Colorado Star - progress / Swap / Featured

It feels like I'm on slow motion when it comes to quilting... Must be the heat and humidity these days... 

Perhaps I'm not that slow after all; it's just me who feels like that...

Earlier this month I was busy cutting 2 inches and 2.5 inches squares for the Postage Stamp Quilt 2012 - Charm Swap & Challenge. A few days back I connected with my swap partners in the US and Australia and I hope to get the charms in the mail today.

I had a little 'stocktaking' of my UFO's earlier. It took me awhile to decide on which UFO to 'attack'. The Colorado Star quilt is my oldest UFO - from April 2009. Not that bad - huh?! :)

Can't remember how many blocks I had already done, but it was not enough for two couch covers. 16 blocks are required for one couch cover. Yes, not more than 16! The blocks are 18 inches squares (sewn into quilt), that's why not more are needed. 

When I had enough blocks - 32 - I discovered four of them were not the right size; they are almost 1/2 inch smaller than the other blocks I had made earlier so they can't be used for the covers! :( Don't know what happened at that time, but I've surely scamp (?) the work and not paid proper attention to the 1/4" seam allowance! Excuse! Excuse! I was a newbie at that time! :)) I can still use those blocks; I'm going to make a table topper to match the couch covers.

I've been featured - again! :) Well, not me, but a bag I made from a pattern in the Australian Homespun Quilting magazine. Take a look here - top right - Dec 2011 issue.  I'm sorry I don't know how to enlarge it... If I had had the magazine here I could have scanned it, but here the magazines are in the shelves 3-4 months after publishing date in Australia. I guess the magazines are sent by ship since it takes that long... You can read more about the bag here.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention I've made a Friendship bag for a swap. I can't show it now, because it is a secret swap.

I've been cooking too, which you can read about here and here.

I've been featured!

Back in May - I think it was - a journalist from the one and only local interior/architecture magazine 'La Case' emailed me for a possible interview and 'how to' make a quilt.

First I hesitated, because I had never heard of the magazine. Before I said 'yes' I wanted to see what kind of magazine it is. A book/magazine shop in town didn't have it, but after some hunting I finally got it at a bigger bookshop in Rose Hill.

'La Case' has stunning photos about interior/architecture as well as a few sections about arts & crafts.

After having a look at the previous issue of the magazine, I decided to go for the interview and to show the readers 'how to' make a simple baby quilt. I don't know what the journalist expected, but definite I was not able to make a small and simple baby quilt in 3 hours - as the interview and 'how-to' took! :) I did what was possible for the preparation, which I'm very glad I did! I wasn't able to finish it that day of course, so the photographer had to come back a few days later for the shots.

Here's the finished baby quilt...

... and here's the 'how to' page.

Here's the interview. If you click on the photo, it should be possible to read it - for those of you who know French - or you can go to Google Translate for translation to your language. Don't know if you can just 'copy & paste' the text into the translator, or you have to write it all..... Haven't tried it...

Since the official language is English, I had expected at least part of the magazine to be in English, but it is 100% French.

Since I don't speak French, I don't know how easy it is to follow the tutorial, but I trust the journalist has done an understandable translation.