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Archive for August, 2010

A while back TJ’s Mom asked if I could make her a quilt for the living room. I love to be asked for a specific crafted item, because it means that the recipient is more likely to be happy with it. Knowing the colours of my MIL’s living room, I set about trying to find just the right fabrics and the right design too. Nothing too….quilty? Country? Something more modern and streamlined.

The pattern is one I saw somewhere and then made the dimensions for myself. I thought it looked modern without being weird. Do you know what I mean?

The backing was actually the first fabric I picked out, because I knew it would go in the living room well.

Here’s a shot TJ’s Mom took after she got home with it:

The binding is a little tribute to something I learned years ago from my MIL – every room needs a touch of black in it somewhere. I thought it just framed out the quilt nicely, while being a little different from what you normally see.

The quilting is a favourite of mine – circles!

I thought it lent itself well to the geometric shapes of the piecing.

I did label this one, but I have to say that I have still not found a way to label quilts that I like. Does anyone have any suggestions on what they use?

I am still glad that I managed to get both this one and my sister’s quilt done in time to take home with me. Really, I had plenty of time, but it just got away from me, as it often does.

I hope you like it mom and I hope it gets lots of use!

I think it is probably no surprise to anyone who knows me or has been reading the blog for a while, but I have a love of colour. I love using it in interior design, in quilting, in knitting, in anything. I have a particular fondness for anything with a rainbow of colours (like my colour wheel quilt, my pencil holder, etc).

A while back the group of weavers that I meet with once a month socially decided that we would like to start a study group. I was definitely in on this because I really needed something that was going to force me to sit down at my loom and get over my fear of things not working out. So regardless of what we were going to study, I was in. But when I learned that the first thing we were going to cover was colour? I was SO in.

Our first meeting we had a presentation on colour theory. We studied colour harmonies in detail – split complimentary, hexad, triad, double split complimentary and so on. In our second meeting, we decided on a project. We would all pick two colour harmonies, and we a bunch of samples.

Rather than going with subtle colours, I decided to go all out. And I learned SO much from the process! I started by doing a sample for myself, weaving off with all the colours, with black, white, charchoal. I played with how hard I was beating the weft, I figured out how to fix broken warp threads, it was great. Even the moments that we frustrating were great. It has really helped me get my weaving mojo going.

Now I have a couple of projects in my head that I really want to start. I am thinking about messing with the materials that I use for the warp and then washing it – giving lumpy bumpy texture to the piece. And since the summer is almost over and things are beginning to calm down, I might actually have time to sit at the loom! I also need to do our second project for the group, which I will be planning today.

Where do you get your colour inspiration from? Are you someone who works with subtle colours or loves the bold world? Do you like to combine or work in single colour families? Do you use colour different depending on the craft?

My little sister got married this past weekend. I thought I would make something for her and her husband that they could enjoy for many years to come. As always, click to see larger pictures.

Pattern: Rec Center Quilt
Fabric: Various cottons from the shop, demin from Joann’s on the back
Quilting: Wind Swirls (done on Laura‘s machine)

This is designed to be a big picnic quilt, as the backing is demin. Much more durable and stain resistant than a usual cotton backing

I liked the pattern, but I had one problem with it. The instructions have you cut the red sashing strips longer than they are needed and then it has to you trim them after you sew them on. This is done to avoid having to pin a bunch of little tiny pieces, but what I found is that it caused some of my blocks to be slightly out of square. This is a beginner thing I am sure, but I like having that extra chance to square things up when you are adding more pieces. I would make this quilt again, but I would just adjust the cutting of the strips to be shorter. Does that even make sense to anyone?

The wonkiness added to the overall look of the quilt in the end, and I really like how the quilting shows up on it.

The pattern has instructions for an attached strap, but since I wanted my sister and her hubby to be able to use this on the couch without getting scratched by velcro, my strap was just removable.

And with it all rolled (or folded up) I put it in a cool picnic basket thingy instead of a gift bag for delivery to the wedding.

My sister called the day after the wedding to say that she loved it. I hope they get lots of use out of it! I would love to see it years down the line all worn in and loved.

I wish them both many years of happiness!