With some quilts you know exactly what design you want to make and then it can necessitate many months of sewing to bring your vision to completion. With the quilt above it was rather much the other way around, taking many months to resolve an idea and only a couple of weeks of intermittent sewing to create.
Some of you will remember my Set Free quilt shown directly above, completed October 2015 (with further hand quilting being added in 2016). When I was sewing the 'flying geese' blocks required for it, I stitched a second line parallel to the one needed to stitch my corner 'off cuts' together, intentionally creating multiple half square triangles in the process. Below is a pile of some of these, pressed open, and this is how they sat for over twelve months.
Every now and then I would pull them out and trim some into 3 1/2" squares, then fiddle with adding different fabrics, colours and various arrangements. Nothing 'clicked' as being just right, so I would put them away again, waiting for inspiration to strike.
Then early January this year I had an idea and began sewing each print together into these squares. I liked what I saw. :)
Within a couple of weeks I was finished and very pleased with the result. The printed fabrics are all from the 'Moody Blues' collection, designed by Geninne Zlatkis for Cloud 9 Fabrics. The white fabric as well as the batting are also certified organic cotton.
You can read some of the finer details regarding this quilt in the Etsy listing here.
Sharing at the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.
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"Would you like me to make you a quilt?" I tentatively asked Jess who was newly engaged to our eldest son.
"Sure, if you'd like to that would be great," she replied.
This was mid December and we created a shared Pinterest board for Jess to pin quilt images which captured something of what she might like. I tried to figure out some common designs and colour themes from Jess's pins. On her next visit in January we briefly discussed ideas and I gathered an armful of fabrics from my collection/stash which I thought she might like - mostly organic and with a nature theme. Jess loved nearly all the fabrics so that night she spread them out on our dining table, arranging them from most liked to less likely. I snapped a quick phone photo to refer back to.
We both agreed that this queen size quilt wouldn't be complete by their wedding day in early February but hopefully by our mid-year winter. Jess is a maker/crafter/sewer/knitter and knew time would be needed.
After much thought, and auditioning of fabrics and ideas, the design elements began to slowly come together. By early April I was sewing completed sections together. The completed top was ready for basting by 7th of April. Jess and Jose were due to visit us over the Easter weekend, a week later, and I was desperately hoping to have it quilted, bound and ready to gift them. I had begun the machine quilting when on April 10th I dislocated my right shoulder. :( At the time I had no idea of the very long, slow road to recovery ahead, but I did know that this quilt was not going to finished in a matter of days as hoped.
Six weeks later I was finally up to gingerly recommencing the machine quilting. With my initial deadline well gone, and Jess and Jose unlikely to visit again immediately, I took my time to enjoy adding more and varied quilting, both by machine and by hand. I had really wanted to add some hand quilting love and the time delay had meant this was now possible.
At last it was complete and a quilt label stitched and attached. The next morning it was gently wrapped in leftover solid fabric and tied with selvedges, ready to gift later that day, July 2nd. I wrote a quick note on the back of a favourite photo I had taken at their wedding (which I discovered is also one of Jess's favourite wedding photos too). I believe the quilt is well loved and keeping Jess and Jose warm in their much colder tablelands hometown. Love Always!
Update - Jess has just let me know they 'Absolutely love it, staying cosy every night.' Now that's a wonderful reward. :)
Sharing at the Blogger's Quilt Festival: Fall 2017 Edition at Amy's Creative Side.
*** You may enjoy my Instagram feed which I add to several times a week. You don't have to join Instagram to view either - just click on the little blue square camera logo under my blog profile (top right hand corner).
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Snapshots of May - most taken with my phone as my shoulder continues to heal more each day. One major events was our daughter Grace being local support and opening singer for a wonderful James Morrison concert. It was a special night to remember. James is amazingly talented musician and very entertaining with his jokes and stories throughout the evening.
My husband and I had a 24 hour visit to Sydney for a specialist appointment regarding his complex health issues. We are little closer to resolving things but every piece of the piece ought puzzle helps. (He attempted a graduated return to work early this month but he wasn't successful. He has been unable to work since early October, and has been healthy enough to work only seven months in the last three years).
While in Sydney we had the great pleasure of catching up with both of our Sydney-based daughters. Miss N collected us from the airport and we enjoyed a meal together near our accommodation. After my husband's 90 minute morning appointment we met Miss E and had a leisurely afternoon around Circular Quay before we headed back to the airport.
While waiting for our evening return flight I noticed the last remaining Simply Mini quilt in my Etsy shop had just sold. A very pleasant surprise. The first thing I did at home the next morning was go to the cupboard where I keep all my ready-to-sell quilts to parcel it up for shipping/posting. I looked and looked, pulling all the quilts out - twice - but the littlest quilt of all was nowhere to be found! I searched in every other likely spot but still no Mini quilt! After a couple of hours I decided I may as well spend my time sewing a new one. Thankfully I had enough of the same fabrics to create a replacement. I had not tried using my sewing machine since dislocating my shoulder five weeks prior, yet here was an ideal small project to test the shoulder. Over the next 24 hours I slowly and carefully worked through each stage of production in small bursts, with the last hand stitches on the binding completed at 9:03am! A quick hand wash and drying flat in the fresh outdoors before it was packaged up and sent on it's way that afternoon. I didn't mention this story to the buyer, partly out of embarrassment. One day I may well stumble upon the original in a most unlikely location!
It's very satisfying to pick and eat fruits from trees we have planted. This year the avocado, lemon and orange tree are each bearing more fruit than in previous years. The orange above weighed over 550g/19.5oz and was sweet and juicy.
Sunset walks are now comfortable again on the shoulder. Loving the colours and flocks of birds which make every sunset special. We have a pair of White-headed Pigeons nesting in the tree outside our bedroom window. My husband told me today he saw a small single egg in the nest. This variety of Australian pigeon only lay one egg and share the incubation.
Having a couple of hand sewing projects on the go have made my non-machine sewing weeks much more pleasant. I do love to be making something with my hands! Last week I slowly recommenced quilting the queen size quilt I had been working on before hurting my shoulder. My shoulder lets me know when I've pushed it too hard, like today. So tonight I rest it some while putting well-overdue words to my ever growing collection of photos.....
* If you hover your mouse/cursor over the photos above, some will have text details to accompany.
*** You can read more details about most of these photos on my Instagram feed which I add to several times a week. You don't have to join Instagram to view either - just click on the little blue square camera logo under my blog profile (top right hand corner).
