Blurred lines

Alas, not the Robin Thicke/Pharrell kind, just the annoying unable-to-sew-straight quilty kind.

I have been thinking about how to quilt my little plus quilt given my limited repertoire consisting of straight line variations. I decided that I might try some ditch stitching and sent away for this foot for my Janome:

It's got this guide thingy (that is a proper technical term you know) and I thought that it might help me improve my accuracy.

It might be good, but it isn't magic. I've still got lots of wobbles. 

Sigh. It will be a while before I can go around claiming my ditch stitchin' is bitchin' (very uncouth, sorry about that). I also have a very annoying cat to contend with when trying to quilt. She thinks it is her job to stop me. 

I'm looking forward to getting this one finished, blurred lines aside I am loving the overall look.

Starburst blocks

I have been making some more Starburst (by Jen Kingwell) blocks. I wasn't so sure about the first one, so remade it with a lower volume background.

They are fun blocks to make even though they have quite a few pieces in each one and thus offer numerous opportunities to make mistakes:

I'd like to say I only did this once, but that wouldn't be true.

This is my favourite block so far - those little bunnies are having so much fun playing with the moon and stars! Linking up over at Lee's today, having finally organised myself a bit better :-)

Aladdin's cave {a quilt in progress}

Thank you all for your helpful comments about my mis-matching Kona Ash situation. You were completely right, once I got over my bad mood and started putting the sashing together I realised you could barely see the difference.

It is quite difficult deciding which colours to put where so I'm trying to embrace my inner random. I decided (fancifully) that the quilt top was starting to look like a whole lot of jewels sitting amongst sand which has made me start calling this project Aladdin's cave in my mind. Fanciful of course (as it scarcely needs pointing out), because I have never seen jewels tossed into sand - boy those Disney cartoons have a lot to answer for!

I love this Cuzco fabric, especially the peacocks. I beheaded one accidentally, but for the most part have managed to keep them intact :-)

I'm off the the ballet tonight to see Swan Lake. Quality sewing time followed by music and dance. Happy days.

Cross-patch :-(

Yes, I'm little miss cross-patch grumpy pants today on account of discovering not all Kona Ash's have been created equal. Recently I decided to use some Cuzco charm packs and Kona Ash to make a new quilt (using a pattern called Pebble Grove which was in Fat Quarterly issue 12). Everything was going along swimmingly - I knew I had two different lots of the Kona stashed away in different places so I launched in to my new project. It was only when I had used up all of the first lot of Kona that I discovered, horror of horrors, the second lot was waaaaaay different in colour. I had to speak to myself in a placating tone. "Ok Megan, in retrospect it might have been good to check the fabric before you started, because somehow you've ended up with some dud fabric - but don't panic. Send away for some more and all will be well".

You can sense where this sorry tale is heading right?? The next batch of Kona Ash turned up today and is a different colour again. I'm trying to resign myself to the thought of having variations of tone in the background fabric (not very graciously so far).

These are the blocks I have made so far with the same batch of fabric. I need to make 16 of these blocks in total and then there are sashing strips in between - also in Ash but interspersed with the bigger squares of Cuzco. Has this happened to you? Or have I just stumbled upon a bit of fabric-y bad luck?

Buying sewing machine needles

Apparently anything can happen when you go to Spotlight to buy sewing machine needles:

I have absolutely no idea what I will make with this fabric (Prints Charming). I don't usually use large scale prints or anything this busy looking. I blame the cuckoo clock, I just couldn't resist its quirky charm.

What I did in my holidays...

I cunningly managed to convince my cousin to abandon her children and spend a crafty weekend away with me! We went to Sandspit so that we could craft by the sea. I love estuaries even when the tide is low - the changing scene is endlessly fascinating.

It's a great idea to go to a holiday park in the off season if you love being by the water. The cabin above is where we stayed - at full tide the water is pretty close and the park was virtually empty.

It wasn't all gin drinking and admiring the view, I did actually manage to get some sewing done (go me!) I put this top together which is supposed to be a finished quilt for quilt group tomorrow evening. I'm hoping the basting/quilting fairies might visit overnight.

I also finally got around to binding the Liberty quilt that is now a late birthday present for Mum. 

A most excellent weekend all in all :-)