Sunday 27 June 2010

Summer on a plate

This is the size of quilt I think I like, small enough to finish in one day, before I get bored with it, easy enough to handle for quilting. It's actually meant to be a placemat.

Yesterday was a pretty hectic day as we had friends for supper, so most of the day was spent cooking and preparing. So today I planned a 'me' day, a play day. One of our guests had remarked that the foot looked so pretty, 'like summer on a plate', and I woke up this morning with plans in my head. I knew I wanted to include a Dresden Plate, for obvious reasons, but the rest evolved as I was going along. And for once I'm not ashamed to show a close up of my quilting! I love my BSR foot, it makes it all so much easier. It's still not perfect, nor ever likely to be, but oh so much better than before. I've also been practising on small practice blocks, using ideas from Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion and I actually feel as if I'm getting the hang of it, at least on small samples. Goodness only knows what I'll be like on a full size quilt.

We've had yet another glorious day today, well glorious to look at it from the coolness of my sewing room, far too hot outside. And now, I'm off to water the garden and then we're going to a neighbour's for a barbecue. What a social whirl we've had this weekend!

14 comments:

Simone de Klerk said...

Wow, Amanda, a lovely piece of work. And I would say your free quilting looks very very good!

Amelia said...

Placemat is grogeous.

What all did you serve - all summery food items?

What is the BSR foot?

I am off to spend a couple of days caring for my young granddaughter as the day care is closed.

Kay said...

I just love to look at your quilting and sewing projects, Amanda. Each one is really an art piece!

Amy said...

Ooooooo....GLORIOUS swirls! Oh yes, my BSR is very beloved as well! ;0)

Such a FUN, BRIGHT placemat!

Lynn said...

The quilting on this is terrific. Wonderful to see you experimenting with different quilting patterns, you are really getting adventerous.

Gina said...

Great placemat. I love the colours and the quilting looks great

Love and hugs Gina xxx

Karen said...

I was sitting in my sewing room earlier today looking across the room. I have a crate with my Dresden plate project in it. I was thinking I really need to get back to it. I will probably have a couple plates left. Placemats are a good idea.

Bec said...

How bright and cheery and lovely is this! Fantastic work Amanda! Your freemotion quilting looks great, well done!

Anita said...

Amanda,

You've been doing some beautiful work. Really like your house block and the placemats. We have finally finished the quilt room. Once the final electrical is signed off tomorrow I will be able to start moving things out of the bedrooma and getting organized. Now hopefully I'll be able to get back to my blogging which I have missed.
Anita

Heckety said...

This place mat is really really pretty- and your quilting is great! I've been looking through Leah's patterns last week and had decided to try one on a quilt but then the garden called so of course I haven't done anything about the quilt!
A summer social whirl is fun, light evenings for getting home too !

Tanya said...

Same question. What is a BSR foot? Anything that will make my quilting easier I'm ready to try!

scraphappy said...

Your quilting looks gorgeous! All of your practice is really paying off. It would be a little more cumbersome with a big quilt, but you can only sew on a little bit at a time anyway. Not that getting the right little bits arranged correctly is always and easy thing, but once you've done that par, the actual quilting is the same I suppose.

Candace said...

How pretty, and your quilting looks fabulous. I admire all the different things that you do. If it's true (and I think it is) when you're green your growing and when you're ripe your rotten, you will always be green and trying new things.

Aunty said...

The placement is gorgeous. Your quilting looks great.