A fun surprise and more playing with batiks

First up I just have to share the fun little fabric basket that I received from my SIL in the mail this week. A few weeks ago I sent her a tote and some fabric and made a tote for myself. And look at the adorable basket she sent me - a perfect match to my tote!

I am using for my thread scraps on my handwork table. Love it!! Thanks Sherry. It is such fun having a quilting buddy.

I also finished the appliqué on my batik quilt. Though the lighting is bad in the photos, I love how it looks in the room.

I intend to change out the pillows and table runners in these rooms so this quilt will be perfect for this subtle pillow fabric.

And working with batiks got me thinking about a few more that I had in my stash. I have several in leaf colors that I have used in appliqué and With fall coming I wondered if I had enough to make a fall quilt for my daughter-in-law. She had casually mentioned some time ago that she would love a fall throw for their family room. I knew she wanted something that was not specific to any holiday and as I am Canadian, I thought perhaps a Maple Leaf quilt would be fun. I found a pattern on the Moda Bake Shop site for a Super Sized Maple Leaf Throw and started pulling fabrics. Here is my first test block. The pattern has no stem so I just drew a stem and hand appliqued it to the square before sewing the block together. The instructions were a bit confusing but I was able to make it work after a bit of trial and error.

I made several blocks and took them over to her house to check the colors in their room while babysitting. Unfortunately due to a comedy of errors that included showing my DIL photos on my phone, she saw something that gave the surprise away and we ended up just pulling the blocks out and throwing them on her couch to see how they look. Fortunately she likes it and we all had a good laugh about how I cannot seem to manage a surprise! Seven more leaves to make and arrange in a fun setting and I will get another quilt made using only my stash.

 

 

 

 

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Indecision and adjusting

I have been playing around with my Snowbirds batik project and finally decided on a pattern for the appliqué I wanted to include. Yay, I feel my appliqué mojo returning at last! This block is from a medallion quilt by Lori Smith. I knew I wanted something with birds and after spending several hours unsuccessfully trying to draw something myself I found a pattern in my stash. It wasn't quite what I thought I wanted but I actually quite like how it came together. Now for the indecision and adjusting. I always cut out and glue up my whole block before I start stitching so I am satisfied with the color placement before stitching. I then take a photograph of the block and look at that to make sure I don't see anything I am not happy with. Here is my first final version of the block.

I thought I was pleased with it until I looked at the photo. A lot of brown running in the center. Changing one piece helped with that but the photo revealed another issue.

Now because of that light color under the top flower it appears to be floating. I like the color but it is just not quite working for me, so I tried again.

Ok, I think I am happy with this version. The flower is now grounded but there is not too much brown. Much better to me. What do you think? Of course, I may end up changing it yet. Often my final test is posting it on my block for one final review!

 

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Catching up with Jane

The piecing continues as I play catch up with the Austen Family Album block of the week by Barbara Brackman. I am still a bit behind but I did manage to put 4 more blocks together. Whenever possible I am trying to make fabric selections that will remind me of Jane Austen and her novels but not every block seems to lend itself to the concept. But I still had fun with these and in the last block I was able to include a bit of toile with a girl playing what might be a pianoforte. She reminds me of Darcy's sister Georgianna in Pride and Predjudice. I love using the tiny dot fabric too as it reminds me of the sashing fabric of the quilt made by Jane herself. These details are really just for my own amusement but they certainly add fun little memories for me.

I really do enjoy working on sample style quilts. It is a pleasure to select the fabric for each block though it can be tricky to make sure the whole quilt remains balanced. I am still not sure how I will set these but I put them all up on the design wall just to see how they were looking together.

Finally I have been playing with the batiks that I showed in a previous post. I made a bunch of simple hour glass blocks from one set of charm squares and some added fabrics. It is looking a little darker than I had hoped but I am still working out a plan for these so I am ok with them. I don't think I am a big batik fan yet but I do love the colors.

 

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Batiks - Me?

If you have read my blog for awhile you may have noticed that I do not have a love of Batiks. It is not that I don't find them attractive, I have just never felt drawn to make a quilt out of them. Until now. After making some new pillows and a table runner for my new home I kept thinking that a new line of batik fabric from Laundry Basket Quilts by Edyta Sitar might look nice in my room. The line is called Snowbirds and after seeing the prints I realized that there was no aqua so I sorta let the idea drop. Then yesterday I was in my LQS and saw a charm pack of the batiks. Hmm, if I added some aqua it could work. And so I bought a few charm packs. Once I got home I checked my stash and realized that I did actually have a few pieces of aqua, teal and neutral batik and an idea started brewing. Off to another LQS to pick up a few more charm packs, get this they were $9.50 at one store and I bought the two they had, next store $12.00 each! Anyway, I also got a little more yardage including some from these me fabric line in case I want borders and was able to get several yards of the same teal that was in my stash.

So this is what I have, though only one charm pack is showing and you can see the fabric of the table runner that inspired me in the corner.

I am not sure exactly what I am doing with this yet but I have a few ideas. I think this is going to be a fun, design as I go project and it may end up very simple. These batiks are certainly out of my comfort zone yet they are somehow speaking to me. How strange!

 

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