Progressing with Nostalgia

I've been making good progress with this piece though every time I get to a part of the process that I don't enjoy, I really have to give myself a pep talk. Now "all I need to do" is add a simple cream border, sandwich, quilt (straight line modern to offset the nostalgic fabric) and bind before June 22. Easy-peasy ...

Bloggers' Quilt Festival: Almondesque

Following a cheeky comment how she unfortunately had all her children before I started making (baby) quilts, I decided to make this quilt for two of our closest friends as a homewarming gift. They had just moved into a Bauhaus inspired new home and because of their love of New England and Edward Hopper, blue stuck itself to my mind in terms of over-riding colour.

I had spent some time "researching" Bauhaus patterns, aka browsing Flickr and finally settled on this design. With pencil and paper, I calculated the size, different amounts of fabric etc. and then set about trying to find coordinating blues ... that resulted in quite the stash (and another project: "Helena the Great")



Despite my usual tendencies to not waste too much time ironing and cutting properly, I took great care with this project, probably also because I had the time, kicking it off during last year's retreat. And I am pleased to say that this care really paid off. The corners align well, making straight line quilting so much easier.


This is the result: I am really pleased. It was inspired by this photo on the left:

The quilt was very well received and a total surprise for my friends, taking pride of place on the lounge sofa and getting a lot of use.

Vital Stats:
105 * 185 cm, roughly
Kona Solids
Gütermann and Aurifil threads
Freudenberg 100% cotton wadding
lotsa fun to make! .... more

Nostalgia

With the most recent project delivered, I am onto the next: Nostalgia, using the "Nostalgia" line by April Cornell for Moda. I have two charm packs with 40 squares each, and combining them with a cream solid, this should make a nice snuggly quilt ... for my very bestest of best mates!


I have a layer cake with this pattern as well ... so I might make myself a throw for my new guest room from that ....

Helena the Great

Helena is a great kid and dearest friend of my elder daughter. She's proud and headstrong and sweet and loyal and all-around wonderful. So when it transpired that her family were moving to a new house, I asked my girl if she wanted me to make a quilt for her very bestest of best friends ... silly question, mummy, of course! So here it is:
Sadly not such a great effort at photography ...
Vital Statistics:
Kona Solid and Kaufman fabrics
Freudenberg wadding
Gütermann and Aurifil threads
100 * 170 cm in size
Cut with Go-Baby
machine pieced and quilted
lots of fun making it
perfect match to the accent wall in recipient's room - wall was painted the day the quilt was gifted.

Assemblying in rows ...

five columns .... ten columns
Next job: ironing the seams!

Slow moving ...

So I've begun assembling the 160 squares that will make up this quilt and it's sloooooow going, partially because at the end of a long day, I am simply shattered and can't seem to find my mojo. Which is a shame because once I have spent even a little while sewing, I feel so much better.

What's also holding me back is that the above looks notably different from the below:

I had originally whizzed through laying out the squares, trying not to over-think it. And I thought I had been really diligent about pinning and taking down. Looking at the photos again, I already noticed a few boo boos.

So this is what I will work on tonight.

Helena the Great, part 1

This quilt is for my older daughter's bestest friend in the whole wide world, Helena. About 2 years ago, I made an Emergency Quilt for her little sister and it only seemed right that Helena should have one too. Her favourite colour is purple, the colour of kings and queens.

I spent two evenings watching telly and breaking in my Accuquilt GO! Baby to cut 180 squares measuring 4,25 inches. Tonight was spent on all fours trying to arrange them in a "meaningful way" ... Initially, I had planned on 10 by 18 squares. But something didn't go according to plan and I ended up with 10 by 16. Which doesn't look as long and narrow as 10 by 18 might have. And the arrangement was relatively pleasing. So here we are. With 160 squares laid out on wadding. I will have to pin them in place. And then I will have to attach them to each other ...

Deadline is 10 April 2012. Rock on ...