inexhaustible

Now that the Park Avenue Rosettes quilt is at the long arm quilter, my attention has turned to another UFO - the charity quilt I started last year.

This is a Quilt-As-You-Go project of my own design. Three more connecting strips to be quilted then I can stitch it all together.

It's quite a large quilt and I thought I'd used up most of the star prints, yet there is a mountain of fabric leftover. I'm sure it breeds and multiplies if left in storage for too long.

Since this is a scrap busting year (given just how much fabric I have, I'll be stash-busting for the next 20 years!), I thought I'd make a couple of extra projects from all the leftover star prints. Most of it is skinny strips about 1 3/4in to 3 inches.

Can't give too much away as these are gifts for a dear friend who visits this blog and I'd like some element of surprise.

Last weekend it snowed in the Blue Mountains which are about 55 miles (90km) west of where I live. 

Image courtesy of the Blue Mountains Gazette, Sunday 19 July, 2015

 
 A whole 4-6 inches of the stuff!

(for those of you in Northern America, Europe, Canada and Tasmania, the guffawing can stop now thank you very much)

Of course, it doesn't snow all that often around these parts or for very long (a day or two at best) so we aren't equipped with snow ploughs, salt or any other snow-busting devices. As a result 4-6 inches of snow means the whole area grinds to a halt. 

I live about 22 miles (35km) from the coast so no chance of snow here but my-oh-my was it cold! About 11-13 degC (52-55F)

(enough giggling already!)

perspective

Gee, did this quilt give me some grief.

I'm so glad that I posted about the issues I was having. Your responses, suggestions and ideas were just the ticket.

No sooner had I put this project aside than I found a bag of leftover strips from making these blocks mixed up with another project.

There were just enough strips to make a border on the quilt and I really liked the idea of extending the background fabric. 

Problem solved!

The top is finished now and with the long arm quilter. Thank you all so very much for your support and encouragement. 

friendship

Having made friends with a wonderful bunch of bloggers on the APQ site, I thought it would be fun to make a swap block quilt. That was back in 2010.

After a really positive response - especially as most of you were sending your blocks to the other side of the world, we ended up with an amazing selection of blocks. Everyone included an incredible selection of extra goodies as well. 

Wasn't planning on it taking me five years to finish mine!

Others were more diligent and you can see their efforts here on APQ Blog Buddies Swap.

I treasure this quilt. Each block reflects the person who made it.The fabrics chosen tell you a story about the person who made those blocks.

The quilt measures  68 inches by 68 inches and was machine quilted in a Dutch Scroll pattern by the very talented Kim at kimquilt.com.

Kim's suggestion was to use a large, simple design so as not to distract from all the colour and movement in the quilt. Thanks Kim!

I also chose to have an un-fussy border and binding (cream on cream print). 

It has been such a special journey and this quilt represents that. Thank you.
 

disheartened

Well sort of. sigh.

I've made two borders for this quilt and both of them are just wrong. Remember these?

Fail.

No really. The border I made from these was out of scale and swamped the delicate design of the quilt centre.

Another attempt was lacklustre at best.

In the original Figtree pattern, Joanne used a print for the border.

Figtree Quilts - Rosettes reproduced by kind permission

Frustratingly, I have purchased three different prints for that border and none were quite right. Yellowy creams and dirty greens when what I wanted was a soft blue.

So no more purchasing from the internet and so far quilt shop offerings are falling short. 

In the meantime, my EPP project is receiving some attention.