Passacaglia # 13

Finally, block # 13 is finished.
Took its time, but then, I had another one prepped that looked simply awful when I laid it out before piecing, so it was trashed, and this one was made instead. As you can see, there's recycling of diamonds and squares from two other blocks, and the white seems slightly excessively bright, BUT, this is the way it turned out, and it will go into the quilt.
Blocks 14-16 are prepped and ready to roll ... which is good, because I don't really have time to sew the next couple of weeks, but this way, I will at least be able to sneak in a thread every now and then.

Passacaglia # 12

... and here is block # 12


... and what all 12 blocks looks like on the design-wall.


Question now is : Do I stop here, or make another 12, or - indeed - 23 blocks .... decisions, decisions ...
(12 more blocks will give a layout of 4 x 6 blocks, 23 more blocks will give a layout of 5 x 7 blocks)

Passacaglia # 11

No comments needed, I think :-)

Passacaglia # 10

And this is what it can look like when you use a quite ugly stripe and fussy-print it. Linda Franz has a video at her blog about how to fussy-print with Inklingo, right here.

On to # 11.

Passacaglia # 9

Nothing like a sermon to get me stitching.
No. Truly ! I need to think, to ponder specific points, to mull it all through in my head, and what better company than some stitching.
SO, the ninth block in the series is now finished. Another 3 and it could become a small lap-quilt. But I doubt that I'll end it there.
Time will tell.

Passacaglia # 8

It is still growing.
Not one block a day, but at least a few every week :-) And they are still looking good to my eyes.

Passacaglia # 7

Well ... took me a few days to get this one finished. Life sort-of happened.
In a good way ! but still.
It is slightly soiled and messy-looking (most visible on the soft-pink centre row), because our eldest cat decided to nap on the partially finished block, and she is a black cat, who sheds a lot of hair, AND she drools when she sleeps.
Never mind. Once this quilt is finished, it will be washed thoroughly, and now that the block is finished, it will be soaked in lukewarm water, just to get the worst of it out.
I particularly like the way the soft-pink looks as if it has been superimposed on the green, and that there is a complete green square under the pink.

... and then it's on to # 8 :-)
I'll be back !

Inklingo KISS

... and in this case, KISS means Keep It Simple, Stitchers.
I'm taking a leaf out of Cathi's book, and sat me down this morning to stitch something with one of the new Inklingo Collections. I have resisted the Octagons that both she and Martha are already making, but since I "ordered" the 2" diamonds, I felt I had better start using them.
SO, I give you a Texas Star with 4" sides. Made with the 2" diamonds in the Inklingo KISS 102 Collection, and the Starpoints and 1" hexagon from the Inklingo Collection # 1.

I think I'll print another handful of starpoints and diamonds and hexagons, and make a nice set of coasters to have around as a white elephant :-)

The Rabbit-plant

We have pots on our deck, and in one of them, the green foliage went and died. However, the rare, but beloved, rabbit-plant turned up this morning :-)

Passacaglia # 6

Well, here's block # 6. Six blocks in 8 days isn't bad :-)


And the blocks finished so far, on my design-wall :

Passacaglia # 5

Well ... I am having a ball, aren't I :-)

I must say, that this one does not please me very well. Actually, I think I quite dislike it. BUT, it is done, and will probably end up in the quilt anyway. The fabric for the centre-squares was not placed completely correctly, so they only fit really well two and two, and this little bit of being off sort-of messes it all up ... plus, the pink of the outer diamonds does not blend well with the pink of the centre motiv.
Oh, well. Live and learn. Block # 5 is finished. On to block # 6 :-D

Austentatious - 2 - Pride and Prejudice

OK, so I've been doing patchwork, as can be seen from the past couple of posts. I do the blocks in a combination of hand- and machine-piecing, and when hand-piecing, I like to either have the telly running with something, or listen to an audio-book. Nice "me"-time

And this is my second "response" to Stephanies Jane Austen-challenge. Actually, it is item 5 in my original post : Acquiring and watching the old (1980) BBC adaptation of P&P.
It's the one where Fay Weldon wrote the script.
And I have acquired, and have been sewing, and watching ...
And what do I think.

