My DQS 13 mini quilt arrived and I love it! This little beauty was made by Brenis (Hey Diddle Diddle Woolies on flickr) and came all the way from America.
However, this wasn’t the only thing that arrived. Check this out:
The pouch is as adorable as it is practical and I simply love the Denyse Schmidt scraps destined for my Spring Carnival quilt.
Swaps are always a bit hit and miss but this time I have most definitely hit the jackpot.
Yeah, I’ve finished my DQS 13 mini quilt today. I am so pleased with it and find it rather difficult to part with. Hopefully my partner will love it as much as I do.
I wasn’t sure about how to quilt it (the story of my life) but in the end I went with one line of quilting in the centre, some stitch in the ditch between the pink and the purple and finally some echo quilting on the outside.
I had thought of putting a scrappy border around the flower first. However, when I saw the flower appliqued onto the linen background I felt that a border would distract from it too much. Instead I simply made the scrappy binding a little wider than usual. I really like the slightly wider binding, it frames the flower beautifully.
I’ve added a little pin cushion, scraps and some chocolate to my parcel. Bye bye little quilt, I hope you have a good life.
Edited to add: I have found the pattern for this quilt on Craftsy. The Girih Tiles pattern was designed by Endulzar and you can purchase the pattern here.
Well, I’ve been plodding on with my EPP for the Doll Quilt Swap and I love it more and more. I’ve appliquéd the flower onto the linen background and I think it really makes the colours pop. I had thought about adding a border but have decided not to as I really love the simplicity of it now. It’s going to be so hard to send it off at the end of the month.
The colours are a lot brighter than those I usually have in my house but, oh my word, I love them.
PS I’ve already started another one…
Edited to add: The pattern can be found here.
I have been busy cutting out shapes and choosing fabrics for the Doll Quilt Swap 13 which I’m part of. After seeing all the talent on flickr I went back to the drawing board. The sketches I had made didn’t really sing to me so I tried again and again to come up with something original that would make an impact. I failed. In the end I went on the internet and found this design:
It really spoke to me and after printing it out I went to the post office to get it enlarged to A3. They couldn’t do it quite as large as I wanted it so I went home and drew the design on some paper. This might be an easy job for most people but not for me. I drew, discarded and used many a swear word before I finally finished a drawing in the right size. I’m incredibly proud of this achievement and have decided that I’m going to make at least one other mini for myself, probably in slightly more subdued colours.
Anyway, here’s how far I’ve come. I’ve used some fabrics that I bought on Instagram before Christmas and some Kona solids, Lakehouse Dry Goods black labels and linen from Simply Solids. My partner likes bright colours, text prints and linen and I’ve tried to accommodate all of those. The flower / star is going to be appliquéd onto a linen background. What do you think?
PS I’m having some real problems with my photos at the moment. They look in focus with nice bright colours in iPhoto but as soon as I upload them to the blog they become fuzzy and bland. Master won’t be home till the weekend but I hope he will be able to help me then. I do apologise for the bad quality of my pictures.
Edited to add: Although I searched for the origin of this picture at the time I couldn’t find who had designed it and where I could find the templates (hence the drawing and swearing). I have since found and purchased the pattern on Craftsy. If you would like to make this beautiful design you can buy it here.
I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas. We had a very quiet Christmas Day which was just what I needed after recovering from the flu. It’s obvious though that I’m not quite back to normal as I didn’t take a single picture!
In other news, I believe I might have mentioned before that I signed up for another swap, namely the Doll Quilt Swap 13. I tried to get into this swap earlier and wasn’t picked; this time, however, I was. I’ve got my partner and she’s basically given me free reins. Not as easy as you might think. When your partner gives you lots of pointers it’s easier to pick colours and shapes. Having checked her favourites on flickr and mulled over it a bit I’ve decided to go for some English Paper Piecing.
I’ve come up with two patterns I like but simply can’t decide. Which one do you prefer?
Number one.
Or Number two?
I’ve pulled some texty fabrics, some small florals and bright solids for this. I’m really looking forward to starting on it, if only I knew which version to pick.