Well helloooooo ...

It's amazing how good I can be at setting up some routines in my life, and yet in others I fail completely. Apparently blogging falls into the latter category :-|

But onwards ... let me share some of the things I've been doing ...

I got all the pesky 1" finished HST's trimmed and stitched all the upcoming borders for the Rajah-ish quilt that I'm slowly working on. I'm not quite finished all the border that comes before it, so there is still a bunch of piecing in my future. The trimming was TEDIOUS and I don't mind if I don't do any more for a little while ... I always say that, and then I end up doing more :-)

The days have been a little brighter, so I've tried to get a picture that showcases the sweet feathery quilting on the HOQH project - Lizzy did such a lovely job. It's actually really hard - the thread is such a perfect match and the piecing is so busy. You'll have to simply trust me that this quilt has such a pretty texture, and I'm beyond thrilled.

And here is the back of the quilt where it shows up a little better - but I have to say I'm in love with this toile. Wouldn't it make lovely setting squares in a blue and white quilt. I have enough left that I could consider doing something like that.

The final step - the binding - is complete now. The plaid binding is a slightly unexpected choice - but so were the checked sashing strips, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - so that's the way I went. It's actually kind of a modern print so it's another addition to the mismatch of eras in this quilt. I'm so glad to have finished something that has been in progress for about five years now!

Last of all for today - here is something I very rarely introduce to my stash - a layer cake! This particular one is going to be super useful for my next project. I actually can't wait to tell you what I'm going to work on - but I'm going to wait until I finish one of the two projects I'm currently working on - and the reason for that is because I've already changed my mind once so it's not out of the realms of possibility that I may change my mind again!

Well, that's it from me for now. I hope you're all staying safe and having time to do things you love. Chatter soon! xox

Piecing, and quilted!

Hiya, just wanted to check in and let you know that things are still moving along in my sewing room. It's my happy place, so I spend as much time as I possibly can in there ...

Since I last posted, I began cutting out what I thought was the next border for my Rajah-ish quilt, only to find that I'd gotten ahead of myself, and what I was preparing was for two borders time. It's not a big deal - I'll still use it, but I popped that aside and started on what was the actual next border:

So that's it there around the outside - the purple and tan hourglass border. It has been super fast to put together - and the next border will be a mirror of the one inch red triangles. There are so many seams, it's quite tricky to get all the points to line up - I'm trying to be okay with it when they're not perfect.

In other news, my lovely friend Lizzy has finished quilting on the HOQH top, and I'm entirely thrilled with how it came out:

It has been a super grey weekend, so I haven't been able to take any pictures that do the quilting justice, but when I can find some more light I'll show you the quilting from the back side of the quilt.

And speaking of the back, I promised to share the toile fabric I selected:

I have no clue when I got it or from where, but isn't it fun when you find something in your stash that you know you want to use.

The binding I've chosen is a blue and tan plaid - it'll bounce really well off of the setting triangles - I just have to wait for it to get here. I can be patient, I promise!

It's getting a little late here, and I still have to do my French lessons for the day, and a little hand quilting, then I can head to bed and rest easy. Chatter soon!

Next UFO ...

Though hand quilting is still my priority, sometimes I just itch to spend quality time with the Bernina, so I've picked up another (recent) UFO - My Rajah-ish project.

I had already sort of prepped all the 1" finished triangles for the next border (and a subsequent border) but I still had to cut most of them apart and trim them to size. Do you remember a while back I said I would leave them on the cutting table and work a few at a time so it wouldn't seem like such a chore? Well ... never happened!

Sometimes you just have to get your head in gear and commit yourself to something until it's done, so that's what I did - and because I've used five different red fabrics, I organised them into groups for each border:

Doesn't really look that interesting does it? But it makes sense to me and that's what matters :-) I like scrappy, but it has to be controlled scrappy, so I don't want any of the same reds abutting each other and sorting the fabrics out appeals to my sense of order.

After a few machine piecing sessions, I got four of the borders together and they're stitched in place:

Next up is another pieced border - without checking the pattern I think it's in the same style as the green pieced border - so if I can find enough fabrics I'm happy with, I might make it green again. And then there's another border with the red triangles. I think I made 340 or so of the triangles for this quilt - and there were a lot of them in the HOQH project too - so I really don't mind if I don't see any 1" finished HST's for a good long time.

