Turning Four-T

Doesn't that sound lovely? Turning Four-T?? No, I'm not turning 40 again ... but I have been revisiting this project getting the pattern drawn up with diagrams ready for my Etsy store.

This is one of my all time favourite projects, made for a special occasion, using some of my most special fabrics. I have a deep and abiding love of conversational prints, and I used nearly all that I had in this quilt - and the blue/navy fabrics are some that were gifted to me by my darling friends and others that I found on my travels in the USA.

One thing that always makes me giggle about this project is the name - I love that there are four "T's" turning in each block, and that it was made when I was turning 40. It's the little things in life that keep me amused.

Anyway, if you'd like to purchase a copy of this pattern and make your own - be sure to click on over to my Etsy store, I'd love it if you would! xoxox

Magazine Fun :-)

Yay, "Turning Four-T" is in Australian Patchwork and Quilting now! It's Vol 19 No 9, the Christmas Special. I always love the way the photographers and stylists manage to get our quilts looking so special. I'd love you to check it out :-)

And this week I've also managed to get a couple more applique blocks done. The one on the left is a little crookedy at the top, but I'm going to call it 'part of the charm of the quilt'. It's hard keeping to a green and purple only colour scheme (I've thrown in a little gold) but I'm giving it my best shot :-)

Quickie Post - Turning Four-T

Hi everyone - just a quick note to let you know that my Turning Four-T quilt will be in Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, issue 19/9. The on sale date is October 27, 2010, but for those of you who subscribe, you'll get it a few days earlier. How fun!

And it's finished!!

Just minutes ago I put the final stitches in the binding of my Turning Four-T quilt. I am just in love with this quilt! I think it's my new all-time favourite.

I know the picture I'm sharing is not great (and that's largely because I'm not a good photographer) but also because I wanted you to be able to see the effect of the quilting with the natural light running across the quilt.

The binding I selected was a navy stripe fabric from my stash - it's a Jo Morton print. And though it doesn't appear anywhere else in the quilt, it looks really wonderful curving around the edge.

Now I can begin working on the directions and some 'in progress' pieces for the magazine. But more importantly, today I will work on some more Nearly Insane blocks, and start cutting fabric for the Kaffe project I've been dying to start. Happy days!! :-)

Turning Four-T top quilted!!

Can you believe it? Lizzy has quilted my top already, and I have it in my hot little hands.

She has made a wonderful job of the Baptist Fans I requested, and her suggested thread was simply perfect. Thank you so much Lizzy!

I hope to have the binding cut and machine sewn in place tonight. Then I can hand sew the reverse side down at my leisure. I think I will use one of the blue fabrics - I had thought I'd maybe use the blue-green, but I don't have any of that left. Amazing how these quilts can dictate how they want to proceed.

Gotta dash - very exciting binding to be done! :-)

Turning Four-T top finished

Whew! My Turning Four-T top is entirely finished, and I just love it! Last night at 11.30pm I had put three of the borders on and was just too tired to stitch any longer. Any other day there is no way I could walk away so near to being finished.

And here is a close up of a few blocks and the backing fabric I chose. At first I was thinking I may not use it, but the more I see it, the more I like it.

I've just come home from Lizzy's, she's going to machine quilt the top for me. Lizzy always does a wonderful job, so I can't wait to see it when it's finished.

And the wonderful news is that I can now get back to working on other projects, and even make a Nearly Insane block or two if I choose!

Turning Four-T is getting bigger

After I had my brain wave to make the Turning Four-T quilt bigger, I set about making more blocks. And because I decided to replace three blocks I wasn't thrilled with, I needed to make a further 27 blocks. So, effectively my quilt has doubled in size :-)

Here are all the blocks laid out ready to stitch together - a job I'm going to start tackling this evening.

I also purchased backing fabric today, but I'm actually not convinced that I'm going to use it. I really like the print (it's a taupe with a white 1/4" spot), but I'm just not sure if it's right for this project. I'll share a picture with my next post. I do have a backing on the way over from Whittles fabrics, if it's here in time it will be just perfect, but it's all about timing right now.

For the first time ever, I'm having this project professionally machine quilted. My dear friend Lizzie is doing it. I have known Lizzie for such a long time, and she is just a darling. She also has a blog, and I have been meaning to provide a link to it forever. Be sure to go and visit with her, she has some beautiful quilts pictured there, along with happy snaps of her gorgeous family.

