Pretty Liberty and Hand Quilting

While we were on our travels I did manage to get some hand stitching done (not much admittedly, but there was the occassional evening when I was able to just sit and sew!).

First up was this little Liberty table runner. The hexies are tiny (less than an inch I think) but I used EPP to stitch them together and then appliqued them onto the Essex Linen. I hand quilted around each flower, first in a pale blue Aurifil 28wt thread, and then in a pale pink Gutermann quilting thread. I wanted something subtle and pretty, but I think this may have been just a bit too subtle! Because I didn't have access to my fabric stash I ordered some premade Bias binding from The Polished Button which I thought would add to the prettiness of the Liberty fabric, and for the backing I used some Klona cotton which I bought when I visited the lovely Backstitch shop in Cambridge. I finally finished stitching the binding down yesterday, and I have to say, I like this small finish!

 The second project I worked on was a mini quilt for the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap Round 2.  My partner didn't have a blog, but from what I could tell from her Instagram feed anything Bonnie and Camille was the way to go. I was lucky that I had a mini charm pack of the April Showers fabric range in my stash, so I paired this with other similar coloured fabrics and made a 'Mini-dwell' quilt. Cutting out all those tiny pieces nearly got the better of me, but I did it in the end and managed to get the top pieced before we left Indonesia. I then hand quilted it and hand stitched on the binding while we were travelling. Thankfully my partner liked it, along with the other 'extra's' that I included!

Linking up with TGIFF and Finish it Up Friday today!

New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop and many thanks to Beth for hosting. I have had a lot of fun reading posts from the other quilters on the Blog Hop and enjoyed seeing so many amazing quilts. 

I am Deborah, and I am originally from England, but grew up in India, married an Australian, and we currently call Indonesia home. I am a mum to two boys (age 11 and 7) and spend my days trying to keep up with them! In my previous life I was a geneticist and spent my days looking down a microscope at fruit fly embryos (don't ask!!) I learnt to quilt just over 2 years ago, and haven't looked back. At first I sewed everything by hand but now I have a machine I have been enjoying a mix of hand and machine stitching, including embroidery. I can't cope if I have too many projects on the go at once, and I love bright colours.

I have made less than 10 quilts, so it isn't hard to show you my favourites. I made all of these this year and enjoyed the variety in the patterns and the quilting.

(1) Memories of India    (2) Central Park    (3) Radiant Orchid    (4) Mosaic Tiles

I also love making smaller projects: mini-quilts, pouches, cushions. They make fun presents and provide some quick satisfaction! (Most of these projects were made before I started my blog so I can't provide links to them, but you can see them on my Flickr stream if you are interested).

Over the next few months my goal is to learn to FMQ. I love straight-line quilting, but I am looking forward to a new challenge. I am also aiming to start a long-term hand pieced/quilted project, but haven't decided on a definite pattern or idea yet. Any suggestions?

Here are some few things you may not know about me, and a couple of tips:

Favourite Book: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.

Favourite Sport: Formula 1 (people who know me still can't believe this!)

Favourite past-time: Drinking coffee in a cafe with a friend.

Biggest dread: Big parties and tsunamis.

Favourite TV Shows - Sherlock, Silent Witness, Silk, Lewis, The West Wing (etc etc!)

Favourite holiday destination: The beaches of India

Quilting tip: Use double the amount of pins for basting than you originally think!

Blogging tip: Blog when you can and enjoy it. I love the Slow Blogger Linky hosted by Catherine. It is a reminder that we sew because we enjoy it, and then we blog, rather than the other way round (if that makes sense!)

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog - it is a privilege to be part of this community.  And please visit the others who are part of the blog hop today:

Elli @ Lovelli Quilts

Marcie @ Marcie's Quilt Therapy

Sharon @ Motherdragon's Musings

Cynthia @ Cynthia's Creating Ark

Jane @ Jersey Jane Quilts

Sally @ Wonky Patchwork

Bee @ Pink Almond Quilt

Debbie @ Quilting Makes My Heart Sing

Leanne @ Devoted Quilter

Karen @  Capitola Quilter

Memories of India

I have been silent for a few weeks on this blog (and from commenting on others blogs - sorry!) as I spend time with my family. We are loving being together again and England has put on the sunshine for us which has been wonderful. 

Last weekend I was able to give my parents the quilt I had made for them. They spent 25 years in India, so as soon as I saw the Madhuri fabric range by The Quilted Fish I knew this was for them!

 If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I had terrible trouble trying to quilt this one. It is the largest quilt I have made to date (72 inch square) and it just keep bunching as I quilted, despite numerous pins, rolling the quilt, using a walking foot etc. I think in the end the problem was that I didn't have enough space to rest the quilt on - I don't have an extension table on my machine and my dining room table is small! So I splashed out and sent the quilt to Trudi Wood for her to longarm quilt. To say I am pleased with how it turned out is an understatement!



This is my final finish for the Q2 FAL 2014 and I am pleased to say that I managed to finish all my goals this quarter - yay!! (original post here). Thanks for reading, and I will be pack on July 16th with my post for the 2014 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop hosted by Beth!