Tuesday, December 28, 2010

calico & linen

Quite a while ago I did a market for my Dad's ironwork and I bought several metres of calico to cover the trestle table.  So without much in the fabric budget right now I have put the calico to use, a quilt top - just because I had to do something.  I've cut it into strips, squares, rectangles and sewed it all back together with a few linen & double gauze placements.  I wanted to keep it simple so there's not too much going on.  We'll see where the hand quilting takes it.


The calico is a little coarse - this one is going to be hard wearing...


You can't see how nice the double gauze below is in this photo, it's some nani iro by naomi ito - it's so lovely & soft with painted flowers & patterns on it.  The linen above is also some nani iro by naomi ito - 'yes' I like her fabrics very much.


Whilst I'm looking forward to hand quilting this one, I can't start until I finish the 'fill-in-the -blanks' quilt top for flip, I just can't - that wouldn't be right.  It's quite difficult to work on, well I'm finding it difficult, I did a few houses last night and it's quite taxing.  There are only about 3 rows of houses to go.  I'm looking forward to the hand quilting, I just can't seem to get the darn top finished.  You should see the mess in our dining room at the moment from last night - it's still there today.  I'm hoping to get a spurt and carry on with it, or maybe a good kick in the pants is what I need.  Hopefully something happens soon as the day is nearly over :) and we'll be at the beach tomorrow - hoorah for the warm weather!

blackwork

It's been a little while since my last post, things have been a little hectic with work, kids, Christmas and all the festivities.  I found a book called Made in France Blackwork a few months ago at Readings and I had to have it.  So many beautiful designs, here's one I've started...


It had to have a home, so here's a cotton/linen converted tea towel, that of course has never been used, I bought it because I thought it was so lovely - too good to use as a tea towel.
a few favourites from the book