Season of Mellow Fruitfulness

The days are getting shorter and the lights start going on a bit earlier.  I don't really like closing the curtains too early but it has been a bit stormy this week and the wind has been howling around this old house at times.  I have been working on the Chevron quilt this week.  You may remember I pieced it together while I was on holiday in Canada.  The continuing theme throughout the quilt seems to have been spots.  The Lotta Dots charm pack by Connecting Threads was combined with a bubbly white on white fabric and pulled together with my favourite fabric for the moment Moda Grunge in Patriot blue.  This was an easy pattern to put together but with a bit of concentration needed with the half square triangles with lots of trimming and squaring going on. I hope you agree the chevron pattern from Missouri Star is quite striking and has produced a good size lap quilt. I think Jenny calls it Spice Rack as she uses rustic spicy colours In her version.  I brought the completed top back home to sandwich and quilt.  It has literally been hanging on the frame ready for decisions to be made.  It took me a wee while to decide on the quilting.  

I thought I would like to quilt pebbles or circles to complete the ongoing theme.  I really need to see the quilt flat to decide and I have the luxury of either hanging a quilt on the front of a wardrobe or laying it out on the floor where I leave it for a few days, looking at it from time to time from all angles and imagining the quilting pattern superimposed on the top.  This is the stage I least like, I’m so indecisive and having spent ages piecing I don’t really want to ruin it just because I don’t take time to think it through.  Usually the quilt will speak to me, if it doesn’t it goes on a shelf after a few days, to remain there for some time usually. (I have 3 tops on the limbo shelf at the moment or maybe it’s  4)  However this quilt didn’t hang about for long and was loaded on to my frame.  

I used a plain navy backing fabric and warm and natural batting, the thread I used this time was Glide Sky.  The quilt was all free motion quilted, no pantograph, no stitch regulator, no marking just my not so perfect concentration, which produced the finished article.  I decided to take it slowly - as in only a portion at a time. I stopped frequently and didn’t get myself overly stressed. (hence the extra creases on the above photo because it was rolled on the frame for a bit)

 I only worked on it one or two passes at a time then changed tactics and moved on to a different project.  This seemed to work for me.  Sometimes you pick up a bad habit and lose concentration - other times you get into the zone and everything flows smoothly.  Here is the result.  I still have the binding to put on and then it will be complete.

My Chevron Quilt aka as Spice Rack on Missouri Star

I got quite a surprise when I removed the quilt from the frame and flipped it over - it almost looks like a secondary whole cloth quilt.  I think it looks quite striking.

Does it look like a whole cloth quilt?

I will be secret sewing again this week and I might try just get one of those limbo quilts off the shelf and have another look for inspiration. Oh and I do have my Block of the Month quilt to finish for class, I think it needs to be completed for early November! Better get a move on.

Autumn has definitely arrived here and we have been buffeted by a few storms already and some of the leaves have fallen without actually changing colours.  Autumn brings lots of fruits, windfall apples, brambles, rowans, hips and haws.  I was lucky enough to be given some apples from a neighbour and combined with some rowans this is what I have been making this morning.

A bountiful harvest of apples

and the resulting pots of Apple and Rowan Jelly

  Maybe I’ll make some autumnal leafy blocks this week? Until next time happy stitching. 

Secret Sewing

It seems to me I am doing a lot of Secret Sewing at the moment.  Not that I am sewing in secret its just I can't really show you what I am doing as they will be gifts.  However I will try and keep the blog as interesting as possible and in between these secret projects I will try and do something interesting with my time and produce some smaller, speedier projects on the go to keep you interested and keep me sane in-between these rather challenging bigger projects.

I am still making triangles from the Modern Triangle Quilts Book, I am hoping to get a few more of those done this week.  

I have finished two scrappy quilts one is a little linus quilt made up of leftovers from the Chevron Charm quilt.  I had a few Lotta Dots charms left over too many to go in the scrap bucket so I used them up with the little cute animal fabric which has been lying around for a while.  I do like the stars on the backing. I stitched an allover meander in Scarlet Glide thread for the quilting.

The second is made up of leftover strips of varying widths - I made them into rail fence and slab blocks but inevitably I ran out of blues and didn't really want to add another colour.  I asked at my quilt group and Chris came to the rescue with enough blocks for me to complete this quilt. This too was quilted on the frame with a loopy meander this time using Sky Glide Thread.

My extra pieces of batting were beginning to mount up again so I have spent the morning sorting and stitching pieces together to be frugal and a thriftier stitcher.  I now have a much tidier shelf and the pieces of batting have been measured and the sizes have been pinned on to each piece - but what can I do with all those pieces of fleece?  I have had a computer clean up too and updated my list of projects, photos and my journal.  I'm happier now I've got all that done and tidied.  

It is blowing a hoolie outside and the rain is battering on the windows, I am so pleased to be sitting inside and don't have to go out.  It is almost coffee time so I will sign off now, have my coffee and then decide how I will use some more fabrics from my stash to embark on another quick and easy project to spell me while I concentrate hard on the two secret challenges. This is a clue for one of them - and this is the second attempt to try and get it right so hence the need to concentrate hard!!!  

Keep cosy and enjoy your week