I've had a productive week

I've been enjoying some hand piecing with these snowball blocks inspired by Lizzie. They're so simple to put together  and make for relaxing stitching time in front of the telly. I have six out of eleven rows together without hardly any effort. Of course it would be quicker by machine if that's what you'd prefer. I'm using some perspex templates but there are patterns in some Kaffe Fassett books. I know there's one in his book Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts
Not all of the fabrics are Kaffes, a lot are from my stash in the cupboard.

The Coxcomb and Currants quilt is commanding most of my attention at the moment. I spent a good few days drawing out the border pattern for the trapunto and transferring it to the quilt top.

These are the first copies which I did on butter paper so I could see how it would look on the quilt top. Once I fine tuned it, I made a master copy on tougher paper and used the light table to mark the quilt.
I'm rather pleased with how the corner turned out which is very much like the antique quilt

Now I get to baste the muslin to the back and start the stitching. It's going to be a long journey.

The fourth panel for the Trailing Vines quilt is available for download, just click on the Trailing Vines page at the top of my blog to access it. While I was doing the drawing, I noticed a  leaf  missing off the quilt  so as soon as I stitch that on, I'll add some photos to flickr.

I have a top

Remember this trapunto I was doing for the Coxcomb and Currants quilt? Well the good news is that all the blocks have been done so it was time to put the top together.

You have to excuse the not so great photo but you get the idea. I had a hard time getting it all sewn together.

I decided not to do the usual sized setting triangles with a separate border. I did it tough and made really over sized setting triangles to make the quilting design on the border easier with less seams to quilt through. I hope I don't ever have to do this again..

If I manage to get some time over the next few days, I'll be drawing the trapunto border which will mimic the trapunto in the alternate blocks. Lots to do yet but it's progress and I'm loving how it's looking so far.

Some sewing at last

I've been a really bad blogger lately but honestly, I had nothing to show here. I've hardly sewed at all because I've been playing with another interest of mine.
I finally got my mojo back and dived right back into the sewing room. Lucky the sewing machine hadn't rusted up in protest.

I got the sixth panel joined to the Trailing Vines at last. It's been hard to take photos though because  the sewing room really is a cave and to top it off we've had dark wet weather so these will have to do.

The first four panels have 1/2" main stems but the last two I switched to 3/8" which I like better. Susan McCord's Vine quilt has uneven sized stems so it's in keeping with hers I suppose and I love that.

A friend recently emailed me and alerted me to the news that the Henry Ford museum has acquired the thirteenth Susan McCord quilt. What an exciting acquisition and you can read about it here on their blog. Check out the signature leaves on the borders!

This is what I've been doing the last two weeks. I just had to take some time and play around with sourdough formulas to get the bread we like to eat. It's not too sour because I like to try and bring the flavour of the wheat to the forefront. You wouldn't believe how bogged down by science I got. I think I might play with fabric this week instead.

I lost an email from somebody wanting the block pattern for the Coxcomb and Currants block. My sincere apologies and if you think it's you, could you email me at

janet_treen@hotmail.com