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.

fitting it all in ...

in between all the relaxing and eating of left overs, there has been a bit of stitching going on ...

you didn't expect me not to right?

I first started this quilt back in September, but on checking, I've never actually shown you a completed picture of the top  ...

this one blew over the fence when I was trying  to get a pic into my neighbours garden, her dog was less than impressed!

anyway, betwix  and between Christmas and new year is all about quilting for me, selfish I know, but it was my treat to myself for having done a quilting marathon just before the holidays

so start I did 

and then I finished!

and the sun shone!  

my last finish of the year, just in time, holding onto the warmth of the summer even in the depths of winter!

and then I set about putting my Swoon quilt together, those poor blocks have sat since late November waiting to be finished.  Today was the day for putting borders on!

so at a mere 89" square, this one is screaming out for some custom quilting, don't ya think?  

Its time  will come, but the quilting fairies need to bring me a new big girls toy first!

and as I was finishing up, there was way too much scrappy strip goodness going on visually on instagram

I had to dig into the big (and I mean big!) box of 2 1/2" strips to see what pretties lurked within

there are too many people to blame for my indiscretion,  but you may already have read one of the culprits own admission of guilt here!

and so, whilst tea was cooking, I ran this one up, and sorted more strips for the next few blocks ...

oh my, we'll have to add this to the ever growing list!  

ok, waffled way too long, the year will soon be out, and I'm not ready for that to happen just yet!