At Nancy's Window

My sister Nancy was visiting when the Hoffman Bali Snowflakes arrived.  Her suggestion was that they would look great in an attic window setting, so that's what I did (thanks, Nan!)  I added a bit of snow on the window (I didn't have to look far for inspiration as there has certainly been a lot of snow on our windows lately!)

The printed snowflakes remind me of the ones Nancy used to crochet and starch and hang in her windows.   If you look closely at the picture below, you can see that I have stitched a hanging cord from the top of the snowflake.

The snow is quilted in swirls with a holographic thread which gives a nice shimmer;  the snowflakes themselves are outlined in silver metallic.

For the photo shoot I placed some cattails in a red can...which turned out to be a bad idea with the cats in the house.  They were obsessed with those cattails!!  It was a constant struggle to keep Polly off the table long enough to get a picture;  I would shoo her off and by the time I had the camera in position, she was back at them.  Maddie, whose feet are permanently glued to the floor, stood on his hind legs beside the table to reach up and swat them.

This was a super easy project and took no time to stitch.  The snowflakes will be in stores soon, and are sold by the yard so you can buy as few or many as your project requires. In Canada, they are distributed by Trend-Tex Fabrics. I am very pleased with the look, especially with the red accent from the little bird, and have named the piece "At Nancy's Window."  The pattern will be coming along shortly.

Having a Ball With the Balis

The second baby quilt is all finished up and I will share a picture as soon as it is delivered.  The recipient reads this blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise!  I was itching to play with the Hoffman Bali snowflakes that arrived last week (see previous post).  There were a couple of colourways included to choose from;  I decided to start with the grey/silver snowflakes. They captured the mood and colours of last week's blizzard perfectly.

Hoffman batiks are a dream to sew.  I am piecing with 50 weight cotton thread (Wonderfil Konfetti) and a Microtex needle 80/12 in the machine.  All that's required is a hot, dry iron and the patchwork comes out perfectly flat and square.  When it comes time to quilt I will switch my needle to a Metallic 80/12.  With regular quilting cottons, I would probably use a 90/14 for the quilting, but with the higher thread count of the batiks a larger needle sometimes makes a visible hole where it punctures the cotton.  Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium got a nice selection of Schmetz needles in this week and it's heaven to have such a fabulous choice available locally.
You can see I am auditioning a little pop of cardinal to brighten up the snowy palette.

What a Week!

My  inner duck has been drifting quietly on the surface...but my feet have been paddling like crazy underneath.  We had another blizzard, which brought hurricane force winds (recorded at over 200 kms/hour in Cape Breton!) and more than 40 cm of snow.  To add to the excitement, in the middle of this we needed to make a run to the airport, and hosted house guests. Fortunately, we had enough shovels to go around!

A big batch of beautiful batiks arrived.

The motifs they are sporting are perfect for the occasion.  I hope I can get them sewn before the snow leaves to get some nice outside shots.  Isn't this gorgeous?

But the BIG news is that my editor at AQS sent a photo of the new book cover which I have her permission to share!  Scroll down to see...

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It's beyond exciting.  There are still a few months between now and actually holding this new baby in my hands but it's been a huge feeling of satisfaction to see things this far along.

I am off to sew.  The second of my baby quilts stalled out during all the hoopla of the week but it will be finished soon to show you.

Tranquility Metamorphosis!

Do you recognise this as one of my patterns?!  Me neither!  I was just blown away to see what clever and creative Cheryl made. Check it out here!

Tranquility

My wall-hanging made with Hoffman Bali Tiles was finished a few days ago but I've been slow to take pictures.  It turned out really lovely, if I may say so.  The colours in the batiks are so soothing.

It's made with a panel of 4 Bali Tiles which were fussy cut in a circle and machine appliquéd onto the background.  If you are familiar with how I work, you know that I looked for a super-simple way to turn the edge of the fabric for the circle, and found it! This is actually the first time I have used this method and it was so effortless that it will be my go-to method henceforth.  There is no gathering thread involved and no freezer paper/starch or gluestick in sight.  All machine done and quick-as-a-wink!

The project measures "19 x 55" and I added tabs at the top for hanging, but what a gorgeous bed runner this would make with a couple of more tiles added.  For fun, I stitched a little cushion to match. 

The quilting is all straight line, with rays coming from the circles and straight lines horizontally in the border, like piano keys. Sometimes less is more, as you want your eye to go to the beautiful tile not the quilting.

You can keep going and make a whole quilt:

The Bali Tiles are available at Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium in three colourways:  Sea Holly (that's what I used), Volcano and Splash.  The pattern is finished up and ready to go.  You can purchase it from my website or from your favourite fabric shop for $10.95.  Please come back in a day or so as I have a little Valentine project to share with you!

Mitered Corners

Over the weekend I sewed Hoffman batiks - their bali tiles to be specific.  Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS fabric.  I'll show you the whole thing once I finish quilting.

Since it seems most of my work the past couple of years has involved curvy, borderless quilts it's been awhile since I added a mitred border.  I confess that I enjoyed it a great deal (I really love to sew; even after all these years, the challenges of patchwork excite me!)  Sewing the mitre was like riding a bicycle, I guess; once you get the rhythm you are off at top speed.  One trick I've figured out is that if you are adding multiple borders, it's easier if you sew the strips together first and add them as one border instead of individually. Here I have sewn the green and mauve strips together before sewing them to the quilt.  Each strip is sewn to within 1/4" of the corner and left hanging.

The seam allowances are pressed away from the quilt, towards the border.  One strip is smoothed out on top of the other.

Fold the top strip on a 45° angle, lining up the top and bottom of the strip with the one underneath.  Bring your hot iron straight down on the corner and press well. I usually give it a shot of steam too once I have the iron solidly in place.  You want to make a visible crease in the fabric.

Once pressed, pin the strips together to the right of the corner so that nothing moves.  If you look closely you will see two white pins in the photo below.

Flip your quilt up on a 45° angle;  you will see the crease you pressed.

Pin along the crease;  this will become your sewing line.  Sew straight out from the inner green corner to the outer border.

Trim your seam to 1/4" and press this seam open so your corner lies flat.

This gives you a nice sharp, smooth join.  

Now I am off to quilt this beauty!