Another Border?

I have assembled the top with the turquoise sashing and I like how it looks.
My question is, do I need another border? To me it looks a bit unfinished. I would have made the outside borders a bit wider but I didn't have enough of the turquoise fabric.


The blue with the dots is not exactly the same turquoise but it might work with a narrow white or pink border between it and the turquoise border. The purple has little sparkles in it that don't really show up in the pictures. The orange is a commercial fabric but it goes well with the hand dyes. I'll be thinking about this one for a day or two.

Which Sashing?

I cut squares for a third quilt using my hand dyed fabrics. I am debating about what color to use for the sashing. Right now I am leaning heavily toward the turquoise. I am thinking it would be fun to do some more stencils and the blue would be best for that.

Moon and Stars Quilt

I finished sewing down the binding on this quilt this morning. It is about 55 inches by 70 inches. Every block is cut from a piece of my hand dyed fabric. The sashing is also hand dyed. I thought the sashing looked too dark so I used paintsticks to stencil on some moons and stars. Then I quilted it with silver thread in a loose meander pattern.


The back is a large piece of fabric that is snow dyed. I have explained this process in previous blog posts. It is a perfect quilt for relaxing under at the end of a Yoga session.
I am entering it in this online contest over at Gen X Quilters. You can go to the contest by clicking on the Love Nest Quilt Contest icon on the side bar.
Drop over for a visit and vote on your favorite quilt.

Shopping

We went to the big city yesterday and I did end up in a fabric store. If you can imagine, I only got fabric to make tea towels. It's the right width so all I had to do was cut it in pieces and hem the ends.


We also went to a couple of ethnic grocery stores and I got papadams, teff flour, whole nutmegs and sumack. I'd better get out some cookbooks!

Crazy Crazy

Here are some more scrap blocks I have been working on. I seem to be wanting to use up scraps lately. The chicken and dog are embroideries. Each block is about 14 inches because that is the size of my biggest square ruler.

Warmer Weather

The -40 wind chills have gone for the moment so I enjoyed my walk a lot more.


The snow is very deep in places though. You can see that I'm in to the level of my parka which is mid-thigh. We packed a trail on Sunday so I didn't bother with the snowshoes. However, near the top of the hill, the trail was blown in and this was the result. It's hard walking because in some places the snow is hard enough to walk on and the next step could be thigh deep. It is great exercise!

Quilting Done

I finished quilting the hand dye with stars and moon. Here is where I ran out of bobbin thread. It usually happens when there are still a few inches to go. I have the binding on and now just have to sew it down. I guess it's time to start something new...

Roll of Batting

I picked this roll of Warm and Natural batting today. I ordered it from JoAnn Fabrics when they had it on sale so I got a great deal. Now I'll have batting when I need it.


I started quilting the hand dyed quilt. I'm using silver thread which is breaking quite regularly but I like the look of it so I'll keep re-threading the needle.

Bah Humbug

I have added a bug to Bah! Humbug! The idea was to have it look like one of the bugs on my bug fabric but it ended up looking like a six legged spider. Good thing realism is not something we unruly quilters strive for.


This is the latest snow dye up on the design wall. Some of the details are really interesting. I'd be happier if there weren't so many large white areas but quilting could change that.

Turkish Food

Today we made Turkish food. I got the pictures loaded in the wrong order so the desserts are first. We had semolina cake and Turkish carrot cake.


These are beets with balsamic vinegar and pine nuts. The side dish is yogurt with garlic and dill.

These are some of the pide, which are a Turkish version of pizza. Everything was totally delicious! But of course, as usual, I ate way too much.

Second Snow Dye of the Season

I snow dyed another piece of fabric yesterday. The first one wasn't big enough for the back of the quilt I meant it for. This one is very different. Now I have to decide if I'll use this one or add a piece to the other one.

Snow Dye

Here is the pile of fabric with the snow all melted.


