Allietare! finished, at last

I have a second finish to report this week. This one was really a UFO, as it was the Quiltville mystery from December 2015 of which I finished the piecing well over a year ago. It took me another six months to get the borders done.

After my frustration while quilting Star Light, Star Dark I decided on simple all-over "circles-on-a-string" in the centre section which was so easy (but still with the odd pointed bit in a circle here or there!) and on a vine with leaves and bunches of grapes in the corners (a nod to Chianti here) for the outer border.

I could have used any colour thread on the border but because my quilting often has those erratic hooks in it I decided to match the thread to the border fabric. Have you ever tried sewing black on black? Well mistakes certainly wouldn't have been noticeable; when I finished the first leaf I couldn't see where it had begun. When you sew white on white the stitches have shadows; you can't see the shadows on black. It's a shame about the Chianti but it was not to be! More unpicking, and then I quilted "tramlines" with the walking foot - easy and .... boring!

Tramlines! Alas no Chianti!

I was really happy to have this finished and ready to be used this winter.

Fabric: assorted from stash, mostly scraps
Thread: Aurifil light grey (
Wadding: cotton from my LQS
Size 1.75m x 1.75m

I'm linking up to

 

So pop over there and see what else has been finished this week.

Happy sewing

Marly.

New Arrivals .. of a crafty nature!

Not one, but two new arrivals in my sewing room, and its annexe, the living room, this week.

Firstly some fun fur yarn from Lee Anna .

She had lost interest in knitting it and was looking for a new home for it. Now I often wear black or dark green and enjoy bright accessories and this is right up my street. I was really surprised when I found I'd won the giveaway. I've never knitted anything fluffier than mohair so this is going to be a new experience. I can't wait to get the needles clicking! I'll shortly be dazzling everyone around me, literally. I can't get over how generous the quilting community is, so big thanks again to Lee Anna.

Secondly a Q Frame quilting frame, which is small, but still too big for my sewing room.

This I bought about a month ago, but only put together yesterday evening. The whole thing went together surprisingly easily (compared to IKEA furniture); you can see the clamps next to it. They are off at the moment because I took a break from pinning to go shopping and to take a photo. I also bought an extension set to increase the length of the back legs to make quilting more comfortable. I'm using it in the horizontal position to sandwich Allietare!; it's about time I did something with that top that was finished almost a year ago! I shan't be hand quilting it but once it's ready for quilting on my domestic machine I shall load my appliquéd circles quilt, because that I am going to quilt by hand. Crawling round on all fours to sandwich a quilt had been becoming very difficult over the last couple of years and, even after my hip operation, is still a trial. The only crawling  done yesterday was to cut the wadding to size and even then my husband had to help me stand up afterwards.

I'd like to wish you all a prosperous and healthy 2017. May the new year be full of interest, and friendly faces; may we all face the challenges with optimism. I am ever grateful that I have control of my own life and am not dictated to by anyone. Not everyone in the world can say that; may 2017 bring more freedom to the oppressed.

Happy sewing

Marly.

January progress

 The first couple of weeks of January I spent catching up with Allietare! (click for information on the button to the left).  I chose to make a slightly smaller version than the official one  but after the reveal on 1 January discovered I hadn't made enough; now I'm making the setting triangles. I posted here about not having a suitable grey, but fortunately managed to pick it up the following day. I thought I had a photo on my phone, but I haven't got even one photo of the completed blocks. I'll remedy that soon when I'm ready to start joining the rows.

On 1 January I started with the Quilty 365 project which I had read about in November in  blog post from Deb. This project is being organised by Audrey at Quilty Folk and you can read about it here.
I decided then to wait and start symbolically in the New Year and to appliqué each circle using the needle-turn technique. This is a technique I'd never tried before, but after some You Tube tuition I felt confident enough to start! The first block took me 3 hours! Number 31 took 55 minutes! We're moving in the right direction! I really like the result so far.

January's blocks in chronological order, which will probably not be the final order.

At the start I thought I'd make the circles larger on "special" days; the first two (1 and 2 January) are larger circles: one for New Year, and one for my youngest Grandson's birthday.
At first I just picked matching pieces of roughly the right size from the scrap bin, but after about 10 days decided:

• to cut some solid squares in different colours to make the daily choosing-ritual easier (and faster!),
• to glue the circles with a smear of Sew Line glue in the centre,
• to alternate light and dark backgrounds in the final layout (medium backgrounds will count as light or dark, depending on their neighbours),
• and to experiment with colour.

My favourite block is number 15 (middle of the left-hand column): two purple fabrics joined in a curve on the machine, WITHOUT pins!!! You can probably imagine my surprise when it laid flat immediately! I learnt to do this from Leanne's video on sewing Drunkard's path blocks. It's brilliant!

As if this wasn't enough of a new project in January, I've also joined the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters (button on the right). This group has been going for about six months, so I'm a late starter, but have read up on improvised quilting on the sites of Kaya and Ann. Although I haven't started an improv project, I think the following three blocks could count as improv piecing.

As I'm not sure where the whole Quilty 365 project is going, maybe the whole project can be called "improv" too.

In total contrast to improvised patchwork I joined a club at my local quilt shop to make the blocks of the "Farmer's Wife 1930's sampler quilt". This is old style precision cutting and sewing, although I'm experimenting with colour here again.

top row: November, 2nd row: December (still 3 blocks to do), 3rd row: January (but it's not over yet!)

We are adding setting triangles and quilting as we  go, in theory. Everyone else is, so I shall have to cut the backing, wadding and setting triangles soon! I have until Tuesday week to fill these rows!

I'm linking up to:

    

Happy sewing

Marly.

Allietare!: still waiting for the grey!

Bonnie Hunter gave the first clue to her current mystery quilt at the end of November, and the final clue last Friday. I decided to make a smaller version, as we don't need another full size quilt, so started with the idea of making one quarter of the units given. Now I've seen the reveal I've decided to make a lap quilt/throw at half the size of the original.

I haven't done any of the clues using grey, as the grey I had bought turned out too dark; there wasn't enough contrast with black. Now I've seen the reveal I'm glad I waited, but that means I don't have anything like a finished top.

Here are the units I have made:

Clue 3

Clue 4

 and a photo I took in Pisa a few years ago:

Mosaic above one of the west doors to the Cathedral in Pisa

So much quilting inspiration here, and see all Bonnie's colours. I love Tuscany so I'm so glad I decided to join in, and hope to get the rest of this done in a few months.

I'm linking up to Quiltville:

(click on image to link)

Hop over there to see how some people have kept up, and completed the mystery quilt already!

Happy sewing

Marly.