On my needles

It seems like ages since I could sit down and blog, we had a long weekend and lots of family visiting so I've been snatching moments to play with my projects.
I've been knitting with gorgeous Noro Kureyon wool to make squares for an afghan. I've become sensitive to wool and can't wear it as a garment but I do like to play with knitting needles.

The changes in the colours are just delicious especially when I knit the squares from the outside and inside of the balls every so many rows.

You probably recognise the pattern as the Lizard ridge, free at knitty.com.
The bubbles have been likened to wee boobies but when the blocks are blocked or washed, they disappear. I may not even block them because they look so good.

I spent the whole day yesterday at the Sydney quilt show and still didn't see everything. I did catch up with some favourite people and picked up some loot. I bought Brigitte Giblin's book from the Quiltmania stand. There is a quilt in there that I'm mad for. Brigitte has started a blog which gives a whole lot of valuable information about the quilts she has in the book and how to's on English paper piecing.

I could have bought at least four books at that stand but settled on this one by Reiko Kato because it has lots of wonderful purse patterns.

I didn't think I'd buy any fabric but after a lot of deliberation, I weakened and bought a block of the month with fabric kitted up so this is for the first month.

I'm not going to say what it is until I have a block made and can show you since it's hand piecing (eeek) with reproduction fabrics and that's something that will challenge me. Lets just say that I probably need my head read because it's a biggie project and I needed the kit because I just know I don't have enough of the repros in my stash.

I'd better carry on with this Trailing Vines panel which is nearly done. I'll be posting the next installment sometime in the weekend for those of you stitching along with me. I'll also try and do a post on how to tackle really skinny small leaves soon.

I have three other projects on the go at the moment, how many are you tackling?

The last retreat project

I dug up these blocks I started several years ago and had abandoned and decided I'd play around with them since I had a lot of the hst done and ready to go. I still like the blocks and wanted some simple piecing project to do. Wasn't I good not starting anything new? Mind you, this is so old it's like new again.
These are the blocks I had already sewn and when I put them together again, I thought all the 2" triangles were making the top look rather busy.

The project originally came from the Purl bee blog which was inspired by an antique quilt shown here.

I thought what  if I did blocks with less  smaller triangles , it might open up some more negative space so I downloaded a page of graph paper and did some colouring in to give me a starting point.

I ended up ditching the drawing and just played around with the configuration of each 12" block.

I'm happier with the blocks now that I've combined them all together and this is where I'm presently at.

For some reason the orange triangles are photographing much brighter than what they are but it is a grey day here and hard to get the light right. I think I can only last as long as it takes to do a single sized quilt. I've tried to sew a block a day so it doesn't end up being put aside again, so far that plan is working out fine.

Thanks for visiting, Janet

Missing in action

Not really missing but I have been crazy busy and spent the weekend on a quilt retreat with my stitching group plus I've had Dh home recuperating from an operation, nothing serious folks.

Here's a little report on what I got up to at the retreat. I didn't know what I'd feel like doing so I took  a few projects so I could decide when I got there. I did want to play with a couple of things and I got to do just that.

You might recognise this fabulous bag as a free tutorial from Pink Penguin. I made this one for a family member and now I'm just going to have to make one for myself. You can't stop at just one. The drawstring pouch is attached to the tote which makes the bag very roomy inside.

I got a request from one of my grandchildren for a soft and cuddly quilt that had to have animals, specifically zebras. Now I hear that's changed to giraffes. Just as well this one will cover all bases.
I'm using this Don't Look Now pattern , the Animal Alphabet. I'm not sure how soft it'll be using fusible web and machine applique but that might not get noticed.

Of course all the details will be added with the machine later including eyes, feelers and other important parts.

I did have some problems concentrating on reverse animals so I have to make another alligator facing the other direction.

 I'm pretty sure somebody is going to ask what a vulture is but as I said, I'm covering all my bases.

I won another giveaway, this time from Kelly at Pinkadot Quilts. I love this book for some ideas it's giving me for some bag embellishing. It looks like more time is needed to play. Thanks Kelly, I love that it's signed by the author, Cheryl Lynch too.

I didn't want to make this post too long so I'll be back soon with the other thing I got to play with at retreat.

Loaves and stitches

Thanks to all of you who helped me make a decision regarding which backing to go on my Coxcomb and Currants quilt. It really helped me make up my mind. This is the Windham bird toile that I thought would be good but after thinking about shadowing and other things, I decided it would be better saved for another quilt.

I had trouble getting a suitably off white wide back but ended up with this Moda Muslin in warm white. It's a 200 thread count, a bit of a higher thread count than what I'd prefer for hand quilting but it'll do.

As you can see I have basted the quilt and started some hand quilting. You might have to click the photo to see it better.

This won't be done in a hurry, I'm quilting 1/4 inch straight lines in the background. I have to pace myself since after a few evenings of quilting, I was waking in the night with tingling, numb hands. It's being done in the hoop so there's a lot of wrangling happening when going around the circles.

What else has been going on, well I've had some lovely mail from Sarah over at Kit-Bik Quilts. I won her  awesome giveaway of  lots of yummy fabrics including Liberty lawn scraps, taupe Japanese fabrics and Denyse Schmidt's. Thanks Sarah!!

Skip the rest of the post if you want, it's all about my bread making. Ive been baking a whole heap of bread, mostly sourdough and the starter is going so well that I decided to rename bubbles. What a prissy name anyway. He shall now be called Chuck after Chuck Norris cause he's just as strong.

I've turned into a major bread head and I've started to experiment a bit more. This one is spelt and quinoa flakes. Makes me feel healthy just saying it. The ancient grains are making a big comeback, have you noticed?

I make up my own formulas and recipes now and love this fig and walnut loaf with a bit of honey, wholemeal flour and cinnamon. It's delicious with cheese.

I made two different Tuscan schiaccatas with some dried yeast yesterday.

Buffalo mozzarella, basil and sweet cherry tomatoes. I like it better than pizza.

The seedless grape with raw sugar and olive oil, otherwise known as schiacciata con l'uva.

thanks for visiting, till next time, Janet

I'd love some advice

I finished stuffing all the trapunto on my Coxcomb and currants quilt and spent several evenings carefully trimming the muslin off the back. I couldn't be happier, it's turning out just how I imagined in my mind. Excuse the photo, it had to go on the washing line but you'll get the idea.

I've been mulling over how to proceed for the last week. My dilemma is the backing and I have ordered a red bird toile. Who knows if that's coming, I've had no communication with the online shop to tell me they have enough or if it's been shipped.

Of course it's going to be hand quilted and I want to quilt inside the applique with red and green threads. I thought that if I used a solid off white wide back, it might look ugly with those threads on the back but then again, it would show up the trapunto.
If I use a patterned backing, it wouldn't show up the trapunto. I haven't seen enough antique applique red and green quilts to know what they did in those times but you might.
I would love to hear what your thoughts are. What would you do if this was your quilt?