Here it is dried and spread out on the table. I absolutely love it!


This detail really caught my eye. Along with about fifty other details. I'll probably be using it for the back of the quilt I stenciled the moons and stars on. (Picture on Jan 6th post) I'm sure I could never bear to cut into it!

My Morning Walk

I love the shadows on this one.


This was taken partway down our hill just as the sun was coming out from the clouds.

Border Time

This afternoon I put a border on the crazy block quilt. Now I'll have to shop for backing. I could piece something together but it's a big quilt (about 85x68) so I think it will be easier to just get some extra wide backing fabric. With this quilt it won't matter at all what color so I'll just grab whatever I can find.


This is a snow dye in progress, hopefully to use on the back of the moon and stars quilt that I did with paintsticks and hand dyed fabrics.

Bah Humbug

I made a couple of new letters and now I like it better. I may still try it again with lighter green in the background. I'm thinking of some bugs on either side of Bah. Humbug is about 20 inches long.

Bah Humbug

Tonya has challenged us to use her free pieced letters to write Bah! Humbug! This is my first attempt. I am going to redo the B and A in Bah. They are too small and too dark for the rest of the letters. It would be the B that I need to change. It's one of the more difficult letters along with M and W. Still, they are all fun and it's great to see what others do with the idea. You can see more at UnRuly Quilting.

Frosty Monday

Similar to a Frosty Friday but better (if you are retired!) These were taken on my early morning walk today.


Here is our studio where I work my magic (or try to at least). In the distance you can see the house so I get a bit of exercise walking back and forth.


Trees in the frost and you can see the caboose at the bottom of the hill.


Sometimes even weeds can be beautiful.

Stash Reduction Quilt

I started this stash reduction quilt a few days ago and finally had more time to work on it this morning. Right now it is about 75x46. I think it needs another row to make it a bit wider.


Did it reduce the stash? Not much.


I tried a small scrap of test stars with the silver meander. I quite like it but I'd make the meander tighter on the actual quilt. I may get some metallic navy just to compare. I don't think I'd like the navy in the hand dyed blocks so maybe the silver is the best way to go.

Stencils Done

This morning I finished the stencils on this quilt and I like it much better now. I had planned to quilt around each star with silver thread and meander between them. Now I'm not so sure. I like the subtle look. Should I meander among the stars with navy or silver? Or still go around each star? And what about the hand dyed blocks? I think they would look good with a silver meander...so many decisions. It will hang on the design wall for a few days while I make up my mind and maybe try a little practise piece.

Morning Walk

This morning was a very monochrome kind of day, perfect for walking and taking pictures. I went out at about 8 AM and this is what I saw.


Snow on the weeds is beautiful.


This is a diffused sunrise over a plowed and snowy field.


Early morning at the stones.

Another Apron

I started adding stars and moons to the sashing of this quilt using paintsticks. I plan to quilt it with silver thread. I hope this lightens up the sashing a bit.


This is the last apron from the fabric I bought before Christmas to make gifts. This one is for me.

Croquinole

We found this game for only $18 at the thrift shop today. It's very popular around here but a lot of people have never heard of it. You try to get the buttons in the hole, and to shoot off any buttons of the other color. In the end, outside ring gives you 5 points, second 10, middle 15 and in the hole 20. It's a game for two or four people.
If you want to know more about the game check out the entry in Wikipedia.

Spices

We went to an Indian grocery store yesterday and I got this cute spice tin. It holds the basic spices needed for Indian curry. Try to imagine how good it smells when opened!

The Year's Work

Here is a rather poorly made collage of the quilts I finished in 2010. I didn't include bags and other things I made. On looking back, I may have spent more time cooking and travelling than sewing.

They are not at all to scale but you can get an idea of what I did.


This is the winner though. This is the one that won me a new embroidery sewing machine. After I took this picture I added dark blue rick rack between the dots and the red border. It was a hard one to give away but worth it in the end.