May Green

May has been green month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Although strictly speaking there are still a few May hours left, they won't be sewing hours here! I have grandchildren coming to stay in a few hours so the spare bedroom has reverted to just that and my sewing corner has been packed away!

Before I put everything away, though, I took a photo of my May blocks.

All green in May

The Chinese coins block is still waiting for the side pieces. I haven't made all the blocks but I'll be going back to green to pick up the remaining blocks soon.

Exit green!
(He had just come out of the grass,
and wasn't yet completely camouflaged.)

In the meantime we're going yellow!

I'm linking up with:

So click on the button to go over there 

and see what others have made this month.

Happy Sewing

Marly.

WIP Wednesday - Jigsaw Quilt

This quilt has been on the go for a couple of months, and I've been plucking up courage to quilt it. Finally I took my courage in both hands, fitted the BSR to the Bernina 440, put on my quilting gloves and covered the quilt in bindweed. Unfortunately it's too dark now to take a photo close up. Even though there is another couple of hours before sunset, it's dark and dreary; it's been raining all day and is still completely overcast. That's also the reason it's a bit out of focus top right: I obviously can't hold the camera steady for 2.5 seconds - it seemed like forever.

Jigsaw Quilt
pattern: Pam & Nikki Lintott
fabric: Metropolitan Fair by Barbara Brackman for Moda.

Well the motif is leaves on a vine, but the leaves look like bindweed. (When I had a garden bindweed was the bane of my life. I seemed to be forever digging it out.) I was hoping to do dot to dot quilting on this one, but my results are too erratic at the moment. I need more practice.

I'm now heading off to the sewing corner to quilt in the ditch along the border and add tram rail quilting along the border - with the walking foot. Hopefully I'll be ready to put the binding on tomorrow and get a Friday finish.

I'm linking up to 

    

so pop over there and see what others are working on this week.

Happy sewing

Marly.

More Happy Mail, and it's not even my birthday!

Hooray! I won a bundle of fat quarters from Northcott in the Quiltmaker blog hop giveaway.  They are such beautiful shades of blue, green and aqua, with a one brown low volume print. The theme is marine with some large prints, like the one on the top, some medium prints, water plants, and a lot of very useful low volume prints. Wonderful.

What do you think of my background fabric? No, I'm not going to lay the wadding out every time I take a photo; I just happened to be layering a quilt when FedEx came!

I understand that the Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazine is also on its way.  Maybe I'll find inspiration for an aquatic quilt.

I'm linking up to:

Happy Sewing

Marly.

RSC14 week 21

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Angela at Scraphappy gives a new colour and some sampler blocks each month. This week I have made two blocks: Thrifty and Courthouse Steps variation.

Thrifty (left) and Courthouse Steps Variation (right)

I bought some new green FQs this week (see this post) and have used one of them, the polkadot,  in the Thrifty block. While my green stash are mostly yellowy green the new are a more in-the-middle green. I'm not sure if I like it next to the brighter greens, but I intend making a few more this week and hope they'll balance.

I'm linking up to 

so hop over there and take a look at other people's blocks.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Happy Mail van Birdblocks!

Voor de verandering schrijf ik vandaag eerst in het Nederlands. 

Sinds eind vorig jaar ben ik op de Mod Stash Club van Birdblocks in Amsterdam geabonneerd. De kleur voor mei is GROEN en het pakje met 5 FQs is vandaag gearriveerd. 

Dat komt goed uit om dat groen ook de mei kleur van de RSC14 is. Ik vind ze allemaal mooi, maar die meest rechtse lapje is mijn favoriet. 

Since last November I've been buying 5 FQs a month from Birdblocks Quilt Shop in Amsterdam through the Mod Stash Club. The May package arrived this morning, and it's GREEN! Just what I need to add some variety to my May RSC14 blocks.

Happy Sewing
Marly.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge week 20: 3½ blocks

Three blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge finished this week

and one waiting for a pale green to make the side pieces. The only pale green I have is too blue to go with the yellowy green I've used for the coins. Just imagine that the design wall, complete with threads, is a beautiful pale green: the colour of the polka dots but without their darker background.

Further this week I have been practising dot to dot quilting, as I mentioned here. 

If I thought it would be easy doing straight lines with free motion quilting I had another think coming! I moved clockwise around this square sandwich, starting at the 3 o'clock position in this photo. The last square I quilted is at the 12 o'clock position, and is definitely the best. This would probably be so much easier with the Fine Line Rulers several fellow bloggers have recommended. Unfortunately I understand they are not compatible with Bernina machines. If anyone knows otherwise, or of a ruler that does fit with the Bernina, please let me know, and no, I'm not going to saw a piece out of my BSR to make it fit the ruler!