Well, that's it from me - I'm about to serve dinner. I'll check back in with you all soon. xox

And yet more Turning Four-T's

Goodness me, here it is a week since I last posted already. I'm sure I never intended to have a weekly update cycle. Let's see if next week I can have more interesting things to update you with :-)

So, what have I worked on this past week? Along with a couple of things I really can't share, I've made some more Turning Four-T blocks. I can't remember if I told you that I really want to make the quilt bigger and replace a couple of blocks I'm not super happy with. This necessitates a further 27 blocks being made. I've done twelve now. *insert sound of crickets chirping here*

In the picture are six of the blocks I made this week. I'm going to try and cut some more out tonight before I head to bed.

I just love the fabrics. The two conversational prints I picked up while in Kentucky. Very appropriate to have the horses as a tribute to our visit to that state don't you think?

The navy fabric in the three blocks at the front of the picture is from the Sturbridge Village Blues collection by Judie Rothermel (Marcus Fabrics). Does anyone out there have any idea where I may be able to purchase some more of this fabric? I've checked all my usual fabric sources with no luck, and I've just run out. Any leads would be much appreciated. xox

Tomorrow I'm so looking forward to watching our Aussie girl Sam Stoser in the final of the French Open Tennis. Good luck Sam, we'll be cheering you on. And a huge treat for my friend Kath and I on Sunday. We have gold class tickets to see Sex and the City 2. Another glass of champagne darling? Yes, yes I think I will :-)

My Nearly Insane Addiction

It feels great to be right back into my piecing and quilting after my wonderful holiday. Here are a couple of things I'm working on at the moment.

I'm hopelessly addicted to my Nearly Insane quilt. It's all I want to work on, and at all times. I've completed 45 of the blocks, so I'm almost half way, and I recently had the bright idea that it'd be fun to try and put a few of the rows together. This is as far as I got, I have to put some more of the triangles together before I can continue. I LOVE how this top is looking. I'm such a sucker for a vintage quilt with tiny pieces :-)

And even though I thought I'd all but finished the top of my Turning Four-T quilt, I decided I'd like to make it even bigger, so I'm back to making up blocks. I found a nice selection of conversationals while I was in the US, so I'll get busy again.

My reason for thinking I'd like it bigger? Well, the quilt is celebrating a milestone in my life, so I thought I'd like it to be a quilt I use a lot - so I'm going to make it big enough for our queen bed. This necessitates an extra two rows of blocks. One row all around would have meant the border won't fit properly. And because I'm making extra blocks, I'm also going to replace those three blocks that I don't really like as much as the others.

End result: A quilt I'll love for a really long time. Sounds good to me :-)

Turning Four-T on the home stretch!

I'm really on the home stretch now. I've assembled the centre of the Turning Four-T quilt top. Now I only need to assemble the half-square triangles for the border. Yes!

Most of the HST's are already cut out and ready to go, they just need sewing and trimming. I should be able to tackle that over the next few days, as I have some precious time to myself. I will be quilting on a quilt top, hopefully tackling another NI block, and of course, taking this quilt to the next stage of completion. I see lots of late nights in my future - I'm such a night owl!

Assembling Turning Four-T

Last night I started assembling the rows of my Turning Four-T quilt top. All the sashing strips and cornerstones are cut out and ready for me to put the pieces together in some found time.

Sewing time may be a little scarce this week as I'm working each day at the quilt store - Marty is on holidays though and looking after the small people - and then next week we'll be back on holidays together.

I'll try and get a little more of this done tonight, and if I still have some momentum, I'd really like to pin a quilt. It's just gone 8pm ... let's see how far I get!

Sashing & Critters

Things are a little busy here at Chez Tazzie. It's the whole gearing up for Christmas thing - accompanied by a special 15th birthday, and trying to finish off the last of the quilting (two to go! yay!). Hence the scarce blog posts - hopefully that will improve by the last of the year :-)

After a little time stewing over my 'turning four-t' blocks, I think this is the fabric I'd like to use for the sashing strips. Accompanied by repro yellow cornerstones - I think this DJ print could work. I'll have to lay all the blocks out and see if it flies. Hmmm ... I could have taken a better picture, but what do you all think about the fabric?

And speaking of Turning Four-T - it looks like it'll have to be renamed. After all, I've now Turned Four-T ... so I guess the quilt will too :-)

And I just had to share this giraffe from a quilt I've been working on today. I don't know any details re pattern etc, but I'll be sure to check for you all - this guy is adorable!

