Sunday 28 October 2007

Birthday boy

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Well, I finished the I Spy quilt Friday night, so I even had one day left until Ernst's birthday party today! (I finished Hugo's birthday quilt last February at 10 pm the night before his birthday)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

After sandwiching the quilt I decided I didn't want the quilting to 'spoil' the world map on the backside, so I quilted the world map in the meridians and the circles of latitude, thinking it wouldn't matter much on the frontside with all the colourful patches. Outside the map I meandered along the seams on the frontside. I now regret quilting the world map, because it makes the front side too 'quilted' - just meandering all the seams would have been much nicer. But alas, it's done - if I ever make another I Spy quilt (which won't be for a long time) I'll do it differently.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

I also wish I had put the map on its side, so it would be easier to look at when it's lying on the bed, but that can't be helped either.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Ernst liked the quilt, but of course his Thomas the Tank Engine railway set was a lot more interesting... ;-)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

I'm very glad it's finished and have promised myself that after I've made the rosy quilt for our bed I will not make a large quilt again for a while - quilting it on a domestic sewing machine isn't much fun... (I have a Janome DC 3050, not a quilting machine at all, but I'm quite happy with it and besides, we don't have the money for me to buy another one for a long time yet! This one's only 18 months old, so I should be able to use it for years and years to come) And small quilts can be very beautiful as well, and are a good way for me to try different techniques and themes.

I went to the Queensland Quilt Show yesterday and enjoyed it very much! Here you can view the winning quilts. My favourite without any doubt was 'Squared Up' by Lisa Walton, which won second prize in the Commmercially Quilted section and the Trophy for Best Use of Colour.
I also noticed again that I love pictorial quilts (there was a very nice one depicting a Queenslander); I'd really like to try and make one.

It's a bit disheartening to be at such a show and see so many beautiful quilts, and to realise how far distant you yourself are from that level of quilting, and wonder if you will ever reach it... Last week at the beginners course all my triangles were wonky - I'm definitely not a triangle person! ;-) And I suspect I'm not a traditional quilts person either, so there may be hope for me in other areas...

Next weekend I'll go to the quilt retreat. I'm not sure what I'll work on there - don't feel like starting another large project yet, maybe I'll just make another bag (still have to do a Bow Bag!)... Or shall I have a go at creating some ATCs, I'd like to do that too?...

I'll let you know what it has become in the next posting - I'm quite sure I won't have anything to show or tell here before the weekend!

Monday 22 October 2007

I Spy top finished!

Yesterday I finished the I Spy top:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Six days left to make it into a quilt!

How shall I quilt it? I haven't got much time, I don't really want to quilt in the ditch... Any suggestions welcome!

Monday 15 October 2007

Jars galore

It's been a while - we had a very nice holiday in Noosa (to keep this on a quilty note: I managed to finish 'The Runaway Quilt' by Jennifer Chiaverini - one of her best, I think); pictures can be found on our Going to Brissy-blog.

I'm working very hard on the I Spy quilt for Ernst; it has to be finished on Sunday the 28th of October, when we celebrate his birthday. I've made 19 of 24 blocks so far and hope to finish the top this week. I'll show a pic of it then and ask your opinion on the quilting!

I started the beginners quilting course at The Quilters Corner last week and loved it. I've already learned a lot of useful things in just one lesson!
We're making a sampler (of course) and I am using the lovely blue FQs I got for my birthday. I'm really looking forward to the next lesson on Wednesday!

And finally... the jars! I won the block lottery at the Dutch quilters mailing list last month and have got a lot of jar blocks now! (including the 4 I made myself)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

(the little hand belongs to my 1-year old, grabbing the jar just when I took the pic)

So after finishing the I Spy quilt I can make another quilt very quickly! Maybe it's a good project to take to the quilt retreat at Lake Moogerah... (I'm looking forward to that sooo much, if only because I'll be able to sleep a whole night without being woken by a teething toddler!)