Emerald

I am so happy to finish this quilt in time to link it up for the Pantone Emerald Quilt Challenge :

I wanted this quilt to be all about the effect that light has on surfaces and colours and so I used green Oakshott cottons that I had left over from another project. These cottons catch and reflect light differently depending on the way they are cut, so I thought I could use this quality and five shades of green in a block representing the facets of an emerald held in a clasp setting. It is all made from the same size HSTs.  I bordered it with linen to add contrast and to suggest the rough rock it comes from.

This rather dim picture taken pre-quilting shows a bit better the effect of the direction of cutting on the reflection of light and you can also see that I used very slightly different shades of the palest green.

It is machine quilted in the middle, using matched threads, to emphasis the sharp lines of the central block, and hand quilted over the rest in two strands of sand cotton, again for contrast.

When it came to binding, my sewing machine stopped working!  I made the binding by hand and laboriously hand stitched it on (and unpicked the dodgy bits and restitched it on...).  My hand stitching was a lot improved after about five hours of this:-) The binding includes scraps of each of the five greens.

Other details: the quilt is approx 26 inches square, so I am entering it in the Mini category.  I am very, very happy with it - although I learned a lot about how I wouldn't do it next time!

It is a difficult quilt to photograph, just because just like an emerald the colour of the Oakshott really shows when it catches the light. Here's my grandmother's engagement ring to show that the emerald is a good match!

It matches the Quilt Challenge button too!

The challenge linky is open until 17th March and there are some really amazing quilts, tops and minis there.  You can visit the linky here or just click on the button to go to the flickr pool.

It was all going so well...

...but just as I started to make the binding for Emerald my beloved sewing machine has developed a mechanical problem.

Boo.

Really Random Thursday

I thought I'd share my view over the weekend.

Resolutely ignoring each other!  I think these cats are playing "Cat Chess" - as described by Terry Pratchett.

I like the way that cats (and dogs) feature so often in their owner's sewing blogs.  Mine likes to make his presence known, generally inappropriately, as in this recent protest against my paying attention to something else, demonstration of mousing skills:

or in this mis-timed concern as I lay on the floor trying to take a photograph.

Apparently this sort of thing has been going on for centuries.

Linking up to the fun at

WIP Wednesday

It's lovely to have WIPs for show and tell!

My daughter has been making paper snowflakes and I really loved this:

As soon as I saw it, I wanted to dig out the Essex yarn dyed linen, and Liberty.

With a bit of perle cotton, it's turning into this:

The perle cotton is just lovely to use for satin stitch - my stitching needs work, but it's much better than floss - and for blanket stitch round the applique.

I'm not sure whether to add something else to it or not.  I'm also not sure what, if anything, this will turn into - a mat, a framed piece, or part of a bigger project.  Some stuff just lives in the cupboard after it has fulfilled its job as a learning experience:-)

I think I have settled on threads for quilting Emerald, the quilt I am making inspired by the Pantone Emerald Quilt Challenge.  I've been thinking of machine quilting the central motif, and handquilting the rest so I have been testing out some rustic stitching on fabric/batting scraps.  (If you are interested in utility stitching, check out Elizabeth's blog.)

Thank you for visiting!

Fabric Tuesday

This is the latest thing to emerge from the pile of scraps I have been playing with this week.  It's just a very tiny thing curve-pieced from strings of Klona. I have started keeping everything and these strings are probably 1.5 cm wide at the most. I quilted it with variegated thread and added some beads.

Waves

Or pond weed?!

It's been a distraction from making my mind up about quilting Emerald - sometimes you have to do that!  I like these Klona cottons more and more - they have a lovely sheen and the colours are very intense.

PS, Welcome Marjorie, my 100th reader!  I think most gave up long ago, and inevitably someone will get fed up of my wittering (or maybe bored of my latest obsession with blue/green scrappy piecing) and unsubscribe, but I am very grateful!

Calling Slow Bloggers!

After a bit of thought I have decided to move the Slow Bloggers Linky to the 15th of each month.

Probably most of us blog so we can engage with other people and worry about dropping off the radar when we don't feel we have much creative productivity to show.  Slow Bloggers may not always be able to get a lot done - but any act of creativity is a triumph over inertia and the other demands of life!

That's why I set up the linky.  You can link up to show off a single project, or several if you have had a good month, share what inspires you, or just let us know what other adventures you've been having.  Link up if even you're only an occasional Slow Blogger and a creative whirlwind the rest of the time!

The aim is to take the pressure off and provide a bit of an antidote to the feeling that you have to keep up.  But I don't mind if it's just me and the sound of whistling tumbleweed!    I had a lovely email from a blogger who said that she got a sense of calm every time she saw the button at the top of her blog - that's what it's about.

New to me - Tiny Happy Improv Quilt

Fiona has a great linky going here.  I have added the button to my side bar as a reminder to be adventurous and try new things. Today I'm linking up a tiny piece of scrappy improv which I did last night (I am so happy to be on a creative roll at last).  It's the first time I have done this, and also tried anything more complicated than line quilting, wonky, wavy or straight.

I really loved doing it.

 It is quilted using my Guterman sulky threads in solid green and variegated shades.  It surprised me how much the colour of the fabrics appears to change, depending on the fabric it's next to or the thread it's quilted with.

This was such fun to do, and I can't wait to do more, but I'll have to hone my mitreing skills.  This binding is only just 1/4 inch and it was fiddly.

Fiona's jewellery making also inspired another new project.  These are flat periwinkles - they come in so many different beautiful colours and I have hoarded a collection of them.  They are so jewel-like I thought I would try a bit of wire wrapping.

My attempts are pretty inept, and I'm not sure this is going anywhere but it's fun.  Thank you Fiona for all the inspiration!