It's predicted to be rainy here for a bit, so I see lots more quilting and piecing in my future - I'll be sure to keep you updated. Chatter soon! xox

Rounding the corner ...

Just a quickie post to share that I'm rounding the first corner hand quilting on Phebe's border ... this is slow going!

It's actually really hard to see the quilting, but it's there, and I have a whole lot more in my future. It's a shame that hand quilting isn't especially blog worthy, but I'm looking forward to a finish, so I'll keep plugging away.

Tomorrow, I'll get the tub down that has all the bits and pieces for the Rajah-ish quilt, and I'll figure out where I'm up to - happy days! :-)

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my completed quilt top, I'm thrilled with how it came out, and it was great to hear from you all. Chatter soon!

HOQH Top Complete :-)

When I finally got organised to stitch the border to my quilt top in place, it didn't take very long at all, and I have to confess, I'm super happy with how it turned out:

It's a really grey day here, so the picture doesn't do the colours in the quilt justice - also I'm not a great photographer (but don't tell anyone haha). But so you can see it better, here's a little close up of the border print:

Now that it's all done, I've delivered it to Lizzy ready for her master long-arm skills, so it won't be long before this is a top-no-more. The backing is a pretty toile fabric, and in my haste I didn't take a picture to share, but I'll do that when it comes back to me.

A few lovely readers asked what the border print is, so I snapped a piece of the selvedge before I tossed it away:

This is not a new fabric - I think I bought it when I was in the USA last time, which was 2015 - but you may still be able to find it if you're a fabric sleuth. There were five border strips across the width of the fabric, so I still have one left to make a nice table runner or some such pretty thing.

While I'm still hand quilting away on the Phebe quilt, I'll pick up the next machine project too - I've decided that I'll finish up my Rajah-ish quilt top before I start anything new. I'm so close to finished on that one also, so it will be fun to see another finished top in the not too distant future.

It has been so lovely reading all the comments you're leaving. I do try and answer personally whenever I can, but sometime email addresses don't come to me. To that end, I'd like to say a big hello to Evie, Linda, Lisa, Monique D, Quilt Granma, Pam M, Terry and Sjoukje. Thank you for your comments!

Well, that's it from me for now ... I'll check back in really soon :-)

Border Reveal

It's finally time to share the border print I've chosen for the HOQH quilt top. I've cut it all out, but nothing is stitched in place - I really wanted to audition it before I got busy sewing, just in case I didn't much care for it.

As soon as I can find a few hours together, I'll be firing up the Bernina, because I'm supremely happy!

Please forgive the hurried photo, it was late at night and I was so anxious to see if it was going to work. Now the only other decision I'll have to make is what to use for binding.

My lovely friend Lizzy of Jacaranda Quilts has agreed to quilt it for me, and I could not be more thrilled, she does such lovely work. If I'm focused I'd like to have it in her hot little hands by the end of the week.

Things are a bit crazy here at the moment for various reasons, but I'm sure there will be stitching time, and then I can move on to the next UFO (or start something new) and get some more hand quilting done too. I'll check in again, hopefully with a finished quilt top - chatter soon!

So very close!

Just a quick happy snap to share today - I'm so excited that but for the last border, this quilt top is together!

I'll fussy cut the border fabric out tomorrow, and then (hopefully) carefully stitch it in place. It needs to be done neatly, and I'm just the woman for the job!

Chatter soon :-)

Top Started :-)

I've started putting the top of my HOQH project together - and things have taken an unexpected turn. As it happened, I simply didn't have enough of the striped fabric I selected for the sashing strips - not even half of what I needed, so I turned to my stash to see what else I could come up with:

And this is where I'm at so far! Though the blocks are decidedly vintage, the checked fabric I chose for the sashing strips is a little more modern. And the setting triangles are from a Jane Austen collection from who knows when - but her era is early 1800's - so this is becoming a quilt for all times!

I've chosen a border print that will add a whole new look to the quilt too, but I'll share that with you when I get there. Isn't it fun how our quilts can dictate to us how they'd like to be made. It's so much fun! Chatter soon :-)