Well, it does not age well. Elizabeth Garvie is as delightful an Elizabeth Bennet as anyone could wish for (and she does remind me of my good freind Linda), and David Rintoul is as wonderfully horribly proud and disapproving, and lovesick a Darcy as anyone could wish for, but ...
It is theatrical. Done in a style completely different from the way the more recent adaptations (the 1995 series and the 2005 movie), and thus comes across as slightly stilted at times. People waiting for other people to speak, actors wanting to stand in the right place, before commencing to speak. That sort of thing. And - as seems quite usual - the sisters are generally too old.

So, is it a waste of money to get it ? No. Not if you are an avid Austen-fan. It has its moments :-)
AND, it has the most true-to-Austen dialogue of the lot. When not being direct quotes from the book itself, it draws heavily on Austens letters and her juvenalia. Fay Weldon must have sat herself down and read everything, before writing the script.
And - of course - she wrote the wonderful little "Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen" at the same time, which has now moved to my bed-table, to be perused at leisure. Fay Weldon is a wicked, and very clear-headed reader.

What I don't like about this version ?
What I dislike about most versions : The sisters are too, too old ! The only version that got them right, agewise, is the 2005 movie ... and that - incidentally - is also the only one, which doesn't try to make Mary ugly, just clueless.
Wickham. He is just not a believeable bad guy. Same problem as with the Henry Crawfords and the Willoughby's of the various versions. Hard to find someone young, charming, sexy and bad-news'y enough for me.
Mrs Bennet. I cannot for the life of me fathom what Mr Bennet ever saw in her. That is easier to understand in the other versions.

And this fulfills the second item on my Austen-challenge list :-)

Passacaglia # 4

Well ... here it is.
And this one looks almost like it is a cross between a LeMoyne star and a block from Patchwork of the Crosses.
... and I've got # 5 printed :-)
Maybe I should print # 6 too, just to have it at hand, when I finish the next one ?
Sounds like a plan to me :-)

Passacaglia # 3

And now the third block is finished.
This really is an exiting quilt for me to make. And as each block is made, the fabric-choices - and placement thereof - churns in my head.
They are tremendously fun to make, and it is exiting to see how different the same block can look, just by manipulating the colours.
In this one, however, there is a variation. The 4 centre squares are made out of triangles. BUT they still end up squares, and the general layout of the block remains the same :-)

Obsession

Well ... what else would you call it. Up before anything to print the shapes, and then rush home from work, and do nothing but the most cursory of stuff in the house, all in order to be able to sit down and make the next block.
When you look closely at it, you can see that it is exactly the same block with regard to shapes used and their position, compared to the one in the previous post, but it almost defies belief, seeing that they are so very different. And all due to choice of fabrics and their placement relative to each other.

I am in love !

What a header, eh ?

Read on, and you will know more.

It was my b'day yesterday, and a very dear freind sent me a book as a present. It got here two days early, and I *had* to open it. It contained Diana Boston's book about Lucy Boston's quilts (and in spite of what it says on the website, it is no longer out of print).

Now, I know that many, MANY Inklingoists love Lucy Boston's Patchwork Of The Crosses (POTC), and I think it a fine quilt too, but I can resist that.

Even in spite of Linda Franz's book and printable Inklingo collection for it.

What I could not resist, was the Passacaglia-quilt in that book, and I'm sorry, I am unable to find any pictures on-line of that quilt, so you will just have to grin and bear it, and wait for my showing pictures of the individual blocks here, as I progress.

ANYway, I fell in love.

Hard.

Really, really hard ...

