Final Aves Post - and a Happy New Year!

 So, I can't bring myself to write my final Aves post without showing the whole quilt again.

I'm sure that blocking it will reduce the wobbliness of the edges, but I'll have to wait for 63" square of little used carpet to open up for that to happen.....!

 As I thought I might, I went back and added a little more quilting to this roundel, which was a great improvement.

 I quilted meandering feathers in the border.  They improved (slightly!) as I got more used to them.

They show up best on the back, of course.  Many thanks to Kate Fielden for the backing - still working my way through textiles that she left with me before she moved to the other side of the world!

Finally, these were the threads that I used.  Variegated thread in the roundels, dark pink on the 'dark' diamond, dusk egg blue on the 'light' square, and grey and white on the back
depending on the front thread!

I loved sewing this project from start to finish!

New quilting will be happening in 2019, I know. I can hardly wait to get back to my machine.
 Best wishes to you all for a super happy, super healthy 2019.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, one and all!

I'm delighted to have my completed Aves Quilt up on the wall (behind a cupboard, so unfortunately the lower border won't be seen).

Shown here with our knitted nativity in front of it - knitted by my very talented late Mother-in-Law - part of our Christmas decorating every year.

Hope that you are enjoying your festive season too!

Aves Quilting Continues

 This week I've lightly quilted the remaining three roundels on my Aves quilt.

This is probably the least appealing - the 'fern' quilting pattern should be more filled out between the flying geese spokes, I now think.  I may go back and adjust this if I can think of a good way to do it without unpicking what is there (!).

  I was much happier with this roundel and the flames in the background in particular.

 Shown here in a little more detail

 Again, the background quilting on this one isn't brilliant either - although I liked the loopy design in the centre.

 I then choose to different fill patterns for the not two areas.  The lighter area has 'wind puffs' (or so I like to think of them - like the winds being puffed by cherubs on old maps....).  Quilted in a duck egg blue thread.

The darker area around the roundels has a smallish meander in dark pink thread.

I need to decide on a design for the outer flying geese border now.  I suspect that it will be freeform feathers - it would be a shame to have a quit named Aves and not to have any feathers on it at all!

I still don't know if I'll get it completed before Christmas, but I'm doing my best!

Aves Quilting - the start

 I've started quilting Aves!

This central roundel is the trickiest to reach, as there is more quilt to bunch up under the sewing machine arm here then anywhere else, of course.  It's made the lines more wobbly than I'd like.  Well, that and the fact that I couldn't manage a full curve on the main star arms in one 'swoop' as I had to reposition my hands each time....   The oyster shells between the points were much easier as my hands stayed in one place.

 I planned out this travelling stitch line for the flying geese and I'm planning to use the same design for all five roundels.

It's hard to come up with quilting that will enhance the piecing, not to either fight with it or dominate it.  I'm hoping that I can use fairly light quilting throughout.

 This was the second roundel that I tackled, and I'm happier with the result of this one.  Perhaps I just had 'starters nerves' on the first one!

 This shows the detail of how I quilted the circling swallows and the outer space.

This shows the flying geese loops again.

Now I need to consider how I'm going to quilt the next roundel that I choose.  It's not the fastest process, but it's one that I'm enjoying!

A Fast Finish!

 Another visit to the disappearing hour glass block.  I know that I promised a tutorial once before, but I didn't manage to make one this time either, as I wanted a fast finish!  I'm sure that I'll make another one soon and will take appropriate photos at that point.

This has finished at 4' x 6', and is a coverlet (two layers, in this case patchwork and fleece) rather than a quilt.  I keep buying fleece blankets as I love the idea of them, but I'm not sure that I'm awfully successful at turning them into coverlets yet!

Made from stash, with slightly less of the lighter green print than would have been ideal to make the correct number of blocks....

 My other finish this week was a crochet one.  This is the hat that I've made...

 ....with some embellishment bits from a book that I'd picked up in The Works for very little money (called 30 Minute Crochet).

Not yet stitched together, but this is what it will look like when I attach them to the hat.  I'm pleased with this little finish too.  Nice and warm!