His Royal Kaffeness

As I haven't had much to blog about lately, I thought I would show some of my recently acquired Kaffe Fasset fabrics (I think there is also a Brandon Mably in there as well, and I'm not sure if the red hearts with spot is a Kaffe as I can't find it on the Westminster fabrics site.)

I came across this blog today, click over and see the gorgeous photos from the Kaffe Fassett exhibition which was held in London recently, it must have been something to see with all the knitting and needlework that came before the fabrics.

While idly playing on the computer the other day I put in the search term "Kaffe Fassett fabrics and then clicked on Images, click here (I hope the link works, but if no you can do it for yourself), such a feast for the eyes, Kaffes everywhere and such inspiration to see how they all work together.

Has anybody seen my blogging mojo??

Can you tell me where it's gone??    (apologies to Dick Holler)

So my back is better, although it still gives me a little reminder when I do something silly, (like bending over the light box to trace something, instead of sitting down to do it).  

 I don't seem to have any desire to blog at this moment in time, I've even gone off blog reading as well.  One good thing, less internet time means more time for working on Flower Garden and Uzbek Patches.  I've finished the bottom border, started on the top border, and am making good progress quilting Uzbek Patches.

The List has taken a backseat for now, I've decided that I MUST FOCUS on finishing both Flower Garden and Uzbek Patches, so far I am on track with both of them.  Much as I would love to, I can't afford to be sidetracked by other more seductive projects, they will still be waiting for me in November.

 I tried diffusing the flash in this photo, I'm not sure it was too successful

this photo was taken in natural light (late afternoon)

I'm really enjoying quilting this quilt, no hoop or thimble, using a variety of different threads, my stitches are quite big, it takes me about 30 minutes to do one line, for the moment I'm doing the quilting I have to do, then time permitting, I will go back and add more lines.

Lest we forget

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.

Francis A. Walker 

Anzac Day comes once a year; a day where we take time to remember those that have gone before us, offering their lives as the price for our freedom.

Slack blogger (again)

I spent Saturday making all of these circles for Flower Garden (read more here)  once I got into the swing of making them, it didn't seem to take too long, although I still need many more circles, there are a lot of circles on this quilt.

I hurt my back on Sunday morning while I was at work, it has meant I can't do too much sitting apart from in the recliner chair which for some reason is the only comfortable chair although when I get up it takes a little while before I can move freely again.  On the positive side I am still able to do the quilting on Uzbek Patches and applique the circles to Flower Garden, so progress is being made there.

I have a good supply of quilting books and magazines to work my way through and the postie has been kind bringing me a little surprise from Joy who lives in Arabia, and also my monthly fabric fix from Material Obsession.

Some fabric lusciousness

I have been very quiet lately, not much to show really when all I am doing is quilting lines on the Uzbek Patches (I'm thinking of naming my quilt - Lines in the Uzbek) and preparing applique and doing applique on Flower Garden, all quite tedious work although I am enjoying the quilting but I am limiting myself to two hours a day.

Even my fabric buying has slowed down although I did indulge myself just a little, these are my recent acquisitions - 

 La Couture by Stof  100% linen and 150cm wide

no plans for this as yet, although the red might make a nice skirt,

I do love text inspired prints

 some gorgeous Kaffe Fasset fabrics

Black Sprays, Mad Plaids (mauve and beige) 

and Keiko Goke - Lime/Purple Zip

all destined for use in Flower Garden

and yet more lusciousness - Keiko Goke fabrics

no defined plans for these either, maybe 

they will appear in a small quilt or wallhanging.

Playing with fabric

Once I cleaned off my cutting table I was left with this pile of fabric bits and pieces - what to do?

fortunately this book arrived in the mail today, so I had a very quick look through and decided that I would have a little play, although it did turn out to be longer than 15 minutes, more like a couple of hours,

and this is what I ended up with, not quite finished yet, as I think I will add a bit more to the edges so I can straighten it up a bit.

With the exception of the teal strips the rest of the fabric was scraps and offcuts from the Flower Garden, and don't worry, I still have plenty more where they came from.  It was great just sitting there at the sewing machine and sewing away without a care in the world.

A marathon effort

Late this afternoon I finished the sashing on my Flower Garden quilt,  I was a little too optimistic thinking that it would be finished by Monday night.  Putting the sashing on was not easy, I had made all the sashing months ago, not that it mattered as I had to alter the sashing to fit each block (different widths varying between 10" to 10 3/4") and then stitch them on, the horizontal sashing was the easy part.

cutting table aftermath

The vertical lengths of sashing took me a very  long time as once again I had to construct each length, making sure that everything fitted nicely and that at each intersection the blocks matched as well.

It is all finished now, there are a couple of minor discrepancies which I will fix up later this week.  I'm really happy with how the quilt is looking so far and this quilt will be my major focus for the rest of the year.

Planning a big weekend

Today I pressed and trimmed the Flower Garden blocks in readiness for putting the sashing on over the long weekend.

Because of a trimming error when I made the first four blocks I had to work out slightly different measurements to ensure that the central part of the quilt would come out the right size for the borders, suffice to say it taxed my math skills considerably.  All going well (fingers crossed etc) the sashing won't take me too long.

Mail call

I get a little frisson when I walk up to the letter box and see a bulky envelope poking from the slot.  Yesterday was no exception - a while ago I was lucky enough to win a giveaway over at Fresh Lemons Quilts.  I won a Pirates Fat Quarter Bundle (Alexander Henry Fabrics) which was offered by Fort Worth Fabric Studio, there are some very useful fabrics in the bundle and I'm sure some of them will be popping up soon.

Then last week the monthly mail out from Material Obsession arrived - a bit of a purple vibe to it this month, I don't have a lot of fabrics in the purple range so they will be useful, there are also some layer cakes at the bottom of the pile, I have no idea what they will be used for yet, but I like them.

And another one gone, and another one gone

another one bites the dust ...

the penultimate block is finished, a big effort by me this weekend should see the final block completed, just leaving the four borders to be done. I intend to complete the bottom and top borders before starting on the side borders,  I am well underway with the bottom border as you can see here

I have done a little more quilting on Uzbek Patches, so far I like the direction that I'm heading with this, the variegated threads look good (I'm using several different ones) and just eyeballing the lines, doing Kantha style stitching.