Summer fun

It's not easy photographing something light and airy. The pink in this is very pink and the white very white. I had different intentions for the centre block (the first three pieces) and was just about to add some fabric from my a favourit mid-bue shirt when I saw this quilt.

I have always loved the look of washed out, almost bleached white quilts and since the chances of my ever finding one are limited I decided to make my own washed out and worn quilt using old clothes, pillow covers along with bright and  brand new dressmaking scraps. Just like quilters always have.

I don't know where this top is actually headed. I'm using strips cut by hand and just sewing in the round. The white fabric is linen from a bias cut skirt and therfore the strips are not at all on the straight grain. I'm aiming for gentle wobbliness:)

On another happy note, I'm looking forward to some more colourful scrappy inspiration in the mail after winning this wonderful looking book. The good news is there are lots of other copies to be won (check out Janet's post for details).



August

It's hot. Too hot. When I took the dog out for a walk I decided to take a photo to share with you that would convey the sense of heat. I think the panting dog does it.
I have been sewing and spring cleaning (I can't do it in spring because I'm allergic to pollen so I clean bit by bit over the summer). The two are always connected as cleaning out the cupboards always gets me working on some quilt project or other. Sewing under a ceiling fan is not a bad way to pass the day at the moment when the streets are scorching and deserted (most of my suburb is on holiday this week, presumably at the beach). I'll be back soon with something quiltish..........

Little bird

The view from my kitchen window one morning recently. It's actually not a little bird at all but the shadow of a seedling. I grabbed my camera straight away because nature's gifts can be a little fleeting. I can see this in an applique pattern one day.....

Sweet anticipation

Some quilts are laboured while others just seem to put themselves together. This quilt is a confident little miss who seems to know exactly how she wants to be. I'm enjoying this one every step of the way in sweet anticipation.

From winter to spring......

....in just a few short days. These are the colours I am currently seeing in my kitchen. Sunshine on the blue cupboards, and daffodils blooming on the balcony. But just a couple of weeks ago we had  a little interruption in our everyday lives with the novelty of snow!

I've lived in Rome for close on 18 years now and have never experienced more than a few hours of snow in the city. We had ten days of it February - complete chaos or perfect quiet, depending on how you look at it.

Schools were closed, cars didn't move for days, our busy streets were turned into a sleepy country town by 10 - 15  cm of snow. My girls made snow men and learnt to sled on sheets of plastic. At first we were sorry not to have a real sled, but I think they had more fun in the end with the endless variations they invented. My five year old would fly down the slopes of our local park, spreadeagled and fearlessly. She wants to find me a really large plastic bag next time so I can do it too!:)

There was a little interruption to quilting whilst I organised snow suits and mittens - very piecemeal. The little one wore her snow suit rolled up, and the elder had a snow suit that barely reached the top of her rubber boots.

I've always been envious of quilters who photograph their quilts and tops out in the snow. This quilt top below on the right would have looked perfect with a wintry white background, but as there was as much mud as there was snow, I decided to leave it at home (besides, I forgot that it was already sandwiched ready for quilting and not exactly at it's most photogenic).

Now that the snowsuits are packed away again and I'm thinking about pulling out our t-shirts, I'm getting in a little quilting. I'm not sure why I piece in the winter and quilt in the warmer weather - but that's how it is. Luckily I have two hoops. These quilts were started ten years apart - my tastes haven't changed much, have they:)

PS. The first picture in this post was for Serena, another hand piecer and quilter, check out her hands all round block. It's and old photo that I've posted before - I've actually quilted all the circles and the centre - and now that I think of it, I unpicked the outline quilting and did a centre line. I'll have to get a new photo of that - but either I quilt or I photograph.....
......speaking of which, thanks to all my new followers and everyone who has left a comment. I'm not very good at replying to comments although I appreciate every single one of them. With two children and a dog, I have to choose between quilting, blogging and keeping up with correspondence. I do write back when I can, but please don't give up commenting if I don't.

Pink lemonade on ice

I was hoping to have this photographed with it's backing but it didn't get pieced in time for Lori's 'Pink Lemonade Parade'.  So here's my 'Pink Lemonade on Ice' - hand pieced top.

The backing is going to be bars of this red stripe and the peachy roses. I've wanted to put these two fabrics together since they first met, but have never had the occasion. I fiddled around with them a little before settling on strips. I've always wanted to do a two fabric bar quilt, and here it is. (This is the year of finally getting around to doing all those quilts, or at least elements of, that I've been meaning to make).

The binding will be stone blue, I think. Quilting probably clam shells. Thanks Lori for hosting the quilt-a-long (and giveaway), that was a lot of fun. I'll be quilting this in the summer when I'll really enjoy the ice blue.

An ugly duckling

Kathie commented on my last post that this is one of her favourite fabrics. Since this is the first fabric I pulled out to make this quilt, I thought I'd tell you the story of how it came about.

This fabric has been floating around in my 'stash' for some time. I don't have a lot of fabrics, mostly fat quarters and less, folded into small plastic boxes in the cupboard. I go for clear colours - modern, 1930's, reproductions - no set style. I just buy what I like. Sometimes I sort the fabrics by colour, sometimes by project. This little scrap (a fat 16th I think) came into my life through a reproduction fabric club. I've used up most of the other pieces that came along with this, but this one kept floating around, not get used and not knowing where to go. To me it reads grey (even though on closer look, it's actually brown) and I don't have any other grey fabrics (nor many browns for that matter) so it just shuffled from one box to another.

When I chose to do Lori's quilt-a-long I decided to do it as an exercise in re-learning how to machine piece. I immediately went to my 'use-them-up' fabrics (things I want to get rid of) and came out with some recycled shirtings in beige and white and this fabric popped out. On close inspection I noticed the pale blue strawberries which drew out the setting fabric which so many have you liked (another use-it-up left over dressmaking fabric). The red strawberries drew out one of my favourite fabrics - a raspberry red batik which I bought a fat quarter of many years ago and has since become one of my favourite fabrics - it gives a nice pop to things like the centre square of this quilt.

Then because I loved the two mismatched setting squares in the antique quilt that inspired Lori's 'pink lemonade' (did anyone else do them too?) I pulled out this special fabric from Melissa of 'Tiny Happy' in New Zealand. I've been a long admirer of her work and when she started producing her own designed fabrics I jumped at the chance to buy some. I like the way the hand drawn fabric contrasts with the repetition in the small print. (Note my ironing skills:) ).

The blue of this fabric is a lovely grey blue and it takes away some of the overly sweetness of the aqua one. As with all special fabrics that risk being 'too good to use' - the first cut was the hardest, but once I started I couldn't resist making this little sweetie for Miriam's four patch quilt.

After that, I just headed for my favourite fabrics to  fill in the rest. I'm starting to have a usefully full scrap basket now and I love digging in there for things. These blocks are tiny and a little bit of fabric goes a long way.

To cut a long story short, my ugly duckling fabric, which wasn't so grey after all (Kathie rightly called it brown) is a delicate little thing that found it's home at last amongst some pretty little florals and stony blues and just because it isn't pink, yellow or blue - my usual favourites - it's fast becoming my favourite fabric too:)