Exciting Post ...

The postman was kind to me today and brought me 2 wonderful things.  First a selection of neutral fabrics from a wonderful quilter I met through blogging.  She has been so generous to me and sent such a lovely variety that I can add into the scrappy mix!  Also, I received my copy of Bonnie Hunter's new book "String Fling".  I have Bonnie's other 3 books, but put off ordering this one for a while because with shipping costs it becomes expensive.  But I could resist no longer and Bonnie is so generous with the freebies on her website that I feel by buying her books direct from her I am helping to contribute a little towards her costs.  Although I have had no time to peruse it yet, I already know that Charlotte's Baskets, Wild Child, Jamestown Landing and Roll, Roll Cotton Boll are 'calling my name'.  But, maybe I should finish Orca Bay first!  I'm feeling very blessed this afternoon :)

Florabunda finished ...

Nearly forgot to show the finished Florabunda quilt.  It's a traditional Jacob's Ladder pattern which Bonnie Hunter released as a freebie pattern when she used it with lots of different florals.  I found the construction hints in the pattern are well worth following.  I managed to use up most of a 30s floral print on this one.

I've also started the quilting on my String Flower flimsey.  Here's a sneak peak of what I'm doing.  The colours are all wrong (the solid is actually a pale blue) but you can see the quilting well in this shot :)

Florabunda quilting ...

I've finished the quilting on the Florabunda quilt.  Because of the strong diagonal lines, I thought it best to 'go' with them with the quilting.  I found a design I liked in Bethany Pease's book "Modern Quilting Designs" that seemed to fit the bill.  (Page 56 if you have the book.)  My version isn't as 'funky' as Bethany's original, but I love the texture that it has created and working on a Domestic machine does bring it's limitations!  Now to get it trimmed and bound :)

Florabunda progress ...

The Florabunda quilt is now a completed top (flimsey).  I don't think it was my best ever fabric choices - I focussed more on colour, forgetting about contrast, and the green could have done with being a stronger contast.  But, I do like the way the squares create a chain effect across the quilt.   The best bit is that it was all from stash and that most of the 30s floral was used up!  I'm sure someone at the care home will like it when it's done :)

Florabunda ...

I had some leftover 30s repro flower print that I wanted to use up.  Pondered what pattern to use and decided on Florabunda by Bonnie Hunter.  I pulled some co-ordinating fabrics from stash ... they are an odd bunch as the pink is a Jinny Beyer and the green is a Makower, but I hope they will work together.

Here's the first block made with the pink and I've lots of  other parts cut and ready to sew :)

String Flower top finished!

The string flower is already a finished top.  (See previous post for pattern link.)  The string borders seemed to take no time at all and the pile of strings was very nearly as large when I finished as when I started ... how does that happen?!?   The corners look like they are mitered, but I 'cheated' and made half square triangle units instead! Not sure how to quilt this one yet, so will move on to another project while I mull it over :)

String Flower ...

I've been working with my strings the last few days to create my version of Cindy Carter's free pattern Happy String Flower for Baby.  A few years ago Cindy offered this to the HeartStrings group as a mystery and I never got around to making it.  It is now available as a free pattern and having been on my 'want to make' list for a while, it's finally in progress.

I'm now working with a pile of strings to create the borders.  It's fun to play in the scraps and remember other quilts the fabrics have been in :) 

Mug rugs galore!

I made a bunch of mug rugs before Easter and they sold very well at the Care Home's fete.  Someone asked me if I had any more, so I thought I better stitch up another batch.  It's fun playing with scrappy patches and I ended up making 17 :)

Playing along with the Quilting for Good linky party this week.

Bright Tumblers Finished.

Here it is finished!  I so loved the texture created by the Fern Ziggles quilt pattern (see previous post) that I used it again for this one too.  I'm really pleased with the 'trip around the world' effect I achieved with all those various recycled fabrics.  This one finishes approx 40" x 56" and includes 240 tumblers which finish at 3.5" tall :)

Blue Tumblers Finished.

I did the quilting in three stages on Tuesday.  It's wonderful to have the Olympics on TV at the moment because whenever I need to take a break there is something interesting to watch!  I used the Fern Ziggle pattern from the Pajama Quilter's second DVD - Rethreaded.  It was my first time stitching that pattern and it is wonderfully forgiving and creates great texture.

Then yesterday I got the quilt trimmed and bound, so now it is finished.  Plan to baste the Bright Tumblers today and maybe start the quilting too :)