Block meditation

Working on these blocks gives me a good flow feeling - quite meditative really.

I am not preparing a lot in advance, as that is not how my mind works.
I like to follow through one block at a time - picking what block to work on, picking fabric, cutting pieces and / or preparing the applique, doing the work, getting the good feeling of accomplishment.
I see each block as a project - this quilt has 121 project in the mid section + borders.
Should keep me busy for quite a while :-)

 

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Hanne

Decorating with quilts

Maybe you remember how my old Quilt Corner looked like,
with a big desk on the wall to the left ?
The old Quilt Corner was a corner in my living room -
now it is our favourite relax spot in the house - one chair for each of us.
Dear husband has his computer and his computer stuff near - like in under the table.
I have my sewing box and good light for hand work.

We change the quilt on the wall every so often. Right now Gossip In the Garden is the eye catcher of the living room :-)

I have had so much fun making this quilt and it has also been a great lesson in patience  :-)
The top was made in 8 weeks - and Merete did a great job on the machine quilting!

I love the concept of focus project - I just need to keep on practising my focusing!

I have promised myself to be better at making labels for my big quilts too - here goes:

Daily threads

The hand quilting is coming along -  and it is nice to sit down for a little while every day, doing some threads.

Not that I was ever doubting the effect of the daily thread, but still I am amazed of how much I can get done with not to much daily effort.

 2 weeks, and the hand quilting has gone from approximately 1/5 done, to approximately 3/4 done! Go me!

(writing with the computer mouse did not do much good for my hand style)

The scrap flowers are coming along too - sort of by a daily thread as well. I need to find some more scraps - maybe from another colour section, to add more fun   :-)

How to eat an elephant

This quilt has been like an elephant in the room for quite some time, and it is the reason I signed it up for my guild's Ufo challenge, finished by first Wednesday in September.

Many many  moons ago, I swapped Jane Stickle blocks with a dear friend - we each made 2 every month, keeping one, sending one off across the ocean.

As much as I loved the blocks, it took some time to find a good fabric for the spacer blocks, and next to find a good border fabric.
The autumn palette is not the closest to my heart, but I like the way it turned out.

Fearless, I started marking the fans for hand quilting, and started doing the with a fabulous mauve hand quilting thread.
Well - my shoulders did not like the hand quilting process much, and the quilt was abandoned after just a few fans done, only to be moved around in my sewing room again and again and again.

Remember, I am practising patience - so I decided a daily nibble of the elephant will eventually do the trick.
When I pulled the quilt out, I really had to do a thorough search to find my hand quilting thread, which was put in a very clever place - not - in a box in the back of a closet - and not together with my other hand quilting thread. I wonder what made me put it there........

The mauve thread colour has been discontinued so it was a question of do or die.
It was not a good option to pull the already done hand quilting out..........even if it was only about 1/5 of the quilt then.

The tools are out, the marking is progressing - I am marking only one small section at a time, as the chalk is coming out with to much marking all at once.

The thimble is great - thimbles2fit - and the rhythm of hand quilting is coming back.
I have found that my sewing table in the Quilt Corner and the kitchen table has just the right height to support my work nicely.

Hopefully finished in a couple of weeks ??

- Wishing you a good Monday -

Hanne

A quilter learning new skills

The first Ufo of 5 is done - and I am doing a happy dance!

I have done these stars without a pattern, with a regular ruler, and the photo below is my inspiration - 2 old quilts in an old book I bought on EBay a few years back :-)

It was fun to do the math and it was fun to make the blocks with simple tools.
I know how it became an Ufo, as my mind was already moving on when I had joined the blocks.......

I think the skill that I am working on right now is to have patience to see a project to the finish line - at least more often than before ;-)
The feeling of having a finish can not be beaten by anything!

Wishing you a wonderful Monday!

Hanne

Gossip in the Garden progress

I am enjoying this project so much that I have given it full focus since the beginning of the month, and you can see how far it has taken me!
Except for a few machine pieced blocks this is all hand applique, English paper piecing and stitchery.
I so enjoy the process and the rest the handwork gives me.

