Ta Da! Kaleidoscope

Finally I have a chance to show off Kaleidoscope (that is what I named the kaleidoscope quilt, not that original I know). I am sending it to my nephew next week for his birthday and just because I like him - he is away from home at University and I thought it might be nice to have a cuddly blanket for late night studying.



Thank you everyone for taking the time to share your ideas and thoughts on the best binding and quilting for this quilt (you can read my request for help here).

In the end I chose the grey for the binding. I pinned on each of the three binding choices, and I looked at them for a while. I carefully thought about each commenter's ideas and logic (both here and on flickr). I decided against either aqua or chartreuse because the binding in those colours allowed the matching colour to dominate the quilt and less circles would form as you looked at it.



I did not add any additional quilting. These pictures are all after washing, the quilt behaves nicely with just the outlining of the points and not the squares. It is very soft too.



Here is the back. These are two prints by Tina Givens from her line called Pernilla's Journey. You will see that I forgot to flip the elephants in that top square like I flipped the waterlily print, oh well.



One last view, I love to look long enough to see the small and then larger and larger circles that form in spite of the fact that every piece is cut straight. This quilt is 60" x 72" and made of various cotton prints that I had bits and pieces of in my cupboard - I think it even qualifies as scrappy.

I started this quilt about a year ago (edited to add, it was actually the beginning of June, so not a full year), as part of Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL. The QAL was very fun and many beautiful quilts can be viewed on flickr here.

Unfortunately, I did not finish with my group. So, this is now my second finish for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-a-long.

I went to exercise yesterday and am planning to go tomorrow - I have to be serious about it now, I am going to be walking about London for just over a week this spring, and I need to get in shape (and lose a million pounds too, but it all sounds so negative when you think of it that way). My exercise buddy will be pleased, I hope.

I hope you enjoy your day, it is bright and sunny here and I plan to do a little sewing among the errands.

I have linked this finish up to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations' {Sew} Modern Monday. There are wonderful projects there, I hope you go and have a look.

Edited to add: I am linking this post up with Rhonda from Quilter in the Gaps FAL First Quarter Report. My post with my First Quarter FAL goals is here. 
Best,

Leanne

What is progressing? It's Wednesday

My progress in this last week has been in bees and swaps. That red wonky star is my prototype block for my month as queen bee in the Twelve Month Bee - wonky stars and ROYGBIV quilts make me happy. Each person got one colour of fabrics with the charcoal, and they can make me stars of any size from 16" square downwards. I can't wait to see what they come up with.



This group of stunning blocks are the blocks from two rounds of the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. The current round has just gotten underway, so in a couple of months I will have some more to add. Clearly bees can lead to wonderful results.



I finally settled on a palette and group of fabrics for the Love of Solids [a modern swap] Round 2. I am going to make a sewing machine cover, with closed sides even. Wish me luck, I will be making it up as I go but I think it will be fun. I am going to stop by my LQS for some really thin batting, as I want to quilt it but I don't want it to become too bulky at the seams. I might have to come up with a trick or two for those seams.



It seems I cannot resist showing off Shine again, which I finished on Sunday. This is for my partner in the Fab Little Quilt Swap.



And I could not resist joining in for DQS12. There are many new players this time and it should be interesting. So another mosaic was in order, they take me a while because there are just so many beautiful quilts to look at from the online quilting community.

Oh, and yesterday I was in a slump at work and needed cheering. It seems that I used to have lot of airline points - not so much anymore, now I've got a ticket, and I have this ticket too (which I had bought earlier - just in case). I am so excited to be planning a week in London this spring to be a total tourist and meet some of my favourite quilting friends. Next is to find a hotel (recommendations?) and make some plans.

There is a lot more I am working on: my Mouthy Stitches pouch, cutting fabrics for Sarah at Narcoleptic in the Cupboard's Stained QAL, and some finishes for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long. And there is another inspiration or two to deal with. I am sure there is more but it is time to get back to the work that pays for all those tickets and fabric too.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced and with my Canadian friends at The Needle and Thread Network. If you have time, go and check out the wonderful work there.

Best,

Leanne

PS, I hear the F.U.N.C. might be in exotic Morocco - I wonder if the rumor is true?

Shine

This is Shine. It is a mini quilt which is about 15.5" square. It is made of assorted yellow, orange and red cottons with a Kona Charcoal background, binding and back. By the way, this picture is the best depiction of the actual charcoal colour.

Most of the quilting is done with darker grey thread by machine. There is a bit of red thread which circles the inner red pieced centre.



The center was made from 49 pieced squares finishing at 1/2" squares. I cut the pieced squares into a 3.5" circle and appliqued it into the paper pieced ring so the centre finishes at about 3" in diameter.

For the paper pieced ring of pointy points, I used the paper pieced template from a pattern called Bubble Gum Burst by Barbara Barber from a book I have called The Expert's Guide to Foundation Piecing.



Once the inner part was flattened (which proved to be a challenge, check out my progress post here) I cut the background in one continuous piece and cut out the inner circle. The inner ring was pieced into the background as one continuous piece.



The quilting was fun. I tried a few different quilting ideas for the centre, but in the end, decided to circle the centre piece twice and leave the patchwork to stand alone.



It took me longer than I expected to decide on the name. My inspiration for this little quilt was not connected to a word like Shattered was. This one came from a desire to evoke energy with the points.



See, here it is in the sun. I hope I have captured a small bit of that in the quilt.

This quilt is for my partner in the Fab Little Quilt Swap.

It seems I might be working in a bit of a series now - who knew.

Monday: I'm adding a link to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations' {Sew} Modern Monday. You might want to head over to see the other wonderful finishes.

Tuesday: I am adding a link to Heather and Megan over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday. There are lovely projects on the go there too. (And I promise to write something new for tomorrow, honest.)


Best,

Leanne

Shattered - again - it gets around.

Thank you to Megan and the rest of the crew over at Generation Q Magazine for featuring Shattered as  the Quilt of the Week in their Saturday Special feature. She said the nicest things about this little quilt, it is so cool that other people like this one as much as I do.

 

I'm hoping to take some photos later today while the sun is up so I can show you the finished Kaleidoscope quilt, stay tuned.

Best,

Leanne

January, the long dark month is done

If one has past lives, in my last one I was a bear. I bulk up in the fall and want to sleep all through January - which works very well if you are a bear, but not so much for a human.

This January, I had some encouragement to stay awake after dark, and it is dark here by 4:30pm - ish, so a lot of the day is lost if you go to sleep once the sun is down.

First, Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-a-long has been spurring me to finish last years  favourite projects. I have finished the quilt for my bed, I am making great progress on the Mystery QAL quilt and I have another finish to show off later this week.

Next, the Tangerine Tango Challenge and inspiration led to Shattered. And then there are quilting bees and swaps which have all been keeping me busy. Finally, I have been finishing some knitting off.

As we move into February, there will be more sunlight, which is good as there is lots more quilting planned for me. And it is time for some exercise too, my exercise buddy is soon going to disown me.

Please have a look at everyone's January projects over at Lily's Quilts where Lynne is hosting Fresh Sewing Day.