A Blues Weekend

After much procrastination I got stuck into the back of my husband's recycled shirt quilt.

This is the front, completed months ago.

 And here is the back so far.

The problem is that I like the back as it is, so I am contemplating making it into a new quilt.

The second problem with it is that if I keep it as a back for the original quilt, I will have to make it into a rectangle and I am not sure how I will add to it.

I guess that means another few months of thinking ahead of me!

Another job done this weekend has the been the final stitching of the binding onto the Parson Gray Quilt I made ages ago.

I loved the Denyse Schmidt backing, I used it for the binding as well. It is so sharp!

Another Border

Yesterday I played with adding another border to the quilt top I started during a Gwen Marston class. After laying down all the units, I realised that I would have to put an additional black border in. Here is what it looked like first.

I thought it needed more definition so I added the 1" black border.

I was taking photos with a flash because it was already evening.

It really bleaches out the vibrancy of the patches.

When I tried taking a photo from a distance without the flash it looked like this.

What stands out to me is the wavy line in the centre of the quilt top and how eventually the whole thing has straightened itself out.

I think for the next border I will try to accentuate the unevenness of the last border because it actually is very wavy.

I hand cut all the little blocks of the last border and they are all different sizes but I think because they are made with shot cotton, the fabric seems to bend and fit itself into whatever position is most comfortable.

Anyway, each border is slowly evolving. It is quite 'liberating' to have no plan in place.

Craft and Quilt Fair

I went to the fair today with a few ideas of what I wanted to do. I had seen a You Tube Video on paper piecing that mentioned an "add a quarter ruler" that is supposed to be very useful for foundation piecing so I bought one of those as well as some other bits and pieces that I haven't taken photos of; linen to knit, a fat 1/8th and some handbag handle clips. We will see whether they ever turn into something.

I always look forward to seeing the quilts but I didn't feel the love this year. There were the usual hand pieced masterpieces that I admire but will never attempt.

Made between 1820- 1830 in the UK

Irish Circle by Helen Collins of Wodonga

Chrysoberyl by Bronwyn van't Hoff

Cheltenham by Sonia Higgs

Birdsong in the Black Forest by Lisa Anderson

Sanity Saver By Sonia Higgs

And this was pretty cool - a quilt called Broken Dishes that was made by Michelle Bardwell and linked back to Nifty Quilt's blog for the tutorial.

There were also some crazy knitted tea cosies by Loani Prior

 Princess Beatrice

 Princess Eugenie

If you are into tea cosies, Laoni has written a couple of gorgeous books called 'Really Wild Tea Cosies'

And after all of that I went home to test out my new quilter's ruler.

I used a template designed by Ayumi from Pink Penguin.

It worked but it is a messy business!

I also watched the You Tube video again on paper piecing. How good it it?

You want to learn something new and sure enough it is on the web.

I have been stitching and knitting lots but the blogging has practically stopped.

I'm just a lazy girl these days - sorry.

Here are some pictures:

Gwen Marston Class

While this is all fresh in my head, I am going to try to post everybody's work from our class today.
Amitie hosted Gwen Marston to come and teach a very lucky group of people about how to be a 'liberated quilter'. We learned that there are no rules, mistakes, formulas to making a quilt. Gwen, over many years of research found that quilters of the past did not always follow patterns. In fact, they would chop corners off, cut triangles in half, add extra strips etc to make their borders fit and lo and behold, those very unformulated quilts are what major museums show as masterpieces. we were shown a few simple techniques she uses as well as some gorgeous quilts which are featured in her books.
So, in an endeavour to get this all up before I start cooking dinner...

 Marie - Quilts with Personality

 Debra from My Patchwork Palace

Heather

 Barb

Jenny

 Chris

 Leanne

 Raelene

Sorry, I missed your name!

 Nelly from Pumpkin Mamas

Natasha also from Pumpkin Mamas

 Wendy

 Lisa

Gina

 Kerry

Leanne - who used fabric from her first ball gown as the centrepiece of her medallion quilt

And finally Pat's mini masterpiece all stitched on this little antique Singer sewing machine.

As for what I made, well, it is bright and not fit for your eyes just yet.
I do hope I got everyone's name correct. Some of the people holding the quilts aren't the makers, just the person closest to the piece at the time.
Gwen is a fabulous teacher, very relaxed and encouraging.
I believe she will no longer be teaching at her retreat on Beaver Island in the States but the retreat is being taken over by some other ladies; Sue Nickels and Pat Holly so all is not lost.

For My Mum

My Mum hurt her knee. This can be hard to deal with when you are normally an extremely active 80 year old. She was in pain, couldn't drive, go out to play bridge, shop or hang out with friends. 

She is usually such a positive person with a huge zest for life but after a few months of pain, she let out the tiniest squeak. "I miss your dad. He would have taken care of me."

Dad died a few years ago and was her best friend.

I had been promising myself I would be making something from his old shirts for a long time. The grandchildren had pretty much picked over the ones that could be classified as 'vintage'. I hauled what was left of them home, snipped, unpicked and re sewed the pieces.

The front was very much a simple series of squares and rectangles.

 I liked the overall effect but thought I would be more free with the back.

Now I can't decide which is front or back.

It is heavily machine quilted and the binding is Kaffe Fassett's shot cotton.

The best thing is, she loves it!

Some Minor Finishes

Two quilts that have been hanging around are now finished.

Parson Gray Fabric Quilt

 Finished in May 2013

Started in July 2012

Scrappy Blues. Started in May 2011 

and finished in May 2013.

This is a quilt that is almost finished.

It as made from 48 squares of fabric texta drawings by students at my school.

One of the boys is going overseas and leaving us

so we decided we would make him a present to

take away.

Not quite finished but you can get the idea. 

It is at school waiting for one last drawing to be added in the top right hand corner.

The binding is on now.

Besides these quilts I have been doing a bit of knitting.

 The back of a jumper

Half way through a shawl.

I hope these two will not take me as long as the quilts to finish.

I can't knit for too long at one time.

My hands get really sore but I am determined to keep them going.

I meet up with the knitting girls on Monday so I am encouraged to have something to show by then.

I do eventually finish everything but I just can't seem to stick at any one thing for a period of time.