Goodbye to summer

More sea beauty here

What are you working on?

The other day, when I finished the quilt in my last post, my husband asked "So what else are you working on?".

Embarrassing question really.....I started listing my quilt projects, and didn't really know when to stop. I decided to pull everything out of the cupboard and make a little inventory. This is what I came up with......

Nora's sampler.

Pink and green - I actually don't know what this pattern is called.

Francesca and Benedetta's roman coins.

Nicky's nine patch.

Catie's corn and beans (I blogged about this one already).

Split lone star.

1930's lone star.

Feedsack four patches (a dolly quilt).

Just to prove to myself that I do finish things eventually:)

Leave a comment if there is a project here that you would like to know more about - that way I will know what to blog about next.

One down, one to go

I started this pair of quilts back in 2004. At the time I was wanting to make something in pink and green and was looking for some new fabric for inspiration. I didn't have a computer and didn't know about on-line quilt shops so I asked my mother to go to my favourite quilting shop in Melbourne.






Mum surprised me with quite a large bundle of fabrics that she had chosen at 'Patchwork House' together with Olga (I am grateful to her for helping my mother put together such a nice selection).

I chose the hanging nine patch design inspired by this very chintzy early 1800's quilt from Ljiljana Baird's book 'Quilts'. I love the ninepatches with three rather than two fabrics. I enjoyed piecing the blocks so much that once I had made enough for one lap quilt, I kept going and made enough for two.

I bought the setting fabric on a very short trip to Australia in 2005. I was looking for a chintzy fabric but couldn't find anything I was really happy with and didn't have much time. At 'Patchwork on Central' someone suggested this blue. It really changed the look of the quilt but I am kind of happy with it. Once I got home to Italy, I realised that it would work well in the borders too - but the shop had sold out. After a flurry of phone calls and messages, 'Patchwork on Central' tracked down another bolt and posted me the border lengths.

I pieced the top together and the quilt was set aside as there was a new baby in the family.

Last year I basted both quilts and decided that it was time that they were quilted. But how?

I had decided on the chintzy look because I wanted to do something with simple quilting. But those plain blocks seemed to cry out for something fancier. I drew a design for a floral vine, but wasn't happy with it. I tried a large stipple (which is so popular and looks so good with machine quilting), I tried a simple flower. My quilt got messier and messier (with pencil markings and unpicked stitches) but I couldn't find anything I liked.

In the end I settled on diagonal double line quilting inspired by the ninepatch on the cover of this book. Normal quilting thread seemed too fine for this project - it seemed to get lost in with the fine white dots so I used Perlè 5 embroidery floss.

I love the way the stitches look against the backing fabric.

It was fun making these quilts because they really were a collaborative effort. All of the fabrics, except the back, were chosen by someone else.

One of these is a present for my Mum and will soon be going into my suitcase for our next trip to Melbourne, and one is going to my eight year old who likes to sleep under piles of covers. When she was three, she saw me making the ninepatches, and one night she commented on the one I had just made - "I don't like that one, I think you should unpick it tonight while I am asleep."  Well I didn't - I hope it doesn't keep her awake :)

These quilts are hand pieced and hand quilted, with a 100% cotton batting (I think Hobb's Organic, but I am not completely sure). They finish up at 46" x 56". They were started in 2004 and one was finished in 2010 - hopefully the second one will be too!

A weekend in the country

Picking plums for jam making.

Something for me

I made this skirt and blouse for my birthday. The linen I bought locally and it is just right for hot weather.

The fabric for the skirt is Hope Valley  - I bought it on-line. I had seen it on many blogs and chose it for the sprigs of blue flowers. I was a little bit disappointed by the colours when the fabric arrived - I didn't expect it to have a yellow tinge and the colours to be muted. Plus I didn't know what to wear with it.

Once I paired the skirt with this creamy white linen the colours came alive. The fabric took on a more translucent look. Now I love it.







The skirt is drafted from a dress pattern from a Burda magazine. The blouse is from the  Japanes 'Tunic Tunic - 1 day sewing' book. I find it a little too 'blousy'. I would like to make the neckline higher and shorten the sleeves, to make it a little neater. Otherwise the fit is great.

Corn and beans

This is an example of how I work and what I mean by ‘piecemeal’.

I started out with this corn and beans block and some pink and purple fabrics.

Originally I was going to use a white muslin for the background, but I thought it looked too stark – perhaps because many of the fabrics have white in them?

I had some pieces of yellow fabric in the cupboard that my mother-in-law had cut out with some project in mind and never finished. I thought they looked nice together. I added more fabrics in green and blue; many of them are 1930’s reproductions, many of them are modern, and some are old clothes.

I didn’t intend on making a 1930’s style quilt, but that seems to be the way it is going. Martha from q is for quilter, has done an ocean waves quilt top in similar colours.

The block design comes from this book - I like the simple black and white illustrations

Do you do wonky?

This post was inspired by Deb Rowden's 'How do you work?'

This quilt came together one day when I was particularly frustrated about something. The girls were out of the house so I had no limits on space. I got out the sewing machine, dressmakers shears, and all my heavier scraps - upholstery fabric, denim, corduroy.

I must admit that it was therapeutic. I used a heavy fabric on the back and an old sheet sandwiched in the middle (it was ugly and I really wanted to get rid of it). I tried hand quilting this in baptist fans, but the fabric was thick and it was hard going. I started free machine quilting it until my machine gave up.

I will get around to finishing the quilting on this eventually. If I pin it carefully, I think I can quilt out some of the bumpiness.

I have some woven tape to bind it with (not sure how to attach it though - anyone know?).




I love reading about wonky quilts on other blogs and looking out for them on e-bay, but it's not something that comes naturally to me. Next time I think I will try something that combines wonkiness with precision like this string pieced lone star. I still get a kick out of my corners matching up.

This top (circa 1930) was hand pieced - that's more my style. It doesn't have a foundation fabric - would it have been hand pieced onto paper? I can't imagine so.

I don't know how to go about string piecing by hand. Any ideas anyone?