Testing Complete

Woohoo - my Tiptoe through the Tulips test block is finished.   I love how this came together and how the colours really pop against the dark background, almost reminiscent of stained glass.  Read here for the story behind my colour palette inspiration.

 Allison's pattern instructions were clear and on the whole the pattern came together easily. Only one of the large leaf arrow blocks had to be unpicked, because I got the HST round the wrong way. I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to making the Drunkard's Path blocks, I have sewn curves before but never this many.  They turned out well, and as the blocks are sewn a little larger than required, there is room for trimming too, so they all end up looking pretty near perfect.

I had intended to use Allison Glass's new Sunprint  range for the flowers, unfortunately due to big delays in post arriving, I had to resort to some fabrics in my stash, luckily my fabric order turned up in time for the applique circles, which gave just the pop of colour I was wanting.  I used the foil applique method for the large circle in the centre of the block and raw edge applique for the small circles, which I finished with a blanket stitch.  The little bias applique strips are a Liberty print.

For more inspiring test blocks, have a look here.  Thanks Allison for letting me test this pattern, I know there will be some stunning quilts made once your pattern is released.

Weekending

Happenings from the week just gone and this weekend.

• Working on my Tiptoe through the Tulips test block, so far I am liking how it's looking. I'm using a shot cotton in Carbon colourway for the background, love the colour, hate how it frays. Now I just need to  finish the arrow/leaf blocks, applique on some circles after I have decided on their colour and sew it together.

• We had lunch at my sister in laws yesterday, she made these delicious Fish cakes. She also had a new nine month old cat, so very entertaining seeing Mr J play with her.  I had forgotten how much energy a young cat has.

• Miss B thinks she would like to try sugar free for the month of March, so she will not be eating cakes, biscuits, muesli bars and processed cereals. I don't have the time or the money, to completely change our diets, or cook a separate meal for her each night, however I feel that on the whole we are pretty healthy eaters. We have compromised, in that she will eat things like pasta with sauce, if the sugar content is less than 5g per serving. It has been an interesting experience looking at food labels while shopping, however, I have found some products use significantly less sugar then others  so have bought these for us too. Luckily my sister in law has tried this way of eating, so I borrowed a recipe book  from her for inspiration also.

• My first Yoga class was on Wednesday evening, I didn't really know what to expect but enjoyed it immensely.  I think the combination of doing something just for me, the time out away from home and all those stretches was just what I needed.  For the first time in weeks I haven't had tension in my neck or shoulders. Of course leaning over a sewing machine brings it back.  Looking forward to next week.

• I am reading The Dark Days Club - unusually for me, this is young adult/teen fiction.  Set in  high society Regency England with a supernatural theme, I am actually quite enjoying this so far.  It is the first in the series.

• Stitching away on two new birds for Bird Dance

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

from http://www.basmeeuws.com/en/work/

http://www.basmeeuws.com/en/werk

I am pattern testing again for Allison from Campbell Soup Diary.  She is releasing a new pattern called Tiptoe through the Tulips mid March.  It combines traditional piecing, curved piecing and applique. It is a huge block 24" square, so I am sure that a quilt would come together relatively quickly.

My vision of this block differs from Allison's, in that much as I love the look of  white fabric in quilts, I know it is not really practical in my house, nor is it something I would ever use.  However I love the dramatic colour of parrot tulips against a dark background similar to those in Bas Meeuws photographs,  so have used some of these as inspiration for my block.  Rather than turn the block into a pillow or mini quilt, I am going to use it as the centre piece for a medallion quilt, something which has been on my  "one day quilts list" for a long time.   Because of the colors I am using,  I'm thinking the name of my block should be something a long the lines of  "Midnight in the Tulip Garden".

So far all the pieces exept for those to be appliqued have been cut. There are a lot of pieces required for this block, so I would very much recommend labelling the pieces as you cut them, so that you know exactly what belongs where. HST have been made and trimmed (gosh, I hate trimming) ready to start  piecing  the leaf/arrow parts of the block.

It's meant to rain this weekend, so fingers crossed I get lots of sewing done.
What plans do you have for the weekend?

Jeweled Kaleidoscope Mini Quilt

Back here, I mentioned that I was pattern testing Campbell Soup Diary's Jeweled Kaleidoscope Quilt pattern. Well I have finished it in time for the pattern release on October 12.

The Jeweled Kaleidoscope is a foundation paper pieced pattern, that comes together easily and quickly.  It is available in two block sizes  - 6" and 12".  I chose to make the 12" blocks in vibrant jewel tones of gold, amethyst, platinum and pewter, using various fabrics from Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry, Dear Stella, Kate Spain, Blueberry Park and Kona solids in yarrow and geranium. Binding is an Art Gallery Oval Elements.  The result is this beautiful vibrant mini quilt which will grace my sewing room wall.  Quilting was done in my favourite method, outline stitching in straight lines, though I deviated on the appliqued circles and quilted a curved diamond shape.

It is quite amazing how different it looks with different fabrics and colours, check out variations from the other pattern testers here.

I really love how this turned out, so have subsequently added a scrappy version of this to my never reducing "one day" quilt list.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to test this Allison.