It's a plane, it's a Quilt Block - No it is both

Maybe it is because I like to get real mail in the letterbox or maybe because it forces me to try things that I wouldn't ordinarily have a go at I keep joining bees and swaps. I expect it is a little of both.


I do this even right after I have decided that enough is enough and I'll never have any time to bring to life the ideas I have in my head if I keep making things for other and putting them in envelopes.


That said, I love them, I enjoy making the blocks and I am always really excited to see the finished product and I can ususally make them at night after work which makes a great weekday stand alone project.


I think I'll probably keep ignoring my own little rules for myself but that is OK.


The most recent bee I joined was one hosed by the online Etsy fabric store Sew Fresh Fabrics. As they explained in this post on their blog they end up with a lot of scraps and thought a bee was a great way to use them with the final quilt being donated to charity, in this case Project Linus.


I thought I had missed out on the first round but apparently due to some counting errors they ended up one short in the boy group for this round and I was happy to jump in. Yesterday I got an envelope in the mail (yay!) with some Kaffe Fasset, Lizzy House and other great fabrics and from nowhere came the idea to make a aeroplane block.


I have never, ever, had the slightest inclination to make such a block before but as soon as it popped into my head I couldn't think of any other style I wanted to make. So, by the power of google I went looking for some tutorials and used this one from Badskirt as my main inspiration but generally made it up as I went along within the confines of the fabric strips I had.

I love how the tail and wings stand out from the body and nose and how the busy-ness of the background print hides the seams. And the lighter fabric on the border gives the eye a place to rest (and makes the block to the requested size!). Genrally for an hour or so at the sewing machine a few hours after the envelope arrived I'm pretty happy.

Check out the Flickr group for some of the other great blocks appearing for the boy and the girl quilt made by the other circle.

Finishing and tidying.

In the corner of my lounge room there is a chair that never gets sat in. It is one of those chairs where things get piled, not necessarily untidily but certainly not in a way that could be dscribed with the rhyme 'a place for everything, and everything in its place'.

So this weekend, with the upcoming move as the incentive again I put the finishing touches on the three quilts that had been sitting there. Two needed the binding sewn to the back and labels and the third needed only the label.

It got me thinking about a question that is often asked of quilters in interviews 'what is your favorite part of the quilting process' and I think I would have to say it is the designing and piecing followed by the quilting. The least favorite? Sewing the binding and making the quilt sandwich.

I think it has something to do with the fact those stages don't change the 'look' of the quilt so much, where as in completing the other stages, you can see something come together before your eyes.

Quilt 1: Luv U Pinwheels
This was made with one charm pack and some scraps I had from an earlier project. It was the first quilt I designed completely myself and I love the way the perle cotton hand quilting works with it.





Quilt 2: X Block Kaleidoscope
I made this quilt top in April using the X Block template I bought at the Craft Expo at Homebush in March. I made this whole quilt top using only one layer cake and a tiny bit of extra solid. The back is solid (I thought there was enough colour on the top) and the quilting around the X's makes a X and windmill pattern on the back.





Quilt 3: Carnival Critters
I also made this one in April I think, using my first Etsy fabric purchase from Lucky Kaeru
It has a pieced back and circular free motion quilting.




There are in my MadeIt shop.

The Local Quilt Shop

image from http://www.memorylanequiltshop.com/images/quilt-shop-front.jpg

In my last post I mentioned that I belonged to a couple of online quilting bees, as I said then one of these is locally based, all members are from Australia and New Zealand.

During the time we were waiting for the bee to fill so we could get started with the fun, hilarity and sewing there was a discussion post started about where we buy our fabric from.

The question was as general as that but the post really ended up being about buying fabric from online suppliers or from the Local Quilt Shop (LQS). And the consensus was that while a lot of us would like to buy local, with all that entails (supporting the local economy, being able to touch, feel and compare fabrics before making a purchase etc.) the increase in cost that came with it was just not able to be met comfortably by many of us.*

And it has got me thinking, and puzzling and thinking some more.

I buy online as much as the next person, not just fabric but books, movies and music. I'm not yet brave enough for shoes or clothes. And I guess with each of the items I do buy online there would be benefit to seeing the item I am about to part with my hard earned dollar for before I did so. In the case of books, for example, there is comfort in flicking through the book and making sure there is more than one project you would like to complete, that the type is one you can cope with when reading by the bedside light, that the hardback is not so heavy your arm muscles will have grown exponentially before you found out how the story comes out.

Plus with online purchases there is the added waiting for delivery, and, at least in the case of my local postie, the lottery as to where in my front garden it will be and the condition it will be in when I arrive home, especially on raining days.

I'm not trying to bag buying things online here, as I said I do it regularly and as with the case of many things there are some massive benefits as well as possible causes for concern. The one that was identified really strongly in the discussion by my quilting bee was the savings.

I guess the thing that got me thinking and puzzling was that the discussion that the cost factor. There are so many other services that a Local Quilt Stare might, and often does offer that to many they are worth the extra dollars per metre of fabric.

Earlier this year, while on a visit to my LQS, I found this booklet. Privately published it lists many LQS's, their opening hours and contact information as well as a number of quilting services and online sale sites.



So I have embarked on a challenge. I'm going to visit these stores, as many as I can manage (and since my family is in Western Australia, I currently live in Sydney NSW and will shortly be moving to Melbourne, Victoria and have friends in the ACT I'm hoping to cover a big range of the areas covered in the book) and write a little review or description of them. I'd like people to take a moment to stop and have a think about what they can get at their LQS they can't get online.

I won't stop buying online, I'm sure, as I am just as sure I won't ever stop visiting my LQS.

What information would you like to see included in the descriptions/reviews?

* For international readers. At most quilt store in Australia good quality fabric sells for between $20-$30 Australian dollars ($US17- $US26) a metre (100cm) which is about 2in longer than a yard.
In comparison I can buy fabric for $US8-10 per yard and with postage this is about $AUS9.50 per yard when it arrives at my door