Looking for the F in Quilting

A while back I had to search for the joy of patchwork, but recently I have been able to put the fun back.  I really enjoyed the Sue Ross blocks, but I auditioned so many fabrics for only 16 blocks, that there seemed to be enough left over for another quilt top.

All the pieces except the border fabric, setting triangles and squares  were already cut.   I am proud to say that I found them in my stash.  I bought soooo much fabric for Sue's blocks (wish I knew the name of her quilt) that I was shamed into using the offcuts and raiding the stash for this one.  In design, I followed the KISS rule.  It wasn't hard to put it together.   In fact, it was fun.

On the knitting front, I seem to have created my first woollen UFO.  I have knitted all the way to the neck, joined the shoulder seams and started picking up stitches for the collar. 

But it looks horrible.  No photo - too mortifying!

I will have to unpick it carefully and try again.  So the red jumper is making its way temporarily into my UFO cupboard that is mistaken by some as a vast and apparently expanding black hole.

The S quilt is being quilted bit by bit.

Apologies for blog torpor.  Life is getting in the way.

Eggs and Tomatoes

Yellow and red is not my favourite colour combination.   Red does not star much in my quilts.  I don't know whether it's because I don't like tomatoes, or I don't like tomatoes because they are red (and have seeds, and don't taste nice and have lots of different textures).  Presenting the tessellating 'S' quilt.

I have been told the pattern is called "Double S".  Thanks for all the suggestions regarding the outside edge.  I tried all your ideas and eventually found the border in my stash, depriving me the opportunity to go shopping.

It feels good to have only used fabric from my (large) stash and to have finished off a UFO.   It only took 12 years and 10 days.  Once the new design was settled on, the blocks came together quickly.  It reminded me  of a must read book.  I just couldn't put it aside until it was finished. The plan is to use big stitch quilting.  Fingers crossed I can finish it before 2012. While I am quilting I hope to settle on a name for it.

The back of my jumper (sweater) is also complete, but I am once again struggling with the intricate pattern at the beginning of the front.

The 'S' quilt had to make way for another more recent start.  Once a month I am in a class Sue Ross teaches at Quiltsmith on a Sunday.  I have long admired her quilt.  She made 9 blocks, but I am enjoying it so much I am on my way to 16 blocks.

This week I have really enjoyed all the blog posts about the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show.  Now that would be a show I would like to go to.

S is for ...

These blocks  are so old they almost need to be carbon dated.

I can't remember when I started putting the red and yellow half square triangles together, but it was certainly last century.  The book by Judy Hooworth and Margaret Rolfe excited me

and I started the project on the cover.  But you know how things are...it soon was put aside for an even more stimulating project (that I can't remember at all!) and really only came out of the cupboard on the occasional clean up spree.

As we all know, quilts are full of memories.  This one is no exception. 

My husband went to Adelaide on an overnight trip to help out a friend.  While he was there he called the LQS and asked them for all their red and yellow fat quarters.  A couple of hours later, when ringing to see if he could collect them, he was surprised to hear they were still cutting!!  What an unexpected treat.

Times have changed and so has my taste.  I no longer want the quilt on the cover.  After fiddling around with the blocks I was happy with the "S" pattern but the two tone look didn't appeal any more.  A couple of rebels were made.   This time around I think there will be a finish, particularly since my younger daughter, Sarah, claims I have never made a quilt especially for her.

It is still up on the design wall but I want to put a border on, with some floating "S".  Dear blog friends,  I would love it if you would help me decide on a colour for the border.

Morse Code

Apart from its label, "Morse Code" is finished.

 It represents a few milestones for me; my first quiltback, pieced from different fabrics;

the first time I have machine quilted a quilt larger than a cot quilt;  the first time I have designed a block rather than referred to a book.

Knitting is also on the agenda.  I've made two sleeves so far

and also undone the first few inches of the back several times.  The edge pattern is complex and I lose track of where I am up to very easily.

This weekend saw us take a trip three hours drive west of Sydney to a town called Bathurst.  On the way we went for a bushwalk into the amazing Grose Valley where my husband, big kid that he is, couldn't resist "planking". 

Nearby, I was having kittens.