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.

New Designs

Now that I've satisfied my red craving with my monthly BOM, I've been struck with inspiration. It's not like I don't have a million other things to do....but when you feel you must....so for the last few days I've been hand dying a pallette of vivid hues

I've been inspired by a walk through the garden again....(nature can't get it wrong when it comes to matching colours)

Green is my other favourite colour (my quilts are like my wardrobe, I love wearing Reds, Oranges and Greens - not all at once). I'm still working hard at getting to love Blue a little better, I know it's classic, but often I don't get past navy. I just need to appreciate it in nature somewhere to apply it to a quilt design.

Christmas is nearly upon us, so before I definitely didn't have a spare day to dye, I got stuck in, and I'm now in respite from a few days of non stop procion shifts.

Above is a pic from some of my new pallette. The grey didnt show up well in the photo, but it's a greeny grey and it makes the greens and oranges look alive. I'm really inspired with this design at the moment and think I will have to finish it before Christmas. Or it might become another UFO and sit on the shelf for years before I discover it again!

Colour Palette

Here is my latest inspiration, a passionfruit flower; I love this colour combination. I'm drawing up a design called Dream Fountain and these are the colours that have moved me towards blues and yellows.

Another Red Moment

Oh Apple !

I was sent this photo by a fellow RED admirer. What a bough.

Esther's Occassional Quote for the Day