Online Quilter's Meet & Greet

Hello and welcome to the Online Quilter's Meet & Greet hosted by Benita of Victoriana Quilt Designs.

For those who haven't visited my blog before, my name is Julie and I have been blogging here at JulieLou since 2013.

Originally I started my blog as a way for  my mum and sister who don't live  near me to see my quilting  and other craftwork, both progress and finished projects.  I now blog about the things that make me happy: quilting, EPP, embroidery and applique, my garden, cooking, hiking, reading and my latest foray into making clothes.

I don't think I have a definitive quilting style.  I'm definitely not scared to use colour, and if anything,  I seem to have a phobia about using white in my quilts.  Low volume is fine, white just doesn't seem to happen. Grey is probably my go to neutral. Scrappy quilts of some description are probably my favourite to make.

Scrappy Sampler Quilt

My favourite fabric designer is Anna Maria Horner - I adore her brightly coloured bohemian styled fabrics.  My latest quilt finish and current favourite was made from her fabrics that I had been hoarding in my stash.

AMH Trellis Garden Quilt

Liberty fabrics are also a favourite and have been used in lots of little items like pin cushions and needle cases, as well as a quilt.

Liberty Needlebook

Last year I discovered the joy of wool felt applique and embroidery, Bird Dance was my first project using these materials and I enjoyed it so much I have recently finished Solstice Dream another wool applique hanging.

Bird Dance

I enjoy EPP too, my WIP (which I haven't touched since January) is my Ice Cream Soda Blossoms quilt, which I am still hoping to turn into a finished quilt this year.  I think hexis are my favourite shape to play with though.

There are still lots of quilts I'd like to make, and I have lots of fabric to be used, so there will always be something being created with fabric and thread here at JulieLou.  For stories and pictures on all the quilts I've made, check out my Quilt Gallery here.

To meet some other  inspiring online quilters, click the link below this image

Meet & Greet Here

and if you'd like the chance to win some fabulous prizes click the link below this image.

Enter Here

Thanks for joining me here today.

Liberty & Linen Pillows

Invariably when one starts to tidy up their sewing room, there is a usually a new project started or an old WIP finished.  In my case it was a finish, I came across the Liberty and linen quilted pillow tops I started back in November, rather than faffing around installing zips, I used the fabric intended for the binding of Miss B's Sea Glass sampler quilt, and made two simple envelope backs.   So quick to do, so simple - why did I wait so long. These are now residing on my bed, mine's the pretty Liberty one, The Scout's is more masculine, well as masculine as it can be with glittery linen.



Linking up to Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share at with Linda at KokaQuilts.

Ice Cream Soda Quilt - Update

I've had a little EPP frenzy this month and have managed to complete 8 Ice cream soda blocks.  It has been nice to have a little slow stitching time in the evenings.  A couple of months ago I succumbed and bought the acrylic templates for these blocks, and a mini rotary cutter.  Oh my goodness, it has made fabric cutting so much easier and quicker for them.

I have now completed 40 blossoms, I have another 32 to go, then all the filler pieces and half blossoms for the edges.  Jodi @ Tales of Cloth finished her Ice Cream Soda Quilt the other day, so this has inspired all of us lagging behind on our quilts.

Have a great week.

Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE

I finally got around to getting back to that Liberty cushion/pillow I was making.  I quilted it with a variegated thread, and an organic crosshatch - using masking tape as my guide lines.  None of my marking pens showed up on the fabric. I based this pillow on the measurements for the Kansas Dugout pillow in Jen Kingwell's book Quilt Lovely.

That's my pillow  front done, now onto the one I made the one for The Scout. Originally I gad a plan for his, that wasn't going to involve too much Liberty (can't waste that on a male), however a slight miscalculation in my pattern measurements meant that I went improv for his.  Made mainly out of linens, a little Liberty and some shot cottons which I pin tucked, but don't really show up in the photos.  This pillow top has lots of texture and I think is well suited to a male.

Both will co-ordinate with my room, add a little colour, but definitely won't be matchy machy.  I just need to get some zips, and hopefully have new pillows made before Christmas.

It's your turn to share now.  It doesn't matter if it's embroidery, a quilt, applique or epp, or some other stitched or sewn project.  It can be a start, a finish or just a wip.  All we ask is that you follow these guidelines when linking up:

• Link up any post from the past week that features  a sewing or stitching project you have been working on.

• Somewhere in your post, please link to this one.

• Also please take the time to read and comment on some of the other linked posts, it is always nice to know that people are reading what you have written, and we are trying to encourage people to keep blogging and reading blogs.

Thanks  for joining us.

Julie and Linda

Liberty Scraps

Playing with a new colour palette of Liberty fabrics for my pillow cover in progress, has obviously
stirred my creative juices.

I have been inspired to pull out my ice cream soda blocks again, and have finished three in the past few days.  One I had started before my self imposed rule about finishing Christmas decorations and my AMH quilt top.  So there is definitely an odd one out in the group above. 

Jodi at Tales of Cloth,  who created this block and the stitch along, has almost finished making hers - see here and here, this is very inspiring for those of us who have slowed down in the making of these blocks.  I'm off to cut some more fabric and prep some pieces for more lunchtime and evening stitching.

Of course, I now need to get back to finishing those pillows too.

Here & Now

Loving // All the Dietes Grandiflora that are bursting into bloom , and other small signs of change in the garden- buds, berries, bright green growth.  

Eating // Fresh asparagus, fat juicy strawberries (not from my garden unfortunately)

Drinking // Bubbles - cos I celebrated a birthday recently.

Feeling // Proud, nervous and excited for Miss B, she acheived some fabulous results at school, and is about to start her NCEA exams next week. My little girl is growing up.

Making // Plans and progress -  new pillows for my bedroom - pretty Liberty, Essex linen and Kaffe Fassett shot cottons

Thinking // That Christmas is pretty close now and I really need to do some shopping

Dreaming //Of a few days lying on a sunny beach, I'm so over cold windy days.  Not feeling like spring here.

Linking to Here & Now at Say Little Hen

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Liberty Bloomsbury

It probably doesn't seem that long a go, that I posted about finally completing my Liberty Bloomsbury Quilt, however I'm linking it up for the first time to Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall edition 2017.

Back in 2015, I had been looking for a special project for my Liberty fabrics and when I came across Bijou Lovely's, Bloomsbury pattern, I knew I had found it.  Not wasting any time I downloaded the pattern and started having fun making beautiful Liberty dresdens.  Gosh it was hard to cut into those beautiful fabrics,  Once the dresden plates were completed they were hand appliqued to the background fabrics.  These were no quiet subdued choices, I went for a gorgeous periwinkle shot cotton and a very vibrant magenta.

Because I wanted my quilt to be able to fit my bed I had to add a border.  After a little trialing and sketching of different border options I went for a simple scrappy liberty strip and solid  all the way around.

A Tula Pink fabric was the perfect colourway for the backing.  My machine, I decided was a little too small for quilting this 80" square quilt, so I chose a variety of cottons for simple  hand quilting. I love the texture of the handquilting on the back, not that photos really do it justice. Liberty fabric was used for the binding.

I love how this has turned out and am so pleased that two years after starting it, I completed it just in time to use on my bed,  and to add a beautiful splash of colour to my  bedroom over the colder gray winter months.

Now that warmer temperatures have arrived, I'm carefully putting away till next winter.