The Aviatrix Begins

It's funny how the best of intentions can be easily thwarted. I had planned on photographing and sharing several quilts last week, but we have had nearly constant rain so quilt photography has been a bit difficult ;o) I did manage to scoot outside today and snap a few, so there will be finishes revealed in the near(ish) future, but today I'm just sharing a couple of works in progress I have on the go.

I have an upcoming class teaching the Aviatrix Medallion by Elizabeth Hartman, so I started making my class sample last week. I've had the fabric for this quilt set aside since the end of last year, when I chose all the fabric at Frangipani Fabrics (where I'll be teaching the class). I decided to use the same colour scheme as the pattern, but I'm using print fabrics where Elizabeth used all solids. It was pretty easy to match prints using the colour chart in the pattern, and it is making it a breeze to make this quilt, at least in terms of colour placement. I think I'd approach this quilt very differently if I was making it from stash and challenge myself more in terms of colour palette, but I must admit it is nice to not have to think so much about those things!

I'm not going to lie - that centre block was a pain in the butt. There was quite a lot of unpicking (and swearing) involved, and it still isn't perfect, but I think it looks okay (and to be honest, I'm being very picky here - there are a few points in the blue bird that are quite dodgy, but overall it isn't bad). And once the first border went on, I decided I could live with it ;o)

And now the second and third borders are on, I'm most definitely in love with it. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week, and all this colour just makes me happy :o) It is such a pleasure to work on this quilt!

The other project I'm working on has been a slow-sewing project since I came back from QuiltCon. The orange peels are all needle turn appliqued, and I finally sewed it all together last week. I want to quilt it soon - but I'm completely stumped as to what to do. Normally by this stage I would've had a flash of inspiration but this time around it just isn't happening. I think I'd like to emphasise the fading out and decreasing size of the 'flowers' with the quilting, but I can't decide the best way to do it. Any and all ideas would be gratefully appreciated :o)

I hope you're all having a great week! I found out this morning that two of my quilts have been accepted into Modern Quilt Show Australia at the end of May (woohoo!!) so I'll be burying threads and sewing hanging sleeves for the next few evening I think. 

xx Jess

Moving right along

I had some productive sewing time this week, mostly spent quilting the giant secret quilt. It's nearly half-way done now, and it hasn't been as hard as I expected to get a 72" x 96" quilt through my Bernina. Admittedly, the middle section has been a bit difficult - I have some jerky bits along some of the curves, and my pebbles are a little bit haphazard. But overall I'm really happy with how it's looking. It's entirely inspired by Krista Wither's Modern Maze quilting design.

This is the back - I figure it's not giving anything away ;o)

The back is a wideback piece of Bella Solid in grey - it's really nice to work with and I loved not having to piece the back. I'm using Aurifil 50wt 2615 in the bobbin, and it's a perfect match. I'm hoping to get the quilting finished up this week, if all goes to plan. I've been watching a few youtube longarm quilting videos this week and it's making me really want a longarm for this sort of quilting. Sigh.

I've also picked up a  really long-term cross-stitch work in progress (I'm pretty sure I haven't touched this since I started quilting, or even longer). Now that it's winter (and freezing cold in my little sewing room) it's nice to have something to work on while watching rubbish on TV of a night. I have a couple of others that aren't quite finished as well - it's not just quilting that I'm perpetually starting new stuff. It's been happening all my life ;o) But these are the two that are in my sewing basket, so I guess I'll try to finish these first.

I have cross-stitched since I was about 8 I think, but stopped for years before picking it up again while I was at uni. I think this first one I just need to add beads to. Which I hate doing so it might be a while before she's finished ;o)

This is the one I've actually bee working on the last couple of nights. I love the saturated colour in this one so much. Lots of beading left to do though...

I'm hoping to perhaps get one of these finished over winter - I forgot how much I love cross stitching, and it's terrible addictiveness.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend
xx Jess