Thursday, May 24, 2012

My creative space...


...today is all about scissors and glue for a little appliqué project I'm putting together to demo my appliqué technique at Brown Owls this Sunday! My first 'teaching' foray, if you will. I'm excited!

I'm also experimenting a bit with the background - normally I appliqué onto a solid background. This time I thought I'd try something a little different. So far I'm pretty happy with it. What do you think?

And yes, perhaps I should think about appliquéing something other than leaves, leaves and more leaves....

I wouldn't want to get typecast or anything.

More creative spaces over here, and works-in-progress over at Lee's.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Bloggers Quilt Festival



A running-late entry to the 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival

I'm afraid this one remains unfinished as I'm trying to gather up the stamina required to (a) hand baste it ready for (b) hand quilting it to within an inch of its life. Eek! But it must happen soon because I had planned that this would be my winter sofa project!



I had a huge amount of fun making this quilt top.  The scrappy leaves medallion is like a walk-through my fabric stash. I was worried when I embarked on this that I didn't have enough fabric to achieve a scrappy look. But even though some of the fabrics appear multiple times, I think it still looks scrappy, yet unified.


Likewise the tab border. Somehow I managed to scrape together around 200 squares of fabric to make the tabs (I can't remember the exact number now!) 

And finally, let me recommend this quilt to you - it was a delight to make! And surprisingly fast!

The details:
Pattern - Whirligig from Sarah Fielke's Quilting 
Background fabric - American Jane Pindot in taupe
Setting triangles - from Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner
Borders - Green stripe from Sunkissed by Sweetwater

Now off to continue browsing more fabulous quilts in the quilt festival!

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Amy's Creative Side

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

WIP Wednesday


Hello!!!

It's been a whole month since my last blog post. Nothing new there, but today I thought I'd pick a random selection of photos to demonstrate my little problem of craft ADHD. I haven't tallied up my projects that are in progress at the moment, because I think it would be scary, and also my husband may read this and use it to once again ask what's happening with the 5 year old's baby quilt... Hmm, yes.

So first random pic off the ranks is block 1 of the Amitie Block of the Month Gypsy's Wife quilt. Please note I now have the fabrics for blocks 2 and 3, and they remain untouched in my cupboard....



Second is another new quilt in progress, this pattern is On a Whim by Camille, and I've chosen to dig into my Bliss stash for this. Although I'm now rethinking the solid grey for the triangle corners and have just ordered a grey print from Camille's new line Vintage Modern, yardage of which just arrived at Fat Quarter Shop yesterday, and I ordered it pronto! So only one block of that so far.


Third random photo is a layer cake of Sweetwater's forthcoming line Mama Said Sew, which I mentioned recently, and is my current fabric lust object. Still procrastinating over what to make with this. It must be PERFECT. (Joke) Still, it is indicative of my creativity-paralysed-by-indecision predicament.

And final random photo today is a little knitting shot. I've taken up the needles again with gusto after a couple of years off. And I've been enjoying it immensely. I especially love knitting on winter evenings. It's very cosy. Cup of tea and my knitting and I'm as happy as a pig in mud (cake). Embarrassing as it is to admit, however, the top scarf in that pic is one that I completed TWO YEARS AGO, and had simply failed to finish weaving in the yarn ends. There were literally only three ends left to do. It is my least favourite part of knitting, but really, that was ridiculous. Anyway, now they are done and the scarf is ready, although it does need blocking (which I've never done before). On the bottom is my just completed Honey Cowl. Yarn ends not yet sewn in, but that will happen imminently, not in two years, because it fits perfectly and will be beautiful to wear this winter!

So that was rather a long post although I had not intended it to be. Lots more to tell, but I will save for another time. In the meantime, please tell me about any projects you've just started (even if you probably shouldn't have because you have a hundred other things on the go!), or ones that have been going for a ridiculously long time. I'd love to hear I'm not alone in my craft-ADHD!!

Linking up today to Lee's WIP Wednesday Linky Party.