Tag Archives: book

books, tiles and no excuses

On my way back home at the airport in Prague I was deciding whether to buy these glossy magazines with a lot of advertisement or to get a nice book. This time a book won : The Chef by Martin Suter. I am glad that I bought it, reading was excellent, the story fresh and there was space left for imagination. Martin Suter does not disappoint me. The last book I read from him was : Allmen und die Libellen. Another amusing story with an interesting plot.

Patchwork and quilting is set aside at the moment : visiting my Mum, getting back to normal from my holiday mood and now we have my husbands son and family with us. But since I have read this post from The Burned Hand  I have started to think about my attitude. Instead of finding excuses for not doing something and I just should do it!! I have all my fabrics for the Skill Builder BOM by Pile of Fabric together, so tomorrow is the right day to start this project and pick up with the others.

A few weeks ago we went with clients to an antique construction material shop situated about 2 hours drive from us. There were thousands and thousands of different articles on display. When walking around the spacious plot I found my favorite pieces : antique tiles. They have amazing designs – they are like models for patchwork patterns.

tiles x 3

tiles

Thanks for stopping, Barbora

quilting book, threads and a wiener

Since the temperatures are up to 37° C it is wise to stay inside and stick my nose in the last batch of books I have received. I am absolutely smitten with the  Free Motion Quilting with Angela Waters : Choose and Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts.

Very descriptive explanations of various quilting patterns, this is now my “quilting bible”. I have practiced some of the patterns on scraps. My absolute favorite is Seafoam – combination of 2 patterns: Concentric Circles (this one I need to learn) and Pebbles (this one I am practicing).

Yesterday I have started quilting the sandwich I made before I went to Prague. I decided to combine the patterns pebbles and waves. I shall only quilt the white fabric (background) and leave the color rectangles to float – as the quilt’s name is Floating Colors. When I read the book I also noticed that Angela’s favorite thread is a 50-weight polyester So Fine by Superior Threads. I like to follow experienced advice and I have ordered some more thread at Barnyarns in the UK. Here a quilting detail from the backside.

So far free-motion quilting. In the meantime I finished a dog quilt . The design caught my eye whilst browsing the world-wide web. I loved the photos and I also found the author of the pattern: Boo Davis and the quilt I’m a Wiener Baby Quilt is from here book Dare to be Square. Since I have ordered sooooooo many books over the last few weeks, I decided to make the quilt just from the photo. I went through my stash and found enough material from the collection  Innocent Crush from Anna Maria Horner. I think the result was worth while calculating all these cutting dimension from the various fabrics.

May I introduce you now to my version of the Wiener Baby :

And a quilting detail – I have used both straight line quilting with a walking foot as well as free-motion quilting on the body, ear and head:

And my last work this week was a customer order for 3 pillow covers :

Till next time, Barb

my orchids and a new top “avenue loop”

This week was once more filled with some surprises – not only that the painters came, but I have also received all the books I ordered from Amazon. I am fully smitten, love them and I am a proud new owner of these wonderful books.

Let me list all titles, one after the other:

  1. Elizabeth Hartman : Modern Patchwork – 12 Quilts to Take You Beyond the Basics
  2. Transparency Quilts : 10 Modern Projects by Weeks Ringel and Bill Kerr
  3. Modern Quilting Designs .: 90+ Free-Motion Inspirations
  4. Free Motion Quilting with Angela Waters : Choose and Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts

Especially #4 was very inspiring for me. I have done some FMQ but a few new hints always make life easier. I have found some new ideas and some other information about quilting threads. The threads are already on their way down to Spain and I am looking forward to work with them. Well, I  live here in a quilting “desert” and any kind of literature and information is warmly welcome.

In the meantime I have started with a new quilt “Avenue Loop” with fabric that I have ordered some time ago. It is a FQ collection of Freshcut from Heather Bailey. It has sat some time in the closet and I finally got an idea for a new quilt. Here a small detail  :

Also a few snapshots of my orchids :

and blossom in Spain :

This all for now, have a good time and thanks for stopping, Barb