SEW THE RAINBOW!

Travelling Quilt Bee 2019

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be part of a Travelling Quilt Bee it was an amazing experience for me, I made some great 'virtual' quilt friends many of whom I am still in regular quilty contact with, as well as being a great opportunity to try new things and develop my skills. This was largely due to the fact that back then I wasn't overly brave when it came to fabric choices, colour palettes or block/pattern choices and had a real tendency to stick to what I knew and whilst I still do that to a large degree, I've found that being part of something like this where you're making part of a quilt for someone else to their specific requirements, is actually rather liberating!

There are so many gorgeous quilts that come up on my Instagram feed (@thatssewkerry if you are interested) that have been made as part of Quilt Bees, a Round Robin and Travelling Quilt Bees, such as these below: 

#fantasticquiltvoyage 

#roundrobinquilt

Round Robin Quilt

I really started to feel the calling again, having looked for inspiration and a group of like-minded people to join me, I set off on an adventure to create my own Travelling Quilt Bee - a daunting task as I've never been a quilt mama before or set up my own bee, but thankfully a well received plea meant that by the end of August I had 11 wonderful ladies set to join me for the next 12 months on a epic quilting adventure.

I wanted to try something completely different to the last one and to push myself out of my comfort zone, with this in mind I settled on 'Modern Rainbow' I wasn't sure what form this would take, but that's what I was aiming for. I'm not really modern when it comes to fabric choices or block choices so both of these together was definitely a challenge! I had bought the Aquamarina pattern quite a while ago, I take it out every now and again to look at and then put it away for 'oneday' so I decided this was the time. I had previously seen this version by Quiltmekiwi and just fell in love with everything about it, mostly because it is nothing like anything I've attempted before but also because it looks so clean, fresh and well modern!

With this as my inspiration I set off on my most favourite part of quilting - fabric buying! My intention was to source modern fabrics across the rainbow avoiding anything I would usually be drawn towards, I am very pleased with the end result although the same cannot be said for the bank balance or the husband.

One of the things I loved the most about this pattern was the fact that it is 90% foundation/paper pieced, which those of you who regularly follow my adventures on here will know is my most favourite type of quilt pattern, the other thing I loved about it is the giant New York Beauty element. With my rainbow set out and ready to go I had to decide on background fabrics, I knew I really wanted to include some kind of 'text print' - having said I'm not really modern in my fabric choices, I do have a slight obsession with low volume and text print in particular, but as for the rest I had no idea.

The rainbow fabrics are a mix of Alison Glass (all collections), Guicy Guice, Karen K Lewis and some Art Gallery thrown in for good measure and the background is More Paper by Zen Chic for Moda - one of my all time favourites that I really wished I'd bought several yards of instead of just the one (rookie mistake always buy at least 3 of the good ones!)I tested quite a few fabrics to use for the main background, again I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it, I had accidentally tried out Fairy Dust by Tula Pink from her Pinkerville range (another one I have several yards of) and as much as I didn't want to cut up my precious Tula, I couldn't seem to move away from it, so had to give in and take the plunge.

I really love the way the birds subtly pick out the colours around my rainbow and blend in rather than overpower it, I also fussy cut the same birds for the arrow heads trying to match each sections colour way so it all tied together - I really love the detail you can get in a quilt from fussy cutting.

A bazillion flying geese later I had the borders almost ready and set about fussy cutting some corner squares, again with the Fairy Dust birds to finish off the first border section.

It was then a super quick run to the finish with the outer border and my giant centre block/starting block was done and ready to travel for the next 12 months!

I am really pleased with how it turned out, there are a couple of mistakes that hopefully you won't notice (but I really do!) but I challenged myself and stuck to the original plan of trying something new and modern. It was very daunting and I can't say that I enjoyed the whole process but I did learn a great deal and I am happy with the progress I made in my own quilting journey. 

The hard part now is waiting to see what all the other lovely ladies make to go along with it and having to wait a whole year to get it back. The blocks went travelling on October 1st so we've already made one lot of blocks for the next person in our chain, but that is a tale for another day.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

STITCHING UP A STORM

On A Rainy Wednesday

Firstly I really must apologise for being so quiet lately, I haven't been idol - in fact quite the opposite - however I have had some happy life changes so my attention hasn't totally been focused on quilting!! 

The epic African/Colonial adventure is still on going, getting bigger and bigger and at the moment is looking like this

As previously stated I have been quilting up a storm today - my first day off in ages where I could literally stay in my pjs and sew all day - and what better way to start than with a Blackford Beauty?? Well 4 of them actually, all 16inch squares as well!! I know, I know I said no more squares, but I seem to be plagued by them, they appear in every bloody block I want to use for this quilt. Although thankfully this time the smallest ones were 2 1/2"  

so completely manageable.

For this block a selection of prints and solids works well to highlight the overall design of the inner star and the internal square borders, 5 different colours/ fabrics in total. 56 2 1/2" squares and 8 2 1/2" by 6 1/2" rectangles are needed for each block, I made 4 of them so yes I did in fact cut out another 224 squares......

Most of the squares are stitched together to form a series of nine patches, with the centres being a four patch. I have to admit that it's true what they say, "practise does make perfect", most of my seems and points matched like a dream and as you all know I do struggle with accuracy and being neat!!

The remaining pieces are used to form flying geese style units (grrrrrrr) which are then stitched together to make these arrow head units, I was very impressed with the ease in which they came together - once I had stopped stitching them upside down that is!! It is actually a very simple block to follow, with clear instructions and almost blonde proof diagrams as well.

