Two Good Reads - Kaffe and Sarah

My copy of the latest Kaffe Fassett book Quilts in Sweden arrived in the mail the other day, yay!!

You know I can never resist any book Kaffe designs be it quilting, knitting, mosaic, whatever. The man sees the world in pure colour and never ceases to inspire and excite me into a  colourful creative frenzy!

 Ooh I love this Barcode quilt by Kaffe Fassett. 

I might need to buy a kit for this one!!

This book does it for me again. Full of delicious quilts photographed in beautiful locations throughout an outdoor museum of period houses in Stockholm, giving added detail and beauty to each page.

 A stunning quilt called Headlights by Liza Prior Lucy

Apart from Kaffe himself, various quilt makers have contributed to the book including Roberta Horton, Mary Mashuta, Liza Prior Lucy, Brandon Mably and others. There are also some interesting process photographs and info showing how Kaffe and Pauline Smith work on the quilt designs for his book.

 Romantic Shawl by Mary Mashuta, love that green!

Ooh I love the carnival horse on this page...!

 Beach by Kaffe Fassett. 

Can't you imagine taking this quilt on a picnic?!

The other book I received recently was Sarah Fielke's (The Last Piece) Quilting From Little Things...

This is another gorgeous book, beautifully photographed with clear instructions and a good how to section at the back.

The Night Garden quilt. Beautiful!!

In the book Sarah presents the quilts in pairs....a dolly quilt and a larger quilt, both using the same techniques. This is a great idea if you want to learn something new...begin with the dolly quilt and progress to the larger one to reinforce your new skills.

I'm thrilled with my new books and know I will get much inspiration from both of them. Now I'm saving some pennies for the new Amy Butler fabrics due for release next month called Lark. Have you seen them yet? They made my heart skip a beat!!!

L) Kasbah and R) Floral Couture

from Amy Butlers new Lark range

Bumble Beans Basics Quilt Gather

When my lovely blogger friend Victoria (Bumble Beans) put out the call last year to raise quilts for the homeless in the Bronx, I said I would send one. However I got slack and didn't get around to it. This year Victoria has teamed up with Pat Sloan (Pat Sloan) and together they have put out a second call for quilts. This time, I am getting my act together and sending over this one....

This quilt is an exact replica of Mary Mashuta's All Season Garden Quilt, found in Kaffe Fassetts Quilt Road book (pub 2005).

I love the zig zags on this quilt and hope to make the pattern again in different fabrics one day.

The backing is two tone, mainly because I didn't have enough of one!!!

300 quilts have been donated so far, with the target set for 700. You can learn lots more about this quilt drive here, this site also tells you what sort of quilts are needed as well as where to send the completed quilts. Jackie (Canton Village Quilt Works) has also generously offered to quilt up to 5 quilts if anyone has a spare quilt top lying around...though I imagine those five spots will go super fast!!!

Mine has been washed and now just needs a label. It will be packed off on Tuesday. I hope it can bring some warmth and comfort to someone in need.

As an added note: please keep the east coast of the US in your thoughts and prayers as Hurricane Irene is currently threatening and it doesn't sound good. xo

Green

My star quilt is still growing, albeit very slowly now that it has become so big.

For those who haven't seen this before, I am English paper piecing this quilt and hand stitching each square and diamond together, row by row.

Back of the star quilt, with papers still attached along outer row. 

These get removed when the next row is added.

The hand stitching is very relaxing to do.

I have three more rows to go before I start to square this quilt up. Next up...pink diamonds!

Japanese x and + Quilt Top

Finally, some pics of my Japanese x and + top that I finished quite a while ago.

Not the best photo's, but you get the idea.

 

I'm still working on my pink and brown Japanese x and + and o quilt, it needs more blocks added on to make a decent lap quilt size. Hopefully I will get to that soon.

Part of the fun of these blocks is all the fussy cutting you can do (I love those butterflies).

These blocks are a riot of colour!!

Speaking of colour, we went to one of our local beaches the other day and I must say, I adore the colour of some of the beach boxes we have here on the Mornington Peninsula.

 This one almost looks edible!!

Wherever you are, have a fabulous weekend. xo

Fernleaf Snowball Quilt Finish

Winter can be such a lovely time to stitch, which is perhaps why I have managed to have a few finishes lately. On a sunny day recently I took my quilt to the local park for a photo or two!

This quilt is made using Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voile. These voile's are divine colours and so soft to snuggle into. They can be a little slippery to sew with, but they are not too difficult to handle. My design was based on the various snowball quilts that Kaffe Fassett has made over the years, and I added the fernleaf applique which was done using the needleturn method.

The inspiration for the fern appliques are my ferns here at home, they are what I see when I look out of my kitchen window. At the moment one of the ferns is being set off beautifully by the vivid yellow wattle flowering behind it...

This quilt was started in April 2010, so it has taken me a while to get it finished. Part of the reason for that is because I quilted it totally by hand.

Using, of course, the gorgeous perle 8 threads...

I am totally addicted to quilting this way now. To quilt this one I firstly quilted in the ditch both vertically and horizontally. Then I stitched diagonal lines and around the diamonds...

 ...as well as around all the applique shapes...

 The backing is more voile in the beautiful purple and cream colourway..

I am thrilled with how this quilt has turned out, even if it did take me a long time to complete!!

It felt a little weird taking photo's of this quilt in a public space, but I love how it looks on the little pirate ship in the park.

Luckily for me, the kids in the playground that day didn't make me, or my quilt, walk the plank!

PS...did you know, Kaffe Fassetts new book Quilts in Sweden is now on sale at Liza's shop Glorious Colour? Hurry up Postman!! xo

Scrappy 25 Patch in Flannel

Earlier in the week we had a small burst of warmer weather which was perhaps why our plum tree burst into bud...

Looks like spring is almost here! Anyway, my scrappy 25 patch quilt top using Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Folksy Flannels is done.

I had tried a few layouts on my design wall before I hit on the Scrappy 25 patch on point idea!! Firstly the usual two colours in each block 25 patch.

Some of the fabrics in this range were fairly plain, so I felt it needed a bit more of a scrappy look to it. Starting with a half 25 patch block then filling in the rest with diagonal lines of colour was a good idea, but I didn't like the end result.

Lastly I turned the blocks back on point and began again with half a 25 patch block in one colour...

Then added various colours to the block in perpendicular lines. Some of these lines cross over into the next block.

I'm pretty happy with the result and will definitely use this design again. 

The jagged edges will all be cut off and straightened when I attach the binding. 

I loved using these flannels, usually when cutting and sewing with flannel the whole house gets covered in dust bunnies. Not with this range...no dust bunnies anywhere, I was very surprised.

I am going to have to get moving on quilting this if I want to snuggle up to it while it is still cold, though I have a few other quilts to finish off first.

Japanese Fruit Salad

Some photo's as promised...!

This quilt is based on the beautiful Fruit Salad quilt designed by Liza Prior Lucy and found in Kaffe Fassetts book Quilts en Provence (pub. 2010).

Liza Prior Lucys quilt Fruit Salad Quilt

Kaffe Fassett's Striped Vase fabric is delightful as the backing for this quilt.

I had a lot of fun quilting this one. I really didn't have a plan to start with, so I decided firstly to do some hand quilted straight lines using Perle 8 threads in various colours.

I felt it needed a little more than that so I added tan machine quilted lines in between.

Still not satisfied I decided to add some machined curvy zig zag lines in coloured threads.

Lastly the border was hand quilted with a cream perle 8. Very happy now!!!

The binding is a gorgeous lime green Japanese fabric.

 

 It is so nice to have a finished quilt! Have you had a finish lately?