Harrison Rose finished

I started Harrison Rose in June 2015 using a lovely reproduction pattern by Dawn Collector with a Needle. With relatively little piecing on the top, and a thin batting (Quilters Dream Request cotton) the hand quilting has been a breeze.

It measures 69 inches square as I only made nine blocks (instead of sixteen) - a great size for hanging or lap.

Then I machine washed it (with colour catchers just in case), and blocked it on the floor to dry. No colour runs - the catchers were clean - phew! 

It dried very quickly after a good spin, and has a nice soft and crinkly feel - just how I like it - am so pleased.

So where will we live? 

Could be here...

Or here...

Settled on here...

.

With that finished it was time to get another quilt prepped for hand quilting. I decided on Wheat and Woods and I'm using the same cotton batting again. 

Meanwhile I have decided to finish my SVBAQ BOM - at just nine blocks. Somehow it's not thrilling me any more - possibly because of my colour choices. Click on the link to see lots of beautiful versions in progress - like Wendy's with a gorgeous cheddar background.

We finally had a day without wind so I whipped the blocks outside for a photo together - the flowers do a little to cheer up the winter garden.

I'm thinking they might look better together with some pieced sashing ...but am not sure? I'll let them sit for a while hoping inspiration strikes. 

The Chapman Coverlet is an 1829 coverlet in the collection of the V&A museum in London. It has been on my "to do" list for a very long time. Finding plastic templates available from Susan Smith decided me - time to take it on! I've still not put away all the fabrics pulled for my Benjamin Biggs quilt top (waiting in the quilting queue) so am using the same reds and greens, and adding black, cheddar and yellows. The centre will be constructed around a red floral piece that has been in the stash a few years waiting for "the right moment".

I found that needleturn applique on the little 2 inch squares somehow aggravated the arthritis pain in my hands - the tight gripping of such small pieces perhaps. So I cut some card templates for the applique pieces and adapted the foil and iron method. 

It works beautifully! more time spent on prep but the applique is quick and requires less precision than needleturn, so is easier on the hands. 

 I found the perfect box to store my squares - can you believe it?! A couple of years ago I got the gift of a china mug from the V&A museum - in a presentation box. The box was too lovely to throw away...

If anyone's read this far -  well done! I've been a bad blogger and that's a two month round up. Must try to blog better...

A stitching month in pictures

How's this for a lazy quick progress post...

SVBAQ Bouquet block

Sarah Fielke BOM - hand pieced

Sarah Fielke BOM

Sarah Fielke BOM

needle turn with back basting prep

Harrison Rose hand quilting 

...and a Mother's Day gift that has drawn me back to this table far too often - so addictive! 

Busy working on the learning curve

This month's SVBAQ block is the Tulip A-5

Not too tricky to applique and I love the pattern.

It set me thinking about the many skills involved in making quilts and the very many different ways we make them. Many learning curves that look a bit like this graph. The plateau is where we'd like to be - that comfortable spot at the top. Doesn't mean we are 'the best in the business' - just at our own 'happy' point.

(image borrowed from mind-muffins blogspot)

I'm on a comfortable plateau with hand applique - not perfect, but good enough to make it a happy process. Totally addicted to the process actually ! 

English Paper piecing (EPP) is another technique I love - never really had a 'slow beginning' phase - just charged straight on up that slope as the whole process suited me so well. My first project was the queen sized Cream Tea in 2011 (pictured in my Header). 

And hand quilting? Well I had a very, very 'slow beginning' phase that lasted about 20 years LOL!  and then last year I rediscovered it with new tools, different technique and hit the 'steep acceleration' stage in a big way. I'm now thinking I may have reached my 'plateau' and am totally addicted to that process too. It's not a judgeworthy plateau but it is my happy point.

We all have our own skills and different 'happy points' don't we?

As I mentioned in January , this year I'm hoping to hit that learning slope with American piecing ( as distinct from EPP or Foundation Paper piecing).  There are huge gaps in my knowledge in this area and that is why I signed up to Sarah Fielke's BOM. 

So - how's it going? Definitely on the 'slow beginning' phase but enjoying it. 

Sarah gave us a bonus video on making a block book - great idea and great tutorial. First to make a design to decorate the front of my book. I went with a combination of EPP, applique and quilting - staying in the comfort zone here :) 

And here's my book:

While I was motivated I also made a portable block pad too - to make sure my block pieces stay in the correct places while stitching. It is just a piece of strong cardboard and scraps of batting stuck on the front but very useful now:

Here it is in action with the 12 inch Churn dash block - first month's pattern pieces cut out (with great care) and laid out ready to stitch.

