Soul Searching - all blocks done!

It all started with my blog at the end of June...here...and I am down to the last two blocks - purple and brown. I was expecting to find the brown block the most difficult but it was the purples that I scrambled around for. At first I tried to pull out the purples with a blue base, and I came out with a paltry six different fabrics...and it wasn't until I relaxed and pulled out anything from purple/blue to purple/pink that I finally got this block together.

 And doesn't it look purdy with the sunlight behind it :)

And look at my "browns"...given that it is a colour I do NOT like, fancy me having so many different shades of brown in the stash!

Well I did cheat a little with a couple greys, and few tints of orange...but it  fits in well with the other blocks.

All the blocks look great together. I think I have used about 240 different fabrics in this quilt top.

So all nine blocks together...72x84 it is not small....but if I make it a little bigger, it can be a topper for my king size bed....maybe some borders ?

Decisions...decisions....

Don't forget the Soul Searching quilt pattern is from  Making Quilts - The promise of Joy by Kathy Doughty (Material Obsession) :)

Soul Searching - Yellow

Seven blocks down...two to go...brown and purple...it doesn't surprise me that the brown block is among the last to be done!

The yellow block was fun to do...I do love yellow...it's such a happy sunny colour...

Funnily enough, I don't have a lot of this colour in my stash...probably because I keep on using it...might have to "restash" :)

And seeing I know what the final layout will be I just had to sew together a row....it looks pretty good...I could start a new thing in outdoor patchwork banners! Except I wouldn't recommend hanging them off party lights!

Off to make the mess with brown and purple fabrics now!

Yummy colours...two small distractions!

I have been a bit distracted this week with a couple things from online land....not hard when it comes to the world of fabric...one of the blogs I like to follow is Anna Marie Horner...firstly, it was because her fabrics are awesome, and yes a few of them may be in the stash cupboard...and secondly she doesn't confine her creativity to fabric design, she also does some beautiful embroidery work and tapestries...can you see where this is going...yes one of her tapestry designs from her online shop has appeared in my mail box :)

Isn't it fabulous....loads of lovely woolliness here...

Check out her blog post on the finished item, and some other designs she has coming out. Can't wait!

Now I have been a bit quiet on the quilt-a-long front this year...too many other commitments! But I have caved in to this one....The Vintage Holiday quilt-a-long...hosted by the Fabric Mutt (great blog name!) the perfect project to have ready for Christmas!

It's a pattern by Camille Roskelly (Thimbleblossoms)...you can get the pattern as a PDF version from her shop....for US$7.95

I have been through the stash and pulled some fun fabrics out...

The little vintage style floral is my inspiration piece...I have not used any traditional christmas fabrics but I think it should be lovely and festive anyway!

Are you interested in joining in? It starts 6th August...plenty of time to get organised :)

Soul Searching - Blues

What a mess I made making these blocks....but fun working with blues! The paler blues are mainly scraps...

Quite pretty...but a bit on the light side!

These darker blues have a bit more drama about them....

This block had me pulling lots of fabrics from the stash...I was surprised how many darker blues I had...helped out by Kaffe Fassett and Keiko Goke fabrics!

In my earlier posts on the Making Quilts - the promise of joy by Kathy Doughty I neglected to say where the book could be found...the book is available at Quilt Mania and at Material Obsession....happy sewing :)

Soul Searching - Pink and Orange

Here we go, as promised from the post last week...I have been playing with my pink and orange scraps this week, and making good progress with these blocks.....I am really getting the hang of this project now.

The deep pink of this block is probably a really good reflection of the quilts I make, and how I love this strong shade of pink....I had no problem in finding scraps to make up this block.

The  important thing to note about this photo is my fantastic new turf that has been down for nearly 8 weeks and is looking lovely and luscious!

Some of these pinks are so hot they are almost red!

Turning down the volume slightly to my orange block, the sun had started to go down when I took these shots, so the colours aren't sparkling like the pink block...but you get the idea....

Using the variety of lights has been a very interesting exercise...I had very few light scraps...don't know why that is...so I pulled all the lights from the stash, and have been cutting and cutting...

The orange block is quite fun, I didn't have that many orange scraps either so had to raid the stash cupboard again....made a monster mess!

Have put what's left of the light and orange fabrics back in the cupboard..so now off to play with my blue scraps and make a brand new mess :)

Not another new project!

Yep! Just as the UFO pile has just started to whisper "Finish me" instead of shouting "FINISH ME" I had the dreaded inspiration wave come over me, and before you could say "two and half inch strip" fabric had exploded out my scrap box, and stash cupboard, and away we went again....riding the wave...it all started with this book...

Making Quilts....the promise of joy by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession....I have been waiting awhile for this to come out, and I love it....so many great ideas....21 patterns...so lots to drool over....and you really just want to start making a quilt straight away after reading it!

So that's what I did....and I started on Soul Searching....such a great pattern for an instant sewing fix....I got to tidy up my scraps and touch lots of my stash, and basically make a huge mess...but it made me happy :)

The idea with this pattern is to learn about contrast and tone, and not to focus so much on perfectly matching everything....so I really had to let go with the light strips and mix up the whites, creams and beiges....that was a bit of struggle for me....but overall the focus on tone has worked well :)

As an aside I thought I would share this other pattern Sunburst....

Beautiful use if Denyse Schmidt's Greenhill fabrics.....I may have the kit for this plus the templates!! Repeat after me....one thing at a time!

So all up....love this book....love that there is 21 patterns, something for everyone, the instructions are easy to follow, and as the book is printed by QuiltMania, the text is in French and English, but they have managed this in a clever way, by using the blue boxes for the english so you don't have to spend time trying to work out where the english bit on the page is...go buy it...you won't regret it!

Off to go and play with my pink scraps!

Pretty pink stash buster

I have been beavering away on getting my pink stash buster quilt top finished...blogged about here....

It has been great to see my pile of fabrics go from this...

to this...

to this...

It has turned out as a quite busy quilt top, and quite big 54"x 72"...

but I love it because of the raspberry pink, and these ladies....

I am a bit of a sucker for anything with a japanese girl on it.

Not sure what sewing I will get done this weekend, I have an 18th birthday party (my first born!) to help organise tomorrow....hopefully Sunday will find me at my machine for a while.