Like a ton of bricks :-)

It is quite a while since I fell this hard for a quilt, and felt that I had to make it. Now !!! Oh, I have lots of quilts I want to make, and quite a few that are being made, but I think the last time I wanted this desperately to make a quilt, was when I started my Dear Jane quilt 10 years ago.

Anyway. All this conspires to the fact, that the first block is finished, and that I got up early this morning to prepare the second one before leaving for work. That way, I can dream about getting home and sitting down to stitch immediately.

I think it is called "obsession" :-)

The picture here, is my version of the simplest and most boring of the blocks in the Passacaglia-quilt. The next one will be slightly more fun. HOWever, you can see - on this one - that the basic unit is the LeMoyne star. I'm using the 6" Inklingo collection, but you can make the blocks with the Free Collection too :-)

Knitting Socks

Knitting socks is - to me - a lovely, mindless way to spend an evening in front of the telly. I don't really have any quilty handwork, and I'm too, TOO fidgetty to just sit there. If I do, I end up snacking a lot, and end up feeling bloated, fat and uncomfortable.
SO, knitting socks it is.

But really ... knitting the same type of sock all the time tends to be boring, SO when looking through the summer issue of knitty, I found this pattern, and since I already had this yarn (and no, you really, really don't want to browse that shop ... it will probably be very, very expensive to do so), and the double-pointed needles, I started.

Now, some of you who read this blog probably already know, that English is not my first language, but I usually have no trouble with it, so I forged ahead.

I have not unpicked this much in the longest time !

Oh, well. BUT, sock # 1 is now finished - as can be seen from the picture - and so far, sock # 2 is much smoother sailing.


... but let me tell you, taking a picture of a sock on ones own foot is not quite as easy as might be imagined. Oh, well. It looks as it looks :-) and I like the way it looks, actually.

Another Sneak Peek on the Sampler

And these are the blocks that I've finished - so far - for the Inklingo Sampler blog. It is still loads of fun, and I'm learning such a lot about machine-piecing patchwork.
I am not very good freinds with my sewing-machine, so I am definitely out of my comfort zone here. HOWever, it is fun.
All of the above blocks are 6" square. Some started out being 5", but were log-cabined with a strip on all 4 sides.
BUT, I'm hand-piecing too :-)
All the non-square (i.e. hexagonal) blocks, are hand-pieced or hybrid pieced. Same goes for the square, but absolutely wrong size blocks I've made using the LeMoyne star 6" collection. Blocks can be made with the free collection too.
ANYway, these are the blocks that will be published on the Inklingo Sampler blog in the course of the next few months.

Super Karla is finished !

The Super Karla shawl is finished.

It was loads of fun to knit, and perfect for someone as impatient and easily bored as myself.
Lots of different lace-patterns in there, so ... might be said to be a sort-of lace-knitting sampler.
I added an extra row of squares, because I had lots of yarn left when I had finished the last full row of squares in the pattern. IF you decide to knit it, 2 skeins of Noro's Kureyon Sock-yarn will get you there with the pattern as it is.


Since I added another row of squares, I broke into the third skein for the border ... but not until then !

Materials : Kureyon Sock-yarn from Noro, 3.5 mm needles, and pattern from Karen Noe.

My Design Wall

Well, this is what it looks like at the moment.


I'm really sinking my teeth into the Sampler, and I am enjoying every moment of it. This is fun !
Those of you following the Inklingo Sampler blog, can see many of the blocks that I'm planning to keep you entertained. Most of what happens until the end of August is up there.
And yes, there are hexagon-blocks in there as well :-)
They can be made square or be left as they are, and be made into their own project.

Boredom and remedies

I knew I would be bored at work yesterday. I am a sub. at that place, and have a 3 hour break in the middle of the day some days, seeing that it's a public office, and we have to have a late opening day at least once a week. So, everything closes down from 1 to 4. And since it is not "my" office, I cannot do any of the zillion small tasks that are postponed. I can only do "this much" and nothing more. The tenured staff needs their priorities, filing and organizational systems respected. Also, I live too far away to go home, and 3 hours really is a lot of time, if you are on top of your work. I am fortunate enough to be that at the moment so ... what to do.

