Quilting...

What quilter doesn't love a deadline in December?!

I'm at my machine again tonight, finishing the birthday quilt.

After this one, it's officially Christmas season for me and I'm going to stick with designing, catching up with the quilting magazines that keep arriving on my door (time flys when youre quilting!) and of course, designing some more quilts. ( I have a few new ones brewing that I have to get down).

At some point, I'll have to take a moment to consider doing the Christmas shopping too..

Finished

Progress....and now its finally finished (and just in the nick of time)

I really enjoyed turning my white stash into hand dyes...there's something really rewarding about creating your own design and using your own hand dyes.

The colours still don't show up in my pics as true to life, each time I post they look completely different.

Sometimes I think that in order to be a quilter you need to be a professional photographer and computer technician as well. I still fiddle with my camera settings, and I STILL havent designed a quilt on my EQ6 software, even though I've had it for years. Sometimes I fiddle around and print out frames, but I always end up just drawing my designs by hand. This can be very frustrating, especially as all this new software is supposed to make life easier and quicker...I guess I'm just stuck in my ways.

Finally finished, but the week is not over yet. I have that Friendship Group Quilt to Quilt tomorrow!

Ok, a little sneak peek

It's nearly time....here is a sneak peek of BLOCK 2,

arriving on the 15th (Australian time)

Do you have your next batch of reds ready? Remember, You only need scraps - don't go out and buy any!

It's nearly been a month and I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. I knew a free BOM was a great idea....but I wasn't expecting so much positive support and feedback! Nearly 10'000 downloads and counting...

Thank you to everyone who has decided to take part in this mystery. I have received some GREAT email pics of finished blocks - I'm in awe at how fast they started arriving in my in-box. It's good to know that I'm not the only one with a red stash!

Can't wait to see the next batch arrive!

Detour

What's December without a detour? I've put Dream Fountain on hold for today as I have Quilter's Friendship Group Duty ( I won't say which one as that may give it away)...I'm in charge of quilting a quilt that the group has made for an "0" birthday.

When lots of people are involved in a project, things don't always fit at the last lap, so I'm unpicking this quilt's ditch stitching tonight as it's uneven - it has too much ease. I have to admit, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I can't start quilting unless the top is as close to perfect as possible...I always tell my friends, once you start unpicking- it never ends! You see more and more mistakes that you want to correct. What starts with a small 'fix' ends up with 6 hours invested. There's just no easy way out, good quilting needs a good foundation.

It's times like these that I wish I had a long arm machine, because with domestic machine quilting you just can't get away with fudging it - even a little bit...

UFO Progress

It's a week for getting things done. Here is a pic of my nearly abandoned brights UFO. I've nearly finished piecing, all thats left to do is the sashing and border...and some serious quilting of course!

When I found this quilt, I couldn't remember why I'd started this one in the first place. But now, I like the green coming through the pinks.

I'm sure I'm not the only quilter out there who has made or started something...and then 're-discovered' it and wondered, 'what was I thinking here?'

I really need a throw quilt. Many of my quilts are on the walls and some of them are really precious so I dont throw them about or let my cat climb or claw them.
This one will be a 'useful' quilt.

Progress

I've been busy today, working towards getting this wall quilt finished before monday ( I have to set deadlines on myself or I never finish). It's a whimsical quilt and I've decided to call it Dream Fountain.

This is step two, and I'm loving the brights, it's a nice change and it's really rewarding to work with hand dyed fabric. That's also why I enjoy stencilling so much - the artistic control, down to the last detail.

I'm builing this quilt from the 'background' up. I've placed the squiggles in their spot, but I've got a long way to go yet.
I'm having difficulty photographing it so the hues are correct - it looks a bit too stark in this image - but you get the idea.