...DUQS and some thoughts on favourites

I've joined in with the Down Under Quilt Swap on Flickr and as is mostly requested with swaps of this sort there has been a request to make a mosaic to help our secret partner narrow down the sort of thing we would like to receive to help in the planning process.

And as is also mostly the case I've found it difficult. I've always found identifying something 'I like best' difficult - from subjects at schools, to book, to songs, to genres.

I guess my taste is eclectic. And really heavily influenced (as I am sure it is for many) about what is going on within and around me when I form an opinion on something. 

How do I know I like something? - I just do. 

What is it about something that it like? It makes me feel, it could be interest a warm fuzzy or something else all together. 

So partner. with this in mind I've made a few mosaics (because I was having trouble with the internet not because I was categorizing which may have been a good idea, in hindsight) with things I liked this week. I guess looking at these I like textured backgrounds, pieced or turned appliqué, hand stitching. Dare I try to categorize - a modern vintage look?

I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with. Do you have trouble defining your 'type'?

... A Hexy MF update

There isn't really a lot to say except that I have based all of the centre hexagons and am doing the 'petals' as I   go. My aim to to get 10 done a week. So far I have done that twice in he four weeks I've been working on it so I am only two weeks behind!

I lay them out tonight to have a better look at the mix of the patterns/colours together. Obviously there are a few I would around when I sew them together.

Looking forward to working on this some more.

...printing

A few weeks ago I joined the second round of the Handprinted fabric swap, I also participated in the first round of the swap but I don't think I have ever shared the packages I received so take this as thanks now!

On both occasions I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have an excuse to print some things. After first learning screen printing at high school and then refreshing my skills in a class from Louise Snook at the Craft Show last year I think I should keep using the skills so I don't lose them.

The inspiration for the prints came from the (old and needing to be replaced!) ironing board cover.

I couldn't work out how to cleanly cut such small spots so mine are a little larger - cut with this great little craft  knife with a turning blade. I was really surprise how neat the edge of the circles were and how close I could get to staying on my drawn line.

Each fat quarter required two stencils - one for each colour printed on it. There are a few technical changes I would make on a future printing adventure but generally I'm pretty happy!

And I came up with these!

And in case you are interested this is what I have received in turn from Alli, Brandi, Katie and Kelley.

Thanks so much to them, and to Leslie for running it again.

...more hexagons

Remember when, almost two years ago, we move to Melbourne and I had grand plans for a hand or EPP project I was going to sew for a week or two in our hotel while we found a house and waited to be able to move in.

How this grand plan was developed on a Friday afternoon, just after the movers left and I raced over to the Remnant Warehouse, my former LQS for one last visit there during the sale. How I bought a couple of template sets and then discovered and bought the rest (I think I have all of them new - and there are more than five) in the set.

These are the three I got done those weeks. These are the only three that I have got done since the wild scheme was conceived. These won't go in the final quilt I don't think. I'm not going to EPP the rest.

Until yesterday that is. I took the templates to the Sit and Sew day yesterday and knocked up a few more, this time by machine.

 They are all Victoria Textiles/Matilda's Own Template sets.

Merry-go-round Option 1

Billabong

Whirligig Hexagon

Merry-go-round Option 2

Curved Star Hexagon

Merry-go-round Option 2

Hexagon Slices

Hexagon Party

I am hoping to be able to salvage the three original and unpick and resew the others by machine. Another long term project.

...Beach Blanket Bundle

For the Sew Mama Sew Fat Quarter Idol

...Kaleidoscope Christmas - in July

Remember when I made this cushion? I put a few pictures of it up on my flickr page as well, like I usually do, and I got so many comments, including one suggesting I submit it to the Moda Bakeshop and I thought, "why not?".

To me I could see it in nothing but Christmas fabric, cause that is what I was thinking of when I designed and made it but I'm sure others can come up with other versions that will point out how versatile any design can be. 

I also up-sized it from the original and added a border and some cornerstone, so it will be the Christmas quilt on our spare bed over the season. I have another design in the works for our bed. 

The recipe is already up on the Moda Bakeshop - it was a nice surprise when I woke up this morning. 

I was really hoping to take some pictures of this one in the snow - but our holiday there isn't sorted yet so it's a Christmas Quilt at the beach. Pretty Australian really. 

...making links

When I posted about my vision for the May do. Good Stitches quilt by the cherish circle I was thinking the block would be a good scrap buster for the bees in the circle, would make a decent sized quilt and the blocks would look like little chain links, hence the name. 

When I went to think of a title for this post I also though - hey, it links us all as well. I'm not too quick with things like that sometimes. 

The top came together really quickly thanks to the 12 oversized blocks it is made up of and basting was completed over the weekend when I scrounged enough basting pins from the already quilted sections of the other 4 I am currently quilting (3 hand, 1 machine - yes I know, I'm crazy). 

I've been working on practising my free motion quilting for a little while now, mostly on smaller pieces and I felt ready to tackle a larger project. In the centre of the links I FMQed some lines, Amanda Jean style, and then in the larger white squares went back and made some spirals to soften some of the lines. I'm pretty darn pleased for a beginning effort. I'd like the spirals to be a little more round and a little less egg shaped but I can't draw that well with paper and pencil so I don't think I can expect miracles with thread and fabric. 

I used a Gutterman Sulky 30wt in white cotton and I found it really good to use with only a few breakages (which I really think was down to my technique and not the machine). 

It's bound in a white solid from my stash which I think frames it nicely and blends well with the Little Things fabric used on the back. 

It measures about 59"x 78" so it is a good size and it will be off to Needy Stitches later in the week when I head down that way for work.