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Tuesday 29 March 2011

More quilts and more boxes

Remember the stack of fabrics I showed you a couple of weeks ago? I added a few more, all from my stash. Some of them I had for at least 15 years, if not longer. It gives me satisfaction to be able to include those fabrics with my newer ones and to see how well they go together. For the time being this quilt is going to join the pile of tops patiently waiting to be quilted.

Luckily this quilt is now finished, thanks to a nice lady with her new long arm quilting machine. I like how it turned out and love the variegated thread she used. The only thing left to do is to wrap it up and send it to Australia where hopefully it will brighten someones day.

These boxes, or should I say trays, were produced during our weekly craft session.



This little beauty my friend made. She covered and lined it with raw silk and it turned out lovely











And this red one is mine. I covered the edged with book linen and the outside with Japanese paper, then lined it with Chines silk. These little trays are perfect to keep jewelery in or for displaying collectibles.



















Take care
Vreni 

Sunday 20 March 2011

Boxes, Pincushions and Quilts for Japan

Liv and I had another lovely day last week crafting together. Here are the two tea boxes we've made.


I tried a new way of making the separators which I saw at Hilde's and it worked beautifully!






Talking about Hilde: she and her friend Hilde (yes I know, a bit confusing) are organizing a pin cushion swap. You'll find all the information here. Why not take a look and maybe join in the fun.








If you want to do something to help those poor people in Japan, visit Janet.  She has all the information needed if you would like to donate a quilt. Of course there are many organisations collecting money; but is there a more personal way of showing that you care than giving a quilt to someone who has lost everything?


Vreni

Thursday 10 March 2011

"One Block" and other "Wonders"

I have two of Maxine Rosenthal's books - one Block Wonders and One Block Wonder Encore - and always wanted to make one of her quilts. But only after I've seen my friend Hilde's quilt I finally got serious. The beauty of making these quilts is that you only need one fabric (and a contrast for the border). It's fun to see how each hexagon makes a new pattern.
I'm pleased with how it turned out. I haven't decided yet how I will quilt it. I'm tempted to hand quilt it myself as I haven't done any hand quilting in while.
My friend Liv and I are meeting one day a week to work on our tessellation quilts. We both first fell in love with "tessellations" when we saw Giselle's BOM organized by Material Obsession. The idea is that we choose the fabrics and cut all the pieces for one block when we meet and then sew it at home. We had fun digging through each other's stash and what a stash this girl has. Do you know that saying about "who dies with the most fabric wins"? Let me tell you, it would most definitely be her. 

These are my first four blocks.  I haven't decided on the background fabrics yet.
And here are Liv's. While my blocks are quite bright,  Liv's are more muted. 

As you can see, Liv has already eight blocks finished while I have only four, although we jumped off the starting block together. But that's neither here nor there :)

This book and the charm pack  arrived here last week. Marnie from the  Smith Mountain Lake Quilting Store  was kind enough to sponsor the Valentine quilt contest (which I won), organized by the Quilting Gallery . Thank you very much Marnie!

And if that wasn't enough I also got this lot, which was a gift from me!
I, like so many others, just love the Dr. Seuss fabrics and I'm intending to make a quilt for my daughter who is a brand new primary teacher. The solid coloured charm packs I want to combine with the charm packs I recently won at an auction. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the Little Menagerie Fat Roll, but that's beside the point. I just wanted it, and that is rather that ;).

And now to my next project. I've decided I won't buy any fabric for it and only use my stash. This is what I found:

I hope I'll be able to show you more next time.

Till then, take care.
Vreni