completion

This play mat for my granddaughter isn't a fancy quilt. But I'm sharing it with you because it's finished and it's the first thing I've made in ages. I whipped up the whole thing in a day - using what I had. The top is made from left-overs from a giant duvee cover that I cut down to fit. The backing and binding is a purple cotton that I'd had in the cupboard for years just waiting for the right moment. And the wadding is a quilted mattress protector - doubled for extra thickness. Everything is machined and simply quilted "in the ditch". And I rounded the corners so I wouldn't have to mitre. (Why doesn't everyone make quilts with rounded corners? It's so much easier). But the binding needed to be folded over and hand stitched on the back. For months I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Finally I worked on it while watching the semifinals of the ICC cricket world cup (New Zealand vs South Africa) on television. It was such a thrill. New Zealand won. And I finished the quilt. Mexican wave!

Reading: French milk by Lucy Knisley and Not my father's son by Alan Cumming
Viewing: Billy Apple: the artist has to live like everybody else showing at the Auckland Art Gallery

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?

Pat and the gentle arts

My darling Pat died last month. He was almost 18. He was such an affectionate cat and I miss him terribly. Just thinking about him makes me weepy.

from 'The gentle art of domesticity' by Jane Brocket

from 'The gentle art of knitting' by Jane Brocket

So... I have let myself become absorbed in Jane Brocket's books:

• The gentle art of domesticity
• The gentle art of quiltmaking and
  
• The gentle art of knitting

I can't recommend these books enough. Not only are the photos beautiful and the projects desirable but her writing is inspirational. And I love her 'give-it-a-go' attitude.
I want to buy and possess all of her books, give up work and embrace domesticity.
See more of Jane Brocket here.

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.