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Sunday 21 June 2015

Happy Houses

I began making some of these cute little houses a couple of months ago. I said at the time how addictive they are. Well I have paused for the moment, and done the quilting on them too. I was keen to do the Baptist fan pattern I had seen on Bonnie Hunter's quilt so I explored how others had done the pattern free-motion quilting.
I saw one where a very specific ruler had been used, but not having one of those, thought I'd improvise. They say 'necessity is the mother of invention', well I figured a dinner plate, slightly smaller dinner plate, bread and butter plate and dessert bowl were probably the right sizes for the fans I wanted to create. So I just drew around them with a dissolvable pen and set to quilting. I don't have a long arm, just my Janome 1600P QC - it only does straight sewing, not even zig zag. 

The result may not be perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it. And the people to whom I gave it today were also quite thrilled to receive it - so win, win!


Our weather has been quite wild 'down under' so I was fortunate to grab a couple of shots before the rain came down very heavily and the wind really picked up. This is the reverse which may not be wonderfully clear, but you get the idea. 
So as I continue to make progress on my list, I'm down to 9 now, 2 of which are sandwiched, one even begun quilting, 2 tops are completed so I guess that makes it 5 still needing some piecing to complete. Variety is good and certainly keeps me busy. 
Until next time, 
Lynn

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Saturday 13 June 2015

A Dozen is Enough

I finally decided to write a list of what quilts I currently have on the go - before I start yet another one. It was a little scary to realize I had twelve, yes twelve works in progress. One had been a flimsy for quite a while (maybe a year?) another was a small wall hanging that was all ready to be quilted. Yet 2 others were almost completed flimsies and so it went. So what was preventing me from completing these pieces and freeing myself to begin new exciting ones? Probably just the routines of life and the focus and will to begin and tick one off.
So I did, here it is:
It's a very simple quilt, just squares and sashings, but I really like how the lemon makes it pop. And the quilting was fun - why had I put it off for so long? I did some free-motion quilting, a plain 'wiggle' in the coloured strips and some leaves in the white sashings. I don't have a long arm, just a Janome 1600QP but it does a good job!

This is the backing, a simple print for this baby quilt. And below, a closer up of some of the quilting. 

So, feel all conquering having begun the list I moved on to number 2! The wall hanging below: 
 This one is 'in situ' in the bedroom where it matches a kit I bought and made up a while ago, 'Summer in the Hamptons'. This fabric was left over and I didn't want it to go to waste just in bits in other quilts, so the wall hanging was created.
 The photos above and below highlight the swirling quilting I did al over, which matches the bed quilt as well - that was a bit too large (Queen size) for me and is the last quilt I had professionally done by someone else.
So now, having ticked 2 off my list, I'm also part way through quilting 2 more! Hope to have photos of them in the next few weeks. My goal now is to not have more than 10 on the go, hopefully less, but then some piecing is just calling to me. 

Until next time, 
Lynn
Linking up to: Confessions of a Fabric Addict