A Finished Quilt Top

Hello.  Hope you've had a happy weekend.  I had the chance of finishing off the quilt top I showed you the other day.  This one I'm calling Fairlie Quilt, as we believe 'Fairlie' is the name of our house.  There are some differing views in the historical records, but I think we'll stick to this name.

My list of finished quilt tops is now a staggering five, but I'm happy to have them to this stage rather than in piles everywhere of cut-out pieces, which run the risk of getting mixed up.  These fabrics were almost all chosen at the same time, especially to be made into a quilt, which is such a luxury, and lots of fun.  My Dad had given me a voucher last year (thanks Dad!), and I had immediately started cutting it, working out the layout, and sewing together two of the seven strips, and then it had sat ... I get distracted easily, but now it's done!

Today I had a couple of little helpers hold the quilt so I could get a photo to share with you.  So we have peeking over the top ...

and toes poking out the bottom!!

On Friday I was in Melbourne and took the opportunity of making a final visit to my absolute favourite fabric store, Patchwork on Central Park. It is going out of the business of selling fabric as it can no longer compete with online prices from the States.  I am so very disappointed and sad that it will no longer exist as it has for all these years.  It has been such a wonderful, wonderful place to get lost in gorgeous fabric and an endless supply of creative ideas, to chat to staff and customers about quilting or life, and to have someone work out exactly how much backing fabric is needed (something I still can't get my head around).  And nothing beats running your fingers over a bolt of fabric as you're deciding on which one you would like.  Or pulling out five or six different fabrics to see how well they go together.

So I made my final ever purchases from this store, the backing and binding for the Fairlie quilt.  Light, bright, quirky and sweet.  I love it.

Do you have a favourite fabric store?
Are you heartbroken when independent stores close their doors?

Trudy

The Best Bits

the best bits

of today

in between the less interesting bits

that we don't even need to mention

 

 

admiring a bouquet of basil from a dear friend

each time I walked by I put my nose right into that basil

strategically photographed to not include unrenovated bits

 

 

new sheet music

from a much-loved movie

wanting to master it immediately, or even sooner

realising it will take longer than that

 

 

magazines ready for a long, leisurely read

do you like having them there, ready for the right moment?

like a gift, unopened

 

 

fabric begging to be sewn

dusted the machine off, and hit the pedal

filled the bobbin three times

 

 

 

now only six seams to go

and it's a quilt top

 

 

the best bits, without the other bits

how was your day?

 

Trudy

Diamonds to Hexagons

Let me take you back to a day early in May, 2007.  I was in the store, Patchwork on Central Park (Melbourne, not New York)  where I am always inspired by their range of fabric and by their quilts hanging on the walls.  I can't remember why I was there.  Does one need a reason?  I think not.  I was probably just mooching around, probably had a piece or two of fabric in my hand, when I spied a quilt on the wall that quite literally took my breath away.  It was love at first sight.  Lust even.  I needed to own it and the only way that was going to happen was if I made one myself.

Using fingers, knuckles and outstretched hands I tried to calculate everything about this quilt, and the next day I started making it.  Lots of diamonds, stitched together to make hexagons.  The following month I saw that the maker of this quilt was giving a class.  I was there.  I learned all the tricks needed, especially how to cut fabric to create illusions.  I mastered the art of fussy cutting here.

 

I made the first 12 hexagons in 36 days, I recorded every piece of fabric I used and where I had got it from, I scanned into the computer each and every hexagon I made (hmmm, perhaps it would be finished had I not needed to record it all to the extent I did?!!)  The next 12 hexagons were made in 26 days, the next took 6 months.  Hexagons numbered 73 - 84 took a year and a half, then nothing for two years.  You can see my gusto got up and left me, can't you?

I stopped recording and I made the decision to make a single bed sized quilt rather than my initial idea of a double bed size, which means I need 18 more hexagons to finish (rather than the daunting task of 97 more), and this is where I need your help.  At regular intervals I just want you to say the word "hexagon" to get me moving on this project again, or "cattle prod" could also do the trick.

... because it will all be worth it in the end.

Okay, hexagon/cattle prod, you got it?
Trudy

Haiku etc.

the back was not shown

however did I miss it

horses running fast

 

A friend asked me what fabric I used on the back of my dolly quilt and I'm really surprised that I forgot to show you, because it is such a quirky piece of fabric and I knew immediately that this was what I wanted.  I purchased it especially for the dolly quilt, a piece just the right size.  How zany is it?  A horse race!!

 

 

Can you imagine how it fits well with the colours of the front?

 

 

I really, really love choosing fabric.  It's definitely one of the best bits of making a quilt.  Some people are scared off by it, but I relish in the throwing of fabrics together bit.  Thought I'd share with you a couple of hints and tips I've picked up when choosing backing fabric, so here goes :

 

It's on the back, so why not make it fun, a surprise even and not a fabric that necessarily matches in every way to your top.  I love this idea!  Every backing fabric I choose now has a slight surprise element to it and no more labouring over perfect colour choices.

 

If you've found a backing fabric you love, but don't have enough, use what you have and patch the rest, in fact make a feature of the patching.  Good use of stash fabrics too.

 

When starting out on hand-quilting choose a "busy" fabric on the back and your stitches won't be as noticeable.  Very good tip, who wants to see shabby stitches all over the back of your quilt?!!

 

Example of patched backing, in this case because I couldn't afford all stripes!

 

Can I share with you what I've just been playing with on Adobe Photoshop?  Colour variations for my Tri-Coloured Dolly Quilt, not that I ever need to make another one like it, all that applique, yikes!  But just in case ... (or "just in cases" if you adore the movie "Love Actually" as much as I do and quote from it!!)

 

 

Fun, eh?  Have a fabulously, colourful weekend!!

Seeya tomorrow.  This Blogtoberfest could do me in!!

 

Trudy