My String Quilt quilted and bound!

My first finished quilt of 2012, although the quilt top has been in my WIP pile since March 2010! This is also the last project I have to finish off  which is a great way to start off this year don't you think! I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to quilting this quilt. I guess because it is for us it was not urgent and I had other projects that actually had deadlines to complete by. Also I think because I love this quilt so much I was a little bit intimidated by how to quilt it without ruining the design. The free-motion quilting is far from perfect in some of the squares where I first started off but I quickly got better and figured out the best way of dealing with the bulk of the quilt as I was sewing. 

I think I love the back as much as the front which is just made up of fabrics from  my stash that needed to be used up. I used a variegated thread in the bobbin for the quilting which mixes in with all those colours so it neither stands out too much or gets lost either.

Here's a close-up shot of the decorative machine stitch I used. I really like the effect that this rainbow thread makes as you sew. If you're interested the decorative threads I have used they are mostly all by the Guutermann brand which are readily available in most places I think.

And here's one of my favourite shots of it taken on our back steps leading to our garden. Thankfully yesterday it stopped raining so I could take it outside for its photo-shoot. You can see more photos here on my flickr page. This is a true scrap quilt as it started off with a scrap swap with some ladies in the Old Red Barn flickr group. I added scraps from my own stash, used up scraps for the back and also ends of binding leftover from previous quilts and projects. It certainly feels good to have made a quilt entirely from scraps and of course it makes an interesting quilt to make and look at. I can pick out fabrics that were leftover from dresses I made my girls when they were younger and fabrics that are from a different era that were given to me from an Auntie, and even a couple of fabrics from the very first quilt I made. I have to say my stash is nicely getting depleted of fabrics I have had for a little too long.

Now I'm off to start a brand new project :-)

A Sneaky peek...

After much procrastination yesterday I decided on some wavy line quilting on my string quilt but then I sat down at my machine and inspiration did indeed strike and I decided on this geometric decorative stitch on my machine. It takes a bit longer than a normal straight stitch and A LOT more thread so thank goodness I like it, a lot :-) I'm thinking it might take me over this coming long weekend to finish it.

Summer sewing for me...

 

Although I have been a little absent from my blog I have been doing some sewing this past month, only a little though :-) The above dress is what I whipped up on Christmas eve at the very last minute. I have a tradition with myself to make a new dress to wear each Christmas. This year though I was so busy sewing Christmas gifts etc... that I did not think I had the time to make myself something new to wear and it wasn't until the afternoon of Christmas eve that I decided to bite the bullet and try and get a dress completed to wear that next day, after all I had the pattern, fabric and thread ready to go so I had no excuse. After cutting  out all the pattern pieces I proceeded to sew like a mad woman and by 6pm I had it all put together enough to have a try on to ensure a good fit. Unfortunately it was way too big so I ran over to my neighbor who just happens to be a dressmaker (the kind who doesn't need a pattern and can make something from a photo). She kindly re-pinned all my seams and a couple of hours later it was all finished apart from the hem which I did the following morning. I'm so glad I made the effort to make this dress as it fits like a glove and I love wearing it.

 

I also made up another top like the one I made here before Christmas except this one has the elasticised gathered sleeves. It goes perfectly with a pink skirt I already have and the fabric just happens to be the same as my Christmas dress except in a different colourway.

And this is what I have been working on today. Finally pin basting my string quilt ready to start machine quilting it tomorrow. I am not totally sure how I'm going to quilt it but hopefully inspiration will strike once I sit down at my machine. Although as I'm typing up this post it has occured to me that some hand quilting in perle cotton would look quite pretty in those white frames. What do you think? Suggestions most welcome!

A little update...

I've been cutting out these fabric flowers.....

....and making lots of yo-yos to go on another little project for Amelia's room.

And today I made a few more squares for my string quilt. Tomorrow's a no sewing day as Amelia's competing in a regional athletics day so  I'm going to be there to cheer her on. And no sewing this weekend as we are going camping further up the Coromandel peninsula so I hope the weather stays fine.

Works in progress...

Finished 8 more blocks of this quilt today. It's so fun to sew and I love scrappy quilts!                                     

I'm using recycled paper to sew the strips onto. This paper is from the girls old drawing pads.

I've pulled these fabrics together for a future quilt too today. I want to make a feature of the dutch print and decided that the top 4 left fabrics which are from South Africa go with the blue and white colour combo in the print. I then added some batiks from Bali. Not too sure of a quilt pattern yet but I like that the fabrics are all traditional fabrics from their country of origin. Let me know what you think??

My first string blocks!

I managed to get my first 4 string blocks completed yesterday. Once I'd done the first one they were quick and easy to do. I'm following the instructions on the blog Sewtakeahike. Very clear and easy to follow. Most of the strips in this quilt were swapped with a lovely bunch of ladies I've met through the Old Red Barn Quilt along on Flickr. This was a great way to get lots of different fabric scraps for a truly scrappy look. I've seen two of the other ladies finished quilt tops here and here. Go check them out they are quite different from each other but equally stunning. Also go check out what one of them has done with her scraps over here. Susan you are one clever and creative lady!

So when I was cutting strips the other day I cut 2 piles so that's 2 lots of 32 strips. One pile is for this quilt but I will tell you what the other pile is for in my next post. I think you might like it.