Meilleurs voeux!

New Design for the New Year

I was busy playing around in EQ7 and designed this quilt.  Last week I went to my not so local quilt Shop Kaleidoscope and bought the fabrics for it.

Kaleidoscope now have a lovely new website which is worth a visit www.kalquilts.com

Once Christmas is over and I have my projects made and instructions all written and teaching samples made I can get to work making the quilt.

I also designed a 20 block sampler quilt which I hope to start teaching next September at the start of the new session.

I may tweak it just a little but I think it is almost there design wise.

Thanks for dropping by.

A nice afternoon

I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon working on my greeting cards.
I'm almost done with the fabric cards but I still want to make some paper ones. It's not too late, but I'd better hurry if I want to send them before Christmas.
While working on my fabric cards, I unearthed this little doll I made a few weeks ago.
It's just a small prototype and it was lying under a pile of Colorplay fabrics. Now it's smiling at me while I'm sitting at my desk.
And next is one of my candidate quilts for metamorphosis...
It's hanging on my design wall right now. And I'm just wondering... Shall I cut it up? Yes? No?...

And the Winner Is

Well it is the 17th December and time to name the winner.

First of all I would like to thank Michelle for all the hard work in organizing what has been for me a wonderful event.  I would also like to thank all of you who took time to visit my blog and leave a comment.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments and have been working through visiting your blog, if you have one.  I haven't managed them all but over the net few days I will be sure to visit.

And the winner of the giveaway, picked at random, is Bente from I Like to Quilt blog.  Well done and I hope you enjoy the book. Apologies to those who missed out this time but drop by throughout the year as I will be posting a giveaway again.

A special thank you to those who have followed my blog, it was not a prerequisite for the giveaway but it is nice that you did.  

From Colorplay to Metamorphosis

The mini colorplay quilts for my fabric book are done. Well at least the tops are. I still have to add some stitching and hand embroidery on the last pages, and I also need to think about the way I will bind them into a book.
Another WIP in my studio is this red shirt that I want to finish before Christmas.
Only one week left, I know, but I think I can do it.
I've also been trying to think "20 by 12" for our next challenge and in order to visualize the size better, I've pinned this piece of hand-dyed fabric on my cork board...
As you know, the first theme is "Metamorphosis" and the deadline is February 12. I will probably have no time to start working on this new piece before January, but I've been thinking about it, writing down a few ideas. I also did some very practical transformation experiments. See...
from these elements...
I got this interesting looking material...
and finally it turned into these yummy edible objects...
More seriously, one of my ideas is to take one of the numerous quilts that I have never shown and to change it into something completely different. Not sure this is the way I will go, as I also want to make a 20x12 series.

Christmas Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog Hop Party.    Enjoy your visit and good luck.

I have another copy of The Devil's Puzzle to give away.   Just leave a comment telling me what your favourite colour is and why to be in with a chance to win this wonderful book.

Good luck and thank you for dropping by.

Blog Hop giveaway coming soon

Giveaway on this blog will be posted on 8 December. It should be fun.

More Colorplay

This week, I plan to work on my small Colorplay fabric book, and at least try to finish the missing pages.

All my fabric leftovers were already nicely sorted by palette in little boxes, but of course, as my quilts are now living their own life in the States, I don't have them here anymore to help me in my work. So, I printed their pictures.
I did the "Brown Sage Blue" page a few days ago.
Now I've got the first eight pages. Only four more to do.
I feel I have to finish this before starting on the new Twelve by Twelve series. You might already know that we have decided to continue our collaboration but to change the size of our quilts. They will be 20 by 12 inches (vertical orientation). Gerrie has already chosen the first theme. It is "Metamorphosis".

Last week in pictures

Lots of sewing,
a little gardening...
and some cooking...

In a few days, my friend Viviane will celebrate the third anniversary of her blog. She's kindly having a great giveaway. See here how to have a chance to win.

And, last but not least, the Twelve by Twelve quilts are on show this week at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Nine of the Twelves are there.
No, I'm not going, but if you are, please go and see our exhibit. And say hello to my fellow Twelves, and to my quilts too!

