Here is one I made earlier

There had not been much sewing going on at the moment, but rather than disappear for the next few weeks, I thought I would show some things I had made earlier.

This tote was inspired by the wonderful Yoshiko Jinzenji, who makes the most beautiful white on white baby quilts using nothing but FMQ parallel lines. If you follow this link you will see an example of what I mean.

This tote does not resemble the baby quilts, but it was the idea of creating patterns out of close parallel lines that I wanted to use. My original stitching was white on white fabric, but at the end of all the work, all you could see was white. The stitching didn't show up at all.

My solution was to dye to bag grey, accenting some of the patterns with a darker grey.
I used a cotton batting here, which has shrink a bit so some of the texture has got lost in the antiquing affect. I also think that perhaps I need to redye the grey darker.

The handles use one of the patterns.

This is quite a small tote - only A4. Although it wasn't too successful here, I still like the idea and to return to it is on my 'to do' list!

Thanks for visiting...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @  http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk   

Finish Friday @ http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Creative Goodness @ http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-weekly-linky-parties/

The search for loft

For some reason I have always used cotton batting. When the time came to buy some more, I wanted to see if I could get more loft and after some research came up with a polyester and a wool batting. I bought a meter of both and made did some trials using cotton and metallic fabric.

First the Polyester Quilters' Dream high loft batting. It certainly puffs up the solid circles but doesn't seem to like the larger rings.

Now with metallic fabric

The circles puff up nicely. Heavily quilted, this batting disappears to almost nothing.

Now the wool. I am not sure you can see much difference on the pictures, but there is a big difference in feel.

The puff, though not higher, has much more substance to it. It is much more springy.

With the metallic, again solid circles well. There is some puckering on the rings, but that is also slightly due to the plastic nature of this metallic fabric.

Side view show the loft well.

I'm not sure the evidence is conclusive in these pictures, but for me, wool batting/wadding wins hands down.

Thanks for visiting...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @  http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk   

Finish Friday @ http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Creative Goodness @ http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-weekly-linky-parties/

New Year, New Diary Cover

I noticed that Quiltshopgal - formally Sewcalgal - has started a new weekly linky party which she has named CreativeGoodness. The idea is that ever month has a suggested colour and a theme.

Aptly enough, the theme for January is 'New' with colours of winter white and blues. By coincidence, my new diary cover is in just that colour scheme. All the quilting is done in different shades of blues.

I'm afraid I have not caught up with the digital age so still rely on an A5 diary. Every year I make a cover for the new year.

Although they are removable, I tend to leave the cover on and if I am looking for an old diary, I can tell which year they are by the cover.

The lining is dyed to match the thread colour.

I must have been in a similar mood last year, because the out going diary cover is also in blues.

Thanks for visiting...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @  http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk   

Finish Friday @ http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Creative Goodness @ http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-weekly-linky-parties/

Mum's the word

I didn't want to post about this before Christmas.
My 84 year old mother is not really into blog land, but she keeps saying she will get around to looking at my blog one of these days. It would have been just my luck if she had done so the day I posted about her Christmas present.

It - her Christmas present that is - required quite a bit of thought this year. Basically, she has everything she needs and wants - and a lot of stuff that she doesn't want or need. She has decided to have a great 'de-clutter' and we were under strict instructions not to give her anything as all she wanted was to see us. And before you suggest it - she already has the quilted tote, purse, jacket, wall hangings - even the cat has it's own quilt.

I realised that what she did want and need, was not 'stuff'; what she wanted spent on her was not money but caring, time, thought, and effort. So I got 25 large envelopes that she was to open one a day for the holiday period.
I decorated each one with a print and in each, I put something to do - a game or puzzle, some eating goodies, a riddle and a card with a saying or quote.

The cards I made from quilting samples and papers that I have printed/painted. I haven't beautifully neatened the edges - they are not meant to be kept. I thought I would show you because it was also a wonderful re-cycling of trial pieces.

It was also quite a lot of fun finding all those sayings. Some of my favorites include:
'Take my advice - I'm not using it'
and
from Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (for Downton Abbey fans amongst you), on being questioned on what it feels like to be wrong: 'I wouldn't know. I'm not familiar with the sensation.'

Or how about:
'Sometimes I pretend to be normal but it gets boring, so I go back to being me'!!

Thanks for visiting...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @  http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk   

Finish Friday @ http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Creative Goodness @ http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-weekly-linky-parties/