Quilting

Well I have not posted much lately but I have been busy with family, work and quilting. I am loving that I am actually finishing some quilty projects. The key for me was to make small projects.

A little challenge was what I needed so I am going to make each quilt in Simple Contemporary Quilts. I have made two quilts so far - in a mini size.

I have made some mug rugs - little quilts to go under a mug or cup but large enough to also hold a sweetie or goodie - Yum. One for Pat featuring Softie, one for me with Cath Kidson fabric to go with my CK mug from the CK shop in Edinburgh. Two for a swap partner and three with a Christmas theme. I received two fabulous mug rugs as part of two swaps - their quality and style is amazing and inspired me to keep going. The next round of mug rug swap is happening and I have a great partner, but shh shh shh its a secret swap.

I joined the pork chop swap - an exchange of squares of fabric and made a quilt top. Then I got inspired and made it into a cover for my sewing room chair. Need to finish that - its looking great.

The Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along is continuing and this round is ticker tape quilts. I have always wanted to try this style of quilt so I am giving it a go but again making a smaller sized quilt. I joined another round of the pork chop swap and will use the squares from that in making a ticker tape quilt.

Really good news is being selected in the lottery to participate in the Doll Quilt Swap 10 edition. We find out who are partners are and make a secret quilt for them.

I was so lucky in the last two rounds to recieve fabulous quilts from my partners. They have pride of place in my studio.

Fun times!!

Merry Christmas!!

Well I have not been blogging much but have been creating which feels great.

Its a small but merry Christmas for us.

Progress

Finally admitted that yellow was not working for me and picked a soft robin's egg blue for repainting my office. I love the difference and have gone to just stand in the space because it feels so right. Also took the opportunity to rearrange the furniture and swapped out a high table with free standing cupboard from IKEA. Actually bookcase, table, chest of drawers and tall cabinet all came from IKEA. The room arrangement works so much better too and luckily everything just fit.

I have some art to put up on the walls and need to finish recovering a chair and then the room is done. Can hardly wait to use it.

Now I want the kitchen repainted a similar watery colour

A Walk In the Woods

Pacific Spirit Park was wonderful to walk through this misty Remembrance Day

Quilting Mini Projects

FlossieBlossom set up the Mug Rug Swap and made 2 little mug rugs for my secret partner. "A" indicated green and grey and dots among her favourites, so I used that as a starting point. I used a piece of vintage Key West screen print fabric of a turtle to applique over scrappy squares of greens and greys. I also made a mini wheel of the same fabrics. For the backing and binding I used some grey fabric that I bought in Amsterdam this summer. I quilted the pieces with wavy lines of light to dark grey thread and a grey spiral on the wheel. These are small pieces about 7 inch diameter for the wheel and about 6" by 8" for the rectangular mug rug. These were a lot of fun to make and were good practice for me to hone up on quilting skills.

I also made a Mug Rug for me with some of the Cath Kidston fabric and mug I bought in Edinburgh. I really like that I made it reversible and used some of the oil cloth for the place to rest the mug on. I love the strawberries too!! This is going to be my go to hot chocolate mug - its nice and big and feels good to hold. Lots of room for marshmallows. I think there are lots more mug rugs to make in my future. Its nice that they are small and can be finished relatively quickly.



















And here is the mug rug my partner Kelly made for me. It is so beautifully made, with wonderful colours, design and fabric. I love it.

Kelly also sent me some fabric scraps and a post card with the gees bend quilt pictured - love them too.















I find Kelly's work very inspiring because it is so well done - check out the detail of her stitching --my work has a long way to go to reach this level.

Den Haugue Rose Garden and Kuiper Windmill

Let's Eat - Holland