Nan's Quilt

Now I remember why I have only finished one bed size quilt ever, you see the trouble is my house is just so tiny it's difficult to find the space to lay everything out.

Still I'm getting there. I've been trying desperately to think of a way that I can get a decent picture showing the whole thing but I just can't think of a way. So here is my top pegged out on the line. It doesn't show the whole thing but it gives you the idea.

This is such a quick and easy top to put together. There is one piece of fabric out of the 20 that I picked that I'm not altogether happy with but I really don't have time to change it so it will have to stay and grow on me!

Now on to the quilting. It's going to have to be something quick and easy. I'm going to see my Gran on Saturday which will probably be the last time I see her before Christmas so it has to be done by then. Wish me luck!

Quiltmania and Mission Impossible?

On a whim I purchased this magazine yesterday. I have bought a few issues in the past and have always enjoyed them but it's not one that I go out of the way to purchase regularly. There are some lovely patterns in this issue and as we are fast approaching December my mind is already wandering on to thoughts for my stitching goals next year.

In particular I really like this pattern. It's called Dalarna, designed by Mariet Soethout-Mous. I'm not sure how well it shows in this scanned picture. In my head I can see this made in stripes of rainbow colours rather than the reds and browns shown here. I think I will make this my big project for 2009. There are a total of 192 6 inch blocks to make so it may take me a while! Hopefully by making it nice and colourful it will keep me interested while making so many blocks!

In the meantime I have another project in mind to help me bust some stash. I found this wonderful tutorial via a link on Vicki's blog. I have been wanting to make my Gran a quilt for a while and being the mad thing that I am I have decided that this one might be straight forward enough to make as a Christmas pressie. Given the fact that I don't have a whole lot of free time I might be pushing it but I think the top will go together quickly enough it's the quilting part that worries me!I already have 20 FQ's pulled from my stash so am ready to go. I will be locking myself in the sewing room this weekend in the hopes of getting the top made by the end of Sunday, wish me luck! Before I can get anywhere though I have to clear this mess off the table so I have somewhere to cut my fabrics!

Workshop with Katharine Guerrier

Well it seems like it's been ages since I did any sewing and what better way to get the creative juices flowing than to take a workshop. So today I went to Country Threads in Bath to take a postcard and mini art quilt workshop with Katharine Gurerier.

Katharine was a great teacher and the class was very enjoyable. I know some of you might be thinking why on earth would I be taking a postcard class but really I was attracted to the lovely samples that were displayed in the shop advertising the class. I'm not particularly good when it come to using bold blocks of colour with abstract shape and line which is what I really wanted to take the class for.

Katharine had some great samples to share at the class so there was plenty of inspiration to be had. I decided to steer away from postcards and instead spent the day making my first mini art quilt. Here it is.
Not bad for a first attempt. It's about 13" x 13" It was great fun choosing all the bright fabrics and trying to match them all up together, and then usging lots of stitching variation to quilt the piece at the end.

Katharine has a book coming out later in the year dedicate to her mini art quilts and postcards and I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of some of the work that will be going into it. Hopefully she will keep in touch and let me know just as soon as it is published!

Here's one I made earlier ....

I just heard from Vi that the meme item I sent has arrived so I can now safely share a picture of what I made without spoiling the surprise.

I love cathedral windows so I decided to make something practical and went with a needlecase. I used a brown fossil fern fabric to create the squares and some gold organza in the windows. To finish it off I added some beads and attached some beautiful wrapped cord that Anna sent me.

I am really pleased with the way it turned out and hope to find some time to make something similar for myself in the not too distant future.

I have one more meme item to make for Ali, if you are out there Ali I haven't forgotten you and will send something soon. It will be totally different to this so I'm not spoiling any surprises!