Well, I came prepared.

I brought some sewing and a DVD to watch on the 'puter. The newest BBC "Sense and Sensibility", (imdb-entry with list of cast etc. here)and my present "carry along and work on forever" project. Rectangle hexagons.

Got another rectangle made, and watched most of S&S at work, and finished it off when I got home.
And how do I like it ?
Well ... its major flaw is, that it is not the Emma Thompson version. The only thing that was clearly better in this one, was Edward Ferrars. I like Hugh Grant a lot, and find him charming in 4 weddings and Notting Hill, but I think his playing EF in the old (movie) version, was the one disastrous mis-casting in that one.

The major flaw with the new one, however, is (to me) that I cannot see Willoughby as instantly appealing. He is not at all appealing, romantic or dashing to me. I found his acting in Mamma Mia flat and unintersting, and thought it probably had to do with having a quite uninteresting part, but that does not seem to be the case. To any and all of you who love him, I apologize. He simply does not click with me.
I can sympathize with Marianne not falling instantly in love with Brandon in this version, and her eventual joining up with him, but ... Willoughby ... no.
I guess that Willoughby, Wickham (in P&P), and Henry Crawford (MP) have the same problem. They need to be charming, handsome and urbane, but also need to be seriously bad news ... and to find a young enough actor to pull that off seems very difficult indeed.

So. Do I recommend this version ? I really don't know. As I wrote, the major flaw is, that it is not the Emma Thompson movie, and for someone who does not have that sort of prejudice, or disliked the movie, I think this one could be a very good introduction to S&S.

And this concludes my first "task" in the Jane Austen Challenge.

Announcing a new blog

So, it is July 1st, and I have (yet another) blog.

You would think, what with the two I am already running (Inklingoprojects and this one), I had enough on my plate.

But no.

Maybe it is because I bore so very easily, and my present projects are all at a pretty boring stage, that I have felt the urge to actually do something I've been thinking about for a long time : Making a sampler, using Inklingo.

So, here it is : the Inklingo Sampler blog. Not very interesting - yet - but the plan is, that for as long as I've got the stamina for it, I will publish a new block every Friday.

So far, all the blocks are really simple to make, can be fully or partly machine-pieced, and the majority are 6" finished ... or smaller, so they can be log-cabined and still end up 6" unfinished.

The picture in this post, shows the blocks I've made so far. Most of them are made with Inklingo shape-collection # 2 (which is extremely good value for money, but, alas, only for Windows-users and only on CD), and more will be coming. You can, however, make many of the blocks using the free collection. The blocks will not finish at 6" then, but at varying sizes if you do that. Bottom line, however, is that it is a fun, easy and very inexpensive way to try out Inklingo.

Today's post on the Sampler blog is merely to announce that I'm here, I'm making blocks and I'm inviting you to join me. It also has links to much of the free stuff you can find that centers on Inklingo, including the free collection.

More Lace

Well, Super-Karla shawl is moving forward rapidly !
It is so much fun to do, that I have to do "just" another square ... and another ... and another.
Also, I've added a row of squares. It simply is not big enough (in my pretty arrogant opinion) with only 8 rows of squares, it needs the 9th ... and as I have plenty of yarn still, another row was added.

Now it's onwards and forwards, next comes the border ... with 400+ stitches in every row.

What's wrong with this picture ?

Well, I was making an Ohio Star block. Very simple thing. Make some QST (Quarter Square Triangles) with Inklingo, and hey presto, no guesswork, no errors ... so ... what's wrong with this picture ?
Can't you see it ?

I place the fabric with the wrong (wrong) side towards the right (right) side of the light fabric, rather than right sides together.

Result ? Mr. Seam Ripper got an outing, and frog-stitching happened.
Then they were placed the right way, with right sides together.

