Inspired by Maggie Bonanomi

Yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon stitching Thistlewood. It's really a pleasure to stitch. And in the evening, I wanted to do something else and tried to find a quick and fun project to make.

Maggie Bonanomi has been my inspiration once again. I found in her book With These Hands the project that would be perfect for what I had in mind. It just needed to be adapted a bit to size so it could fit in.

I picked up a Japanese fabric for the background and took all the wools I had and then the fun part started.

This is what I came up with a few hours later.



It is going to be perfect for this very practical but not very nice craft case.



Once appliqué, the blue will not show anymore and I will have a country sewing case. So fun!

Do you like it ?

And the very good news is that Maggie will be in Nantes at the quilt show Pour l'Amour Du Fil organized by Quiltmania.

And Reiko Kato will be there too!!! Well, I think that Quiltmania is my personal Santa Claus as they make my dreams come true.

Today is going to be another stitching day with Thistlewood and Best Friends.

Happy Halloween everyone... Where I live in France it is not celebrated but my daughter has invited 3 friends to have fun with her... the costumes are ready... Let's hope the neighbors are ready too!!

Until later,

finally...

Yes, that's the word... finally... because this quilt has been waiting for a long time before being quilted!

Why? Well, the first reason is that when I started quilting it by hand I was a bit disappointed by the fact that it didn't show much with these fabrics. So I waited until I couldn't wait anymore!!!

My daughter has been VERY patient...

Indeed, I had promised that it would be finished for Christmas. Now, my daughter (and my wife too) was urging me to tell which year!!!!






The quilting is different in each block type. It is simple but I was wrong when I thought it didn't show enough. In fact, it does show at certain angles with certain lights... It gives charm to the quilt.

For the quilting, I have now developped a personal technique in mixing the Amish technique taught by Esther Miller and the Japanese technique. Under the quilt I use a porcelain thimble and on my right hand I have a Roxanne thimble. I quilt with a floorstand hoop but for the borders I quilt without the hoop and I use a weight. I am quite happy with the result and I have noticed that the more I quilt the better and more even the stitches are.





For marking the lines I use a Hera marker. I tried on several blocks the chalk maker (the one with a little wheel) and it worked fine too. But the Hera marker is my favourite.



As you can see, the quilt is heavily quilted. I almost wrote "heavenly quilted"!!!! That would be making my dreams a reality!!! LOL.

Someone asked me in my previous post if she would have a chance to see the entire quilt so I took this photo so you can see it. It's not the best photo though...


I wish you all a wonderful weekend and a Happy Halloween on Monday.

Until later for more finishing and stitching,

I missed the needles...

... and I also missed posting on my blog... but so much has been going on here this past month. Back-to-school is a VERY busy period for me as I teach both students and teachers and all my energy goes toward planning and preparing the entire school year. I also work on two international educative projects which take time.

My needles have been left behind for more than a month except for a regular handquilting time in order to finish my daughter's quilt before winter. And guess what??? I'm almost done! Only the surrounding band of squares are not quilted yet but will be soon.


My friend from Portland came over and spend 10 days here. It was a real pleasure to have her around and remember the past 20 years we've known each other. At the same time we also had a bittersweet feeling as her husband, who passed away last year, wasn't there as usual. I admired him a lot and he will stay alive in my memory.

Well, things are getting back to normal, I guess, and I can now resume stitching and quilting at a more regular pace.
First, I want to finish Natalie's summer project... Natalie, if you read this post, I think you will have a good laugh!!!! I know I told you I had planned to finish it before school started!!! Did I mention a year ????? Don't worry, I can do it and WILL do it before a new school year starts ;-)


See, I resumed stitching yesterday evening and started part 3. Save me a spot in the group picture ;-)

And when the quilt is binded and the pocket finished, I will start another lovely project with Jackie Du Plessis. I'd better hurry as the finishing online class is in November.


It is now fall and my maple tree is here to prove it.


But with the temperatures that are still summer-like, we could doubt it. The good point though, is that we could have had dinner on the terrace so far.

Thank you for being still around. I wish you a happy fall season and leave you with a photo of the olive tree in my garden I took this morning.



Until later,