The blocks above are done, the blocks below are in different stages of finished.

This is my 1. priority project for April too, and if I run out of applique, the 2 blocks on the project from the previous post - the Some Kind of Wonderful quilt  - will be next.

You might already know that these 2 quilts are from the same designer, Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched. I love her style and the style goes so well with my taste of fabrics.
I am not much of a sew-it-from-a-premade-kit person.
I find that I am so easily bored when everything is already decided. I get stuck when I can not chose for myself.
I guess that is why Block of the Month with fabrics is not my thing.

Example:

Block of the Month bought from Northern Quilts in Norway many years ago.
More than half done with all the stitcheries, so stuck with the blocks, mainly because of the fabrics and colour choice which were not entirely to my taste back then.
I found the box ( I knew it was there) when I searched for the Some Kind of Wonderful projects earlier today.
We have changed the colours in my house since I bought this BOM, so now I think it can go well here.
I am a bit scared of adding to many projects to my focus list, but these blocks will get attention as soon as the 2 other focus projects are made into tops.
Sounds like a nice a plan, right ?

Hanne

How much is right ?

To much of a good thing is gorgeous, sometimes ;-)
More often less is more!

Lately the concept of minimalism is talking to me more and more, and I find
that open spaces and less to chose from sparks my creativity.

Today I have been searching for a an unfinished project here, and it is so hidden I can not find it...........

One hour later all pieces are found - and a lot of sorting has been done.
Bottom line is that I have to many projects going!

You can easily see, and I know only to well, that I am "only" 2 blocks and a lot of strips and squares + one strip of stitchery text away from finished ....... looking down with a tad of shame here ;-)
I am hereby putting this quilt top on my April To-do list!
I know I have said it before, but now I am meaning Business Business!
I need the project box for something else - or that is what I am claiming anyway ;-) 

Honestly, hand on heart, I think Unfinished Objects / Work In Very Slow Progress is a total waste of my space and energy.........
I know many people disagree with me on that, but for me, that is the honest truth.
I live in a small house - I do not want to store to much.
I have limited space for my sewing - I need to be able to do a pirouette without bumping into my things ;-)
To many things in this room only brings me no joy!
I find that my taste and my interests in quilting and colours changes too, often!

Good things are happening in Quilt Corner!

Hanne

Thinking out loud, under a quilt.

After digging out this quilt from my Work In Progress boxes,
I can't help thinking about how many hours of work I have already put into this quilt, all the small stitches.....

I spend a lot of my time with hand work and a quilt over my knees these days - it is a good place both to stitch, sew and to think.

Stuffing work in boxes is not a good way to "store" my used time - I need to dig out some more work in slow progress.
I will not, never ever, promise to finish all my unfinished projects,
but I can promise to honour my strength, my time and my work better :-)

Here are all the prepped hexies sorted and ready for the hand work.
I like to sort and make piles :-)

Hanne

Happy progress

All those small stitches adds up!
Now all the hexagon flowers are done and joined into 4 long rows for one of the Cornelian quilt borders.

Colour wise, the photo below is more correct than the photo above. It was taken earlier today, when the natural light was good.

Those hexie flowers would have looked good as a vertical row quilt too, don't you think?
But - that is food for thought for another quilts, maybe in the future......
I love to work with my blue repros and repro-ish fabrics!

Hanne

Small steps and setting goals - focus projects

Time flies, and I  have found it is time to revive the focus project way of moving my projects forward.

Small steps, small goals, small blog posts - and they all add up to miles, finished quilts and getting in touch with blogland again :-)

30 hexagon flowers down, 6 to go, before I can move on to another stage of the Cornelian quilt.
I absolutely have some waltzing to do with this quilt (like steps to the left and steps to the right), as all the stitcheries in the middle section are not done yet either, but stitch by stitch, through 2015, my plan is to finish the quilt top this year.

Hanne