I had originally intended for the stars to be the lighter colour and the backgrounds darker, but changed my mind last minute mostly due to fabric quantities and the fact that a large portion of the quilt is already in shades of brown, cream and tan. I think the dark red has worked well, it certainly 'pops' more against the lighter background colour's.

The backing fabric is this crazy African print my Mom bought for me when she went on holiday earlier this year, it's really funky up close, lots of patterns in patterns. I went for a very simple quilting approach, stitching around the inner stars and arrow heads as well as a small section of the outer square design. Overall I am really happy with how it has turned out, and will definitely be making some of these blocks again.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

TWO CHEEKY MONKEYS SNUGGLING ON THE BED...

And A Whole Lot Of Shopping!!

So the quilts made it safely across the oceans and found their way to these two cheeky monkeys

And as you can see they loved them!! Look at those smiles and those chubby cheeks, just to beautiful but then I am a very biased Aunty. Something else I am very biased about is how breathing taking The North is, if you have never ventured up there I can't tell you enough how much you should, just don't tell my Granny she won't be pleased if I start sending hoards up there!!

Half of my family is from Yorkshire, it is a fair distance - 263 miles if you want to be picky about it - from where we live down south, so for one week of the summer my Granny (who is rather young to have that title) and I head up to make the rounds visiting friends, friends and quaint little villages that time has forgotten, eating far to many pub lunches and baked goods and of course stopping off at as many quilt shops/ fabric shops that can be found!!   

This is Whitby Abbey, one of my most favourite places on earth, it is set high on top of the cliff face where only the brave can reach it, not because of the cliffs or the heights oh no, but because of the 199 stairs one has to climb to get there!! That is a lot of stairs, I know it looks like a lot of stairs and even saying 199 stairs you know it is a lot of stairs but you don't really, until you have climbed those stairs and then have to turn around and walk back down those stairs...then you will know!!

It was a busy start to the week with lots and lots of walking around all these beautiful places and the end of the week was just as busy with possibly even more walking around at Sandown for The Quilt Champs!! Did you go? Wasn't it wonderful?? I thought so, my bank account didn't however!! 

These are just a small number of things that caught my eye, mostly the really beautiful quilting, a lot of which is free motion and something I really wish I could master!! I'd love to see what caught your eye if you were there?! And if you have any gorgeous projects you are working on I'd love to see them to, not that I need any encouragement to start yet another new project!! Kerry Q already despairs of me, she might just disown me if I start something else!!

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx

50 SHADES OF AFRICA

And 1 Great Tan!

On the 17th of February, in celebration (but more commiseration) of leaving my 20s and starting my 30s the Rents, the Brat and I filled a few suit cases and boarded a plane for Durban. Having spent the last few months slowly freezing to death in another "fresh" English winter the prospect of 30 degree heat literally had me skipping with glee. It was a loooooooong flight, and not much can be said for plane food at the best of times but eventually we landed......

 The Brat and I

It was so amazing to see my bestest and her two little monkeys, obviously I'm outrageously biased but just look at them, have you ever seen such cuties??

Seth the "Doffin"

Baby Nate

Having spent the morning watching all the dolphins, we then had to spend the afternoon swimming like dolphins in the pool. I can honestly say I am the most ungraceful dolphin that has ever lived, Seth informed me on a few occasions that I wasn't a very good "doffin" and  eventually gave up and let me be a mermaid instead!! The next few days were filled with shopping, eating, soaking up the sun and getting as many cuddles as I could from my two heart breakers. And if they weren't enough occasionally I had this little princess as well,

It's very hard work this sunny holiday lark, so Lauren and I had to go on a Spa day and have a wonderful massage, reflexology and pedicure courtesy of my amazing honoury Aunty Gill, Roxy and my parents, we also had to lounge about on leather recliners watching the outrageously beautiful Jamie Dornan on a very big screen....seriously England get on board with these seats in the cinema!!  

And of course I emptied a few fabric shops along the way, it just wouldn't have been polite otherwise right? There is a very different approach to quilting and fabric over there, a great deal of it is very tribal with strong ethnic prints and colors, the designs are often quite simple making the overall effect very striking and a refreshing change from the widely accessible fabrics I have become used to.

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who spoil me like they do I had such a fabulous week and cried an absolute river having to get on that plane even if it was to go to even sunnier Cape Town.

For those of you who know my family, it will come as no surprise to learn that of all the planes flying to Cape Town it was ours that lost its windscreen wipers and therefore had a two hour delay, you also won't be shocked to hear that of all the hire cars in Cape Town it would be ours that "wasn't quite ready" resulting in a further almost hour delay!! But you will be thrilled to know that all four of us had our passports which had not expired as well as the much needed drivers license and therefore did not have to spend 30 mins driving around chasing the postman on his route (Dad!). For those of you that don't know my family count your blessings that yours isn't as loony as mine!!

Having lost 42 lbs in the run up to my birthday and this holiday I was in no way looking to put any of it back on again, however with High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel, lunch at The Potluck Club, a picnic at Boschendal Wine Estate, a morning at Neighbour Goods Market and a day on Safari things were not looking good....well actually they were, hence the problem!!

Having not previously spent any great length of time in Cape Town I didn't really know what to expect and being a true Durban girl at heart I wasn't expecting much and let me tell you I couldn't have been more wrong, what a truly magical place it was. I wouldn't say it stole my heart, as I said I'm a Durban girl (come on you Sharks!) but it really was a beautiful place to be.

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx