Designing Shoji

I've shown these blocks before, I've been calling them "Asian Circles" and really, when I started making them, I really didn't know what I was going to do with them.  I loved the fabric, and really enjoyed the way the technique works, and creates such different and varied blocks from one fabric.  But even with all that, I had NO idea what I was going to do with them.

I was at work the other week when I was struck with a sudden flash of inspiration, so I whipped up this rough sketch (it's on the back of a piece of non-essential paperwork!!!)

It doesn't look like much, but it was enough for me to get it down on a piece of paper.  Essentially what I want is a pieced background with the circles moving across the surface.  I came home and did some quick googling to look at traditional japanese rice paper screens or shoji and based the design on that idea.

With graph paper and some proper tools I got a much better idea of the design.  This is the first of the things that I'm not settled on.  I had planned to make the quilt in "portrait" mode, because it would be more "useful" that way.  But the more I looked at it, the more I realised that it really does need to be "landscape".  I guess we'll have to hang it on a wall or something!

I've already got the colours for the background too.  I went to Hobbysew, who are carrying a great range of Kona solids, and picked out two beautiful creams, Cream on the left and Bone on the right.

Originally I had planned to use a light green, a light pink and the two cream colours, but as soon as I saw the bolts I knew that even the lightest colours were going to be too much.  When I've got the thin strips of Cream between the Bone sections, it should look a little like this

Very similiar to an actual Shoji screen.   I'm also really happy now that this quilt has a name: "Shoji"  Then the circles will be scattered across the surface like wind swept petals.  The other thing that I haven't decided yet is whether I want to make them three dimensional, and more like actual flower blossoms.... what do you think?

W.I.P Wednesday

Lee over at Freshly Pieced does "W.I.P. Wednesday" which is going to give me a chance to list my current WIPs. Some of them you are already familiar with - but this is a more comprehensive list - all in one post - this could be a long one!

1) Hand sewing
Up first - Candied Hexagons - English Paper Pieced - 15 or so blocks to go, then insets and borders.  Feeling not at all guilty about this one!

 Celtic Applique - all scroll work basted down, but in need of being appliqued into place.  This is something that I tend to go back to when I'm looking for some hand work that is a little different to the hexagons!

 2) Piecework
Odd Fellows March blocks - all fabric cut for this quilt, including borders.  I haven't worked on them for a long time though and should probably get back to them!

 Asian Circles - I've done all the cutting for these and have a vague tickling of an idea of how I want to lay them out but need to find time to sit and sketch it out.  Sewed a few more of these blocks over the weekend and will hopefully get the the blocks finished this weekend.

 3) Completed tops
Urban Couture - this top actually doesn't have a name yet.  I've been calling it "Urban Couture" just because that is what the fabric is called... I would like to use this for free motion practice - but just not sure how to quilt it.

The "Sultry" quilt - another top with no name - other than it's fabric name!  I want to free motion this too, and I have a kind of swirly flower design in mind - but just can't figure out how to get from one flower to another. 

Placemats - these are going quite well - all the binding is made for them, and I've machined it on to 3 of 8 placemats.  I'm hoping to get the machining of the binding finished off this weekend.

I also have two other tops that are in need of quilting - both have actually been basted but I haven't been game to get started! 

Now that I look at the list, it really does seem that perhaps it is the lack of maching quilting experience that is holding me back.  I'm hoping to go to a free motion class later this year, so hopefully that will help!!

While I've been gone....

So, I realise that it's been some time since I've posted, and it's really just that life has gotten in the way of me having some quite time on the computer to blog.

Sewing wise I've been working on my current projects, and also one more thing that I didn't share with you the other day... because we just moved house I've been wanting to do some new placemats for us to use for dinners and things like that. I absolutely LOVED the High Society range from Anthology fabrics, they have a good compromise feeling in that they are not too girly, but are quite earthy and fun.

So I've been making some placemats for us - just some little touches for our new home.  I picked 5 of the prints above to be included (taking out the ones that were too flowery) and added Kona solids in Coal (I think).  At the moment they look like this - stacked up waiting to be finished

But soon they will look more like this.  I had lay them all out to ensure that I had a "random" enough look in the designs of each placemat.  I've already bought the special thermal wadding and I'm going to use a dark brown for the binding, hopefully they'll come together!

The other thing that I've been doing is a little "gardening".  We have lots of outside space here and I would really like it to be a lush green oasis - but given my brown thumb past we decided that I should start small - 3 herbs - and see how I go with these!

p.s. don't forget to keep dropping in to Chasing Cottons to follow Rebecca's great beginner's quilt class

Current Projects: Asian Circles

So I continue my adventure through projects that I'm currently working on. This next one is very much a work in progress. It all started with a piece of gorgeous Asian style fabric. It started with one of the techniques in this book. You can't quite tell, but all the blocks are slightly different sizes and what I'm planning to do is to actually cut them into circles which I'm going to applique to a background. It's just this week looking through all the blocks that I've decided that I might piece the background, out of an assortment of creams. Maybe. I'm considering it! :)

I want them to end up looking like the Japanese Temari balls, and in my head, I want them to kind of "float" across the background of the quilt, and I think that I will quilt loose kind of "wafts" of air.

The techniques in the book are great, I just love how you can get so very many....

different blocks from a single fabric! :) ... and the way the patterns seem to rotate around the centre of the block

Current Projects: Odd Fellows March

Wow - that was a trial! It's taken me 45 minutes to load the photos for this post! Moving right along to today's current project, this is Odd Fellows March: This was the result of one of my very first adventures in online shopping. I loved the pattern in the book, but I didn't like the "old man" look of the prints in the pattern, and then one day I saw these beautiful pastel/bright coloured plaids in the Keepsake Quilting catalog, and I just HAD to have them! The pattern is called "Odd Fellows March" and is from "Quick Quilts from your Scrap Bag" by Leisure Arts. (sorry I would crop the photo below to get rid of the carpet background, but I'm SO not reloading it!)

It's a great book, and has lots of fantastic ideas in it. One day my Odd Fellows March will look like this

But for now a lot of it looks like this!

Current Projects: Part 1

As I mentioned the other day, part of moving house has meant that I've had a chance to go through all my current projects. I've rediscovered some that I've started working on, and not completed. So this week I am going to show you a couple of them, explain where I'm up to, and what I think I will do next.

Up first is this Hydrangea.

I think that I stopped working on it because I wasn't quite sure what I should do with it once it's finished. It's about 15 inches square at the moment, and I think that it would probably make a good little wall hanging.

It comes from the brilliant book "Fabled Flowers" by Kumiko Sudo.

Each little petal starts out as a circle and then you do some folding, and you wind up with a petal.

I've always loved Hydrangeas so I do still really love this block. Now I think that I will put on a skinny border in one of the purple fabrics, and then to mirrior the petals, I might do a border of little hour glass blocks, then bind it.

I haven't really thought about quilting it yet, but I will require a fairly close amount of quilting on the background, to help hold the weight of the flowers.