Piecing happened, and the star was finished.

Very simple ... if you know what you're doing and bring your brains to the sewing-room. Not always that simple :-)

Austentatious

OK, "Stephanie's Written Word" blog has a Jane Austen challenge, and I think I might as well jump in. It runs from July 1st 2009 to January 1st 2010, and the challenge is to pick out "six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge"
So ... what do I want to do ?

1. Well obviously watch my favourite Austen movie : Persuasion with Amanda Root. Lovely, lovely movie and with a feel very close to the book.

2. Start on my "Fassets of Austen" quilt. The plan is to make a version of the Austen coverlet using Kaffe Fasset fabrics. I will - naturally - be using the Inklingo collection for that. And I do write "start" because I am quite confident that it will not be finished. "The Jane Austen Patchwork Mystery" (book), can be found here. The collection for printing is right here.

3. Try out at least 3 different recipies from "The Jane Austen Cookbook"

4. Watch "Lost in Austen" with my DD (age 14).

5. Acquire (and watch) the old BBC-adaptation of Pride and Predjudice, the one Fay Weldon adapted ... and failing that, re-reading "Letters to Alice" by Fay Weldon, which is her (funny and well-written) introduction to the world and the novels of Jane Austen.

6. Watch the newest Sense and Sensibility adaptation. I have it, but have not (yet) watched it.

... and then - naturally - re-read any and all of The Novels :-)

Oh, and I'll mark all my postings relevant to this challenge with the label "Austentatious" :-) So you should be able to find my (irrelevant) musings.

This should be fun :-)

Knitting lace

OK, so I haven't exactly been sewing these past 2 weeks, BUT, I have been doing needlework :-) I've been knitting. Lace-knitting to be more specific.
Finished one shawl on Friday, and started the next one.
The first one is knitted with a 100 % Alpaca yarn (lovely and soft, brand-name Indiecita), is newly washed and has been stretched gently to show off the lace ... but do you have ANY idea how difficult it is for an indifferent photographer like myself to take a halfway decent pic of lace knitting ? No ? Well ... just be grateful that I went through all the trouble to show you that pic. Teddy Bear is my oldest, still extant, freind. We became buddies the Christmas 'of 59, and his name is Palle Lykke.

And here's the new one. I've been pretty obsessive with it :-) so it is amazingly far advanced.

Unfortunately, it is not only finished lace-knitting that is difficult to take pictures of, lace-knitting in progress is not much easier, and doesn't really show much, but there it is anyway :-)

Noro-yarn, variegated, knitted on 3.5mm needles.
Shawl is called "Super Karla's Fantastic Dream Shawl" and is designed by Karen Noe
... who has the design out as a pattern in both Danish and English.
It is really fun to knit. It is lace, in many different varieties, knitted square-by-square in the technique known as "neverkont" in the Scandinavian languages and "entrelac" (or so it seems) in French. What it is in English, I have no idea. Great fun to knit, particularly since you have to do "just one more" in order to see how it looks now. My kind of pattern :-)

Wombat resolved

The give-away is over.

And I went to the random number generator , and it threw up # 11 !

SO, Brenda, looks like you'll have some hexagons soon :-)

I'll send it sometime next week :-)

Boxed Stars

This is originally a Jinny Beyer pattern from her "Quiltmaking by Hand", however, I adapted it to suit my own purposes. The original pattern uses 2.5" diamonds, I used Inklingo and the 2.25" diamond in Collection 3. I also used a "same background colour" fabric to tie the stars together and frame the boxes.
Jinny Beyer doesn't call it Boxed Stars, but I do. I love the way the boxes and the stars interplay, and the way the graphic of the piece shifts as you shift your focus just a tiny bit.
The ... funny thing about this is, that I started it by picking out all the most boring and drab browns and darks I could find in my stash, then I added a few soft rose fabrics, and a very small handful of golden-hued scraps. The intention was to make a "neutral" and mostly harmless / boring quilt. My DH tells me I failed :-)

It is about 96" and we had to stand on the low stone-wall to hold up the top.
Not yet quilted ... I (still !) need to remove a lot of cat-hairs before I can send it to a pro for quilting. I started doing it myself, on the machine, and the effort was pathetic.
ANYway, the top is finished, only the cat-hairs to remove now.

