Craft and Quilt Fair

Who said one could not spent the whole day at the annual Craft and Quilt Show?

Fun, fun, and more fun...had a great time, however was absolutely exhausted by 5.30pm.

Here is the quilt that I entered in the show

Looked absolutely fabulous and was a buzz seeing it there. Very glad that I finally managed to follow through with my good intentions, even though this is a fairly ordinary quilt.



Won't be showing any of the quilts on the internet as this would be classed as publishing another quilter's work. The quilts this year were of a really high standard and I did a couple of hours White Glove duty and had a really good chance inspecting them very closely. Really enjoyed this...amazing talent out there.






Then I went shopping...tried restraint this year because I really do not need a lot of things.

However, found (and bought) some Full Line stencils and a blue Pounce Pad for marking designs on light fabric

One of the stencils

Should have probably taken it out of its shiny packet for photographing...anyway, gave it a really good workout. These stencils do not have a true opening so you will need to use chalk powder to use them. The chalk powder goes through the screen mesh as you wipe over them. I put this stencil over a fair amount of fabric and yes, they will get very dusty. You can then just use your iron and the chalk dust will disappear or if you are like me I just rinsed it off. Works very well. The stencil is flexible and feels a bit like material...you can crunch it up, fold it...bit different to what I am used to.
Then got carried away and did some trapunto...my last attempt was a bit woeful, I must say. Have acquired a different water soluble thread since then and tried again. This time used bobbin fill in the bobbin and that worked fine. Also used 2 layers of cotton batting this time to make it worth my while. This turned out much better, almost a bit too puffed up and for me. I reckon Polyester batting would probably have been better for a softer feel. Need much more practice on this but am getting there.

Bought another two stencils, one rope/braid one and a wineglass filler. You can find these stencils at Sewing Buddies Australia. They have a fairly good range and these stencils are not too expensive. Postage should be super cheap as they are light like feathers.

All in all, a very productive day

Karin

99 Hexagon Quilt Finish

The 99 hexagon quilt is finally finished. It's getting a bit boring now as it is the same quilt over and over again, but one can't hurry these things and life has been extraordinary hectic around here lately.

Here it is

The quilt turned out approximately 41" x 45". I must say it has grown on me over time and I quite like it, even though it is a bit bright and full on. I absolutely agonized over the border quilting and in the end ended up with putting simple lines in it. I did think this through and had to concede that any other more detailed quilting would not be seen. For a moment I thought about outlining the flowers but decided against it as the scale is quite smallish and did not go with the more geometric nature of the rest of the quilting. So, lines it was...

Linking up to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday hosted by What a Hoot Quilts for this Friday

Karin

WIP: 99 Hexagons

Completed the main quilting and just have the outer border left

Quite like how this turned out. Initially I thought that this would look a bit bla...however I stuck with the initial decision to do some dot-to-dot quilting and as I went along it grew on me. The flower design in the black hexagons just gives it that little bit extra without being over-powering, I think (idea from Angela Walter's new book Shape by Shape). I used my favourite thread, Aurifil 50/2 in a ever so slightly variegated yellow (No 3920) from Sheena Norquay's Autumn collection. This was just the right thread, adding a bit of interest through the black hexagons and in the inner border.

Bit stuck now as I am not sure how to do the outer flower border. I could go around some of the flowers but there are too many and I can just see how confused I would be getting in selecting some of them. Just stippling maybe, given that this is very bright and colourful fabric and the quilting will not really be seen anyway. Very undecided about this one, but would like to try something a bit different to what I usually do. Will continue to look at it...it will come to me eventually.

Linking up to Linky Tuesday with Connie at Freemotion By The River and Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story.

Karin

WIP: 99 hexagons

As soon as I started it I realized that this was going to take a long time. I decided to mark the curves...while I can stitch curves down a seam I cannot keep that consistent or near enough and if you suffer my perfectionism it does matter. So, yes, I am marking them lightly, going down one side and coming back up the other side, stitching the flower as I come across the black hexagons. This is quite a bit of fun but not quite as fast I had hoped for. Well, never mind...it is a small quilt and should be done within the week.

This is quite a busy little quilt and the only thing that is really noticeable is going to be those flowers in the black hexagons.

Until next time...hopefully with the quilting of the hexagons completed.

Karin