too many options...

Most of my vintage sheets are 6" squares. I am also lucky to have a few bigger pieces.

I wanted to use them to their maximum - and decided to try a quilt-as-you-go wall size!

After doing this fun technique earlier in blocks, it was time for expanding the possibilities. For the base I choose a Quilters Dream Poly batting, thinking it would be sturdy enough for this technique.

The first picture shows the vintage linens I wanted to include in the quilt. I started placing the center piece and quilt it. Second round came together quickly. Third row followed. By now, I had used 4 of my 6 vintage pieces. And the decisions on how to proceed got harder.

This is where I am now, testing out the final round of prints and solids. It will be framed in white and end at about 60" by 85".

Here are some of my options:

layout one

layout two
layout three
layout four
layout five
layout six
layout seven
layout eight
layout nine

Sorry if I made you fall asleep...

; )

I like several of them. The quilt is going to be a celebration of spring, decorating the dining room. What do you think - do you see any favorites that stand out?

wip wednesday

friday finish

These cute tumblers from Heather Ross prints made a small panel. My first idea was to make it into a pillow. When I looked through my stash I found to different yard cuts that complemented the color palette nicely. Both of these pieces happened to be a full yard. Most of my stash are in 1/2 yrd pieces.

This unexpected find tempted me to frame the panel and make it into a little quilt. There's a lot to be said about diving into ones stash. It might surprise you what you find, there! Of course, it's taken some years to build it up. And It will take serious effort to use it all...

Sometimes when I look through or rearrange my stash I come across fabric that refuses to blend with the others, a different tone of color, a special design... My first thought is to remove these "loners". A few times now, these fabrics who refuses to blend with the rest, have been the PERFECT fabrics for a work in progress. This have taught me to hold on to them. When I am looking for a bit of contrast, they might be just the one I need...

These two yard cuts both came in this "loner" category. (the fabrics are Lizzy Dish (honey) and Lecien (purple)). I love how they complement the colors of the tumbler panel! Cheers for the oddballs, loners ... need a better word to describe them.

My HR tumbler finished at 35" * 40". I used Hobbs cotton batting for this one. Conveniently, a bit of snow was provided yesterday. Perfect backdrop!

Have a lovely weekend. It might be time for a stash treasure hunt?

; )

february finish

Mmmm finished at 57" * 72", long arm quilted in baptist fans by the lovely Anne. The batting is Quilters Dream Select, wonderful and soft.

This quilt is a total Homage a Gwen Marston. You may recognize it from her book "Liberated String Quilts". Her quilt is called Amish Rectangular String.

The quilt top was made in 2008 and blogged earlier.

It's quite vibrant. Not so easy to photograph inside on a very cold february morning.

It feels so good to shrink my stack of finished tops. Slowly, and one by one - that's my plan...

Right now I have a dozen quilt tops waiting in line. How tall is your stack?

(I won't hold it against you if you don't want to reveal it - we all need to keep some secrets...)

; )

Wish you all a lovely weekend!

quick or slow cutting ...

Thank you for all the tumbler love. There was a big vote for the traditional (checkerboard) layout, and that's what I ended up using. I will keep the idea of the other layout, and hopefully play with it some more later on.

These new tumblers are a slightly different shape from the ones I have made previous with my plastic template. I think the Go cutter makes it easier to cut a number of tumblers quicker, and that the plastic template is better for fuzzy cutting.

I had a few (precious) fuzzy cut by hand Heather Ross tumblers in my drawers. They were sewn together in a 7 by 7 panel:

The plastic template makes fuzzy cutting a lot easier than the Go cutter. So for a small project I might still want to do that.

Just love how the corners so easily comes together on these tumbler shapes. The trick is to alternate ironing the seam allowance in and out.

As you can see, it's easy to get carried away with these fun shape. Once you have cut the patches, the rest is a lot of fun...

Wish you all a lovely Sunday. I might have some quilting to do...

; )

one or the other ...

this one ?
or this one?

traditional
or fun ... Options, options!

Just a little warning. I was going to try out my new toy the baby Go cutter. With one of my favorites, the tumbler dye. Just a few patches, just giving it a test run. Have to say it's hard to stop!

Once you have cut your patches, they are easy to sew together. I have ironed mine for the traditional layout. Now I have second thoughts.

I might have to make both?

; )

why not ...

clean out the drawers

put some old orphan blocks together

be inspired to try some new way to quilt it

why not just play a bit?