Celtice Solstice - Reveal, Angels quilt and other quilting

The mystery quilt is no longer a mystery and many of us were quite surprised that the clues were over and it was time to make up the blocks. I have made some blocks. 
 
I quite like them but made mine slightly different to enhance the contrast. Although I used a lot of different fabrics it would have been better to use only the darker shades (ie not light pinks or light greens).   But it still looks nice  and a second pattern emerges  when looked at it from afar.




 

Finally finished quilting, binding and labelling the Angels quilt below.

I think I started this quilt over 10 years ago. After doing all the applique (blanket stitch) blocks they sat for a long time before  I decided to join all the blocks and only recently I decided to machine quilt it.  

   

The photographs don't show how beautiful it turned out.

Close-ups.

I used a variegated thread of cream, pink and brown.

What else have I been doing ? 
I have made some blue blocks as part of the Rainbown Scrap Challenge . Each month we work on a project(s) with the colour selected and this month is blue.  All the fabrics are from my stash and I am using some of my least favourite fabrics.
 

I have a lot of solid fabrics so I was trying out some blocks but not too successful.
It's all part of the creative process and I already have some 'plans' in mind of what to do with some these blocks.


This week I visited IKEA and could not resist buying these plates to hang up above the bay window in my studio.

And as a good start to the weekend we went for a lovely meal at Miss Marples in Sassafras, a lovely village up on the mountains, not so far from where I live. The weather was lovely and there are many quaint shops to indulge...

 

 

Such as this store with a huge variety of teas and tea pots...

  

 

 

Off to a good start ... Part 5 - Celtic Solstice and other fun...

Happy 2014 !

 

Part 5 of Celtic Solstice is complete.

This time I decided to start the blocks after checking out others postings as quilters came up with various methods of doing this block "Birds in the Air" (my birds have landed !) or also called "Shaded Four Patch" or "Hidden Square"  and even "Mary's Triangles".  In the end I used Bonnie's instructions using the Easy Angle ruler.

I am happy with the results.

 

The bird fabric sculptures were a gift from my talented friend Lynne and as usual, her creativity and beautiful crafted pieces are always a huge inspiration to me. We spent a whole day together this week in my sewing cottage and had such a fun day !

As part of my research for this block I looked into  Deb Tucker technique;  she uses her speciality ruler "Tucker Trimmer" which I don't have but there were two other ways I explored  to make this block. One method was foundation paper piecing Generations Quilt Patterns site   has this free block and many others in various sizes.  The easiest free tutorial I found was in Kati's blog. With her tutorial we don't need any specially rulers and no triangles are involved, so I had a play and came up with these blocks using my scraps. I would like to make an entire quilt using this method.

 

Let me share what else I have been doing:
My daughter loves cats so she asked me to make her a cat quilt to hang on her bedroom wall.  For a while now I have been following this Cat Quilt-along  and although there are various cat blocks I have decided to use the same block throughout the quilt. 
These are my practice blocks. The pieces are very small so I will be using scraps from my stash.

 

 

With a few days off from work I feel so relaxed to play even more with my scraps... these are 2 1/2 " blocks... got the idea from Bonnie Hunter.

The jelly roll was a gift from my friend Lynne... 

I played some more this week but I'll leave you with my latest favourite block...
Anita Grossman Solomon's block "Arrowhead" which I learnt from a Craftsy's class I purchased recently. 

I have some 'plans' for this block, so keep tuned....

Lynne and I enjoying afternoon tea....

Celtic Solstice - Part 4 and my week..

 The mystery clue  this week was very easy so I got it done in a few hours.
The first and previous mystery that I did of Bonnie was Orca Bay and I found it to be quite a challenge to keep up but eventually the quilt was completed. So last year I was not sure if I wanted to commit to such an undertaking even though Bonnie called it "Easy Street"... I quite liked the way Easy Street turned out so I may do it one day.
These are my four-patch blocks for this week's clue.



A few weeks ago I visited Lily Patches, a quilt store near me and they had a large collection of aboriginal fabrics. At the time I held back but yesterday I went back and got myself a jelly roll and a few fat eights of these bright and original designs.

 The colours are vibrant with enough variety to make almost any project. I got 50 different pieces but they had a lot more designs in stock. I just love them..



My quilting friend Felizarda from Lisbon sent me these gorgeous gifts she made. I just love the fact that they represent some aspects of the city/country of my birth..

Portugal exports cork and they make a lot of things with this versatile product.

 

A few things blooming in my garden; the smell of the gardenias is so wonderful...

 And soon I'll be having lots of zucchini/courgettes to make delicious dishes.  I have not planted any other veggie this time.
 

 

 As it's close to Xmas, I want to wish everyone a lovely day whatever you do...

Celtic Solstice - Part 3 and New Sewing Machine - JUKI

Part 3 of Celtic Solstice came out and within an hour I was at my sewing machine making the blocks.
A couple of years ago I did another of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt that required half squares triangles and at the time I printed from a website  free  paper foundation patterns for a range of half square triangle unit sizes . 
I already had a stack of these sheets printed so I just picked my fabrics (pink and yellow) and just went for it.  With about 16 HST per page the whole process was very quick.

I used a small machine stitch to make it easier to tear the paper...

And in no time they were all done...

So the entire step 3 was done in less than a day !!

This step was also made faster because I used my new sewing machine... JUKI  TL-98P.

 

This machine is a dream to work with; it's fast, does beautiful stitching, thread trimming and has an extension table that I like very much. It comes with a few different feet, knee lifter lever (which I don't use at the moment) and the throat space is great for those who want to do machine quilting.  What I am most impressed is that once the thread is trimmed or a new piece of fabric is fed (for chain piecing) the machine feeds the fabric beautifully without the concern of fabric being sucked into the feed dogs. 

