Russian Doll Quilt

 

For those of you who've been stopping by my little blog for the last few years may be wondering what ever happened to my Babushka quilt....well you can breathe a collective sigh of relief as I have finally finished the top!!  Here it is - apologies for the picture - there were no helpers around to hold the quilt up. 

 

Now to choose the backing and this is another one to be hand quilted.  The dolls are telling me that they really want to be framed by some hand stitches.  I'm looking forward to spending time chatting to each one as I go...there's Olga and Anastasia and Anna and Tatiana and Nadia and Svetlana...they have become my friends over the YEARS it has taken me to put this one together...

 

I'm thinking of renaming my blog to Quilt Interrupted :) I take so long to finish anything. So this is not a ta-dah, just a progress report

Russian Doll Quilt progress

In the January holiday I started sashing my doll quilt together.  I love the spotty linen I've chosen.  It is going to look great when it is eventually finished...not a stitch has happened since I went back to work....sad, sad.... this quilt is years in the making...as are all of my current projects.  I tell myself it's part of the evolution of each quilt.  Because I work on them erratically and interuptedly (did I just make up a word?) they finish up quite differently to how they might have if I'd busted through the process in a weekend....something I just can't imagine...who does that ...is it possible?  I've grown more and more fond of these little dolls as they've lolled around my studio for years.  They're well and truly part of the family, so this quilt - when it eventually is a quilt - will not be able to leave our family - they're just such good company! :)

Russian Doll Quilt

I purchased the sashing fabric for my Russian Doll Quilt a week ago and had a quick play with it.  All the blocks are a different size as they have grown organically, so their "placement" will be random, not uniform, with different widths of sashing fabric between the blocks.  I'm inspired by all the modern quilts such as those in Block Party of which I am the proud owner of!

The fabric is linen blend which I thinks complements the organicness of the blocks.  The spots marry nicely with the doll's cheek (y) dots.  

Another one of my years-in-the-making quilts is a tiny step closer to being finished. 

I picked up three quilts from the machine quilter - I mentioned that already but here's a pic of my pile :)  I will reveal more as time goes by.  They are my black and white, kaffe fasset's floral parade and my flea market fancy quilts.

Weekend in Review 4

I feel as though the weekend was really very uninspiring.  It just seemed to pass in a blur and I don't have any real enthusiasm for recording it.

I baked on Sunday morning for a birthday afternoon tea for my besties birthday.  I made gluten free butter kisses

and a gluten free chocolate caramel slice.  All very yummy.  I also made osso buco and an interesting Persian lamb and rhubarb stew for evening meals.

I managed a grand total of possibly 10 treble crochets on my rug!  And I did did about 4 strips on one Russian doll quilt. 

The washing machine has broken down. As has the printer and the screen/monitor.  Part of the back fence has blown over in the massive storm we had here on Sunday. The wind also dislodged a couple of pickets off the front picket fence!  I managed to get grease and petrol all over my favourite red winter coat on its very first outing after the dry-cleaners so it's back at the dry cleaners!

I'm on anti-biotics again!  And now being treated for fibromyalgia.

Oh dear woe is me....I think I better eat some worms!  :))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5O4TaXY2gE

Russian Doll Blocks

I've sewn the solid colour border around all 25 blocks now and am starting on the the outer strips to build up the block. 

I'm not sure I have enough of the Russian Doll fabric to go round every block.  If I do I will ahve to eek it out by joining bits.  I have lots of plain fabric so I'll be using it to build up the blocks. They are all a bit wonky!

I haven't quite worked out in my mind yet how I'm going to bring it all together.  I just want to do the fabric justice with my quilt and not be disappointed in the end result.

Russian Doll Quilt

Guess who's come out to play this long weekend?

They've been hiding away for eons, waiting patiently for another outing and finally the day arrived. They've had a wonderful time out in the sunshine.  Deciding who to sit next to and what colour they'd like to be dressed in! Still lots more play time required before it's a finished quilt top.

I love the plain borders - my first foray into using plains in a quilt.  Every block is a different size, as the centre doll was fussy cut from the fabric, so I have to work out a way to make every finished block the same size.  Some of the blocks are very wobbly too, so will need to be squared up. All in all it's a very "organic" quilt, growing at its own pace, no strict conditions attached. It's full of home grown goodness and really really good soul food.