Maybe a bit
late and not quite according to etiquette, but still, I wish everyone a
healthy, happy and creative 2014!
And to start
off the right way: a finish!
Yes, I
finished ‘Eline’s Stars’ on time to give it to her at Christmas, so at 16 years
she finally has her own quilt (shame on me, I still have not finished her
babyquilt… but that is another story…) Here it is:
Statistics:
Size: 148 cm
x 190 cm / 58”x 75”
Block size: 15 cm / 6”
Quilting: machine- (Aurifil 40/2) and handquilting (with DMC Perle 8, loved
this!)
Fabrics: most of them given to me by fellow bee members, so their memories are
in this quilt as well!
Batting: Quilters
Dream Blend (70% cotton, 30% poly) which was great for machine quilting but as
it stays a bit stiffer than the 100% cotton batting I usually work with I don’t
think I will use it again.
Of course
the quilt has a label:
With regards
to the binding, I tried something new: usually I make my binding with the aid
of a bias tape maker. Once finished that means the binding is a single strip of
fabric around the quilt.
This time I used Jenny Doan’s method of the Missouri Quilt Star company, which
not only makes the binding a double layer of fabric (especially great for this
quilt, because it is already getting a lot of use) but also the ‘trick’ used to
bring the two ends of binding together (at 8.30 mins into the video) works! When you have finished the binding you really
cannot see where you started/ended your binding, it comes together perfectly!
This will
definitely be my way of binding from now on for larger quilts that get some
real use.
So this was one
Xmas present, the other was a New Year’s trip to London. For years Eline and I wanted
to see the Xmas lights in London, but DH was not keen (“Much too cold to be
walking the streets that time of year..”). So this year, rather than asking if
we should go, I said Eline and I are going and asked DH if he wanted to join
us. He said…. no.
OK, that made 2 of us (in the worst weather I have ever had in London: gales
and lots of rain) in London on the first weekend of this year.
An
impression:
After
arriving the first thing we visited was beautiful Leadenhall Market, right in
the City.
It is famous
for this:
Because it
is right in the City of London, the contrast between the old and the new is
rather stark, coming out of the market at one end the building next to it is
this, the Lloyds Building:
And on the
other end, looking up, you see the same contrast:
After years
of wanting to do so, we did finally see the Xmas lights:
I loved the
above lights on King’s Road
And the view
from the upper floor of the Starbucks in King’s Road was this
Eline making
pictures in the middle of Regent Street while trying not to be blown away by
the gales
Street food!
This smelled soooo delicious, unfortunately we came across it straight after
breakfast so we had to give it a miss (next time ;-)! )
One of the
highlights of this trip for me: a visit to Shaukat with a basement full of
Liberty fabrics!
Beware
though: this is not a quilt shop, so no fat quarters, the minimum they will cut
for you is half a meter, but there are some scraps…
Soooo, that
was a wonderful way to start 2014, hope your year started off great too!
Phyllis
