Swooning over Denyse

Having fallen in love with the Swoon block, I've decided to make a quilt from Denyse Schmidt's lovely Shelburne Falls, in the blue and green colourway.

I've used the Sizzix bigshot die-cutting machine to cut lots of squares and triangles for my hsts.

As the blocks are quite large at 16inches, you really don't need many to make a good-sized quilt. I've made nine, and have decided to quilt-as-you-go so I can do some intense machine quilting. As you can see, I'm quilting in half-inch parallel lines. I'm planning on sewing the blocks together with a slim strip of plain navy which I think will frame the blocks nicely.

I am aiming to get it finished for Quilts UK at Malvern in a couple of weeks, so I best get on with it, good job its a bank holiday weekend!

Going round in circles

I know it seems I'm getting a little addicted to Denyse Schimdt's Shelburne Falls fabrics, but recently I've seen quite a few quilt and cushion designs based on the simple circle and thought this shape could show off these fabrics really well.  I have tried various methods of appliqueing circles, and wanted something a bit more pronounced. So when I came across Purl Bee's method, I thought 'that's the one' and had a go. Using iron-on vilene means the circles stick to the base fabric a lot better than freezer paper, you still need a couple of pins to hold them in place as you sew, but the circles are definitely a lot more secure.

 

I have used a lovely soft cotton as a base, to be honest this did start as a cushion cover, but having cut such a large piece for the base, it may be turning into a quilt... maybe add a couple of pieced borders... who knows!

Work is busier than ever, which is great for the shop, not so good when I'm wanting to start a new project! Finally a day off to myself - sunshine beaming through the window, John Grisham's The Racketeer on iTunes, and a new block completed. I have seriously fallen in love with the Swoon Block, inspired Beth de Maille's Pinterest board I thought I would try one for my quilted pictures.
 

I've also been looking forward to using Denyse Schmidt's new Shelburne Falls fabrics, (available at Doughtysonline) I think the small prints lend themselves well to such an intricate block.

I quilted using a white thread just to give some definition, now I just have to frame it!