Lone Star

Lone Star, or Star of Bethlehem, or Mathematical Star, or Morning Star or whatever-you-want-to-call-it Star ... Well, it's one of those patterns I've wanted to do "forever", but frankly, the thought of doing it by hand was too daunting, and the thought of doing it by machine-piecing strips and then sub-cutting into the 45-degree angles, hoping to place your ruler the same way on every strip-set ...
Too, too intimidating.
BUT, then came Inklingo, and then came the 6" LeMoyne Star collection. Now, those of you who knows me, also know that I'm not particularly good freinds with my sewing-machine. I don't enjoy it very much, and it usually ends up in tears ... or at least in un-pointy points and less than happy intersections.
Well ... I decided that now was the time to put my theories about making a Lone Star with the Inklingo 6" LeMoyne Star collection to the test, so ... Thursday May 21st, 2009, I started picking out fabric, and printed the first strips.
Yesterday, I was rather miffed, because the centre would not lie flat.
Today, I added the 4 corner-squares and 4 centre triangles that are the background-fabric, and after that, I pressed well with a good iron, and ... now it lies flat :-)
So, just under 2 weeks to make an 84" finished top, all machine-pieced ... that's rather good, won't you agree ?

WOMBATs

Do you you know what that is ?
I don't mean the cute looking animal, I mean the quilty wombats :
Waste Of Money, Batting And Time.

It is a highly personal thing what might become a wombat, but I have found that I have one.
Picture on the left.

It is a Strippy Scrappy Hexagon project.
I've printed lots of Civil War reproduction scraps, and some that are not repros, but are compatible with them. Not all of the printing is equally visible. Some of the fabrics turned out to have quite dark backs, which does not make for visible printing (until and unless someone knows of someone who produces white ink ?)

I've pieced long strips of hexagons on the machine (50 or 51 hexes to a strip), making 40+ strips.
I've started joining the long strips to each other with hand-piecing, because I can't really see any other way of doing it .... and I'm bored stiff !
What is worse, I don't really like the result when I do a mock-up like on the picture.

So the question is : is there anyone out in blog-land who is dying to get a project like this ?

There probably is :-)

Which is why I'm going to celebrate my return to blog-land by giving it away. A project that I dislike (now), but which might be loved by someone else. Fabrics are good quality, are washed, and come from a home with 2 cats and a rabbit (so pet allergics, beware !)

There are 40+ strips, each sewn with 50 hexagons. The side of each hexagon (finished size) is 1", which means about 2" across from point to point. 20 of the strips have been joined in pairs, forming 10 pairs of strips. The finished quilt should be in the vicinity of 60 x 90"

To have a chance at winning, here's what you do :

Leave a comment on this post before noon, GMT, Friday the 12th of June.
In the comment let me know which quilt-pattern you have never made, but would love to do.
Some time after that dead-line, I'll pick a winner, using a random number generator :-)

G'day late May

Well ... it's been almost a year since I last wrote. Even the most die-hard readers of this blog must have given up on me.

So, what happened ? Did I fall off the face of the earth, or what ?
No. I got work. And worked quite a lot in the beginning ... like ... many hours every day .... and the blog slipped from my list of priorities.
BUT, I hope that it is back now.
At least I have a huge back-log of pictures to show everyone.
Lets start with this one, the first quilty finish of the year 2009, my tiny Apple Core bag.

I made it with the Inklingo Apple Core collection, and "just because" I made a pattern out of it.


You can go to my Just Giving page, and see how you get the pattern.

