A bit of colour

It feels like I have really battled with this little quilt. Goodness only knows why - I have struggled to make decisions the whole way along.

Having finally decided to go with the light border and binding, doubts immediately set in.

I felt like the border was just a bit too wide. It made the whole thing look more yellow than I wanted. It doesn't look as yellow here in the photo, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I left it hanging up like this for a few days, then in a fit of pique chopped my binding off and a little of the border. Ouch. It still seemed wrong somehow. I decided I needed to try a stronger 'frame' using a different coloured binding. The ever helpful Coco was on hand to help with decision making.

This is what I settled upon. 

You may recall that I want to give this to a friend. A non-quilty friend. I suspect this is the cause of all the angst. Crafters love what you make because they know the effort that has gone in to the finished product. Non-crafters...well, you just have to cross your fingers!

Liberty quilting

I took my Liberty quilt to a longarm quilter after I saw Mel's lovely quilt at Monday Modern. I knew straight away that was the quilting pattern I wanted for my Liberty.

Love.

Binding {how I do it}

Occasionally people ask me how I do my binding, so I figured that I would take a few snaps as I was working on binding a mini-quilt that I have been making. This is not a tutorial - there are heaps of good ones around - more just a few details about how I like to do mine.
I cut my binding 2 1/4 inches wide:

And then attach it to the quilt using a generous 1/4 inch seam:

Once it is all attached I give the binding a good press before I start hand-sewing. I put my ruler next to it today for this shot. The seam is 1/4 inch and the binding is half an inch again:

This means that when you fold it over it just clears your stitching line. I like this form of binding because you get a nice full binding that is the same size on both sides. For the neat freak in me that is ridiculously satisfying!

This is what I am working on. It has taken me months to decide on a colour for the border - lots of people gave me feedback when I asked for help but there was no definitive winner between light and dark! Today was the day I bit the bullet and chose light. A bit of hand sewing and it will finally be done.

Peaks {a finished quilt}

I'm so happy to have this quilt finished. I love everything about it. I took it to Taupo with me on my mini-break so that I could sew the binding on, and both my mother and sister tried hard to convince me to part with it.

I think it is the clean lines that I like the most - and the colours which are some of my most favourite. I had to get a bit creative on the back on account of my bad quilty maths, but I think the floral fabric adds an extra pop. 

The other lovely thing about this quilt (which I had completely forgotten) is that I originally started making it to enter in a competition. When I took it to Monday Modern, Helen - who had organised the competition - presented me with a pile of goodies. I felt very spoilt -

- especially when I found this treasure included - handmade by Helen. It's fabulous - thank you so much Helen!

Catching up

I've been working my way through a list of things to finish off or catch up with. It is a good feeling to tick a few things off the list. Here are this month's blocks for Monday Modern:
A wonky log cabin for Cris -

And these Tula Pink blocks for Louise which I looooove!

It's a long weekend this weekend so I'm heading off to Taupo to visit mum. I've packed up a little kit of hexies to sew by the fire - am really looking forward to a mini holiday.

A winter quilt

Winter came to Auckland today in a great storm of thunder, lightening and hail. I wanted to take a photo of a little winter quilt I have just finished but the weather gods were against me. Exhibit A:

Hail - not idea conditions for quilty pics. So here are some inside shots.

This is my couch quilt made entirely of voile and using wool batting. It is unbelievably warm and soft and squishy. My timing could not have been better. I'm wrapped up in it now as I type. There is no clever design going on - I just cut the voile into wide strips and once pieced, quilted it using a large lazy-s pattern. It is backed with voile too - more butterflies. The voile is wider than cotton so I made the quilt just a little narrower than the fabric. Its about 53 inches wide and 60 inches long, a perfect size for keeping my legs and feet warm while I hand stitch or watch TV..

Some hexies and a minor miracle

I am handing in the completed first draft of my thesis on Monday. That possibly could be the 'minor miracle' but we wont do any counting of chickens at this stage. There are many hours left until Monday arrives and quite a few more words to be written.

No, the minor miracle is the arrival of this box:

Possibly only those of us living at the far-flung ends of the earth will understand why I am referring to this as a minor miracle. Take a look at what it cost me:

$3.95 to ship a box from the US. Not the standard eleventy million dollars that it costs for an envelope of fabric. Perhaps Fabric.com made a mistake - I'm not asking. Mel used this batting in a lovely quilt she brought along to Monday Modern - it seemed very soft and squishy and I decided I wanted to use it in a winter- tv-watching quilt I have in mind. It will be a quilt all about tactile appeal rather than colour or design.

Very little sewing to report otherwise (see, no need to worry June, I have been very focused on my writing!) - just the odd hexie in the evening when my brain refuses to function any longer. It's raining today so the colours look a bit dull here, but in real life they are very pretty and make me smile.