Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Scraptastic Tuesday

Its been ages since I joined in with Nicky and Leanne's linky party which celebrates scraps in all their glory.


This quilt came out of last summers Fat Quarterly Retreat. We were randomly assigned groups and made a quilt from fabric we had brought. Funnily enough I and another member of the team had brought almost the same fabrics. We chose a rail fence and managed to get a top completed in one evening after the afternoons classes but we were left with lots of scraps which I then brought home.

I used a log cabin in principal in that I sewed pieces in a round however because of some of the sizes of the scraps its not that obvious. Some were sewn together to form a centre and others to form the outer strips.

To complete I eventually decided on a figure eight quilt design as the top was too busy to do something clever with. That business means it is very forgiving to the quilting which is rather organic in nature.

Check out other fantastic uses of scraps over at the linky.

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Long time no blog

I'm really finding it hard to get motivated for blogging. Over the last few months I've had a general feeling of being blocked. You know that hard to describe feeling where nothing feels quite right but you can't pinpoint what is wrong and it has impacting my creativity. It's been a struggle at times to do things, but I am forcing myself to get on with projects as I think that will be the way for me to break through whatever this block really is.

I went to check what work I last showed on here and was surprised it has been over 3 months since my last post. I guess finding the mojo for writing posts is also stuck behind my block.

Despite all that I have been getting things finished and that includes a lot of mini quilts.

My friend Shay won my giveaway and asked for a mini that was pink and cholocate. I've wanted to do a log cabin that curves since years before I actually started quilting and this seemed a good time. This may well be a block I do again as I love how the two sizes of strips create the curve.

Over on Instagram where I am also ShevvyLondon I joined the IGminiswap. I've not really done much swapping but I decided I would give this a go as I felt having a deadline would be a good motivator and force me to get on with something.

I was delighted to get my real life friend and member of the LMQG Amanda as my partner and I felt I had a good handle on her taste. I brought it to a meeting show and tell before sending it to her and I was very amused by her comments. She asked outright if it was for her and I had to dissemble, but I didn't want to lie to a friend so I think she guessed.

This weekend I made an angel mini for the swap as well as a member has been led down. I went back to one of my favourite blocks, the 9-patch but took it smaller than usual and based it on 1.5 inch strips. I don't usually put blocks on point but I really loved this one and again I can see a full sized one in my future.

I've joined another IG swap, this time Ukminiswap and my partner was less specific so I decided to challenge myself with a colour palette that doesn't appeal; purple really isn't my thing. I'm not a fan of triangles either so that added to the challenge.

While making another quilt I ended up with a load of bright solid scraps so went for it with some improv piecing and came up with one of my favourite ever pieces.

Another favourite, also made from scraps from another quilt, this time using Oakshott solids is this one. It's a bit bigger than a mini and now resided above my bed.

I think that is it for small quilts for the last few months. Although I did get one more, this is the quilt I received as part of the Igminiswap from Sandra. Isn't it wonderful? Lovely improv curves, just perfect for me.