The Holy Fabric

I've got a box of fabric that I've been too scared to use - my box of holy fabrics.  We all have one, don't we?  The one filled with fabrics that we are too hesitant to cut into because it's just so beautiful, we might ruin it if we're not careful.

I have some holy fabric in my box that I've held onto for years, waiting for the perfect quilt.  And I had a bit of an epiphany the other day.  It's my goal to finish all my UFO's, which are numerous.  I may come across the perfect quilt for that perfect fabric.  I may not.  And you know, there will always be new fabrics in shops around the world.  It's time to use that fabric.

So I made this:

They are both from the same fabric but for some silly reason, the colour is washed out of the second one.  The first photo is a crochet hook roll, so that I know where the jolly things are.  The second is obviously a bag.  Super cute. 

The photos don't do them justice but I feel quite virtuous.  Two projects down in one day.  All from the holy fabric. 

Talk to you tomorrow

Suzie

Roll Roll Cotton Boll - FINISHED!!

Well, apart from the binding, that it!  Here she be:

Apologies once again for the truly crap photos, but my god that is one big quilt!  I have not a place to hang it.

I have to sew the binding on and I'm scared!

But it's quilted and will soon be hanging in our local quilt show.  Yay me!

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

A quick show and tell

I'm just about to pop off to bed, but I finally finished something new and thought I'd show you (well, it's been finished for months now but not bound).  It's for our spare room, which now has a quilt on the bed and one on the wall, something every room needs.

It's richer in person than the picture shows.  I'm okay with it, not one of my best but I wanted a quick something on the wall as we've lived here three years already and it's about time!  When I have a little more time, I'll make something a little more elaborate.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Bountiful Bouquet - the Quilt (kinda)

I've been working all day on my EQ6 programme and this is what I came up with:

I think I may actually be more proud of my picture than of the real quilt! 

Now, so far, this is what we will be making *WITH EXCEPTIONS!*.  The inner section is going to be the same, assuming my maths works.  The five appliqued floral centres in the middle may be different slightly, only to incorporate the original flowers I used rather than the stock standard ones EQ6 let me use.  But only minor changes there.  I've not made this version of the quilt remember, I'll be making it along with you.  It's all in my head so far, so it's open to change if I have to :)

The outer border will be kind of like this, but not like this.  Clear as mud?  I cut and pasted the top and bottom rows to give you the idea of the outer border but I will make a whole new floral border to suit the quilt.  I just wanted you to get the idea of where we'd be going.  Because obviously it's dorky having the same border in the two bottom rows.  So use your imagination a little, that'll be wonderful.

Just think of a large florally border with lots of vines, flowers and birds going all the way around the border.  Delicious.  Good enough to eat.

So that's all for now, I hope you'll tell your friends.  The more the merrier.   We start on October 1st. 

Bye for now!

Bountiful Bouquet Free BOM Fabric Requirements

Click here for a print friendly version

Hello!  Nice to see you!  I hope you enjoy this block of the month.  It should be a fairly easy going quilt - I'm not one for over extending myself.

The most important length of fabric you will need is for the outer border, from which we will cut four lengths and put them aside.  The remainder of this fabric will be absorbed into the quilt.  And you will also need three separate lengths of backgrounds for three separate appliqued borders.  Everything else can be used from your scrap bag, or if you want to buy some, just get enough different fat quarters to give you lots of variation in your designs.  You will need lots of lovely greens for the stems, and suitable colours for the floral applique, of which there will be HEAPS.  You will also need a varied amount of creams for the assorted pieced borders. 

So, don't panic about collecting your fabric all in one go.  Our first month is a row of floral applique, so as long as you have a background piece and plenty of colours/greens, we can get started.

Fabric Requirements

*****please note I have amended the cream background requirements*****

2 yards cream fabric for outer border

.5 yard cream fabric for first appliqued row

.5 yard cream fabric for second appliqued row

2 or three fat quarters of assorted creams for applique

.5 yard fabric for first inner border (I have used plummy purple)

.75 yard fabric for binding (I have used a purple)

Assorted colours for piecing and applique

Assorted greens for piecing and applique

Assorted creams for backgrounds

Vliesofix (I'm doing buttonhole applique, but if you want to needleturn it, knock yourself out)

Embroidery threads to match your colours for applique

General quilting supplies (ruler, cutter, board, scissors etc)

And that's it.  I'm sure I've forgotten something but I always think it's an okay thing to purchase as you go along.  Unless you're fortunate enough to buy a whole range like I did, it's difficult to pre-decide how that border fabric will look till you do the rest of your quilt. So don't rush into fabric choices, unless of course you want to.

Please comment if you have any questions for me, and I'd be pleased to answer them.  Again, I'm not brilliant at answering my emails, but I do check the comments section heaps so that is your best bet. 

I'll upload the first month in the first week of October, so hopefully I'll have lots of people keen to give this go.

Till then,

Happy quilting!

Suzie

Bountiful Bouquet Free BOM Fabric Choices

Click here for a printer friendly PDF file

Bountiful Bouquet Fabric Choices

Thanks for joining in!

I am using this fabric:

which is almost the same as the very delicious Acorn Hollow which is what I made my first version from.  I brought it all from The Fat Quarter Shop, but feel free to use whichever fabric your heart desires, from your favourite quilting shop.

