New Quilt ~ in progress

Hellooo!
Guess what , i've been making a quilt :)))


Ruby by bonnie and camille for Moda fabrics, Millie's closet by Riley Blake Designs

CAPE ANN by Liesl  Gibbons, BEE IN MY BONNET by Lori Holt,  1830 reproduction prints by Moda
 

Full Front Panel Finished

The pattern is the 'Leaves and vine' (48x36inches)
Found in the book ' Sunday Morning Quilts' by Amanda Jean Nyberg / Cheryl Arkinson.
This is a great book !

 

I am no expert quilter by any means. Having only made two before, they always seem to have pouchy
spots. I know it is because my cutting is not strait ;/ ..... which then makes my quilt all wonky and pouchy in spots ...  What I am wondering is how to avoid getting my under seams all stuffed up when i start the quilting ? I have trimmed and ironed, but they still seem to be 'standing up' a bit.
Perhaps quilters pin these down? Hmn.....

LITTLE APPLES, by Aneela Hoey for moda
 
Here is the backing , I had two full yards and pieced the rest to fit.
Pretty excited .... I am soaking the bamboo batting .
I am also looking at more fabric :))
I've got the bug now...you see.

 

Look at these quilts !!!!!!!!!!
THey certain are inspiringly gorgeous .
Orb Quilt ( with tutorial ) 
Heather Ross Mini on Flickr
Quilt as you go blocks on Flickr
Darling Doll's quilt on Etsy

Any of you working on a quilting project?
I'm about to try FREE MOTION QUILTING for the first time !
I know my machine is up for it, (am I?)
x

Things Thought

Hello friends.
IT's been cold here this week, brrrr.
Lots of resting and knitting in bed.
Working toward exciting things to come.
Excited, antipicating, waiting, day dreaming ...........

Making, slowly making, a colourful Wollmeise baby blanket.
Feeling so lucky, and a bit anxious, about a new baby.
IT's been so long -- and i do feel 'older' now.
I've been looking up pictures of 23 week old infants born prematurely,
just to see what this little baby of ours actually looks like right now.
Amazing!
Lots and lots of movement, sometimes violent feeling. Clearly it must be
fun and entertaining and peaceful to spin and whirl round in the womb at this
stage in one's preconscious life.
My children and mother talk lots to the baby now, supposedly the little one in
there can fully hear all that is happening in our world.
Starting to feel cramped in the lung department.
Also the stomach/digestive department.
Aah, the joys of pregnancy!

I do hope this cold weather perseveres till ,,,, say ,,,,, March  at least.
A cold pregnancy is much MUCh nicer than a hot one !

One of the ultimate joys of pregnancy for me is cloth nappies !!!!!
I love looking at them, reading about them, and buying them.
I realllllly love using them. I have always been * sad * when my children
decide (for themselves) - always at around 2 1/2 years - that they no longer
need them.
Looking at these little nappies, wondering, daydreaming.
Is this little baby really going to be this small i keep saying :)

A viking's tale

Hellooooooo!!
It has taken me forever, but i've worked out how to post to blogger from my laptop.
Today - a rainy cold wintery day, and i finally managed to energize myself enough to
pull my christmas present from its beautiful red box !

And I looooooove it !!!!!
Presenting ==========>

MY brand new beautiful Husqvarna Viking opal 670 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So far, its a breeze to work with.
I love the little features that make this the best sewing machine.
The touch screen, the automatic tension and built in sewing assistant guide.
The ease of pull off and push on presser feet. The built in thread cutter to the left of the machine.
The generous space inside the arm for quilting. The two LED lights. THe start/stop feature.
Oh yeah, i reeeaaally like the start/stop feature. IT' s like cruise control for sewing :)

 

The touch screen is something very new to me, and i love it. This machine has  so many  easy
to use features, to ease one's sewing experience. Aah. Here I am 'prepping' my fabric with an overcase stitch on the hem to prevent fraying before prewash. It tells me which presser foot to use ( which was completely simple to snap in/out ) , which needle to use , what the automatic tension has already been set for , what stitch i need to use ( which is automatically set to go ) , and a whole lot of other stuff that I do not know about .... yet. . :)

I've got some great new quilting books for inspiration.
Civil War Quilts , by Pam Weeks and Don Beld.
Patchwork Stype, by Suzuko Koseki.
Sunday Morning Quilts, by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl ARkinson.

First up, ( my grandmother's christmas present which ive borrowed ) ::
Civil War quilts ......
This book is FASCINATING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
iT'S A complete readers novel with brilliant pictures, and full quilting patterns at the back too!!!!!!
I am loving reading about the 'potholder quilts'.
THis is my favourite one from the book. ( More on this later )

This is the "Henry Pratt block" close up.  Also pictured is Henry Pratt c. 1862 in military uniform.
There are sooooooo many gorgeous potholder blocks in this book. Apparently, it was the thing to do during the Civil War, easy for large groups of women to make thousands of much needed quilts for soldiers in the war and in hospital. Each block was about 9 inches, completly able to stand on their own as a finished quilt, then whip stitched together. Saving all the hassle of sandwiching and quilting the quilt afterward.

I love this little quilt too, its the sunday morning quilt, from said book above, simple long strips cut and placed in different directions. A good easy starter project i think.

This is 'scrappers delight' also from Sunday Morning quilts. I really like the modern flair with the long strips and bright colour patterns. Isn't that a bed you just want to crawl into with a heap of good crafting books , and a nice hot cup of tea !!!!!
Sewing is fun, it is indeed.
Happy thoughts sent to you all, i'll be back ! :)
love,
angela