Sparkling Gemstones Finally Finished!

Remember this?

Gorgeous Trudi worked her magic on my quilt back at the beginning of October (yes, that long ago). Since then all it has needed is binding and a label, however with one thing and another I never quite got round to it.

Time to change that and get another tick knocked off that FAL list.

I've really struggled to take a decent picture of this quilt.  Either it has poured with rain and is too bleak and dark to see anything at all, or the sun is shining low through the windows casting deep shadows.  Sorry, these are the best I could do but I hope you can see how bright and beautiful this quilt is and get a better idea of Trudi's fabulous quilting.

One last pic to prove I added a label.  I've said it before and I'll say it one last time, this quilt isn't my usual cup of tea fabric-wise but I am ever so glad I spotted it's potential in the Jelly Rolls Quilts book.  It's bright and fun and I plan to use it LOTS this winter.

Kaffe-tastic

This week I stitched and stitched and stitched until 108 small blocks became this colourful Sparkling Gemstones quilt -

Kaffe Fassett quilts are very often not really my thing, but this one captivated me the first time I saw it in the book, and although I have had misgivings along the way (like, what possessed me to but these fabrics?) I'm glad I've finally stitched them up.

It's colourful and full on but I think the cream picture frame borders help to "control" it for me.  I used a very old inhabitant of my stash for those picture frame borders and it's not a flat solid, more of a shadowed effect (not quite as heavy as marbled).  Again, I probably wouldn't buy this fabric today, but it works really well in this quilt and isn't quite as stark as a plain solid.

Good to be stash raiding!  What's hiding in your stash that has waited long enough to be put to use?

Sparkling Gemstones Quilt - a start

About three years ago I ordered this selection of bright Kaffe Fassett prints with a plan in mind.

These aren't my normal taste in fabrics but one of the quilts in this book - Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott - inspired my purchases.

This Sparkling Gemstones quilt caught my eye and I thought I'd give it a go.  However, the fabrics waited and waited and waited for some attention.  They waited rather longer than I had anticipated, so, when I joined in with the Finish Along this year, I thought it was time I made good on my plans.

So, I've been chopping fabric and chain piecing like crazy to create the required 108 blocks.  (I should note that no jelly roll was actually available for this quilt, so I had to cut my own 2.5"strips from a selection of long quarters. A pre-cut jelly roll would obviously have sped up this process.)

A few nights ago I laid out all of the blocks on my living room floor.  I switched a few here and there and am sure some of you might spot more I should swap around, but honestly I just had to call it done at one point because the knock on effect of swaps when 108 blocks are in play are practically endless!

I LOVE how this looks even though those fabrics are out of character choices, and I can really see how the Kaffe Fassets create the sparkling gemstones name of the quilt.  It feels great to have finally made a start on this long neglected project!