Blocks almost finished.

Things have been quiet on the blog front here. I've been super busy trying to get all the quilting done before the kids are on school holidays. There are three weeks to go, and I'm pretty sure I'm running on schedule :-)

I've done a little piecing though, I've made the blocks in the picture toward the Turning Four-T quilt. I only have three left to make, and they're almost finished too.

I'm not mad about the way the ones on the right turned out - love the fabrics, but not mad on the way they've come together in this particular block. I just don't have enough conversationals to make them up again, so the blocks will be used. I've chosen the fabric for the sashing strips, but not the cornerstones just yet. I'll keep you posted.

Please hold us in your thoughts tomorrow. We have a forecast of 43c (109f). It's been declared an extreme fire danger day, so I'll be hoping and praying that there are no fires.

I'll sign off here - need to do some laundry and hope to find a couple of minutes spare for the sewing room. Chatter soon :-)

Stitching Saturday

Today I decided I would allocate a day all to myself. No working on projects for others - only mine - and it was wonderful! I put the final borders on the little Christmas project, quilted and bound it, and finally added the little bows. I think it's kinda cute - and especially love the gold thread I used for quilting - even if I did have a few breakages today.

And next I worked on a few more of my Turning Four-T blocks. I shall have to get a hurry on with these - or I'll have to rename it 'Turned Four-T'. I've got sixteen blocks now, so nine to go and I can start putting it all together.

Tomorrow it's back to quilting like mad - if I'm really good I may get some piecing time in the evening. I'll have my fingers crossed :-)

Nine Four T's

In the foreground are my latest three 'Four T' blocks. It's fun hauling my reproduction blue fq's out of the closet and putting them to good use. For some reason I don't seem to go to the fq's as often as the scraps or the yardage.

I'll be making a total of 25 blocks - then I can start the search for 'The Perfect' sashing and cornerstone fabrics. I had a quick looky in the closet today and I'm just not sure yet. I think it will depend somewhat on the variety of blues in the mix.

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes. I'm still not 100%, but getting better everyday. If I could just stop coughing so much, everything would be rosy. I'll be patient, and my energy will return.

I'm heading back into the sewing room for a little play, and then an early night for me. Toodles :-)

More Four-T's

Whew - a little housekeeping needed here. Let me just blow the dust off this blog - it's been a little time since I've been around. Not because I've been desperately busy leading a fabulous life, but because I've caught a nasty flu bug. Hopefully the worst is over and I'll have more energy again soon :-)

This morning I was just pining for my sewing maching, so I made up another three of my Turning Four-T blocks. Love love love them. And like a good little scrapper, was able to run a few seams on my leaders and enders blocks. I'm going to enjoy this project once I can really get my teeth into it.

But now, I'm actually quite exhausted, so I'm going to get a quick nap in before I go get the kids from school. Amazing how much energy can be sapped and how quickly. I'll check in soon xox

An Important Step

On Thursday morning, a big step was taken toward an important project for this year. I started making the blocks for my 'Turning Four-T' quilt.

It's quite the milestone, so I'm using some of my favourite fabrics. Amongst those are some precious conversationals that my wonderful friend Linda sent me quite a while back. I have seven fat quarters, which is not quite enough, so I'm going to intersperse them with a light tea dye fabric. Had I decided not to make a pieced border, the conversations may have been plenty, but I'm a scrappy quilt girl, so I'll love 'making do'.

In other news, my 'Dogtooth Violets' quilt has just come out in print in Australian Patchwork and Quilting. I haven't received my copy in the mail just yet, but I'll share as soon as I have it. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled - I just love the quilt!

A Special Project

On Monday I popped my Dogtooth Violets quilt in the mail right on schedule, so you'll be seeing it in an upcoming issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting - it'll be issue 18/4, I'll have to check for you exactly what the on-sale date is.

And in other news, here is a quilt I've drawn up to make soon ...

This quilt will have a special significance to me - for an occasion very late in the year. The block is a Temperance block, but that's not the significance ... do you see the T's hidden in there? There's four of them. This quilt is going to be named 'Turning Four T' ... because that's what's happening ... I'll be turning 40!

So, I'll be making this quilt up over the next few months, using my usual controlled scrappy palette, and I'm going to enjoy it 100%.