If you've been following my blog for a while, you will know that I don't make many large quilts. I enjoy making smaller projects - wall hangings, bags, cushions, sewing accessories. But I'm usually good for two or three simple quilts in a year. I had plenty of fabric left over from the 2011 free Block of the Month quilt, "Consider the Lilies". Remember this:?
So I made the Floriana quilt which has just been published in Country Threads Magazine, Vol 13 No 8.
And here it is gracing the front cover:
This quilt started out as a simple "Square in a Square" quilt, and you can see I kept those blocks in the four corners. However, when all the blocks were made, I thought it looked rather "ordinary" and wasn't very exciting at all! That's when I started experimenting and pulled the rotary cutter out of the drawer!
And so the "Disappearing Square" block was born. The lovely Dawn quilted it beautifully for me and it now makes an attractive cover for our small-sized Pool table.
Christmas for us was rather quiet this year after very large celebrations last year, but we enjoyed having some of our family around. This is my Christmas present - a wonderful new oven - well two ovens actually:
When we moved to Queensland two years ago, we purchased a beautiful home, but one or two things were not as good as in the previous home which we had had built to our own design. The oven in our new home left quite a bit to be desired; it regularly burnt things on the bottom shelf and didn't cook things on the top shelf! I really missed my beautiful fan-forced oven. I had been thinking about buying a new one for quite a while (and saving up for it!) and in the end I decided it would be silly not to have a good oven for all the Christmas baking, so went ahead and bought it!
The interesting thing is that in the process of installing it, this was discovered:
The previous oven had not been installed properly with a vent 15 years ago. The heat had burnt through the fire-retardant sheeting and had started burning the surrounding wood! The installer was surprised that it hadn't actually caught fire! I was ever so thankful that I had made the decision to buy NOW! And for the first time in two years, I made a fruitcake that wasn't burnt on the bottom! I don't know whether it is my imagination or not, but all the food baked in my new oven just tastes so much better now!
In between all the Christmas celebrations, I have done plenty of stitching. This design was a commission which was quite different to the norm and I am excited about the way it has turned out. It's a technique I will definitely try again:
I've been hand-quilting the new 2013 Block of the Month free quilt I have for you, but sub-tropical Queensland summer is not the best time to have a quilt draped over one's lap, so it's just short, sharp bursts on that one. When it gets too hot for comfort, I move over to doing some stitching on another new design. I'm just loving the way this one is coming together:
Then the pencil has been out and I have drawn a new stitchery for a bag. It's been a fun week!
I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful New Year, filled with blessings and plenty of stitching!
Val