My scrappy-trip-around-the-Denyse-Schmidt-world top is finished, and I am still not convinced about it. I'm reserving judgement for the moment and hoping that quilting will make all the difference. After seeing this gorgeous quilt by Rachel I am tempted to give dogwood quilting a go, although wrestling it through my machine could prove interesting.These blocks really are a lot of fun to make, and they come together so quickly. I may very well end up making another, although next time I would probably limit the palette.Just a heads up – tomorrow is my blogaversary so it may be in your interest to pop back. There could be a bit of a giveaway.

It seems that there is a lot of disagreement about what Emerald actually is. In my (clearly minority) opinion emerald is a very green kind of green, and Pantone Emerald is actually teal. But then I did once spend an entire day being teased by the other members of the LMQG for saying my cardigan was blue when everyone else thought it was purple (yes Pennie, I am talking about you). Maybe I have something wrong with my colour perception. In any case, the organisers of the Pantone Emerald challenge have decreed that any shade of green will do, which is fab because I bought this stack at Quilt Market. I love it when a non-plan comes together.I really love the colour gradation in these bundles so [Read more...]

I've had something lurking in my WIP drawer-of-shame for almost two years (actually, I have several things lurking, but we won't go into that). It's an EPP hexagon top made from sort-of-1930's repro fabrics, finishing at about 50 x 60 inches. It's not exactly my current aesthetic, to say the least, so finishing it always got pushed to the bottom of the pile even though I had already bought the backing.Anyhoo, the other day Jess posted an appeal for quilts to send to those who have been affected by the fires in Tasmania, which was exactly the kick up the arse that I needed to get this baby finished.In the end it only took a morning to baste and quilt, with the binding finished by the [Read more...]

My mum very sweetly gave me some money for Chanukah this year (as she usually does) and I treated myself to a Kindle. I love reading and as a kid would spend days doing nothing else. The school holidays were filled with alternately going to the library and holing up in my bedroom with the resulting massive stacks of books.Between the kids and the being an editor, reading has taken a back seat in the last few years. I didn't realise how much reading stuff all day for work would make me not feel like reading at night. It's a real shame, but I pretty much stopped entirely. The effort of holding an actual book, of turning pages, of keeping the bedside light on – these are inconsequential things [Read more...]