I just wished I knew about this machine long time ago...

 

My first project on the machine was this colourful pouch from the scraps of the quilt top I completed earlier in the week.

Celtic Solstice - Part 2 and new Quilt Top "Desigual"

I wasn't sure how many blocks I would complete for this week for Part 2 of Celtic Solstice 
but once I got going there was no stopping.
So here are my 100 blocks all done !



It's fun looking at blogs and Facebook postings for those who are participating, picking up a few tips and looking at everyone's colour choices and the best part is that I did not have to buy any fabrics.
I am looking forward to part 3 coming out tomorrow night for us in Australia.

But I have another project to share today...
For a few weeks now I have been making a quilt from an eBook I purchased recently called "Simple Circles and Quick Curves" by Nancy Mahoney.  I was watching Nancy on one of the episodes of QNNtv and as soon as I saw this quilt I had to use up my bright fabrics and make my own version.

The photo is not the best but once I quilt it, I'll take another photo.

 

Close-ups of the blocks... 

 

All the fabrics came from my stash... 

When my husband  saw this quilt top he said I had to call it  "DESIGUAL",  which is my favourite clothes designer from Spain and the label stands for "Atypical Spanish Wear".
Their designs are very creative, unconventional and bright, just like my quilt !

Celtic Solstice Part 1 - Mystery Quilt - Bonnie Hunter -

I am gradually working through a couple of quilts but until the tops are done there is not much point blogging about it.

However, as per 'tradition' I am participating in this years mystery quilt ;  Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt - Celtic Solstice.

The quilters who have blogs are sharing their progress along the way and linking each step to Bonnie's Monday Mystery Link-Up so this posting has to be ready for that.

This is what I have done so far ; I am hoping to complete this step before the next clue that comes out Friday.

All the fabrics came from my stash and this time I am using combination of colours which I have not used before... actually pink is not a colour I immediately buy fabrics but I have enough around to use in this quilt.

As the first clue came out for us in Australia late Friday night I decided to give myself a good night's sleep and wake up early the next day. So on Saturday at 4am I was already in my studio (separate dwelling from the main house) with a cup of coffee,classic music playing and very excited... Actually so excited that I cut myself with a rotary blade !!! But that did not stop me and I kept going.
I started using the Tri Recs rulers but after making several blocks I decided to use paper piecing.
I love paper piecing technique so it's a breeze to get these blocks made... I even like the mess of trimming and tearing the paper. My mom thinks I am a bit mad getting up so early and making such a mess... But I am happy...

I am so grateful that Bonnie Hunter does this for us and especially this year with so many options of how to construct these blocks and all for FREE !

Amish inspired small quilt top, new project(s) .....

I have been having fun with my stash..... As much as I love Civil War reproduction fabrics I also love bright fabrics (and anything else in between) so I have been quietly collecting these beauties !
I started a new quilt using them but at this stage I am not ready to show you.... just the strips!



and these blocks... well, part blocks...

 



 And with a view to part of my garden to match the flowers in the fabric how can I not be inspired ?

 

I am still trying to quilt all my tops, so this one which I completed years ago is ready to be quilted.

 

I have finished something recently; the top of a small quilt... the blocks are 4 1/2" and these blocks are done using the foundation/paper pieced with my scraps...



And lastly.... I have done it again !!!
We visited  Threadbear quilt shop (check us on their blog)  and I could not resist this pattern... and a few other goodies; fabrics for the background, 3 fat quarters, circle templates, Karen Buckley scissors and fine pins which cost and arm and a leg !

I have promised myself  (wink, wink) that I won't start this quilt (another long term needleturn project) until I complete two quilt tops I have in progress at the moment... such a hard decision to make as I already have most of the fabrics for the quilt from my large civil war repro fabric stash... what's a girl to do ??

 

 

Table Runner

I have a quilt in progress (not a huge surprise !) and as I made some of the blocks I ended up with some triangles which I have put to good use by doing this table runner.

Did some other stitching but nothing completed enough to show you.

 

My longest UFO !!! 15 years

It may seem a long time to have a quilt in progress but I like this quilt today as much as I did when I started it years ago. And now it's finally quilted, bound and labelled !

I got the pattern for this quilt in 1998 at "Primarily Patchwork" quilt shop as well as a stack of fabrics to get the project started.
I was fairly new to quilting back then but already loved needleturn applique, so I maintained my enthusiasm for the blocks for quite some time.
I struggled a bit with the piecing, trying to fit all the triangles and blocks together, eventually I got it done but decided not to follow the border design which have included several hundred more triangles.

Then I decided to quilt it by hand so I purchased a large quilt frame and began.  After a while of very little progress I got a quote to have it professionally quilted but the price was way too high, so I got it basted instead.
I then proceeded to hand quilt around each motif and this went on and on until I gave up altogether when I realised that it needed a lot more quilting in the open spaces.
This was not going to happen so the quilt stayed in the bag for a few more years.
Then last week in the middle of the night (after being called up for work and could not fall asleep immediately) I contemplated the idea of loading it on the Handi Quilter and finish it no matter what !
And that is exactly what I did....not the usual way of loading a quilt but I got it done and that is all it matters.

I did not mark it, nor did I pre-planned before I started each block, I just let my imagination take over and just went for it !

I did not worry that the designs were not perfect or conventional but I had great fun coming up with each design.

Each block is different and I used a neutral thread so unless you look really close it's not obvious the imperfections. 

The quilt measures around 96 inches (2.45 metres) and I am just so happy that is done !

The photos were taken indoors, so the actual colours don't show it's full beauty and being so large, it was quite difficult to photograph in it's entirety.