Saturday, October 11, 2008

A Perfect Weekend

So far my weekend has gone exactly as planned. I got this small quilt finished yesterday which was very loosely based on Mary's Chinese Coins pattern which you can find here. I actually saw my version in a magazine earlier this spring, but when I went to try and find it to give the designer credit, I can't find it anywhere. I did look - my sewing room is testament to that with magazines pulled out everywhere. When Leo was very sick I needed something mindless to sew and this quilt was it. Doesn't get more mindless than this.

Inspired by Mary, I tried some freemotion flowers on this which again were very loosely based on the technique that Dawn Ramirez demonstrates in her Pajama Quilter Reloaded video. There is absolutely no comparison between Mary's and mine - hers are good, mine aren't but for my first try I'm not going to beat myself up over them.

Several years ago I attended a Wondercut Ruler retreat in Idaho with my friend Onalee. This quilt was one of the ones we worked on that weekend. I finished the top eons ago, but I don't really like the colours in it, so it's been sitting on my rack ever since. We didn't get a lot of choice in fabric selection - all the kits were pre-cut and this one just isn't me.

I loaded it last night and just finished the quilting on it now. Bon Jovi was turned up on the iPod and Tillie and I just 'rocked on'.


It actually looks better in the picture - probably because you can't see the detail in the fabrics. I used Chantilly Lace on this one - I just wanted something simple that wouldn't detract from the tumbling blocks.



I'm going to try and get the binding on this tonight then it's done.

Tomorrow, my Circle Lord heart template is going to get a work-out on this one:



2 comments:

Mary Johnson said...

You've been busy - makes me eager to get back to work myself but I'm exhausted so I'm sure I won't do anything tomorrow!

I have that string heart pattern somewhere - yours turned out very cute and I might just have to hunt my pattern down.

I also like the tumbling blocks - the colors look good to me.

I've done those flowers a few times now and I get better each time. These look fine and I'm sure once you do them a couple times they'll become a favorite of yours too.

Anonymous said...

I had to enlarge the photo of the tumbling blocks just to see "how bad" the fabric was. So I held my breath, covered my eyes, and quickly double clicked (LOL). Expecting to scream with a piercing voice I slowly uncovered my eyes, and what did a see - a swan, and not a duckling.

All joking aside, I like the fabric choices in the tumbling blocks, and the quilting is awsome. Great job.

Man, oh man, you had a productive weekend and it's only day 2 of the 3 days. Can't wait to see what else you finish.