Sheltered

This quilt is made up of raw edged improv log cabins with, mostly, animals, birds and flowers in the centres, sheltered.

Sheltered is a wall quilt, about 28" x 40", made from Umbrella Prints trimmings. Trimmings are random bits of the beautiful Umbrella Prints fabrics. This quilt used three packages. The background is Kona Coal and the binding is Ta Dot from Michael Miller.

I have entered it in the Umbrella Prints Trimmings2011 contest, the prizes include some of their fabric, which I am in love with. It would be fun to have more to make a bigger quilt. There are a lot of wonderful entries so far, just being part of such a talented group is pretty nice.

I showed you the back already, but here is it again. I am really happy with the quilting on this. The thread is a variegated gray so it shows up nicely and the colour changes really do make it more dynamic.



Best,

Leanne

Some progress

I have finished the Supernova QAL top. This pattern is rather amazing, each new person's approach to it just leads to another beautiful quilt. If you go over to the flickr group you can see for yourself.

Here is my plan for the back. Lee designed a really nice zig zag (go here to Freshly Pieced for her design) using some of the subunits but since I had an extra block done and some bits of fabrics left, I decided to use them instead. (Please excuse the wrinkles - I was in a rush this morning)



Now I am challenged to quilt it. Some people have done an all over pattern like a stipple or loopy loop and others are doing straight lines. I am inclined to straight lines that might emphasize the asterisk and other secondary straight line patterns but am not sure yet. Turning this quilt on pointe lets you notice some of the secondary designs better.



I am leaving you with these, Party Rings in the flesh, in Canada, courtesy of my friend who was recently in London. These sure do look like the giant dresden blocks for my Party Rings quilt, don't you think? Judith, quilt-namer extraordinaire, was right!



Best,

Leanne
ps. I have linked to WIP Wednesday where there is, as usual, spectacular work to see.

Quilting - by yourself, on your own sewing machine.

I bought a great quilting book with beautiful patterns from talented designers this weekend. I love the book but I was sad that the book clearly did not encourage quilting by yourself on your own sewing  machine, instead it encouraged hand quilting or using a professional longarm quilter (which are both good ideas too.)

Well, I think that quilting the quilt on your own sewing machine is great fun. I think that it is not as hard as we might believe and that a bit of practice and willingness to experiment, is all it takes. Also, finding the right approach, with the right level of detail for you, at that moment in time helps.  I am finding it a lot easier to do detailed designs, to take my time doing then, and to be happy with the results, when the quilt is not huge. I am also trying "quilt as you go" blocks to solve the difficulties in quilting a  big quilt.

The picture above is the back of my Trimmings 2011 quilt which I quilted this weekend. I hope to put on a sleeve and photograph the front this week. But the back really shows off the quilting. Up until now, I have not really liked the way the thread looks on the back of the quilt as much as the front when I machine quilt.  I am learning to go a bit slower and that really improves the look.

Here is a block with just straight lines, using a walking foot. Again, this is not hard, just takes practice and patience.



Here is a mug rug with a bit of both straight lines and free motion using a darning foot.



And bit of stipple, one of my favourites on the quilt, especially once it is washed.



There is nothing even close to perfect about my quilting. I have a long journey yet on this quilting road.  But I like it anyway, and it is fun to do.

So I hope you will give machine quilting, by yourself, on your machine, a try too.

Best,

Leanne
Here is the link to Fabric Tuesday, I hope you go and look at the other projects and ideas too.

Mostly cutting stuff up - a little quilting too.

I decided to set the small log cabin blocks I showed you in the last post on a Kona Coal background. I sewed them down like a ticker tape quilt, which is also like raw edge applique.

Now I am making pebbles/bubbles around them. The variegated gray thread is interesting on the dark background.


I am hopeful that this will turn into an interesting wall quilt. It is rather compelling, making these circles, I expect I will finish this part soon.

Other than this, I have been cutting up stuff:

•  I cut up the dark gray, the white back and the batting for this project.
•  I cut up the sashing and the small accent bits for my Supernova Quilt. 
• I cut up 8 more backs and batting for the Bloggers Block-a-palooza blocks. 
• I cut up 6 backs for my Lily's Quilts QAL giant dresdens.
• Today I bought new batting for the giant dresdens, so that now needs to be cut too.

I am not fond of the cutting part of quilting.

Soon all those projects will be in line for quilting too. Good thing I like the quilting part.

Oh, and after everyone was burned using the old oven mitts, I felt compelled to make something we actually needed.


I hope you find time for some relaxing over this Easter weekend.

Best,

Leanne
ps I have linked to {Sew} Modern Monday, there are more interesting projects over there, just click the button.

Log cabin blocks and beautiful fabric

This has been a work in progress for a couple of weeks. If you want to see each of these blocks more clearly, here is the link to a set on my flickr page. I received these packages of Trimmings from Umbrella Prints:



There is a competition. These bits are trimmed from large pieces of linen and organic hemp/cotton fabric that has been hand screen printed in Australia. You make things from the Trimmings and post them on the Umbrella Prints flickr group. (There are many wonderful projects already posted, you may want to have a look.)
The contest closes May 1 and then, after 10 finalists are picked, people vote the winner.

I have been making these log cabin blocks and now I have to decide how to finish them off. They are not big, laid out all together they cover the end of my sewing table, which is about 17"x 20".



I am thinking that I might give them each a bit of sashing and quilt them into a mini quilt, or I might attach them with raw edges to a background as I love their raw edge look. Or maybe another idea will develop, I have all of the long weekend to play with them.

I did buy one more package of bright pink and red bits, but I think I will make them, somehow, into a bag. I'll let you know.

I'm linking this to WIP Wednesday, the projects linked there are always worth a look.



Best,

Leanne