Klosjes gets bordered

A number of you were wondering if the border on my klosjes top was my own design. This pattern (which can be purchased from The Rabbit Factory) inspired me. My blocks are simplified and less crowded. This version (below) ... I like it a lot and am wondering if a fabric strip is needed to separate the body from the border. In the pattern above, the designer worked out that problem and I am thinking of following her/his lead.

There are only 15 blocks to do ..... and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I keep at them and not get tempted by something new.

So .... to answer your question if the border was my own design? Well, sort of.

Have a great day, eh!

Klosjes oopsie

I have been busy sewing my klosjes blocks into strips and thought everything was going quite well. That is .... until I double checked and noticed there are two blocks turned the wrong way (see the bright orange stickies). Darn, but a good thing they got caught in time.

There are only 21 border blocks to make. Wow? When did that happen? I just kept making border blocks and started pinning them on my design wall. Now that was a nice surprise for me! :o)

So, this top is coming along very nicely. I have been toying with the borders. Should they have a strip of fabric between the center portion and the outside borders? Oh, decisions, decisions. I'll do a mock-up sometime soon and show you different versions and ask for your opinion.

Now, I'm off to fix those blocks and continue working on this top. Oh, it will be so nice to finally have this top finished.

Have a great day!

Hanging hexies

I had a bunch of hexie flowers that were leftovers from making this top and have been playing with them for well over a year now. They got laid out in 3 strips like this .....
.... and then I wondered what they would look like with 9 patch blocks. Now, yes ... the blocks are too big; but I just wondered what they would look like all together. Ummm .... this is a thought for a future project.

This summer, while cleaning up my studio, I stumbled across a bag of single hexies and this is the outcome. Those found hexies were an eureka moment! All I had to do was make the filler hexies for the inner and outer sides. The middle section will have embroidery and what you see is just a mock-up. I not totally happy with the embroidery layout; but this is a good starting point.

Now, how long will it be before all the hexies get stitched together. I seem to be such a procrastinator these days ..... oops, make that years. :o)

Have a great day!

What I've been doing?

During my blog break, I have been busy assessing all my projects and doing some purging and sorting in my studio. Good golly, what a job this has been!

At the far end of my studio, there was a design wall that hung in front of these doors and has since been removed (it can quickly be put back up when needed). It was difficult to get into that storage area which has now been sorted through and reorganized. As you can see by the stuff on my cutting table, I still have a ways to go .... yikes .....

New shelves were purchased and my projects labelled. This is looking at the left hand side of the storage area.

The middle section holds bins and more bins of wool for knitting. I still have to go through them and do a big purge. I will still keep some wool, but not this much.

On the right hand side, new shelves holding .... more projects ..... that need to be labelled. Why am I labelling them? It will be easier to find a project quickly at a glance.

All of my projects used to be stored on these shelves (as well as underneath my cutting table) that are now covered with fabric curtains to keep out the dust. One of these days, proper curtains will be made (must remember to look at the thrift store) so that my storage areas will look better.

When I fold back the fabric curtains, all of my repro fabric (civil and 1930's) are on the shelves and sorted by colour. Now, I can easily see what is there. On top of the shelves, in the white boxes are fabrics sorted by colours. My roll of batting is sitting beside the shelves. The bright orange thing that you can see is a piece of wood that acts as a walkway from the shelves to a window so that my girls can check what is going on outside. :o)

Here is another set of shelves. The white bins hold fabrics sorted by colour.

Behind the white fabric curtain are my neutrals and backings.

So, while I've been busy doing my best to clean up ...... Ashes is doing her best to undo a piece of plastic that I taped to my printer to keep out cat hair. Way to go, girl! :o)

It has not been all work .... I've been doing applique, too. With my klosjes project, there are only 7 more to make but a lot more blocks for the outsideborders still to do.

Doing this major sort has been quite the eye opener for me. There are way to many projects started and not completed. I have been pondering about keeping my blog. My blog break has shown me that:

a) I enjoy sharing my projects and my knowledge with you

b) too much time was spent on the computer

c) quilting is my passion but blogging has taken me away from what I love to do.

In order for me to continue blogging, I've decided that less time will be spent on the computer. Therefore, replying to your lovely comments will not happen all the time. I hope that you will understand my decision and not be offended if I don't keep up with proper blog etiquette. I won't be posting on any regular basis either.

So on that note, have a good week!

Another finish

I'm back for just a short visit to show you a quilt that was finished this week. I just love this setting in my sister's garden and thought that this would make a lovely photo. Can you see how the striped binding really finishes this quilt? I have become a big fan of stripes for binding my quilts and will use more of them for future quilts. I've been sorting fabrics in my studio and have started to make up 9 patch blocks. My studio is getting re-organized and I wish that photos were taken for a 'before' and 'after'; but I forgot. The main thing is I can actually walk around and not fall over stuff now. There is nothing like a clean work space for motivation. This quilt got put together fairly quickly and everything (except for backing fabrics) were from my stash. How good that feels to just use up stash!

This lap quilt was made for a dear cousin who is battling cancer. She is a lover of flowers and this quilt looks so serene amongst all the hostas. We are all praying that she pulls through and your thoughts and prayers would be most welcome.

I've been visiting family, doing more genealogy researching and there is a pile of books just waiting for me to read .... and quilting and applique will always caputure my attention during our summer months.

So, until next time we meet .... have fun sewing!