quilts

Look at these amazing quilts. They're from this book - Unconventional & unexpected : American quilts below the radar 1950-2000 by Roderick Kiracofe.
My favourite is the spotted quilt. It's actually covered in tiny pompoms used to tie all the layers of the quilt together.
There are so many quilts in this book - 150 or so - and they are all wonderful.

geometry

Here are some of my favourite quilts from my currently favourite book Gee's Bend: the architecture of the quilt.
You can see more beautiful quilts from the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama if you follow this link to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

I'd also like to share with you this video for making multiple pom-poms. I haven't tried this method yet but I think it has possibilities.

Reading When will there be good news? by Kate Atkinson

Ta-dah!

Here is the cot quilt - finished! I'm pleased with it. It has lots of straight rows of hand quilting so I got in plenty of practice. It probably could've benefited from a contrasting coloured thread for the quilting but I wasn't confident that my stitches were up to such scrutiny. It feels great to have finished such a big, time-consuming project. I started this in May.

I like this simple style of quilt. I'm wondering about making one with no piecing at all - perhaps using a solid on one side and a patterned fabric on the other. And maybe using a bobble trim instead of binding - a bit like this. So many possibilities ...

Quilt update

My good intentions and self-imposed quilting schedule flew out the window almost as soon as I started. But I've completed 24 out of the 40 rows of hand quilting required for the quilt I started in May. So I'm 60% done!

I have till October (baby's due date) to get it finished so I still have time.
I've calculated I need to complete at least two rows of quilting a week to meet the deadline. This doesn't sound like a lot - and it isn't - except I'm slow and time starved. But determined.

A bit like Mr Mingus who sits on the quilt at every opportunity. What is it with cats and quilts?

Hello again!

It's been such a long time since I posted. Such a long time since I made anything. And I don't know why. Maybe because we had such a lovely long summer. Maybe because I've been focused on my photo blog.

But I'm back with a new project - another quilt. When I made my first quilt I couldn't work out how to do a proper quilting stitch and ended up using a running stitch instead. The end result was ok but it made me realise I needed someone to show me how to quilt. So I signed up for a lesson at Patchwork Passion. It was fun and I learnt heaps of useful things about quilting.

My new quilt is a variation on the "spumoni stripe quilt" in Jenny Ryan's book Sew darn cute. It's a simple quilt that will give me lots of opportunity to practice straight lines of hand quilting.

The quilt, peonies and Wellington

The quilt is finished! I'm pleased with the result - especially the green binding. I'd like to say something profound along the lines of what-I-learned-from-quilting but, really, I just went through the steps and got to the end. Although I did learn that mistakes don't matter and actually add to the quilt's handmade charm. And I admit I wasn't too taken with this project at the beginning but now I find myself thinking about my next quilt...

I'm off to Wellington tomorrow to meet Baxter - the quilt giftee.

And here are some peonies - probably the blousiest flowers of all - but so beautiful.

Craft = process

I've wanted to make a quilt for years and now that I've started one I'm not sure if I like the process. And it's all about the process! First, there was the nightmare of choosing the fabrics. This sounds like it would be fun but really...Then there's the frustration of accurately cutting out all the patchwork bits. Apparently it's easier if you use a rotary cutter but they cost $$$$ so scissors had to do. I snipped away hoping that a bit of wonkiness would add to the quilt's handcrafted charm. Anyway, I've made good progress and finished the top. Hoorah!


And, actually, I'm quite pleased with it. However, I’m now up to the tricky bit – putting all the layers together and doing the quilting. By hand. Why did I take this on? So it’s off to the specialist quilt shop this weekend to get more stuff - quilters needles and thread and hoop. I’ve been freaking out about how long it’s taking. Baby is due Nov 15. I should have it finished by then, right?

Anyway… Enough wingeing from me. How’s this for sweaters of desire from luflux? Time to finish that quilt and get out the knitting needles. Grrrr.

I'm back

Had a fabulous trip. This is my favourite photo - a highland terrier - taken in Edinburgh. You can see other photos here, if you want.

Didn’t make it to either of the London craft fairs. When you live in a city with a rubbish public transport system, you assume that every other city is efficient – that you can get on the tube and zap across London in next to no time. I’d forgotten that, in fact, it can takes ages. We landed at Heathrow and the day was all but over by the time we got to our friends in Wimbledon.

Since I’ve been back I’ve turned into a domestic goddess - of sorts. I even cleaned the fridge! Now I’m about to begin making my very first quilt - for a friend’s first grandchild due in November. It’s a simple beginners quilt taken from 'Quilts, baby!' And here are my fabrics – all washed and ready to cut. Wooo.