Hello again ...

Well, it's been the longest time, hasn't it :-)
The good thing about that is, that projects are finished and others are progressing.
The "(two inches wide)" quilt is finished. Quilted and bound :And here is a detail of the quilting, where you can also see the pink binding. The pink is the same fabric that is used in the blocks so it all ties together nicely :What you cannot see is, that the quilter not only threw bubbles all over the place (which I like), but that she also used a variegated thread for the quilting, which sort-of "lifts" a quilt that could have been very dark in the general tone.

Active at the moment are just two projects. I know the sidebar says 3 projects, but Lollipops are not being worked on unless I'm travelling, and seeing that I'm biking to work right now, there is no time to sew on that one. SO, what I am presently actually working on are :
Boxed Stars (which is not what Jinny Beyer calls it, but I cannot remember her name for it in "Quiltmaking by Hand", so I use my own). This picture is
1. A mock-up on the design-wall.
2. Just a small fraction of the blocks I have made so far, but I'm more than half-way with the blocks. That, however, does not mean that I'm more than half-way with the quilt or even with the top. Never underestimate the border, and never underestimate the time and effort that goes into putting a top together !

And then a true scrap-project. 4" scraps, many from a charm-club I belonged to for a year or two waaaay back, the rest from my own scrap-bag. I've cut 700+ tumblers using an Ardco template for it. This quilt is truly scrappy and it is pieced in a truly random fashion ... the latter meaning that red will touch red and that there will be "runs" of lights together etc. It is a rag-bag of fabrics and colours. Machine-pieced and will be machine quilted too.Halfway with the piecing of the rows on that one too.
So, that is one of the reasons you haven't heard a lot from me. I'm working, both paid work and on projects ... and then - of course - summer is here, which means less time at the 'puter and more time on the deck.

Finally sending off !

Right after posting the winners of the Inklingo give-away, I got work, and have - literally - been working every day since. Today is my first chance at mailing anything, or - indeed - posting here.

SO, the 4 of you who have sent me your snail-mail addy : Your muslin-bits are on their way !
The rest of you : why didn't you contact me ?

There is still time :-) I still have plenty of muslin hanging around here :-) needing to be used :-)

And, as you can see, no comments with street-addresses have been published on my blog, so ... don't be afraid. I won't tell the world where you live :-)

And the Winners ...

PLEASE NOTE :
This drawing was held in May of 2008 !!
There are no more muslin bits to give away now.

HOWever, if you want to try out Inklingo, Linda Franz has a free collection that you can download. All it will cost you is your e-mail addy and a password. You can see it right HERE
And to see some suggestions on what could be done with the free Inklingo download, please go HERE

So, please. No more comments asking to be in the drawing. It is over and done with, and has been for a loooong time :-)
Thank you.

- - -

And the winners of the Inklingo-printed muslin are :
ALL of you who left a comment :-)
Yes. Only 11 people have commented, and one doesn't even want any muslin, so ... that's 10 of you who need to contact me with your snail-mail addy.
The easy way to do this is, to leave a comment on this posting. As most of you have found out, I moderate all comments on this blog, so ... putting your address in a comment does NOT send it out on the www, only into my postbox.
So. Let me have your full name and snail-mail addy. Yes ye in the US and Oz-land too :-) and I will send two sheets of muslin, printed with Inklingo HST that finishes at 1½".

Congratulations :-)

Top finished

Yes. The Indigo-and-Shirtings top is now a finished top.

And the picture here is just the top. There will not be much difference between this one and the finished quilt, so this might be all you get.
HOWever, to become a quilt it needs to be quilted.
To become quilted it needs to be basted.
To become basted, I need to clear the table and put leaves in it, find and iron backing, find and hang batting to "even out" ....
I hope to baste tomorrow ...

Half Square Triangles with Inklingo

What do you do with an excess of muslin cut-offs. They are good quality, but I have no clue which ones (if any) tie in to the other muslins I have on my shelves.

