More Post! Extra Woohoo!

My Brit Quilt Swap arrived this morning!

I had no idea who was making for me, and it turned out to be Lis Harwood from Piece 'n Peace.

This quilt is called 'Out of this World' and isn't it just!

Lis has put so much detailing into this, sadly not picked up by inadequate photography, and clearly picked up on my love of purple.

And look at the lovely extras she included.

Thank you Lis for a beautiful mini quilt and the time and effort you spent on this, just for me! 

A Discontented Quilter!

Please bear with me!

I know yesterday I said my mini Brit Quilt Swap was completed ..... but .............

I wasn't happy with it and it niggled away at me.  There wasn't enough background quilting which made it look at wee bit baggy when hanging, so I did some fmq in the background. 

I didn't want the fmq to stand out too much so used white thread on a white background to keep it subtle.

My struggle with this mini quilt has been less about perfection (I'm a rehabilitated perfectionist!) and more about cohesion and balance.  Sometimes you just don't 'feel' right about a thing, and I'm the sort of person who can't give that 'thing' away until I'm happy with it myself.

Well I'm now happy with this mini quilt (at long last), so I'll be able to post it with smiles and a happy heart!

Thank you for your patience!

Brit Quilt Swap Completed

Well partner, all done!

It's not really bent!  Just draped over my sofa!

I went for a darker green binding in the end, to frame the picture (binding is slightly wider than standard too!).

I'm not totally in love with this, probably because it's not something I'd usually make. 

When I asked my daughter what she thought of it she said 'Mmmm, it's not really you!' which is probably the best thing she could have said, because this mini quilt is meant to say more about my partner than me.

This doesn't need to be posted to my partner until the end of June - still time to think about how on earth I'm going to post it!

Blue Skies & Colourful Post!

2 reasons to smile today:

1. BLUE SKIES - YIPPEE!

2. Mr Postie brought yummies!

I entered Jo's (Bearpaw) giveaway in May and out of over 1200 entries, my number was picked!

And what a generous giveaway at that - thank you Jo so much, I love every single item.

The cutest wee needle case & pincushion

And all this fabric .....

I know these pictures are too bright to appeciate the colours & patterns, but I'm not complaining - it was so lovely opening this packet in my sunny garden.

Thanks again Jo, I will spend many hours stroking and druleing over these before actually putting them to use  - bliss!

P.s. Jo is also in the Brit Quilt Mini Swap, which I am in, and I am secretly (well not that secretly!) coveting her kaleidoscope quilt - check it out here!

Lime or Aqua?

Okay, I need some feedback please, preferably from my Brit Swap Partner (I know who you are, hee hee!).

I've decided to just bind the mini quilt, but do I use lime green or aqua?

 

Lime green ......

.... or aqua?

Of course the pictures don't do the colours justice, and I actually like both of them.

So it's up to you swap partner - which one do you like best?

Creative Block!

As I mentioned yesterday, I've had a roller coaster ride with the mini quilt for my Brit Quilt Swap Partner.

I was pleased with the appliqued heart:

But then, I quilted a grid pattern on the background, not realising the fabric I'd chosen for the back was showing through to the front - booooo!  

Not so obvious in this pic, but trust me, it's there!

I had checked that it wasn't showing through when it was all lying flat on the table, but of course, when you hold it up against a wall, the shadows from the patterned fabric came through!  Aaaarggh!

So I had to carefully cut out my appliqued heart and start again with a new background.

I didn't like the quilted grid effect, so I parked that idea while I explored the other element of my design - fabric leaves.

I initially thought of handmade leaves in the colours of the rainbow, but as I started making them I realised they were way too textured and bulky, and fought alongside the heart, which is to remain the central theme.

So that idea was ditched too! 

After much contemplation and analysing of my partner's inspiration mosaic once more, I remained convinced that leaves were the right way to go, but a softer approach was needed.

So this is what I've come up with:

Not a great pic, sorry, but this baby is 24" square!

Soft greens & aquas, with free motion quilting detail.

I'm liking this much more now - there is balance with the heart, plus it is much more in keeping with my partner's likes (I hope!).

I'm thinking of a simple border and binding to finish - less is more!

So partner, what do you think?

Time to Pay It Forward!

I love this concept of making a handmade gift for someone, just because .....

..... because us creative types love receiving handmade gifts & appreciate the time & effort put into them;

..... because it's so lovely getting a wee parcel in the post, maybe even from another country;

and because, we know that the blessing from our gift will be passed on to even more people.

So, for my 3 lovely ladies I have made some gifts for them to enjoy.

I can't show you the full bundle yet, because I know they'll be reading this and won't have received their gifts in the post yet, but here's one of the gifts.

Mmmm .... who gets what?

And here's a glimpse of something else they're going to get.

So Sarah, Reene and Leanne - keep your eyes on that postman (for all the right reasons of course!).

And today, I bought me some of this .....

Basting Spray!

Not cheap, but anything is better than pinning & tacking large quilts (groan!).

In finishing today, I want you to know that I'm having a mini crisis over my Brit Swap Quilt (which is why I haven't posted anything about it lately!).

I promise to reveal more on this tomorrow - beware - it's UGLY!

Seeing Green!

Here is an update for my secret Brit Swap Partner ...... (don't you just love the suspense!)

From this ................

.......to this ............

.......... to this ...........

The next stage involves a blue marking pen (mmmm intriguing!).

First design for Brit Quilt Swap

The old creative grey cells have been stoked up and I've started to see something coming together:

I'm thinking for the green heart I will try using the ticker-tape method (see below for an example).

From Stiched in Colour

The 'leaves' floating in from the side might be rainbow colours, turning to greens as they reach the heart.

Green is a significant colour here!!!!

I'm going to try out my 'homemade fabric' idea for the leaves (blogged about here).
 

While this piece will have an applique feel to it, I want there to be some new textures for my partner to enjoy.

So that's my starting point.  The great thing about creative processing is that if you allow yourself some freedom, you can end up with something that looks nothing like what you started with! LOL!  

Organic is best! 

Brit Swap Update

A few weeks ago I signed up to a Brit Quilt Swap, where we make a small quilt (no bigger than 24" square) for an assigned swap partner. 

What makes this really fun is you don't get to find out who is making for you, until you receive it in the post (early July)! 

Uber Mama is Lynne from Lily's Quilts, and with her efficient team of Mamas, they have spectacularly organised a large group of us with like minded swap partners. 

Last night, at 8.26pm exactly I received THAT email, the one telling me who I am to make this mini quilt for!  How exciting - I was fit to burst!

So after stalking my swap partner on Flickr to get an idea of her likes and dislikes, I had so many ideas whizzing through my head that I dreamt all night about it!!! 

At least I have some time to plan a design.

The rules are - I'm allowed to blog about what I'm making, but not who I'm making it for (well I could, but then I'd have to kill you!).

In the meantime I've plenty to keep me busy with my nephew's birthday Colour Brick quilt.

Kona Ash sashing is on.  Really pleased with how it's looking so far.

I'm waiting on more wadding to arrive, so hopefully I'll get cracking with the quilting later this week.

For now I need to make the back with the leftover Ash & Kaffe fabrics.

Bye for now!