Friday 19 April 2013

Temptation

There are a couple of QALs that have caught my eye in the last couple of weeks - both of which are slow paced (which means I can hopefully do them as well as work on my FAL list), and a bit of a challenge.

Firstly is the Steam Punk QAL, being organised by Amy and Jeannette. Steam Punk is an amazing pattern designed by Jen Kingwell of Amitie Textiles - and it is just stunning. My pattern arrived today - and I've ordered templates as well from Sunset Seams. I have absolutely no idea what fabric I'll use for it, and I have a feeling I will do a block here and there when I have time. There is a really great Flickr group set up for this pattern if you're interested in joining, lots of helpful hints and some seriously beautiful blocks popping up.


The other one I'm super excited about is the Tula Pink 'City Sampler' Sew Along being hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness. I pre-ordered the book a while ago, and I'm eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I spent a bit of time yesterday picking through my *cough* sizeable Tula stash - I'm thinking something along the lines of the cover quilt (rainbow goodness). I'll probably add in a few others as needed, I'm a bit short on purples and oranges. I do have a few spare FQs of Nest fabrics (I've double up in a few cases) so there might be a Tula giveaway in the near future ;o)




And I bit the bullet and pieced my Retro Flowers together last night. Thanks so much for all your feedback, and ideas on how to balance the values and colours. There were some really interesting tips on techniques for looking at value distribution - I might collate them all into a post if anyone is interested? I ended up going with layout 3, with a few swap-arounds.

I think I could have played around with the layout for weeks and never really been completely happy with it. It's interesting how different it looks taken in decent light - the darker ones no longer look too dark relative to the others. I think it's reasonably balanced, and I'm fairly happy with it. I'm hoping to get the borders on, and the back pieced over the next few nights and get moving with the quilting. We've just started school holidays for a couple of weeks, so I won't be getting a whole lot of sewing time - but I'm busting to get this baby done :o)


I hope everyone has a great weekend!

xx Jess

19 comments:

Susan said...

That layout looks perfect!! And I love the look of "Steampunk". I think I need to check that out!

Carla said...

Steam punk does look amazing! How could you resist

Charlotte said...

I would love a post on value please :-D

Nat at Made in Home said...

Steampunk looks amazing!

Teje Karjalainen said...

Looks perfect now! I love also the pattern you start the qal!

Daisy Girl said...

If I'd got in in time to vote I would have gone for 3 too... Yes, a post on values/balancing would be great! (this is Gudrun btw ;-))

cat and vee xoxo said...

oh I loooove your Retro Flowers, it is just fabulous, it looks gorgeous! I've bought Steam Punk as well - and I was going to order a template set from Sunset Seams - awesome - if you have ordered already, that means that Lisa already has the measurements! I will pop over to her site next. I found the AMH feather templates invaluable, so wouldn't even contemplate these Steam Punk curves without the template. I did really like Jeannette's freezer paper tutorial though, I thought that looked very achievable! Have a great weekend.

Annabella said...

Thanks for the links on the pattern and templates - soooo tempted but wondering when it would turn up (Australia and Morocco working together don't have a good track record with me). It looks such a gorgeous pattern. I love your retro flowers - it's going to be just stunning.

MsMidge said...

That is such a beautiful quilt you've made! I saw the Steam Punk at Amitie when I visited - it's gorgeous! But I am already doing the Bloom Bloom Pow QAL and other various goodies, so no time for that one!

Kelly said...

Retro quilt looks brilliant and I would also love a post on value!

Susan at TheBoredZombie.com said...

Congratulations! It looks fantastic! The new ones are pretty great too - looking forward to what you come up with!

Rosa said...

Fabulous projects!

Katy Cameron said...

Lol, you and your sew alongs! Looking forward to seeing the results anyway :o)

Loving the look of your flowers, great LO choice!

Lori said...

My Steam Punk pattern just arrived in the mail yesterday! And my templates are on the way! I can't wait to get started.

Leanne said...

Your quilt is really lovely, the daytime photo is really nicer. I would love to hear about what you learned from all the comments. I have the Tula Pink book on order too, I might have to sew along with it. Maybe I should pull out all my TP fabric, I think I have pieces of a lot of it still.

Anonymous said...

Love the layout you went with, perfect! I'd love to get a post on what you learned =)

I would love to do the Tula Pink quilt along but at the time I got the book and fabrics to Malta, it'd already be over most likely *lol*

Will enjoy seeing yours and everyone elses through! =D



Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

Your retro flowers look wonderful! The new qals sound exciting too. I love the steam punk design :)

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

Busy lady! Enjoy the hols, hope you get *some* sewing done! Did you ever get the brushfire quilts finished and delivered?

sarah elizabeth :: {no} hats said...

Temptation is everywhere!! Love your final retro flower layout ;)