What! More fabric!!!

Parcel #1:

My first Kona Cotton Solid fabric purchases, that arn't Grey! I narrowed my choices by matching some of the colours to Denyse Schmidt's elusive oop Flea Market Fancy. Wow, that's a mouthful!
I decided I wanted a quilt, even if it's a small one, using the scraps I have of this line. I haven't quite decided on the block, but I think it'll have to be somewhat wonky due to the odd sizes of fabric I have. I'm looking forward to the puzzle piecing.

Parcel #2:

Browsing on Etsy, as you do, I had a visual light bulb moment! How fantastic does Nicey Jane and Dolce look together! Mr Mandalin just happened to be walking by during this moment and the rest is history, as they say! I'm toying with the idea of a Bento Box quilt. I've always wanted to do one and if I throw a Kona Grey and Aqua in the mix.......

Parcel #3

I'm not a big Heather Ross fan, but I do very much love this Sleeping Beauty and Roses print on Linen, from Far, Far Away II. They are destined to be zipped purses and notebook covers for 'The Nook'. More on that next post.


Parcel #4:

Hasn't arrived yet, lol!! It's a couple of Tula Pink charm packs. A Neptune and Plume. Sooooo excited about the Neptune one!

Cheerio for now,
x Mandy

Last of the blocks for the Quilt-Along

Woo hoo

blocks E & F finished!

I love them

It did concern me at times, that the Large Rose print wouldn't work well with these blocks. But in the end, after trying to get as much colour contrast as I could (without not seeing the print!), I'm happy with the balance.
Tomorrow it's time to cut out the sashing, and to lay the blocks out on my bed to see the overall pattern. I will lay them out as Elizabeth did and take photo's, I find I can make placement decisions quicker, and easier, if I take photo's. Plus we'll be able to go to bed tomorrow night, ha!
The green solid that the blocks are on, is the smaller backing piece. The larger backing piece will be a cool grey, several shades darker than the grey of the blocks. I've a thread that is almost exactly it's colour, and was wondering if that would look okay for the quilting. The sashing for the front is a darkish aqua and the binding is a light aqua. If any one has any idea's on a good thread colour choice, I'd be very happy to hear it. This will be my first time at stipple quilting. I'm pretty nervous, but determined. I can't afford to get the quilting done professionally, and it's part of the Quilt-along to do, and therefore also learn stipple quilting from Elizabeth. And believe me I do want to learn, I just want to do a good job. Because I have so enjoyed this experience, I love this fabric and I want the best possible outcome to show that. Don't we always though.

Elizabeth has really done an excellent tutorial, minute detail has gone into every step she has posted. She has encountered a little finger wagging along the way, which has astounded, and completely baffled me. Her philosophy is, do it the way it works for you! At the beginning of her first Quilt-along post she says, "Before we start, I want to be clear that I do not consider my techniques to be the one right way to quilt. I'm just explaining what works for me, as developed through years of trial and error". Gee, it makes me so cross when people that give their expertise freely, like Elizabeth, are not fully appreciated.

Anyhoo, that's the end of my diatribe. Lastly, take a look at the flickr group for the 'Mod Sampler' quilt, every person has stamped their own personality on this pattern, the different fabric colour and pattern combinations are really fascinating!

Cheerio for now people

second Quilt-along update

This is my final selection for the Quilt-along. I took out the lovely scrolly pink and supplemented it with a dot, the white on pink. I was also a little worried about it being a print with such a heavy directional pattern. I think the other dot evened out the blocks, I now have 6 large sized prints, 2 medium and 4 dots (2 white background and 2 coloured). These make me happy.



All carded and ready for sewing. I must say that these cards have been invaluable in keeping everything under control, block wise. I shall definitely use this system again, in fact I think you need to if your cutting out the whole quilt before a stitch is sewn. Especially a sampler quilt.

3 B blocks & 3 A blocks

the other 3 B blocks & 3 A blocks

Block C has just been blogged so I'm off to do that one. Take a look at the flickr quilt-along pool, I'm finding it fascinating to see everybody's fabric choices. The discussions are quite lively too!

My fabric choice for the Oh, Fransson quilt-along

Here are my 12 fat quarters

Here they are on the sashing

And this picture shows the binding colour (r)

The moment I set eyes upon this fabric online, AVA ROSE by Tanya Whelan, I knew I had to have some. I couldn't wait for one of the 3 fabric/patchwork shops closest to me to get some, so I purchased a pack of 15 fat quarters from Hancocks of Paducah in the US. My local 3 shops STILL do not carry this gorgeous range. Ho hum. What more can I say.

Okay, back to cutting. I want to get the blocks cut before Elizabeth's next post, which hopefully will be about assembling the blocks. Yippee!!!!!!