For your reference, I bought the following:

2.5 yards Bittersweet Cream Antique Ivy SKU 2093/7 (this will be our outer border)

.5 yard Bittersweet Cream SKU 2094/7 (one of the background fabrics)

.5 yard Bittersweet Ecru Spearmint SKU 2095/72 (one of the background fabrics)

.5 yard Bittersweet Moss Antique Ivy SKU 2093/48 (a green)

.5 yard Bittersweet Plum Galaxy SKU 2098/60 (a plum for the inner border)

.5 yard Bittersweet Spruce Antique Ivy SKU 2093/40 (a green)

.5 yard Forever Spring Butter Pathways SKU 4260/30 (this is from a different Nancy Halvorsen range for backgrounds)

1 yard Bittersweet Plum Spearmint SKU 2095/60 (another plum, I'm thinking binding)

1 Fat Quarter Bundle Sour Grape Bittersweet (contains 18 fat quarters)

1 Fat Quarter Bundle Berry Burst Bittersweet (contains 18 fat quarters)

This quilt was designed to be semi-scrappy so it's hard to quantify just how much fabric you will need and I really don't know how much of those fat quarters we'll have left over.  But as long as you have enough backgrounds and enough greens, plus the yardage for the outer borders and bindings, you should be able to wing the rest.  We'll cut the full width of the fabric for the outer borders as I don't like to join those.

As some of the appliqued rows use the full width of the fabric, it's important that each background measures 43 inches or more.

(it's not the end of the world if yours is a little short, of course.  Everything can be adjusted as we go along, but it'll be easier if your maths matches mine).

I pinched these graphics from the Benartex website, I hope they don't mind.  But having a copy to print should be easier for you guys.

Potpourri Cream    Item #: 2092-7	Potpourri Berry Item #: 2092-10	Potpourri Russet Item #: 2092-22
Potpourri Spruce Item #: 2092-40	Potpourri Plum Item #: 2092-60	Antique Ivy Cream Item #: 2093-7
Antique Ivy Berry Item #: 2093-10	Antique Ivy Russet Item #: 2093-22	Antique Ivy Amber Item #: 2093-32
Antique Ivy Spruce Item #: 2093-40	Antique Ivy Moss Item #: 2093-48	Antique Ivy Plum Item #: 2093-60
Bittersweet Sunlight  Item #: 2094-3	Bittersweet Cream Item #: 2094-7	Bittersweet Willow Item #: 2094-42
Bittersweet Amethyst Item #: 2094-63	Spearmint Golden Item #: 2095-30	Spearmint Bittersweet Item #: 2095-33
Spearmint Willow Item #: 2095-42	Spearmint Plum Item #: 2095-60	Spearmint Ecru Item #: 2095-72
Ladder Stripe Berry Item #: 2096-10	Ladder Stripe Bittersweet Item #: 2096-33	Ladder Stripe Moss Item #: 2096-48
Cross Roads Russet Item #: 2097-22	Cross Roads Moss Item #: 2097-48	Cross Roads Plum Item #: 2097-60
Galaxy Russet Item #: 2098-22	Galaxy Rhubarb Item #: 2098-26	Galaxy Bittersweet Item #: 2098-33
Galaxy Moss Item #: 2098-48	Galaxy Plum Item #: 2098-60	Winding Trails Berry Item #: 2099-10
Winding Trails Amber Item #: 2099-32	Winding Trails Moss Item #: 2099-48	Winding Trails Plum Item #: 2099-60

If you see that little green printer button below, clicking on it should print this post out for you.  I suggest you print out all the instructions for safe keeping, though I don't plan to take my posts down.  The print goes slightly wonky in places (the word wrap is playing up and I don't know how to fix that but I'll keep trying.  If you change the print font/size to 10 it will look slightly better)

So in the next week, I'll give you the proper requirements list, and we can get going!  I plan to do twelve months of instalments beginning in the first week of October. 

Best of luck, please feel free to leave me a comment if you have a query (I'm a little hopeless checking the email address so the comment way will be the quickest).  And remember I'm a newbie to this, so be gentle!

A quickie

Yeah, I know I've been missing in action but life has just spiralled into crazytown right at the moment.  I have about four minutes to do about two weeks worth of work and a tonne of commitments for our quilting group.  One of which is to participate in a pin cushion swap for Christmas. 

It has to be finished today (as in September) even though Christmas is actually still four months away.  None the less it is now finished apart from the stuffing and sewing shut which is saying a lot for me.  If it was due at Christmas, you can bet your bottom dollar I'd be stitching it shut at midnight on Christmas Eve.

You like?

I like.  It's about four inches and in my diving thirties prints.  It's supposed to have twelve arcs, but my maths/piecing skills are totally crap because I had to put a whole new wedge in it to make it fit.  So it's got thirteen.  But I like it.

I had my nails done yesterday (I don't have long nails as a rule) and now I have spectacular falsies.  They look soooo pretty but by gum, they sure make typing hard!

Till tomorrow

Suzie

Dolls to show

Over the years, I've made many things.  Lots of quilts, obviously.  But I've knitted, I've crocheted, I've sewn clothes (not for years though, who has time??).

And I've made dolls.

In the absence of not working on a single blessed thing this week (don't even get me started about where my week has gone), I'll show you some of the dolls I've made over my last few years.

Do you have days where you just can't find words?  Today is one of them for me.  So, for today, I'll show you the photos, and another time I'll tell you about them. 

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I'm feeling drawn to the outside :)  So I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Suzie