More autumn colours

The weather here has been so incredibly sunny and mild for the season that I can't resist posting another autumn photo.
Last summer, I enjoyed reading Tammy's blog, especially her posts about ICaD, and I played along a little bit, in my own corner. I didn't feel like showing my index cards here and didn't post about them, but the other day, I found Tammy's blog again, with this post here, and I just couldn't resist making a little mess too...
This print is my favourite...
especially this close-up...
and this is what happened to the sheet of paper that what protecting my desk...
The watercolour marks under the paint splotches come from sketches I did for a new quilt. Here's a little peek at one of the sketches...
The quilt is well underway, but I can't post about it yet.

Bright autumn colours

Today, I decided to add some orange yellow to my blue, pink and purple scraps. Then I spent some quality time with my good old sewing machine. It just came back from a check-up and it behaved really well. I wonder why I had been thinking of upgrading.
It looks like all these little scraps will soon become a baby quilt.
I also did choose my fabrics for another project...

Some art news

At last, I found some artistic content again for my blog... :-)Little GD recently discovered the joy of playdough and she really likes it. She also made her grand debut at finger painting. This was a bit more chaotic and I was so busy trying to contain the mess that I didn't manage to take decent pictures. It will be for next week maybe.
In the meantime, I made it back to the studio. My rosebud quilt is almost finished.
Then I decided I had to do something about this...
I started piecing scraps together. Blue, pink and purple at the moment.
I've got a vague idea about what I want to do. We'll see what happens in the next days.
In other news, Gerrie, my fellow Twelve, will be on a radio show tomorrow afternoon, eastern time. See here.

New Design for Christmas

I will be teaching this at Currie High School next term.  I bought some new Christmas fabrics yesterday, I couldn't resist them, and hope to get started next week.  I don't usually make Christmas quilts but I thought I would make one so I have one to decorate my home when the Xmas tree etc goes up.

I also want to make a tree skirt this year if I have the time.  If you would like to make this quilt I have made the files available for download.  You will find them on the left hand side of the blog under Xmas Quilt.   

It was designed in EQ7 and the files are PDFs.    Let me know if you make it and I would love to see a picture if you do make the quilt.

And the Winner Is....

The winner of the book giveaway is Rlbates.   Please email me your snail mail address and I will get the book in the post to you.

I'm back...

really...
no more travelling. I promise!...
Yesterday, I even spent 4 hours in the studio working on my pink quilt. Pictures soon.

Book Giveaway

Plume Books has very kindly given me a copy of Clare O'Donohue's latest A Someday Quilts Mystery called The Devil's Puzzle to give away.   I have made a start on this lovely book and I am hooked already.

Clare is a new author to me but I am sure I will get hooked on her books as I have the ones written by Jennifer Chiaverini.  As well as being a wonderful writer Clare is a quilter

A small town mystery add into the mix witches and quilting and this is an ideal read for this time of the year as the nights draw in.  I know what I will be giving my quilting friends for Christmas this year.

To have a chance of winning a copy of The Devil's Puzzle just leave a comment on this post.  Next Saturday, 8 October,  I will get my husband Norman to draw a winner out of the hat.

Good luck.

Snail in a Storm

A new quilt I designed in Electric Quilt 7.  I am thinking of making it into a quillow.  I think it will work.  I tried it in 2 colours but I really think it works better with three.

It is a gorgeous day here today.  Sun is shining which is just lovely.  

Thank you for dropping by.

Do you wonder where the time goes.  These past few months I have been busy preparing for classes to start.  Well they started last week.  Wow.  After my gap year I wondered if anyone would sign up.  I needn't have worried both classes as full with a waiting list.  sadly this means a few of my regular ladies missed the boat and haven't managed to register.  

Admin at school handle all enrolments so it is out of my control.   It is sad to not see them but we have new students who are also new to quilting which is very exciting. 

I have been busy working on a hand applique, hand quilted cushion.  A project that was relaxing and helped when things were getting a little hectic.  It does take a while to get back in the groove but I think I have done that already.  So much so I feel I haven't been away.

Here's the cushion:

 and here is the picture I took for inspiration for colour choice.

 Off to make the evening meal.

No fiber content...

... only a few pictures of one of my favourite cities... Lots of walking, sunshine, great food, good music. It was perfect.
Sewing should resume tomorrow, or even tonight. But, as I'm working on projects that I can't blog about yet, my next post might be about something else, cooking for example. ;-)