Crazy custom QUILTING

Ok..... SO everyone I'm sure that has ever looked into or tried free hand quilting has heard of Angela Walters.  She is everywhere and she is amazing.

 

Ive read (well flicked through) her books, and blog www.quiltingismytherapy.com, and then I heard about "Craftsy" (google it, its awesome, has everything from cake decorating to quilting)... so I watched a free lecture that she gave at quilt con.

 

So with Angela Walters in my head, I headed down to quilt this next quilt. 

And I had SOOO much fun doing it.

 

 

The lighting in these photos is defiantly not the best

 

 

Ok, SO the pebbling actually took a very long time!! But as the quilt went on I did get faster.

 

And after I quilted around the turtles in the centre blocks and took it off the quilter, all those millions of lil circles now make me think of turtle eggs!!!

Hence this quilt has become known as "turtles"

 



Playing on the long arm

So a few weeks ago, my amazing mother got a long arm quilter!!

needless to say I was straight out there to have a play!!

 

The first quilt I pinned on was one that I had pieced awhile back "purple passion" made with fabric by Joel Dewberry.

 

 

I just did an all over pantograph, which surprisingly only took me one and half hours once it was all pinned on!!

 

Its far from perfect, but far from bad for my first attempt I think!!

and yes I did notice that there's some threads on the back that I didn't dust off before taking the photo, but its dark outside now so I cant take another!!

 

 

No I just got to get the binding on, but no promises on when that will be done!!

When the Husbands hunting and the kids are sleeping......

I blog.....
well that, drink wine and sew!!!

Am just loving this new quilt top I just finished with a layer cake from moda called "little black dress"
 

 

I'm a big fan of the beige and creams in with the black, it gives a new take on the used black and whites theme.  But doesn't loose the "POP" you get in the strong contrast with lights and darks 

 

 

Can not wait to get this baby on the quilter......

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Quilt on the wall today......

I am sooo in love with this fabric.

The colours are so warm, they make me think of snugling up with a coffee on a winters sunday morning.

And these cheaky lil sparrows are just adorable.

The lil white birds dont quiet manage to stand out as much in the photo as they do in the actual fabric.

Excuse the train fabric in the background, but I had to share this one before I managed to finish it.

I cant wait for a winter weekend to snuggle up with a pot of coffee and this baby!!

The urge is back....

Last year I brought a road bike, and so much of my free time since has been spent out on the road!!

Last weekend however the urge to create returned.

So much to my handsome hubbys amusment I spent a large chunk of the weekend dancing around my sewing room to Taylor Swift's 22 and other trashy pop songs peiceing together this adorable quilt top.

Joel Dewberry Quilt top

The fabrics have been sitting around just looking pretty on my self for along time.

But arnt they just beautiful.

They are by by Joel Dewberry, called Avery

For a beauty of a baby girl

Wow, its been a while since Ive posted a blog. And if I'm being completly honest awhile since Ive completed a quilt. 

But I had to share this lil beauty that I mad for a friends new baby girl

For a special lil fairy

On Saturday a very specail lil neice of mine turned the big 5, so to celebrate the ocassion I made her a quilt using these beautiful Micheal Miller fabrics.

The fairy gloss yellow is just beauitful, and I think it has caused a change of my fav colour.

Such a pretty fairy pannel.  I love how pretty and gurlie this quilt turned out without being full of pinks and purple.

A shot with the backing fabric, such a cute flanette

I love the love heart quilt pattern on this qiult, I think slowly my quilting is improving, and will deff use this pattern again.

It didnt quiet take a year!!

In December last year I just fell in love with this amazing range of fabric from my local quilt store. 

Its just so crazy and fun. And I just love the contrast of the green and black.

Not knowing if I could justify yet another fabric purchase, cos though I love the fabric but the lime green doesn't exactly match anything in my house.  My wonderful mother brought me a bunch of the fat quarters for Christmas last year, and I teamed then with this solid lime green and away we went, I totally fell in love with the fabric and how it was coming together that I got the 25 10" blocks done in record time. 

Once I got to the boarders however I got a bit stumped, and so in the draw it went for me to mull over and start another project or two. A month or so latter I pulled it out and took into the local quilt shop and on when the first two boarders. They didn't have anything though that would suit the last big boarder, and so back it went into the drawer while I kept an eye out in quilt shops across the north island and online (though the problem I have buying boarder fabric online is that you cant actually see how the colours and patterns work with the quilt)

Until last month I walked into the local again looking for boarder fabric for yet another completely different quilt, to find a new green and black fabric range available, and I think it works quiet nicely if I do say so myself!!

I don't know about other quilters out there but I am cronic with binding.  Quilted quilts with the top side of the binding machine sewing on sit folded over the back of my couch for weeks on end with the cotton and  needle  laid out nicely trying to invite me to actually hand sew the back on before I even start, and then its only 10min here and there, so that with my quilt snuggling family my quilts are usually well used before they are even 100% finished. But I am still on the 2011 side of Christmas so I have completed this in under a year!!

An attempt to make a not so good situation just that little better

So a few months ago while having coffee with a friend she told me some news that just stopped me.  And other than going "ohh man that sucks" I had no idea what to say, do, or how to relate in anyway.

So I did the best I could with my dumbfounded face and then headed home.  And because I just have to keep my hands busy while my heads raceing to stop me going nuts.  As soon as I waked in the door I sat down at my sewing machine.

It wasnt long untill I had to head back out for more supplies, and while out fabric shopping I came across this amazing jellyroll and the blueberry picnic pattern from Donnas Quilt Studio and walla boom I had my way to help make a friends not so good situation a little better.

So 2 weeks and a few more trips to fabric shops I gotta say I am pretty happy with the effect of the final quilt, though the photo isn't the clearest.
P.S I still havnt got the hang of this blog lay out thing.