Winter pursuits

After a lovely two weeks in the sun we are home from holidays.  We are back into the depths of a Melbourne winter and it is bitterly cold.  In between 5 loads (so far) of laundry I am turning my mind to winter endeavours. 

This afternoon I’ll get round to making Osso Bucco.

I’ve also played with my latest quilting project – definitely my most ambitious to date.  My favourite antique quilt ever is this one. 

I love hand quilted quilts, particularly those in the trapunto style.  I’m attempting a remake of the above quilt.  I have one block so far.  Actually I’ve already made this quilt top once with feathered stars in navy and white gingham.  By the time I got partway into quilting it I decided the chosen fabric was too boring to put all the work into.  Rather unfortunate given the amount of time invested in it already. 

So for the second attempt I’m opting for soft raspberry fabrics in very tiny prints – fabrics that work well when chopped up into millions of tiny pieces.

I made the plan for the hand quilting a few years ago.  I started with this little sketch and then drafted it in real size – it’s now on patternmaking paper and safely rolled up in a cardboard tube in my studio. 

I used this book for inspiration.  I picked up this book and several others like it from The Arts Bookshop in High St Armadale. (The Arts Bookshop is a great bookshop to browse in with lots of lovely craft books.)  This book is nearly 400 pages of very fine sketches of ornamental design – everything from tiled floors to wrought iron gates to tableware like this urn.  I used a mélange of sketches from this book to make the finished quilting plan.

Anyway, I’m too busy to put any time into this quilt today.  I’ve got a list of things to do a mile long and a backlog of orders that will take me many hours to process.  Sometimes, though, it’s satisfying just to look at a work in progress (or blog about it), even if there’s no time to pick up a needle and thread. 

Now it's off to the kitchen to prepare a yummy winter casserole.

Comments

[Tamara]

Yes, winter has certainly hit us hard in Melbourne. We had Osso Bucco with friends on Firday night - delicious. Good luck with your quilt. It looks beautiful.

[Megan]

That's going to make a beautiful, beautiful, quilt.