I took a look today and realized that I never posted my finished quilt top and quilt back for my Double Wedding Ring Quilt. I’m not sure how that happened. I love looking at this quilt, the colour combination still delights me. For the backing I used the submarine print from Tula Pink’s Neptune collection and then scrapped together the leftovers from the border and the rings.

It’s amazing how quilting projects can stretch out in time. When I started making this double wedding ring quilt, I thought I’d be done in no time. What on earth was I thinking? I was able to put the entire thing together and get it basted during the four week class. I was undecided about the quilting though. I machine quilted around the blocks and then debated if I should continue on the machine or try to hand quilt. I couldn’t decide, so I took a ‘break’ from the project instead.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on hand quilting my queen-sized quilt. Slowly. I am getting better, at least. My stitches are not perfect or even, but at least they are shorter. I’ve been experimenting with using the small little inbetween needles and I’m now using the smallest ones – size 12. In the beginning I did not understand the purpose of these teeny tiny needles, but now I’ve seen the difference in stitch length it can make.

The other night, I decided to figure out just how far along I was. When I realized that I was only about a third of the way done, I was slightly crushed. At this rate, it’s going to be a quite some time before i take my last stitch on this quilt.

Soooo.. I’m switching gears and bringing out my Double Wedding Ring quilt. When I took a look at it over the weekend, I realized that I could quite possibly hand quilt this in a relatively short time. (compared to a queen-sized) So, I’m going to do my very best to finish this quilt soon. (using my typical loose definition of ‘soon’)

Andrew bought these lovely tulips yesterday and for me they are the perfect marker for the end of a crazy work week and the start of a heavenly two day weekend.

I wanted to share a few bits and bobs before I head off to devour some rare free time.

Glorious new fabrics arrived this week including Tula Pink’s Neptune collection and Japanese treasures like nani IRO, kokka and echino. Oh dear, what to make next?

I’ve created a new page on the blog where you can see all the ‘Tutorials & DIY projects‘ in one place. Hopefully this will make it easier to reference some of my past projects and get me going on doing some more tutorials for you!

Reva told me about a new sewing magazine that has just come out called, “Modern Seamster“. You can download the first issue as a pdf. With all these magazines closing, it’s so nice to see something new.

I love Audrey Tatou, so I’m really excited about the new Coco Chanel movie. The trailer is in french which makes it even more intriguing. I am marking this one in my calendar, I want to see this in the theatre. Wanna make a date? {via NOTCOT}

The Globe & Mail’s article on craft and the economy came out yesterday. This seems to be a very big topic of interest with the press. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this? Are you crafting more right now? Do you craft and sew to save money? Are you buying more or less locally made and handmade stuff?