First : wash the fabric. I live with 2 teen-agers, 2 cats, and a rabbit. It has probably been washed, but heaven alone knows who has been in it since then ... with what.
So, washed it is.

Iron freezer-paper to the right side of it. No, wait, this is muslin, so it really doesn't matter which side it is. Now, for the sake of frugality, I ought to cut custom-sizes of the freezer-paper, to give me the best use of both fabric and freezer-paper, but I really can't be bothered.

Trim the fabric from the edges of the freezer-paper.

Re-iron the edges and corners (just to be on the safe side)

Pop your Inklingo, shape-collection # 2 into the 'puter (no picture. I tried, but I am *not* a good photograper)

Print 1½" half-square triangles (HST). Inklingo gives you the finished size, so what comes out will finish at 1½". Printed, each shape will be more like 2½", but ... that includes seam-allowance on all sides :-) I have chosen to print this sheet of muslin in Inklingo colour # 02. I probably could get away with using the lightest colour (# 00), but ... my eyes are becoming middle-aged :-) besides, it doesn't seem to show on the front. Still, the lines are not nearly as visible in the picture as they are in real life :-)

Repeat the above as desired.
Trim.

Layer with coloured fabric
Sew along the dotted lines
Cut apart on the un-dotted lines. Trim.
Iron.
You are now ready to roll, making some of the many blocks that are possible with HST.

The real beauty of this is, that there is no measuring. No cut-off points (if you've followed the sewing-lines). Perfect size. Every time !!!
And *that* is why I love Inklingo.
Preparation is extremely fast, and the results are as close to perfect as it can be, if I just follow the lines :-)

And honestly ? My opinion is, that Inklingo is bloody brilliant (pardon my French).

P.S. You can download a free trial-version of Inklingo right here. And yes, it is a LeMoyne star, and yes, it has triangles, 45-degree diamonds and squares. Lots of shapes for you to enjoy.

May goals

I'm back from my road-trip. Great and stress-free. No kids. No DH. No cats. No rabbit. Just me to consider. Sleeping in. Buying fabric (yes). Stopping at sights and get an icecream. Moving on when I felt like it.
Very nice. I think I'll repeat it soon :-)

Above is how far the Indigo-and-Shirtings quilt got before I went away. Time to focus on it again ... which leads me to my May goals ... sewing-wise, that is. I like to set up goals for me. Not too hard or demanding. Just enough to help me keep at it. And this May, my goals are to keep on keeping on with the following :

1. Indigo and shirtings (with the provisionary name of "Perfectly good").
2. Boxed stars
3. Lollipop Trees

That's 3 big quilts. I hope (plan) to at least finish the Indigo-and-Shirtings top this month, and to move the two others forward.

I have started applique'ing the first Lolipop-block and ... whoah ... that's the easiest and fastest applique I have ever done in my life. HUGE bits :-) and next to no tricky inner points that frays and acts up. I am beginning to think this top might be finished in less than 5 years :-)

Oh, and via a comment on a previous post, I found out that there are at least 4 others out there in blog-land doing Lollipop trees : Kathie over at "Inspired by Antique Quilts", and her freinds at "Sew Easily Distracted", "Canterbury Quilts" and "Will Work for Fabric".
Now, what I find really ... interesting :-) is, that these 4 seem to be doing Dear Jane blocks (and I am a Jane ... have one finished full-size Jane-quilt, and lots of small ones), AND they are doing Feathered Stars. I have not started on a Feathered Star quilt / block yet, but ... I recently acquired Marsha McCloskey's book, and look forward to doing (at least) one.

Have a wonderful week-end

Spring has sprung in Copenhagen. Pear-tree (and apple-tree) is in bloom.
Lovely, isn't it ?

I'm off on a road-trip and will not be back until Sunday. Visiting freinds and quilt-shops :-)
Life can be hard :-)