All This Free Time ...

My Finished Quilts

Well I hadn't expected there to be such a long gap between my last blog post and this one, but I'm amazed at how quickly the weeks (months!) have flown by.  Now I want to sit down and wish you all the best during this crisis - stay safe.

Since I last wrote I have managed to finish some quilts, although not nearly as many as I had been hoping to complete.  I have been tending to go for the larger quilt tops, so that must be some of the reason.  I did manage to finish the Norwegian quilt, shown above.  What I did for the quilting was follow the diamond shapes with an embroidery stitch to emphasise them.  Then in the larger white spaces I added feathers.

I had a lovely commission which I really enjoyed making.  The lady had asked for an enormous quilt - 90" by 140", so it was more like two or three quilts.  I made it in two halves using quilt as you go, so that I worked with two quilts 45" by 140" and then sewed them together after I had finished the quilting.  She wanted it to match her new curtains so I used a square of her curtain fabric in the middle and then added various colours around that using a trip around the world technique.  For the quilting I again used an embroidery stitch to follow the diamonds.

In my efforts to try and reduce my piles of unfinished projects I selected some blocks which I had made as quilt block patterns on the website.  I put them together as a sampler quilt and that came out as a lovely colourful quilt.  For the quilting I used meander quilting or large flowers in the white sections of each block, leaving the coloured sections mostly unquilted to help them to stand out.

Craft Markets

Before Christmas I was working hard at things for the craft markets.  I had a very profitable time, selling plenty of quilts and Christmas table runners.  Since Christmas the markets have all been cancelled so I am using the time to make a large stock of bags and cushions for such time as the craft markets are able to re open.

Something completely different

However I did take time out to make a romper suit for my youngest grand daughter.  I really enjoyed making something so completely different from my norm.

Stay Safe

I hope this blog post finds you well - these are worrying times for all of us.  My warmest wishes to you all and I hope you remain safe.
Best Wishes
Rose

Some Finished Quilts

Do you know, I am absolutely loving having the time to pick through my quilt tops and decide which ones I want to work on.  The first one that I cam across was one I'd completely forgotten about.  It's made in Moda French General fabric and I think it must be one that I designed some years ago for Moda Bakeshop.

The colours are absolutely gorgeous.  I used a jelly roll for a lot of it and then used half square triangles to make the white diamonds.  In order to quilt it I have used stitch in the ditch down the length and across the width following the jelly roll blocks - the stripey ones in the photo.  That meant that for the diamonds I could have a lovely play.  Beginning in the middle of the diamond, I quilted a small feather into each corner.  Then between the feathers I quilted a fan shape using straight lines going from the middle to the edge.  I had seven lines of stitching for each fan, but with hindsight I would have used an even number of lines.  Then I wouldn't have found my needle in the wrong place every now and then.

I used the same design for the triangles that are set just inside the border.  I made myself quilt the feathers both up behind the needle and down in front of the needle.  That saved me having to turn the quilt round so often.  Overall I'm pretty pleased with it!

Other Work in Progress

In addition to the quilt above, I've also been working on things for the Christmas markets.  I've made some Christmas Tree decorations which were incredibly easy to make.  I used a really good tutorial from Ami Simms.

I always find that Christmas table runners sell well, so I'm trying to build up a stock of them using lovely bright Christmas fabrics.

My actual first completed quilt

Don't laugh but this was really the first quilt that I finished.  I had been asked for a single bed quilt for a young boy who liked really bright primary colours.  I took one of my red, white and blue square quilts and added strips of yellow, purple and green to the top and bottom.  This turned it into a rectangular bed size quilt and also used several bright colours.  Hope he likes it when he sees it.

Quilt Patterns

I said before that I was planning to turn all my quilt patterns into books, but I have now found that Etsy offer digital downloads.  This is much quicker (and cheaper) than books, so I have started to sell my patterns on Etsy for $3 - that must be about £2, I would think.  You can see the ones that I have added on this link:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LudlowPatches

If there are any other patterns that you would like to see there, do please let me know.  The comment section didn't work on my first post about Montenegro, but I found that I hadn't set it up properly - it should be easy to leave comments now.

Montenegro - Photos

Hi.  Welcome to my new blog.  My aim with this blog is to share details of my travels and of the quilts that I am hoping to complete now that I have shut down the Ludlow Quilt and sew website.  I thought that it was a way that we could all stay in touch.  The difference with this blog is that I won't be emailing you when I write a new post.  You can be notified of new posts by clicking on the Follow This Blog button in the right hand column at the top.

Within days of shutting down my Ludlow Quilt and Sew website, I jetted off to Montenegro for a week of rest and relaxation.  My first time there and it really was a magnificent holiday.

We flew to Dubrovnik in Croatia and then took a shuttle bus across the border to Montenegro.  Proper borders with passport checks and stamps.  We had forgotten what it's like driving across borders outside the European Union.  We'll certainly have to get used to it again when Brexit takes place.

The photo at the top shows some of the magnificence of the scenery in Montenegro.  This was a church on an island in the Adriatic Sea - a stone's throw from another church on another island, but more of that later.

Montenegro is one of the republics formed by the breakup of Yugoslavia.  It is tiny, with one coast on the Adriatic.  The sea was warm enough for me to go swimming every day - although it was cold when I first entered the water.  I didn't try the swimming pool but I suspect that it was warmer!  The sun shone every day while we were there and the sunsets were stunning.

We walked around the hotel quite a lot - such stunning scenery that we had to keep stopping to admire the views.  We used car taxis to get to the nearest towns, but on one day we visited somewhere further up the coast using a boat taxi - that's it in the photo.

On that day we visited a town further round the bay which seemed to be a playground for the rich - huge yachts and very expensive restaurants.  In general, the food and drink prices were very low.

Another day we visited a different town and that was enchanting..  I bought a beautiful table cloth that I will treasure from a dear old lady who kept grinning and waving to me as she popped up all over the town while we were exploring.

Obviously I was on the lookout for quilt design ideas and this mosaic really appealed to me.

In the same church I saw this gorgeous floor tile arrangement.  Mariners Compass is one of those quilts that I would like to make - when I find the time.

Another trip that we took by boat took us to Our Lady of the Rock, near Perast.  This was a stunning church on a tiny island just off the coast. As you can see it, it's very close to the coast.   Beautiful outside and ...

just as beautiful inside.

I hope you've enjoyed this taster of Montenegro - a lovely country that has put its war-torn past behind it and now ranks among the top most peaceful nations in the world.

I am finding my way a bit with this blog - it's a new platform so please forgive me if I make mistakes with it.  I would welcome any comments and suggestions on improvements that I could make.
Thanks for visiting. 
Rose