Sunday, February 28, 2010

I've been busy


I have just finished my first ever BIG quilt top.
I call it "east meets west" because it started with two fat quarters my daughter gave me for Christmas. One has a Japanese lady and one had old English phone boxes. The red of the phone boxes was right for the lady's gown, but how could I put them together? Like this!

Quite a lot of the fabric came from the Op shop. I always browse in the fabrics and am often delighted with what I can get for $2-3. I bought some half price fabrics to complete the quilt, because I wanted it to be big enough for our bed.

I learned a lot in doing this -I enjoy the challenge of trying to find fabrics that go together and producing something which is quite unique. It was hard to sew as it got bigger, and I have decided to send it off to a professional quilter as it is too big for my domestic sewing machine. I will make the back today from some other op shop fabrics that I have in my stash.

It is interesting that up until last year I was convinced that I could not take on any projects like this as I did not have a sewing room where I could leave things when half done. The way I got over that was to put my sewing machine on my desk where it is always available, and then I just use the dining room table for cutting out. There are boxes under the bed where I store my fabrics and other equipment. It really only takes 5 minutes to take things out or put them away.

I am amazed at how a barrier like the one I had in my mind prevented me from having so much fun. This project has been so good that it has kept my busy even when the weather in Perth has been so hot. We have had the hottest and driest summer on record! Roll on autumn!

By the way, today is St David's Day, so in honour of all my Welsh relatives I wish you all a good day. Cymru am byth! (Wales for Ever!)

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