Welcome to the North Pole June update

It is great to see everyone making progress on their blocks. With about 5 months to go there is still lots of time left to work on it but it is probably a good time to rethink or review your plan. I am determined to finish my quilt before this Christmas and may have to speed things up just a little. I need to make sure I have enough wadding and I will also need to purchase some backing and border fabric. I will be keeping my eye out for some discount fabric if possible but if I find the perfect cute fabric I am prepared to pay the price. Gingerbread men or snowmen might be nice for the back and snowflakes for the border.
Here is what it looks like so far. Still quite a lot to go but it is coming together. I changed my Santa and reindeer to a bit more traditional I suppose. The reindeer left on the ground just wasn't slick enough :)

I have been nursing my machine along a bit lately so I have put off applique sewing and put my efforts into cutting and sticking and some straight sewing.
I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to.

If you are not ready for Google+ you can comment from my Facebook or Flickr.

Val Spiers on Facebook

Val Spiers on Flickr

Happy Quilting,
Val

North Pole QAL - March Update

I can't believe how easy it is to get excited about new projects and let the older ones rest for a while. If this wasn't a quilt along with others this quilt might slip into the great unknown - a box in a wardrobe somewhere. But since I am part of a group I have been busy this morning doing my quilt as you go quilting on my first row. Yes, I have to admit I feel a bit like I am doing my homework at the last minute but I feel good that I got some more done.

I did some shadow quilting around the houses and trees. I will probably do a bit of invisible quilting around the doors. I will be doing some hand stitched little snow flakes around as well.

I plan to do some more houses next month. I just want it to cool down a bit more so my sewing room will be a bit cooler during the day.
If you have done a bit more this month link up with the specific post so there is a record of our progress.

Happy Quilting,
Val

February North Pole QAL

What a fun quilt this is. I worked hard on two more of my 12 inch blocks and now have three sewn together. I have a couple more trees to put on then I will put on the wadding and do a bit of outline quilting maybe and a few swirls in the snowy sky. I will also add some hand stitched simple snow flakes in Pearl cotton No 5.
I am feeling decidedly weary but every visible part of the house is clean all at the same moment in time. Even after all the days we have spent cleaning and tidying we both spent another 3 hours this morning. Anyway, I have just taken a few snaps with my iPad of the blocks on my sewing table.

I have decided that I will write the house and shop names on with fabric pen. I am not very good at small writing in embroidery.
I know some of the group have done a bit more this month. Please put a link to your post in the linky below. This makes it easier for everyone to check out our progress.
Happy Quilting,
Val

Posted with Blogsy

January North Pole QAL

Here we are at the end of January already but I know some of the quilt-alongers have already done some of the blocks. The schedule calls for getting your fabrics organised by the end of January but it never hurts to get a bit ahead of the schedule. If you are anything like me something new seems to pop up that has to be started :)

One of you I know has signed up for a very cute BOM called Dolly and Me. I am so tempted. There are several shops selling it as pattern or kit.

Where was I? That's right Welcome to the North Pole. 

I need to stay on track. 

I pulled out all my Christmas fabrics because I wanted to make it bright and colourful. Also instead of dark blue backgrounds I have planned white for the bottom section and night sky blue for the top section with Santa's sleigh so it will be much lighter than the one in the book.

Because I wanted a quilt to go on a bed I had to make it a bit bigger. I also wanted a scenic look rather than disjointed blocks. I pulled out my 12 inch scrapbooking papers (the ones I have had for 15 years and have been eaten round the edges by silverfish) and started drawing up some blocks.

This is what I came up with. 

Rows 1 and 2

Rows 2 and 3

Rows 4 and 5 will be sky  with stars and Santa

Santa and his sleigh will probably be straight off the pattern because it is a bit hard to redraw it.

I wanted snow flake fabric but I didn't have any and I couldn't see just what I wanted on the internet so I settled for white. I think I will hand stitch some snowflakes on each block.

I started Mr and Mrs Clause's house and almost have it finished. The reason it is not finished is I found a wall hanging kit that I planned to make for my mum and just started it. It is cute sandpipers on a beach. I will show that one another time.

Almost finished

If you are quilting along add your name to the linky and link it up to your post about the quilt. 

If you are not in the QAL but you have some blocks or have made this quilt you are welcome to link to your post about them. Only link up if you have a post about the quilt Welcome to the North Pole.

Please leave a comment if you visit even if it is just Hi Val, just looking. If you have a blog I always like to look back. Also make sure you have an email connected to your profile so I can reply to your comments.

Happy Quilting,

Val

A Year of MIni Quilts

I am so going to have to make a set of mini quilts next year after seeing these sets at Patchability .

I was so excited I had to start with December. Besides, I had to make something with the fabric I bought on special last year.

I had a bit of trouble with the writing but I know I can improve it.

The pattern is not quite ready to go up but I will tidy it up for later. I have changed the flower head arrangement a bit so it looks more compact.

Christmas Bells are an Australian plant that flowers in the summer. I was intrigued by the powers attributed to it on this bushflower site

Happy Quilting and Merry Christmas,

Val

My Japanese Teapot

Spending way to much time as usual surfing the web I rediscovered a list of BoMs at that lead me to two wonderful teapot BoMs.
The Tea Time BoM is on now up to block 4 of 12 and it seems they will be available all the time. The blocks are in the right side bar.

The Asian Teapots at Angie's Bits and Pieces are lovely but most are now available by subscription only. I will be using them for inspiration for some personal projects.

I have been taking pictures of my classical teapots for a while now and drawing silouettes and applique elements but seeing the Asian ones made me get out my little Japanese pot with the birdie on top. I use it a lot because it has a strainer bowl inside but I like to keep it in the cabinet so it will be safe. It was a gift from DD1 after one of her trips to Japan a while ago.

I put together an applique design using fabrics from my stash. I would love to buy some fabrics just for making teapot blocks. Maybe next year. I like the finished product but already I can see where I will make a few little changes to the shape. I quite like the bit of wonkiness at the base of the cup but I think the base of the teapot has to taper in a bit towards the bottom. It looks a bit like a saucepan now.

This 12 inch block will be number two in my collection of blocks with my favourite things as themes. Things like cats, chickens, owls, teapots and anything else that takes my fancy. Since this one is a valspierssews original I am happy to share it. I haven't made the changes but I am sure you can fix it if you want to. I have made up a PDF with photo, layout and reversed elements.

I am linking up with

Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts

Link a finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story