEEEEE...'

Ok, sometimes it's more of a scream, right?

And in fairness it's often the projects we procrastinate for ages that in the end give us the most satisfaction when finished AND they never take as long as we think they'd do.  Weird.  Or not.

Made using scraps, little by little, without an initial plan, without worrying about straight seams or wonkiness.  Embrace your wonkiness.  Wonkiness is good.  Trust me.

Quilted with straight(ish) lines, dense.  But not too dense.

The reverse is a vintage sheet.  Total contrast and I like that.  Nobody will see it and it's my private joke.

For the first time I've attached facing to the quilt instead of binding because I'd like to hang it somewhere someday..  I used this brilliant tutorial by Silly Boo Dilly.

And there you have it.  Another quilt for the pile.  Feels good.

One more to go... but it'll have to wait at the back of my mind for a little longer... things to do and people to see...

(122)2014 - Nani Iro table runner -

Use it or lose it.

I look around me in my little room (I pretentiously call it studio... But it's a little long room) and it's crammed full of stuff. Fabric, yarn, books and notions. Two sewing machines. Bits and bobs.

Too much stuff.

Too many unfulfilled plans and ideas... Too many things kept 'just in case' and 'one day I will'

So, use it or lose it.

 

Take this absolutely gorgeous piece of Nani Iro linen... I have a vague feeling that Mr M bought it during a trip to New York way back then, before Purl moved to their current location. It languished abandoned and bereft on my shelf all these years, squashed between a vintage sheet and a 'one day I'll make a Tova out of this' something or other.

 

Too small for a quilt, the pattern design to large for zippered pouches. I have a ton and a half of tote bags and although I toyed with the idea of a knitting needles roll, I like my needles in a big jar...

 

 

So it ended up a table runner, random checks quilting and a gorgeous Amy Butler 'love' on the back. All from the stash.

All in a day's work, whilst no 3 enjoyed his Fifa15 and Lilli the ferocious dog barked at squirrels. (Our neighbours love us, NOT).

Use it or lose it, peeps, use it or lose it.

Toodles.

 

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