I believe, however, even without a ruler, the lines are getting straighter (maybe wishful thinking) but the extreme bumps are where the fabric got caught in the space between the arm of the machine and the top of the table. It's a question of adjusting the height of the platform that the machine stands on so that the arm is a couple of millimetres HIGHER  than the table top, rather than LOWER, as at present. It wouldn't be a difficult operation if it were not that the machine has to be removed first, and of course put back afterwards. That is the difficult part: aligning the the bolt that goes through the platform with the screw-hole in the bottom of the machine.

I'm linking up to:

So head over there to see what other quilters have been making this week.

Giant Block on my Design wall

Monday 12 May

On my design wall this morning was this enormous block. At least it's the largest I've ever considered making: each  of the 36 square units measures 6.5" unfinished.

36x36" 

In the meantime I've been sewing, so these squares are all sewn together, completing the centre of the top. All it needs now is the single border and I have my top for the Craftsy course Dot to Dot Quilting with Angela Walters. I should manage to get the border on and the sandwich pinned together this afternoon, ready to continue the course.
I'm looking forward to learning to do straight line FMQ; in the past I've always used the walking foot for straight lines and gentle curves. While that wouldn't be a problem on this scale it is when making a bedquilt, and sometimes having the entire quilt to the right of the needle. I shall be trying the designs on a small practice "quilt" to get the feel of them, and then using them on this pieced quilt to practise combining motifs.
I think that my biggest challenge will be keeping my lines straight, or at least having a minimum of wobble!

I'm linking up with 

Update: Wednesday 14 May

The pieces are all together and borders added. 

I was pinning yesterday when I realised the backing wasn't wide enough so I removed the extension piece I'd added in the middle. Don't ask how I didn't notice until I was pinning! Suffice it to say the quilt top is a little wider than the table and I usually do the pinning on the living room floor. The backing pieces and the wadding are lying on the table waiting for new extension pieces.

Linking up to: 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Sunshine in the sunshine!

RSC14 week 19

I'm making blocks of a different colour each month for the Rainbow Challenge. April's colour was purple and here is my last purple block.

Purple garlic knot

May's colour is green,

and I don't have any green blocks yet, but I do have a promising number of green scraps. They're all out and raring to go!

I'm linking up to SoScrappy for the RSC14 link-up.

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC14 week 18 - Purple Pieces

Isn't this terrible?

All I did this week was cut out a garlic roll block (I'm sure that's not what it's really called). While really for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge I should make about 4 blocks a week. Well I'll catch up sometime.

They've been here since last Sunday!

I'm afraid that once again I was using all my free minutes to meet the Triangle Quilt Along's deadline yesterday. It was a never to be repeated week: I had no time to read my emails, or read other people's blogs. I barely gave myself the time to comment at linky parties. Shame!

Here is the garlic whatever with is purple partners.

I'm hoping I can get some more purple put together soon.


But now: here's to the green!

Rijswijk, Henri Ter Halsingel, April 2014 

I'm linking to Soscrappy for the RSC14 link up

so pop over there to see what other quilters have made this week.

Also linking to Freshly Pieced  for WIP Wednesdays and

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

Triangle Quilt Along - finish.

I joined the Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle for the second quarter in 2014 and my list of projected finishes is here.
This was my first finish.

All good things come to an end and this evening is the last time to post about the Triangle Quilt Along.

Here it is, at the eleventh hour (almost).

Triangle quilt. made during the Triangle Quilt Along at The Sassy Quilter.

In photos taken just before sunset blues are enhanced. I've no idea what the cause is, but here I appear to have used purple patches. No. No purple. No blue. This is fuchsia - bright pink, but clearly with a blue component.

Here a close up.

Closer view of the binding and quilting.

More loopy quilting.

The sun is off my balcony now, so here is a photo I took in the sun this morning. Here the colours are more accurately reproduced. Unfortunately it was not only sunny but very windy with it. If you look closely you can see the binding flapping around.

Some statistics:

Triangles per row: 23

Number of rows: 16

Length: 210cm

Width: 170cm

Fabrics: 

Mona solids - yellow, fuchsia and green (binding)

Assorted  print FQs (mostly without enough selvedge to identify them)

Brice & Madeline jonehallmark for Free Spirit 

(backing - only piece large enough to have a name - 

and then I can't read the designer's name properly. sorry!)

I'm linking up to The Sassy Quilter for the triangle finish.

Thanks to Paula for organising the Quilt Along, 

and to my fellow bloggers who offered advice on quilting method and the tension issues last week.

I shall be writing a summary of your advice and my findings this week.

I'm also linking to Lily's Quilts for


and to Quilt Matters for TGIFF




This is my first finish in Q2 of Finish Along.
At the end of the second quarter I'm linking my finishes to Katy at the Littlest Thistle. Click on the logo above to view other participants' finishes.