CHARM ABOUT YOU

It's been a while coming but this evening I got myself in gear and determinedly finished hand sewing the binding on. Then I rushed my (rather tall) nephew outside to take some pictures of it!

Here is the Shattered Stained Navy - the pattern is from the fabulous Stained QAL by the talented Sarah of Narcoleptic in a Cupboard


Size: 57 x 69 (loving those odd numbers!!)

Fabric:
Panels - Joel Dewberry - from the Heirloom and Modern Meadow collections, Tula Pink - Hexbox, Amy Butler - Lark - Souvenir in Lemon, Dear Stella - from the Palladium collection, Lizzy House - Jewels and some others that I can't remember!
Borders - Kona Charcoal
I added larger borders in Kona Charcoal and the luscious Herringbone in Lake by Joel Dewberry


Backing:
Vintage sheet, black and white floral

Quilting:

I used the Leah Day pattern Broken Glass in some of the panels, straight line quilted around a few others and then straight line quilted around the Herringbone border.

At the suggestion of the super-duper M-R I also used the fmq design just around the edges of some panels so it really gives that comic book broken glass effect - LOVE! - thanks M-R :)


Overall this was a great pattern to do, it's so fun to see the blocks come together and is easily made from fat quarters. There's so many great variations of this quilt on the Flickr group!


Huge thanks to Sarah for providing such a well thought out and cool pattern :)

The S.S. Navy is bound for a dear friend and I'm hoping he'll like it... my husband said 'how can he not love it?', so that's one male thumbs up!

Linking up to TGIFF, which is at the amazing Plum and June this week:










and because I hand stitched the binding (does that count??) I'm linking with the fabulous Katie:


and because I'm so proud also linking to:



     

I've started quilting my Stained QAL quilt.

I sat and stared at it for a ridiculous length of time trying to decide how to quilt it. I had a nosey at the Flickr group to see what other folks had done. I contemplated straight lines, which I love but I was in the mood for something fancy!

I started quilting concentric circles, like I did on my Drunkard's Path QAL quilt.

Then I unpicked it.

It just didn't feel right.

The friend I'm quilting it for is an awesome guy, I've known him practically my whole life, he's also an amazingly talented comic artist and now journalist. I wanted to do something cool.

I just had a hunch there was something better...

So I turned to Leah Day's wonderful designs. I knew there was something in the back of my mind (but couldn't sort through all the crap to find it!!) and then I saw this design again...

'Broken Glass' fmq design by Leah Day source: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/day-54-broken-glass.html

I remembered reading that she'd been inspired by Marvel comics and the glass that always seems to get broken!!

This is so perfect, not only is my friend a comic book fan and artist but this is a Stained glass effect quilt top!

It just felt wonderful to have this combination! So I started, then I panicked that it just looked like a random mess of lines (some of it really does, I don't have her talent!!) but regardless I'm still in love with the notion of it and the texture it creates feels SO good!



I'm not doing this design in every panel, it would take forever and I'd probably end up hating it! Also I think it really does detract from the fabric because I've used a dark thread so I'm going to leave some of them plain and just quilt lines around the edges of a few panels in the sashing. I also want the quilt to have some movement!

I'm really pleased with the effect so far.

I've also decided that it will be called Shattered Stained Navy (AKA the SS Navy, thought I'd chuck a boat theme in there too randomly), ok Sarah?!


I better get back to quilting it...

Just before I do I have to tell you I was lucky this week :)

I won a great giveaway at Don't Call Me Betsy, a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks and I chose Elizabeth's wonderful Fabricland pattern! I'm so thrilled, she's uber talented and I'm sure I'll love making that great quilt and getting lots of inspiration! Thank you Elizabeth :)

I also just discovered that a won the first giveaway from the London Modern Quilt Guild Blog, a gorgeous bundle of Laura Gunn fabrics! I'm really excited to receive these, they look beautiful and my cogs are already whirring about what to do with them!

I kind of feel bad because I only entered after a blog post from Kelly, it feels like stealing??!!! That ever happened to you?!

To ease my troubled mind and if you're feeling a smidge jealous can I remind you that there's a heap of giveaways and swaps linked up to the Fugly Fabric Party and you can win some lovely fabric of your own from Prints To Polka Dots if you link a blog post, I'll stop harking on but...

source: http://flippistarchives.blogspot.co.uk/ by Professor Batty  - go look, you won't regret it!!

could I make a quick plea? Some of those fuglies are a bit lonely over at the party. I know you're all very busy but if you get a chance could you go and visit them and stop them being wallflowers?! If you win some of the fabric you could always use it in a charity quilt!

There are some great blogs linking up so pretty please take a second to visit the new links and you still have until Monday to link up a post to win the giveaway :)