Variations on Blue for a Girl

One of my artless photos ever... sometimes I just don't care.  

I usually photograph my finished quilts in the kitchen, pinned to the back of the curtain that divides it from the dining room.  The light today was terrible, so I slung the quilt across the settee instead.  And because my knitting lives on the settee I threw that into the picture too to stop the quilt flopping forwards.  It adds a touch of reality - I've been slightly under the weather and feel as though I have been living on the settee this week.  It's my knitting zone, covered with balls of wool.  It's a good job we haven't got a cat.

These are the same floral prints that I have used in the last few cradle quilts.  I make them in batches, and ring the changes by using different combinations of fabric for the dividing strips, borders, binding and backing, so no two quilts are exactly alike.

This is the first time I have used this backing fabric.  It is a very fresh blue, which goes equally well with blues and purplish tones, and manages to pick out the tiny blue flowers in the binding.

Free Motion Mavericks this week is at Andrée's blog 

Quilting and Learning and I'm linking up!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 213 - Roses Cradle Quilt

Pretty pink doesn't look too marvellous when photographed in poor daylight...

… but on close inspection the theme is pretty obvious.  Roses!  As many as possible, plus a few other flowers, and some non-floral fabrics to prevent the overall effect from becoming too riotous.

Even the binding has roses...

… and there are more on the back.

Huge thanks to Andrée in Canada for hosting the linky for her first time last week!  We are alternating weeks, so week 214 will be at her blog Quilting and Learning - what a combo.

Here goes for week 213:-

Many thanks to Margarita for linking up with her beautiful Christmas wreath quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Suddenly The Thread Ran Out

Especially annoying, as I wanted to get the quilting finished before I went on my travels and ready for me to put the binding on when I got home.  It will have to wait.

At the moment I am still away, and Free Motion Mavericks is being hosted this week by Andrée at Quilting and Learning - what a combo.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 175 - Elephants with Turquoise

Usually I steer clear of dark colours when making cradle quilts, but this time I thought I could get away with it.  The dark shades all go so well with the colours of the elephants in the centre that I was dying to use them, and the turquoise with beige spots lifts the whole colour scheme.

The variegated thread that I used for the quilting has shades of purple, yellow, dark blues, greens and maroon - the perfect combination for this quilt.

For the backing I used the blue and grey butterflies print, one of my all-time favourite fabrics.

I managed to do all the quilting and binding on Monday as I had a trip away planned this week.  On Tuesday I travelled to Berkshire to stay with a friend, on Wednesday we had the day out in Oxford, and today I had a very eventful trip back on the train travelling through a blizzard.  Winter has finally arrived, and with a vengeance.  The blizzard seems set to last all night.  

Here goes for Week 175.

The project that caught my eye in week 174 was Angie's baby quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 174 - Just One Sandwich

Elephant sandwich, to be precise. 

Another cradle quilt is in the making, but I shall be lucky to have it finished by next week.  After spending so much time concentrating on sewing and knitting and very little on housework (virtually none, to be honest) I am carrying on with the spring cleaning.  It is Lent, after all.  My husband was bowled over this week when he came home to see the stainless steel cooker hood gleaming as the manufacturer intended.  I won't show you a photo, because it wouldn't mean much without a picture of how dust-laden it had been, and I'm not showing you that.

So I am having another busy day today, having started with tidying the clutter all around the computer before the engineer arrives to fix the internet.  It is very intermittent at the moment, and wouldn't come on for most of the day yesterday.  But for the moment it is working, so the weekly linky is open, albeit a little later than usual.

Here goes for Week 174:-

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 173 - Nearly the Same

But not quite.  This quilt is the near identical twin of the one I showed last week.  I had quite a few pieces left over after making the first top, so naturally I made a second.

In this quilt I put more emphasis on green, so this green on white floral fabric made an appearance.

Because this was the second quilt and some pieces had already been cut fairly small, they ended up being cut even smaller.

The wonderful teapots are on the back again, and the binding is the same print, but this time with a dark green background.

At the moment we are thinking about completely redecorating our front room - new carpet, curtains, upholstery... everything.... and I have made a rather worrying discovery.  Much as I love playing around with colours in quilts, dressmaking and knitting, my mind doesn't seem to be able to visualise a new colour scheme for an entire room.  Is it the scale?  Or the fact that I have to think in three dimensions?  Or is it the ever-changing light?  A combination of all three, probably.  Perhaps I should just jump ahead and think about the new cushions I can make and work back from there.

Here goes for Week 172.

The project that caught my eye in week 171 was Chris's Valentine's hearts hanging.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 172 - Tea Time Cradle Quilt

One of my favourite fabrics is making a reappearance - London teatime with green teapots and Union Jack mugs.  I have used it before with subdued blues and with also with a red border.  This time the theme was mainly grey and green...

...and lots of spots and checks.  This is the first time that I have used a black and white print in a quilt for a baby, which might have looked out of place, but it ended up toning in well with the grey of the border and with the black taxi.

For the binding I used a brown Christmas print, which shows tiny glimpses of toys and Santa Claus and should give a sharp eyed child a thrill.  The big thrill for me though is the backing fabric.  I am besotted with the teapots.  

I can't get enough of them.  But the big question remains - is the background grey, beige or green, or somewhere between all three?  It all depends on the light, which appears to have changed since the previous photo.

Here goes for Week 171.

Many thanks to Andrée for linking up last week showing her work in progress, quilting a top she made in 2015.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts.