Hope you have all had yourselves a very merry little Christmas and are now recovering relaxing? I've had a bit of a posting break due to much 'busyness'. You all know the usual craziness of Xmas preparations and of course the Xmas gatherings - loved it all! There has also been the excitement of a daughter's Uni graduation and a son moving out of college into his first share house.
And what about quilting??
I never did get those foundation-pieced Xmas cards done (mentioned last post) - maybe next year...
But I did finish a gift project - a table runner (of my design):
The fabrics are a mixture of shot cottons, linen, plains and homespun. I cut them into squares and made half-square triangles by this method (great tutorial) and then chain pieced them together - very simple construction.
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| Strings of chain piecing! |
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| Auditioning blocks ready to sew together in rows |
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| Straight line machine quilting with the walking foot |
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| Needleturn applique corner shapes |
Here is the top so far:
And now am working on a surrounding border. I made a lot of paper templates for the diamond and triangle shapes and am constructing it by the EPP method.
Nothing new to show on my Chintz Medallion at the moment.
But I have joined a monthly local quilt class - very excited to discover this class being held in a wool shop in town. It's a very open class - work on what you want - so I decided to focus on a machine-pieced project in the class - a wedding gift for a niece's September 2014 wedding. My machine piecing skills need fine tuning (to put it kindly) so this will be good work on under the expert supervision of teacher Ruth van Haeff ! Here are some blocks made so far:
The pattern I am using is called ' Double X' and it is in Two-color quilts by Nancy J Martin.
More news - A big thanks to Meredithe from Pomegranate and Chintz for a lovely giveaway win. Very generous of you Meredithe - I love it!
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| Sweetly wrapped |
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| Inside was this lovely acrylic template set - to make a 13" block |
I can see lots of potential uses for this set . The block looks wonderful in the repro fabrics photographed on the pack. But I think it would make a great two-colour quilt too....
To finish a long post - here's me and my daughter at her graduation. First Class Honours in Law - am so proud of her.
Happy New Year!
Congratulations to your daughter! What an accomplishment! I love the blue and white blocks - they will make a beautiful quilt and a lovely gift. The table runner turned out beautifully - your design is classic. I like the bit of applique in those corner blocks - so interesting to follow your progress with that project. May there be many happy hours of stitching in 2014 :0)
ReplyDeleteWow Hilda your daughter is gorgeous! And so clever too - congratulations to you all.
ReplyDeleteWhat an achievement for your daughter and I can only imagine how proud you are.
ReplyDeleteYour machine skills look absolutely fine to me . Enjoy your new class.
Congratulations to your daughter....I'm sure it was a special celebration. Lovely runner, clean and simple.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your daughter on graduating with First Class Honours! Well done!
ReplyDeleteSimon is coming along beautifully. I love the fabrics you are using; they really are lovely and add depth and character to the quilt. I love the little fussy cut bee in the border square. The Simon fabrics are so different from the table runner which I also love. The colours are very soft an clean!
Happy New Year to you and yours Hilda!
Oh what a glorious morning I have had reading and re-reading your blog! I discovered it several days ago but just this morning have had time with a cup of coffee to just enjoy the "eye candy." I soooo love EPP, Petra Prins, Di Ford, Dutch chintz etc. and it is not at all popular here yet......but then I live very remotely in the Pacific NW USA near the borders of Canada and Idaho/Washington state. Closest shopping is at least 50 miles and nothing like those patterns etc. is available. I do have plenty of moose, elk, cougars, snow....and inspiration on the internet. Thank you so much for your hard work at sharing your talents with those of us who can only enjoy it from afar.
ReplyDeleteSo much fun stuff in this post! Congrats to your daughter, sure sounds like a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving your projects and look forward to seeing the blues and white wedding quilt come together. The blocks look great to me!
Simon, is really coming along. Love those corners! Your blue and white blocks look perfect. I have the same need to work on my piecing. I get rushed and don't always take the time to match points and press properly. It is good to have someone looking over your shoulder, and tips are always welcome. You must be so proud of your daughter! Looking forward to see your projects as you make progress!
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy coming to your blog to check out your latest work! Simon is looking incredible! Congrats to your daughter.:)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you and your daughter! I can imagine how proud you are.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your daughter, you must be so proud of her! Love the runner, your machine piecing looks perfect to me - thanks for the link, exactly what I need for an AWS block that has some complicated sizing. Simon continues to amaze.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!!!!
So happy for your daughter, you are both very beautiful, accomplished women :). The projects are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your daughter!! First class honours is quite an achievement!! Your table runner is wonderful and elegant, the colours are so fresh but earthy and suit the simplicity of the pattern perfectly.
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