Steaming along!

I am steaming along with my UFOs.  And the good thing is that it looks even better than it is, because most of them are nearly tops, so a border or two makes a finished top!  Why on earth didn't I finish these before?

Snails Trail is done.  The snails bit was done, and I just added a fun pirate border (snails and pirates go perfectly together!) and tick!  There are a couple of big mistakes on this, but I don't think they spoil the quilt -just give it individuality! 

Another finish is this scrappy log cabin.  A different arrangement of this perennial favourite. 

The Mariners Compass is layered top.  This took a little more work, but not much.  The centre was done and all the stars.  Lots of the flying geese were done, some were made from HSTs and some were made specially.  The corner stones were blocks left over from Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion.  Just the job! 

This black and white pinwheel has got two borders on it, both of which came from stash! 

And here are the lozenges appliquéd to a background.  Onward and upward! 

Going down the list

Now we're back from our holiday (lovely, by the way) I'm getting back on track with my UFOs.  

The scrappy log cabin is finished, and looking good.  I love the way the way the dark fabrics all present as dark, even though some of them aren't really very dark at all, and the same with the light ones.  The design fools your eyes, and uses up a lot of 1.5" strips! 

The Bonnie Hunter Monkeying Around is done too.  This has made a (small) dent in the 2" scrap box.  

A small detour was made for this snowball and 9-patch top.  I am demoing this design at the Big Textile Show next week, and so put together some blocks made at Knit and Stitch.  Another way of using up scraps, this time 2.5". 

The lozenges are ready to be appliquéd to a background.  

These stars I made from a Barbara Brackman series go well enough with the Mariners Compass class sample.  I must find a different way of adding a border than flying geese!  They are my go to pattern!  

On the end of the list is this beautiful quilt made by Piecemakers members during a Brown Bag challenge.  I provided the centre block, and then it went into a bag and different people took it and added borders.  The first had to have triangles, the second, appliqué, the third stars and the last squares.  I love it, but have decided the appliqué round will be even better with a few swags on it. I've got one on, and the rest will follow.  Thank you to all those who worked on mine.  If you want to see the other brown bag tops revealed, go to www.lutterworthpiecemakers.blogspot.com for a real treat! 

Last three blocks of BOM

I have been doing a Block of the Month with Sarah Fielke this year.  Sarah is an Australian quilter who loves appliqué and foundation piecing, and her use of novelty fabrics is a delight.  There have been more than one block per month, but even though I joined late, I've managed to catch up.  This month there have been the last three blocks.  Here are mine. 

The one on the right was pieced, the one at the bottom was foundation pieced and the appliqué one is my own design.  The final block was a a vase with sort of hexagon flowers in it, and it didn't appeal.  Since it's my quilt, I decided to do another appliqué block, and really enjoyed it.  

Can't wait for the joining up and border instructions, as I'm anxious to see how my colour choices end up. 

Holiday

PWe're having a little break in Lanzarote at the moment.  It's been a busy time for us recently, with the production of 'See How They Run' and other stuff, so we were ready for a bit of a chill out. 

Here I am relaxing by the pool.  Bliss. 

And here is my holiday sewing so far.  It's a Sarah Fielke design, and the funny purple thing in the middle will be a bird.  There are more leaves and two more flowers to add, apart from the rest of the bird, but I'm not in a rush to finish it.  See you all when we get back! 

Reality check

The postman rang the bell this morning with a lovely oblong package for me!  It was the book I ordered a few days ago.  Great excitement! 

I have followed Sujata Shah for a while, and love the way she uses colours and shapes, so decided to buy her book.  I know I'm not making any tops at the moment (or not supposed to be!) but I couldn't resist a bit of inspiration. But. 

My book collection is starting to get out of hand.  I do go back to certain books on a regular basis, but something has got to give.  So I have decided that it's got to be 'one book in, one book out'.  At least husband can't complain at that!  But which book goes out?  It's got to be one I haven't used for a while. 

And here it is.  Thus is one of the first quilt books I bought, and I made several of the designs in the book.  Lots of sentimental value here, but against the Sujata Shah, there's no contest.  Out with the old and in with the new! 

BOM

I have been doing a Block Of the Month this year.  It is designed by Sarah Fielke and called Happy Days.  Sarah has previously collaborated with Kathy Doughty on several books and I like her style, so I thought I'd have a go.  You don't get any fabric with this BOM, which is a relief!  I have plenty of fabric I need to use up, plus I like making quilts which are my choices, rather than someone else's.  It costs $60 for the year, which gets you a digital pattern and instructions, and a video showing you how to make the blocks every month.  That's about £3 a month, so I think it's good value. We're down to the last three blocks, so I laid all my blocks out to see if I needed to do some colour balancing. 

It was a very dreary day yesterday, so the photo is rather dark, but it was enough to show me what I had so far.  I think I need a bit more colour in it, rather than neutrals.  There is only one block with an orange background, so I need one more, and I think perhaps one with a turquoise background would be good.  

The last three blocks are foundation piecing, piecing and appliqué.  I'll do the foundation piecing one first as its my least favourite.  Off we go!