Another week, another quilt!

Remember that I had some left over strips from the last 'lattice' quilt?

Not very much fabric needed to be added in order to make this 'not quite a crumb quilt' quilt.  Some blocks are made with strips going in just one direction, others have several 'strip sets' added in order to make the required number of squares.

 Obviously I added the bright green spotty fabric again, for sashing, binding and a strip inserted in the backing fabric to make the required width.

 It was sandwiched with 'reclaimed' wadding - all those little bits that are left behind from other quilt trimmings.  About 30 pieces of batting were joined to get to the 48" square required.


Now on to the next pile of scraps from our charity evening!

Amongst the sewing time, there was also time for plenty of cake and fun as my DD1 celebrated her birthday.  My attempt at coins, as most of her presents were related to her newly burgeoning coin collection.

Lattice Complete!

 The disorder of last week has resolved into this completed quilt.

Perhaps not as orderly as it could be, but I decided that it would be silly to remake or replace blocks that didn't have central green spotted spines....

 Backed with some cheerful cupcake fabric that also contains that bright green.  The whole quilt is bright and fun.  I love how it turned out!

Perfect to complete on the spring equinox!

More ordering of disorder will happen this week.....

Finishes and Disorder!

 Another fabric bucket complete with mini Dresden means another gift completed for later in the year.

 My second Easter wall hanging also started and finished this week.  The pattern is by Ester Aliu, called Easter Blessings.  I've made it with fusible applique.  Plenty of yellows as that's a favourite colour of my SiL (as well as being a great spring colour!). 

 Actually, although I said that it was finished, as I'm looking at it, I realise that I'm not quite happy with it.  The basket fabric looks beautifully different up close like in this shot, but doesn't really have the definition that the bands and handle suggest that it should have.  I can either try and address it with Inktense pencils over the whole basket, or perhaps try to define the edge more with some orange thread quilting.

Sometimes you need to step back in order to see more clearly, don't you?

And the disorder?

This!

We had a fun quilt meeting on Monday, where Benta set us off on a string quilt evening, working in small teams to make blocks for charity quilts.

Although I took some fabric, I seem to have come home with extra, and most of my original fabrics in strings - see the disordered pile above!

These were the blocks that our team made.

I sorted the strings and will make more blocks in order to complete the quilt.  Fun times with fun fabrics!

Of course, despite starting with order, my sewing space quickly descended into disorder.  Its fun, but the process isn't neat!

I'm looking forward to completing the 20 blocks for this quilt top, and I'm thinking that there might be more strips than I need, so more blocks can be made.  Looking forward to seeing what comes out of the piles!

Two Types of Finish!

 The first is a happy finish - you know the sort, when you finish a quilt and it says what you want it to and your work isn't too bad either?  Great, isn't it?

This is the quillow front - before I attached it to the quilt, but after I'd quilted it.

 I used a mixture of quilting techniques (and thread colours) on it.  Patterns based on the piecing in the centre, some FMQ stipple, some stitch in the ditch (very unusual for me, but this really needed it) and some loop the loop to complete it.  There is also a personal message 'hidden' - which is always fun to do!

 The quilt front, quilted and bound

 The back - it was three almost equal stripes in order to get the 57" width that I needed.

 Final picture, with the quilt neatly folded into itself - aren't quillows great?  I'm hoping that when this is gifted it is welcomed for what it is.

 The second type of finish is much sadder - the finish of a fabric postcard swap that I've been part of for several years.  We don't really have enough active members to carry it on in the same form, so these are (most of) the cards for our 'Farewell fling'. 

This lovely one is from Alice - suitable fabric and additions on both the front and the back.

 This cutie is from Inge - so clever with the face in the window and the fun 'front garden'.

 A special bonus from Jacquie - a beautifully made farewell gift, in the form of a lovely folio.  Just gorgeous!

 This was her farewell postcard to me.  Clever use of a machine decorative stitch and variegated thread produced a super card.

 This bright number with precise machine stitching and hand highlighting is from Pauline.  The photo doesn't do justice to the neon thread used - it is amazing!

This was my offering - or at least a generic sample of the cards that I made.  I printed paper, used dilute PVA to adhere it to a fine calico, then used it as fabric.  I used both machine and hand stitching as well as Inktense pencils and some additional embellishments to decorate them for each person that I sent to, then stiffened with buckram and backed with plain fabric.

Finally, this fun card from Rosemary - love the use of sewing themed fabrics!

Thank you everyone for being great swappers - both in this swap and over the previous years.  I shall miss all our fabric fun and the lovely post that we've shared.