WIP Wednesday!

So the design wall is still decidedly frosty this week!  I'm getting there with my Snowflake Shimmer that I've been making for Yvonne's free Quilt-A-Long. 

For some reason I didn't expect it to be as big as it is (the bottom row won't fit on the design wall it's that big!)  I have the bottom half pieced and hope to get the remaining rows finished tonight but haven't decided yet how to quilt it. 

Yvonne gave us a nice template to trace with a lovely swirly texture as a result.  Those diamonds though are calling out to me for some reason so we will see, after it's basted.  I'm thinking of a pieced backing with some Christmas fabrics I haven't yet used though I do have a bolt of Ikea Britten Nummer on hand so may just use that instead.  Decisions, decisions!

Speaking of which, our Modern Irish Bee round robin is still going strong.  It's getting close to finished now but the backlog we had at the start is now back with me again and I have 3 of these beauties waiting for the next round.  Hopefully I'll have Erin's teal and pink one done at the end of next week for Mary!

Remember this bear quilt I thought I'd make with a feature panel rather than bear paw blocks? (free quilt a long over at Sew Fresh Quilts)

Well I popped out to the Limerick Quilt Centre on Saturday morning for some blues and browns and came away with greys and blacks!

Karen kindly let me have a rummage through some new bolts just arrived in and my original plan went right out the window when I saw these fabrics (Heartwood by Makower).  Proving to Gordon that blue and brown are a classic colour combo has been trumped by the desire to  make him a manly quilt with a grey and black bear against a background of trees! 

I did manage to pick up this gorgeous feature print from the range for myself at the same time.  So pretty, I think this needs to be made into cushions - I would love to be able to afford this fabric for curtins!

On the way out the door, I succumbed to this new Moda range with matching panel!  It's the bear that did it for me and I am considering using some of this for the back of Gordon's bear quilt but suspect it might just be too nice to have on the rear!  Time will tell!

Linking up to Quilting Jet Girl and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts!

WIP Wednesday - the Frosty One!

I am slowly tackling that finished flimsy pile, one by one I'm making a dent!  This past weekend I basted my Penny Sampler quilt (design by Rachel Hauser @Stitched in Color) so I could get to some hand quilting with my new perle cottons. 

This has been a finished flimsy for over a year as I think I was afraid to quilt it.  Not really knowing how I wanted to tackle it, I only knew I wanted to do some hand quilting.  Looking back over the notes Rachel gave us I remembered she hand tied hers rather than stitch in the ditch and added some big stitch outline quilting on the star.  

 I want to add a bit more hand quilting than that but figured get it basted and tied first and see what springs to mind.  So I spent a few hours last Saturday watching the Jungle Book singing along with Louis and Balou and got her spray basted, hand tied and trimmed to size! 

I'm stuck on a binding colour.  G thinks dark grey to frame it and balance all the pastel but I am considering something lighter as the fabric pick for this quilt was inspired by a frosty Christmas feeling.  Any suggestions?  Binding it before hand quilting is recommended by Rachel and it will feel nicely finished even though I can be adding to it a bit at a time watching movies!

I am making progress on my QAL's too, this week, working on Yvonne's Snowflake Shimmer design.   I've added in more diamonds to my version with Yvonne's blessing and given myself a little bit more work to do but I am having real fun with this one, chain piecing my way through the square in a square blocks. 

When I made my Halloween quilt a few years ago and it had 16 square in a squares I thought I never wanted to see another one again.  This time around I have about 40 and am loving pressing them open.  Maybe its the colours I'm working with.  So frosty, but in a different way to the Penny Sampler above.  The weather is definitely changing and it's nearly time to light the fire and nestle in as the trees change to gold and red and burnt orange- my favourite time of the year!