I'm not Sure What I Think about this x + Block

I have been so besotted with the x + quilts I have seen on line that I decided to give it a go.

I followed the tutorial on Badskirt's blog 

Although this block uses up lots of tiny bits of fabric from the scrap pile, you still need to have enough fabric to cut 8 x 2" of the same colour. Not much, but more than I have in most scraps.

Also the X looks better if you can find a print with some sort of linear design.

I found I was cutting in to my good stash more than using up scraps.

Lots of cutting, pinning and planning goes into the blocks and mine still lack the desired light and dark colour play that I was looking for. In fact, I think they are just a bit of a mess of colour.

I made nine blocks first.

And then another 6 blocks

I'm not sure if I could handle a whole quilt out of these blocks. I would love to know if you would keep going or just make a pillow or cot sized quilt.

I forgot to mention

Denyse Schmidt's fabric is on sale at Spotlight. I was just buying fabric to make a dress up costume but was totally distracted and couldn't resist buying just a 1/4 mt of each. There were more colours to choose from. May need to go back!

The Block for the Star Quilt

I just put a quilt up on Facebook where I follow 'Kaffe Fassett Collective'. There were a couple of people interested in how the design was put together. I took a couple of photos and these should help.

 This was the main block which we made from remnants of Kaffe's Wheel of Fortune quilt. I had lots of diamonds and squares left over because they were colours I ended up not using. The measurements of the shapes are the same as in his book.

 This is how the corners fit together together although in the end I put more red into it.

The red is just 4 squares measured like the yellow ones in the middle of the block.

 Here it is with more red square blocks

Here are part of the edge pieces.

I bordered it all with more of the blue diamonds.

It was a pain to get the diamonds to sit nicely but that was because I put it altogether with a sewing machine rather than by hand but the hand quilting was very forgiving and no one will ever notice!

Hope this helps.

Tapestry Workshop Open Day

One of my earliest textile passions was tapestry weaving. It's been 30 years since I played with my loom and I was curious to see the workshop again after so many years. It didn't disappoint and they had some lovely pieces on show.

Apart from my visit I have finished binding 2 quilts. It is so good to finish things. I have abandoned my love of stripy bindings and opted for shot cottons to finish these two.

 This one was hand quilted.

This one was machine quilted.

Back in Business

I have access to a camera and am back on line. The only problem is that I am also back at work and have 19 beautiful 6 and 7 year olds to play with all year. I am wiped out! I will try to sew and I will try to blog but I may have a few silences too.

This week I have flopped in front of the TV from sheer exhaustion and sewed until bedtime. 9 o'clock on school days. I have so much quilting to do it's ridiculous. Some of it has been hand quilting.

Some machine quilting and binding.

 When one of my boys headed off overseas for a 3 week jaunt before uni starts back, I made him a Kindle cover. I don't really like it but it is what he wanted and he was pretty pleased with it. It will help protect it while he moves about. I should have made it tighter and although I like the sleeve concept, it left a bump where it overlaps with the cover. I prefer the Kindle to fit completely into a pocket.

Tokyo Quilt Show

The Tokyo Quilt Show has just finished. Ages ago I sent a patch to Tokyo, on the recommendation of Ayumi from Pink Penguin . It was to be added to a charity quilt and auctioned off for the tsunami victims. Great idea and easy to do. My patch went into quilt 42 and I was sent a certificate of thanks.

A few weeks ago I found a comment on my blog from Cynthia from A Quilter by Night and when I wrote back and she wrote back I discovered that she was living in Tokyo and was going to the Tokyo Quilt Show. I mentioned that I had a patch in there and she went out of her way to take a photo of the quilt and post it on her blog. I couldn't find the patch from her photo so she went back the next day (not just for me but to go again because it was massive) and she took another photo and updated her blog. How nice is that? Since I have started blogging and chatting to  quilters from around the world I have only had support and inspiration. You guys are all amazing for what you give me by sharing your craft and time and I really appreciate it. As for Cynthia, I highly recommend you visit her blog, not only because she is making fabulous things but also because the photos she took from the show are brilliant.

No Camera just a few odd Photos left on the PC

I'm sort of cameraless at the moment. My youngest just finished his final year of high school and has decided to take the year off and go overseas before going to university. There goes my camera! My no.1 son has an awesome camera which he is happy to share with me but it has about 1000 photos on it and they will stay there until he buys his new PC - soon I hope. I took some photos with it but it took so long to load them up that my laptop went to sleep.
So here are a few meagre items to show you left over from the holidays.

 Although I haven't finished all the stitching, I just couldn't wait to get the binding on. I really love the stripes.

The chintz Philip Jacobs quilt is also not quite quilted but the binding went on. I was so happy with the match and so tired of all the hand stitching I had banked up that I unfortunately decided to machine on the binding and missed in a few places. The front looks great because I carefully stitched in the ditch but I missed catching some of the spots on the back. I hand stitched those bits down. Only I know it's not quite right but it's disappointing. In retrospect, if I had been more careful stitching the front on at exactly 1/4" it would have worked better.
The last photos on my camera (which I won't see for a whole year - if ever again) were of a bag I made from a denim mini skirt that I never wore because the legs just don't look so good anymore and the kg's have stacked on since I bought it. The skirt had been lying around in a cupboard for ages. When I squashed a plum in my regular school bag I decided it was time to get the skirt out. Not much thought was made in putting it together but I can say that it is working quite well and although the old one washed out perfectly, it has been relegated to emergency use.