Imagine Quilts

So my friend Dana, of Old Red Barn recently wrote a book,

and I am thrilled she asked me to be a part of the blog hop for the books recent release by Martingale

Its a fabulous book, and as soon as a copy arrived in the post, 

I just wanted to dive right in and make a couple of the quilts

The great thing is, I know its just not me that feels that way!

Its so hard to pic a favorite, but I have been so inspired by Dana's book

I had to jump right in and gather fabrics for a quilt

straight away!

and then I cut, even though there is stuff I HAVE to get done!

Dana is such a lovely person, and over the years we have become great virtual friends,

ever since those early days of the Old Red Barn QAL on Flikr

She has such a beautiful eye with the camera 

and equally eloquent with words

So if you fancy winning an e-book version of this very special book,

thanks to the very Lovely Martingale people

and

some fabulous Aurifil thread

Then please just leave me a comment, 

just the one,

if you are a no reply blogger, then please make sure I can get hold of you with your email address in the comment too.  

(i'd hate for you to miss out)

I will draw the winner Friday night

Giveaway is now closed, I have drawn a winner and will notify you when I can get back to my laptop. 

Thank you all for your lovely comments

T x

Rapture Star

So my Rapture Star has been on my FAL list for some time

It needed to be done in time for Festival, 

With all the piecing going on, my quilt got put to the pile,  

When I loaded it, I wanted to do it justice for a competition, but just looked at it for weeks (ok, 2 weeks) before I quilted it.  

And when I did get round to quilting it, I had made the decision that it would not make it to Festival, as I still had Nels quilts to do, and well, the paid work comes first right?

So I just quilted it with feathers, no plan, just did it

on and off, no fuss

and I love it, not the best quilting, backtracking or anything like I wanted for it, 

but thanks to Moira and Mary and a binding party, whilst I quilted the EMMQG entry

my Rapture Star made it to Festival

This is another Whopper at 84" square

Fabrics are Rapture by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics with Pure Elements in Snow from Art Gallery fabrics as the background. 

The pattern was from a Moda Bakeshop pattern Candy Flower pillow by Julie Hirt that used Mini Squares (2 1/2") 

but I went large and super sized those squares somewhat!

There is some AGF on the back and so this quilt feels amazing!

So that's another one off my FAL list!

Some of those secrets

I've been working on quite a few secret projects

one of the major secrets has been the quilts I made for Nel Whatmore

Nel designed all of these quilts, she sends me a picture of the design in  the fabrics, and after lots of discussion, I have then made, quilted, and finished the quilts then returned them to Nel.

Firstly I made this quilt earlier in the year using her fabric Line Memory Lane

I used some design elements from the fabric for the quilting inspiration

and repeated it in the border

You can see the finished quilt and buy the pattern here.

Then there was what I called on Instagram as #84inchesofawesome

Merry Go Round

I love this view of the back from under the longarm with the sun shining through 

I pieced this one, quilted and finished it too,

with some of the left overs from the piecing, I made a couple of pot holders

and some bunting

I was so thrilled to see this hanging on the Cotton Patch stand at Festival of Quilts

ooh look and the bunting!

The pattern is just being finalised and will be available very soon

And Secret Garden,

this was hand EPP'd by Nel over the last year, I had the pleasure of quilting this one

The view of the back

again, this one was hanging on the Cotton Patch stand at Festival of Quilts

you can get the pattern here

I had a fabulous time at Festival, and am thoroughly enjoying working so collaboratively with Nel.  Its been a real pleasure to understand the story behind the fabrics that give me inspiration for the quilting.

So much to catch up on

so lets start with July and Fat Quarterly Retreat!

I know, I know... back in the height of the summer heat

I finished my swap samples in time! 

these were on my FAL list, so that's one less project!

and as is now customary, I made a new bag!  

Lets just clarify that, I started the bag at 4pm the day before, all done by 8pm, just in time to pack for the morning! 

and I have to say I LOVE my Noodlehead Poolside Tote!

there may be another one in my future ...

I also managed to finish something else on my FAL list ...

this cushion for Nicky

we entered into a private swap last year at retreat, and so I needed to complete my end of the bargain.  I'm pleased to report the feathered cushion now resides in her sewing room.

Another one off the list!

And my Lovely Roomie made me this amazing draw string bag, 

its a perfect size for travelling with, and I have used it already!  Thank you Di x

I dont seem to have a picture of my swaps, but I received another, most beautiful drawstring bag from Di, some coasters from Soinia, and a teeny tiny bear from Penny. 

Whilst we were free Friday morning Di and I took ourselves off on a trip to the Village Haberdashery ... and we may have cleared the shelves of a little Cotton & Steel while we were there!

And there may have been an afternoon tea in the mix too! 

Oh, that is definitely one to be repeated!

Thank You Shev for organising us!

The Retreat was a roaring success, smaller, more intimate, and thoroughly enjoyable, meeting old friends, new friends, online friends, having fun together!

So that was July, some secret sewing, and some FAL finishes!

And the winner is ...

Quilting Tangent who wrote:

 Quilting Tangent said...

I like your quilting, it looks like wind blowing your pinwheels.
In a magazine, I like to see allot of quilts in different colorways, different degrees of difficulty and from traditional to modern and everything in between. Their has to be patterns. 24Tangent@gmail.com

27 July 2014 14:39

 

If you'd like to email me your mailing address I'll get the magazine in the post to you.