New Year Bliss

The week between Christmas and New Year is one of my favourite times of the year. There are no appointments, no work commitments , and the whole family can relax at home doing their own thing. I get to sew!

Fabrics are everywhere, designs are playing around happily in my head, and ideas begin to transform themselves into projects.

      

I have been able to start and nearly finish  my counted cross stitch pin keep from Blackbird Designs.

My sewing purse made from half inch hexagons has been very useful indeed as I move to follow the best sunlight around the house and it gives me great joy to look at each day.

I have decided to play around with making 6 inch blocks with a few fabrics I picked up in Houston , and at the Cottage Quiltworks in Warriewood. I have made about 20 so far.

Here are a few of my favourites

     

     

     

A love affair has started for me with the colour I call musky lilac. The blocks are dictating the quilt they wish to be made into.  Using black and white border prints is adding a fresh, modern twist to the traditional blocks which I like on point. 

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I don't, although I do pause and consider the blessing of another year to share with friends and family. I know I drive people crazy with my optimism and my effervescent  enthusiasm but that's the way I choose to see the world. Sure- I talk too much, I love food too much, I cry like an empath and I have way too many things to do in a day but really wouldn't want to drastically change the status quo. Friends would worry there was something wrong!  Perfection is way over rated in my book. So here is to the New Year and to imperfections . That's what makes life fascinating.

Happy sewing, Miriam x

Christmas Greetings

It is Christmas. Another year has slipped  past. Whilst I had every intention of being able to 'do it all!' this year, I must gracefully accept that life has its own way of nudging things along and pointing us in directions we could not even begin to imagine. 

What I love about the holiday season is the time we are given to gather together with loved ones, and the time we are given to reflect and remember fondly those who are no longer with us. Our lives are enriched by those we meet along the way. As Barbara Streisand sings " people who need people are the luckiest people in the world". Thank you to all my friends and family for your love, your friendship, your laughter and  your tears aa we ride life's  roller coaster  together. 

Giving - a word that is synonymous with sewers and quilters alike. May this festive season be a time of making and giving, as we pour our hearts and souls into tiny stitches that come together as thoughtful gifts. 

                             

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday. Happy sewing, Miriamxxx

The Brad Pitt Border

Ah! The Brad Pitt Border. This border, which is on my version of Marg Sampson George's Not the Levens Hall Quilt, has the ability to look great on many a quilt. It is a wonderful way to use up special fabric pieces and scraps left over from central medallions.

Here is an overall view of the quilt border.

Below are some close ups. I have used some of my favourite fabrics in the strip pieces.

In the checkerboard section below notice how the light fabric pieces are not all made from the same fabric. Some are small dot, some are crowns. This detailing adds greatly to the visual interest of the quilt. These sections are constructed square by square, and not strip pieced. This means that each checkerboard is unique. Notice also that the coloured squares contain a range of colours from light to dark, which gives it depth and movement. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at the border in detail. I adored making it. I felt as if I was creating a singing picture in fabric. 

Happy sewing, Miriamx 

Not the Levens Hall Quilt in close up.

In my last post I showed this quilt top. I am glad so many of you liked it.This quilt makes me smile every time I look at it. There is plenty to see if you look closely.

There have been a few requests for close up shots so I though I would start with the quilt centre square in this post. This is anatomy of a quilt 101! 

Firstly, let's begin with the central hexagon medallions.

 

Each medallion is fussy cut, and hand pieced using the paper piecing technique. I had a tiny piece of the pansy fabric, so used it cleverly in three of the medallions to unify them.

Which is your favourite medallion? 

In my next post I will show close ups of the border. My friends have named the border the Brad Pitt border- because it looks great with everything!! 

Happy Sewing, love Miriam x 

A fabulous year of quilting

Thank you for visitng my blog. It is always wonderful to have you join me. Please stop by often.

Firstly, the wedding of my niece Laura was beautiful. Welcome to our family Matt.

 Laura was glowing and everything was perfection. My grandmother's exquisitely embroidered table runner was placed underneath the cake. This was such a wonderful touch and meant so much to my Mum, my sister and me.

As the end of year is approaching, I thought I would start to revisit some of my quilts made this year.

I started the year with making a quilt for a 1920's cane lounge we had at home. I took off the Kaffe Fassett fabric that I had covered the seat with and reworked it into a quilt. 

Next I designed a quilt for my sister and her husband. Using a mixture of techniques- paper piecing, appliqué and machine piecing, a beautiful quilt using Civil War Reproduction fabrics was born. I wanted to use the red, as it matched a chair in my sister's bedroom. The red worked well with the prints and really let the quilt sing. Jo-Ann Philips did a sensational job custom quilting it. Thank you Jo! 

My special treat this year has been attending classes taught by Margaret Sampson George. I hand pieced this quilt top . It is yet to be quilted as I am not sure yet how best to handquilt it, but I will keep you posted. It is a bright, happy quilt with lots of lovely things to look closely at. 

I also joined Brigitte Giblin's Trip Around the World challenge. With instructions to use a red dot as the central square, to hand sew by eyeballing each quarter inch seam, and not to press as you go. - the adventure began. Here is my quilt top, which I am currently hand quilting in a cross thatch pattern.

My eldest son Nathan turned 21 this year too, so of course he had to have a quilt. 

I also put together this quilt for my Dad. He loves it. 

It has been a wonderful quilty year, but that is more than enough for one post! I also did a few other things too - next time I will show and tell.

Happy sewing, Miriamx