Night Owls

I managed to photograph the new quilt in my conservatory as it is so large.  I had my DH helping me with holding it up one end on a chair...

I used some Japanese owl fabric in the small sashing squares and elsewhere hence the name.

So now it is finished I might be able to sit back and enjoy it, as it certainly took a long time to make.  It was an idea put forward during a meeting of a quilt group I go to in Penrith about two years ago.  So we all bought Lyn Edwards' book on Sampler Quilts version 2 and were supposed to make one block a month.  I left it for several months before I realised I had not made a single block and they were on about number seven.  So I switched up a gear and made some.  It's a mixture of hand and machine piecing which was a challenge at times.  Eventually I finished about twelve blocks and then had a look at the block choices remaining and did not like some of them. Luckily I did have a couple of Susan Briscoe books and turned to her Japanese blocks for inspiration.  I think they were 9 inch and I had to size them up on my HP printer to about 12 inch. Anyway, I chose all appliqué as I preferred those designs and thought I had done enough complicated piecing! So those of you with an eagle eye can see if you can spot which blocks are Susan's.  A clue; there are five.

Long time away

Well it has been a long time since I visited this blog, but I had a long long visit from my DD who I had not seen for 5 years and when she left in late May there were holidays and work and somehow the summer went into autumn.  Anyhow, I have at last finished the Sampler Quilt which I must have started over two years ago, it took so long to do!  At the moment I don't have many good photos of it so I am going to post just the odd one if I can find it.


Still quilting but on the last pieces
 

I moved my sewing table into a small bedroom at the front of the house and I was surprised that everything managed to fit into such a confined space.  I actually like it up there because I had to be very selective about what went where and that has made it easy for me to put my hand to anything I need.  I bought a new swivel chair too and its also compact but works well in the space.



Nearly finished, just the edges to do.

 

I tried it on the spare bed and it looked ok so this was before I finished the edges and removed all of the blue marker lines with cold water.  I will need a good day to photograph it and also need to put a hanging sleeve on it too and of course the label which is ready but not sewn on yet. Hopefully I will post again later this week.