ENGLISH PAPER PIECING ... clam shells

I will be back with photos... but I HAD to share with you this lovely lady who does fabulous 'perfect' tutorials.  DO look up her other videos.  Some lovely scenery and very clear instructions.

Part 1 Tutorial English Paper Piecing Shells / curves

Im working on 3 commissioned quilts at the moment.  It is a lot easier to keep fresh when I can complete step 1, 2, 3 etc on each quilt.  It keeps them moving along and Im really excited now Ive found a good system.  I think I will be able to solve problems and keep working to a much quicker finish this way.

The top set of fabrics have many jungle animals on them and it a boys quilt.  The second photo is a stack of pretty dresses... this quilt is for a girl!!!  The third quilt Im not photographing but it is for a teen.

One of the boy's shirts has a round motif... so circles it is.  The girl's dresses are really pretty and there are plenty of flowers.... so a little house in a beautiful garden will fit beautifully with the colors which are really bright with lots of pink. 

I was never worried about making memory quilts.  For the most part, the customer hands you the inspiration.  They are giving you colors and designs that they love... so you cant go wrong there.  And so far there has always been an obvious shape or colorway that just kicks off the creative process.

How lucky am I to be able to start a little business doing something that is really challenging each time... plus it is really enjoyable.

RED & PINK QUILT

My first memory quilt stack of fabrics featured delightful Red Riding Hood, Christmas deer and trees, Babushka and a lovely piece that looked like some Dutch dolls with a lovely tree.  Cute pink ducks and some tiny bright animal print too.  The colors that stood out were green, red, pink and teal.

The frist challenge was to decide if the red/green Christmas fabric could work at all with the pinks, one of which was really kind of peach.  At first I thought I might do one side Christmas and one side pink / teal (bluish).  But eventually a color wheel program showed me how they could all work together.

Another challenge was the different sized motifs that featured on the fabrics.  Some were quite large, and the Red Riding Hood motifs were tiny ... and Ive loved the story since childhood so this was disappointing on more than one level.  What to do.  I had an odd number of Dutch people and too few Babushkas.

It all came together with the colur wheel and the epiphany... that Red Riding Hood could cope with a little of the Christmas red around her piece.  So as crazy as it sounds.... it was the red that saved the pink!

Beautifully simple white on white and red on red floral fabrics meant I could have a rich white and that the red used as a feature between the Babushka and on the sleigh gave these pieces interest and depth.

I hope the customer enjoys this quilt design.  It took me ages and ages to relax and read what it was telling me.  But once I saw it... it only took me two days to put together.  It took two dedicated days to machine quilt and two days to bind.

Mind you.... 4 kids call on me whenever they like for all kinds of things... no matter how hard I try to just sew.

Ive learned so much.  Keep it simple, dont over work it.  Know when to stop.  How to save the colour wheel program so I can get around challenging colour mixes.

Im thrilled to move on to the next 3 quilts but Im kind of sad I dont have red/pink with me any longer.

A new take on a lovely old fashioned if you like ... essential for the wardrobe... lovely covered coat hangers

Pop over to this lovely crafty lady's blog and check out her free pattern to make your own.

Oh and.. some of the $2 shops have really cheap multi packs of satin covered padded coat hangers... they are what Im going to try out next... because this pattern has a bit of room... I think it will sit over the satin and just give a jumper holding hanger a bit more padding... beautiful.

Have posted off my first memory quilt to hopefully a very happy customer.

Ive learned so much.  It is such a responsibility and such an inspiration to be handed fabrics that mean something to someone... with the goal of putting them into a pleasing quilt design.  Color was my stumbling block.  But then I found a color wheel application that not only tells you complimentary and accent colors but allows you to see how the clashing colors will look right up against each other.

I love the quilt I put together and Im sorry to part with it.

But the thrill and journey begins again now.... Ive 3 more to do.

... Im sharing this from someone's posting on Facebook....
I suppose this could mean a little or a lot depending on how you feel about your life
Im spending some time thinking on it....  I think the person who limits me the most is me

I dont like soft toys but these patterns (wish I could show you all the way through the books)... are amazing.

My latest purchase... I feel very lucky to have found them.  I LOVE Japanese charting for crochet.

 

We have been very lucky to have this long beaked bird visit our garden.

Samuel and I added tomato plants to our veggie patch and baked crunchy nut cookies.

Ive been thinking these yarns might make a nice passion fruit flower knee rug.  The 'blue' is actually a sensational purple.

RIP innocents of 9/11 God bless your families

I failed in an attempt to create an art piece with the theme we will always remember the victims of 9/11.
I will never forget families and faces and phone calls Ive watched. I will never forget feeling panic and crying for hours for fellow human beings as I watched the planes hit the towers. But even ten years on the multiplicity of emotion runs too high for me to hone in on one sufficient remembrance concept. It seems I want to remember the outrage so strongly that to try and find a way to remember the innocents fades to a point where I cant find it.
Man's inhumanity to man begins with one man. And how impossible it is to pinpoint the first wrong. I felt there was no beginning or end this event was a terrifying event in a long chain of events.
So in remembering the people who suffered the horror, and in sympathy for the families left behind forever destroyed... all I can give is my promise to try and be kind and honest with my fellow man. Man's decency to another man begins with one.

I know exactly what I want to make and I have all the fabrics together... just thought I would put it together on the computer as a bit of a planning record.... mostly to see if the final result ends up anything at all like the initial plan!

It's my birthday today. 

Looking back on the last year... there have been so many people that regularly make my day.  My children and their father.  My family.  New friends that Ive met through Ravelry and Facebook that has brought me back in touch with friends I went to school with.  Meeting people at playgroup has meant new friendships and a church fellowship just across the road.... that has meant so much to me.  My dear friends J, L and more... who love me even though I now live far away.

My children have become more settled.  My tiny business is beginning to take off. 

I live in a wonderful country that enjoys freedom of speech, freedom of pursuits of happiness, freedom of religion. 

I feel like Ive been given so much this last year.  My goal for this next year is to concentrate on giving back.