I decided to try hand piecing but how to mark the seams for accuracy? Rummaging in a drawer I found a handy block tool that seemed made for the job - don't know how many years this has been lurking in there LOL! It allows clear dots to be marked at corners with 1/4 inch allowance. Then I penciled in seam lines too - taking no chances here. The prep was slow but I think it paid off as the blocks came together quite well.

First month's work - a 12 inch Churn dash and two 6 inch stars - not bad for the Beginners slope?

I'm using a combination of solids, prints, toiles and some linen for texture. They're mostly from the stash but the beautiful Le Marais toile is a new addition. My colour theme is what you might call 'Antique English' - based on a Pinterest session where I pinned pictures of antique English quilts (with the look I liked) on a board. Here is a sample screenshot of my pinning.

Quilting on my Civil War Bride quilt is going surprisingly quickly - now I'm doing the background. Thanks so much for all your thoughts on what might work for the background fill. I decided a half inch cross hatch would be good. But when I started it (just a few diagonal lines) I loved the look of that and left it there! So the background to all the  blocks is now finished - 1/2 inch diagonal lines. And I am working on a double parallel line in the border. 

border quilting 

There are some larger applique pieces that need a little extra quilting too. I tried some stippling on a table cloth - just single stitches placed at random and carried through the layers:

...and some 1/4 inch parallel lines on a vase : 

...and this vase is about to get some curving lines. See the lines marked with the hera marker?

Phew - sorry for the long waffling blog post. Might be overcompensating for tiny snapshots on Instagram! 

Have a good stitching week.

Star in the East

Just because I'm trying to be a better quilting-person (at least at the beginning of the year haha!) and avoid the last minute rush for my BOM deadlines ...here is this month's Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album block - Star in the East.

I found the applique less fiddly than the last block but I'm not sure that my making the yellow centre in two strips was a great idea. It has given it a bit of a 'bumpy bottom' in the middle there -  with all the layers over the background join. Ho hum - I wanted to fussy cut that yellow fabric and it fitted best as two strips to make the cross.

Benjamin Biggs : first border completed

The size adjustments I made to the border (last post) seem to have worked - so far so good.

By the way I am now on Instagram (everystitchpics) and you may see more process photos there (see top of Blog side bar). Instagram is so, so quick to update! My IG posts reveals a bad case of 'Quilters ADD' - working on a different project almost every day! Hmm, how many will I finish this year at this rate?

A new feature on my blog - nifty page tabs:

I quite often need to refer back to previous quilts and photos and find it quite cumbersome to find the saved folders or posts. So I have made some pages on the Blog with a summary of quilts completed each year. The tabs to click on are just below my blog header.  It only took half a day to sort that lot - gasp.

My quilting Finish Rate has slowed down since I got back to hand quilting last year! I'm still so glad I did but there could be a traffic jam in the quilting queue in the not too distant future :)

Mountain Laurel

Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album 12 inch quilt block  - just finished in time (phew) for the mid month link up here.  I'm glad those fiddly little stems are done but isn't it a pretty block pattern? See the link for lots of other finished blocks. 

I finished piecing (by EPP) the half square triangles for Harrison Rose, stitched them into strips and attached them to the quilt top. But strange things have happened because my border is quite different from the pattern...compare the corners!

This is the photo on the front of the pattern packet:

And this is my top:

You probably had it worked out straight away but it puzzled me for a while. The HST's on the side strips are heading in the opposite direction from the top and bottom strips - and hence the corner placement is unbalanced on two corners. I undid just the corner blocks and turned them this way and that, but this was the best looking solution - short of re-piecing two borders (which was not happening) .

Ho hum - I can live with it but I expect it will be a 'talking point' amongst my non-quilting family - and the very first thing they'll notice.

And it proves what I have always said - piecing is not my strong point. Give me applique any day...

It's a busy time with Christmas getting close but one thing I always make time for is bringing hydrangeas in from the garden - such a rewarding plant and often associated with Christmas in Australia. 

Here's a special collage for Wendy - who sent me some Hollyhock seeds months and months ago. I threw them around in the garden and quite a few germinated. It has been a long growing journey and they are now taller than me and finally have started flowering - just in time for Christmas. They are superb Wendy - thanks so much! 

I know there is nothing like the magic of a white Christmas but an Aussie Christmas in the garden (preferably in the shade) can be pretty special too. Have a wonderful Christmas wherever you will be!