Quilt As You Go - The Big Reveal!

Its pieced, sashed, bound and bordered - thank goodness.
I've rectified mistakes and tidied the many, many threads hanging off both front and back.
I managed to find a reasonable match for the sashing as I had only enough colour to go one way.  Although I didn't plan the border to be the same colour as the sashing I had just enough for that as well. (My original thought was to do the outside border in the black and white print, so I still have 3 meters of that material left over)
There are multitude of mistakes in this quilt, generally due to the fact that I am a slack sewer. Perfection is not my forte, generally I just want to get the job done. Even so the overall composition is  quite pleasing to the eye and the quilt is masculine enough for a young man.

I actually like the back more than I do the front. Big pops of colour are pleasing to the eye and give a generous audition for the materials to shine in their own right. (Now I sound all arty farty..hee hee)

 Did you know that there is a whole clothes line full of clothes behind that quilt. The quilt does a good job of hiding it.

Just a test run of tossing it on the couch

A a preview of '" in my dreams " you'll ever find a quilt laid this neatly on a young man's bed. If my nephew is anything like my eldest he wont make his bed for three months unless forced to do so. ( I know this because I tested the theory and cringed every time I walked past his room. Eventually I couldn't  stand it any longer and had to attack his bedroom ) Yuck!

Addit : Tutorial Part 1 and part 2 can be found by clicking the link

Watercolour Play

A little play with watercolour on recycled paper last night whilst watching TV in bed. ..So I really wasnt watching the movie. Inspiration my bed linen.

And working on the edging of Jordana's blanket. Thought a scalloped edge would be nice. It's going to take ages..............zzzz......

Still sewing together the quilt for Rory my nephew, two more rows to go!

follow link to giveaway

Free tote giveaway enter here closes in 2 days on "homework'

The month that was - January

1. thistles on the hill walk 2.First endeavours in silk screen printing 3.hot lazy days 4.mushroom stamping 5.chair renovations 6.cross quilt from naturally dyed material 7.Birthday quilt - quilt as you go 7. Beach days with family. silk screen design

Quilt As You Go - Part 2

A long long time ago I started a "quilt as you go" quilt for my nephew for this 21st. Birthday

Yes I started it after his birthday in July. Looking back over the blog dates it was in August last year that this journey began. I had started a tutorial which you can find here and promised to continue it when  I'd finished piecing all the squares. I think originally I was going to do 64 squares but this has since grown to 90 to make a queen size bed quilt.

So finally....I have made all 90 squares. 

My colour scheme has also changed, originally I wanted to make a sour green and grey quilt but now have incorporated bright green and inky grey/ blacks 

So here we are nine strips of ten squares all joined together waiting for the final big sew (tomorrow or Friday)

To make the strips place the squares back to back with the right sides facing outwards and join with a 1/4 inch seam. the join will show on the top of your quilt. I alternated green then grey squares

To cover the seam use a strip of material 2 1/2 inches wide. fold in half length wise. With the opening facing the seam of the quilt place a 1/4 of an inch from the seam , pin in place. Sew a quarter of inch in on the strip - so you sewing line is 1/2  from the quilt top seam. Remove pins and flip the stripping over the seams, pin in place and sew.

Sew in place

Continue until all the pieces are joined in rows ..... Then do  the big join between rows the same way and add binding and you are finished. Only takes time and patience...

Almost but not quite finished. On with the show..
This quilt would work for framing pictures for eye spy quilts and allows for the underside of the quilt to also be patterned... I will show the back when the quilt is finished.
Hope you can understand my instructions - but a picture paints a thousand words...

Click the link to find part one of tutorial here and the completed quilt here

Emailing Pictures to Your Post

Chooky blue tells how to bypass the need to use space and money on Picassa web to upload photos ...Really useful when you have run out of options on picassa web and dont want to delete photos. Here is the link to Chookyblue

Happy Australia Day!!

I thought I would share a few photos of the the things that make Australia great for me.  A place which is warm in my heart, full of beauty and wonder, brilliant colour, and opportunity to live life to its fullest.

Australia shines as a place to live. There is opportunity to be free, move in space and a place of adventure and room to roam. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to have a good time... the beach is not far or a camping hiking adventure just around the corner. My heart is probably closest to the beach, so the following photos share my love of sun surf and sand..

Have a wonderful day and bask in the sunshine