My name is Charlotte, sometimes known as Ms Lottie, occasionally as The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady. This is my blog, where you'll find me writing a lot about my quilting and textile arts and a little about my family's life in a small seaside town in New Zealand. Haere mai!
Showing posts with label french braid quilts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french braid quilts. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

French Braid Finish


Finished!  And just in time to give as a gift at our quilting club Christmas lunch yesterday.  I ended up binding it in the same fabric that I used for the super simple centre appliqué.


Here's the back.  I used remnants of some of the front fabrics.  How lucky are you?  You get to see my toes AND my quilting.  Click for a close-up (of the quilting, not the toes!).



I was really pleased with how it turned out.  In fact I wouldn't have minded winning it back as my own present, but I got yummy home pressed olive oil instead.  The pattern is super simple and I think I'll have to remember it and use it again.  How about browns shading to creams with red accent squares?

Monday, November 19, 2012

French braids on a Sunday


Sunday (yesterday for us), was awfully windy.  I stood for ages trying to catch a picture of the gusts visible in the trees outside my lounge window.  Eventually I caught a shot that almost shows how breezy it was.  We did manage to get out and plant another forty odd kanuka trees without getting blown away.  The ground is getting dry now so that will be the last tree planting before Summer and hopefully these will survive - kanuka are pretty tough.


I spent most of the day pottering around in my studio.  I was having a play making a french braid table runner.  The instructions are from a book I borrowed from my guild library, "French Braid Quilts" by Jane Hardy Miller with Arlene Netten.  I made my strips half an inch narrower and now I feel the centre square is a little big in proportion.  I think it's calling for a simple appliqué motif.  The points along the edge will all get trimmed straight and I'm undecided whether to bind it in the deep red or the dark blue?  Any suggestions?


For lunch we had green slime soup for kids, pea and asparagus soup for adults.  Isn't it a glorious colour!  Very yummy too and the kids have no idea they are chowing down on asparagus (they won't touch it in it's recognisable form).


Then keeping with the green theme, I ran the kids a bath.  If you have reluctant bathers like me, a splash of food colouring can be a good motivator.  It's probably a better use for food colouring than actually in food!  It doesn't stain the bath (it might if you have old porcelain or deep scratches) and it only stains the kids if you use too much.  Of course, once my kids are in, they never want to get out....

It's nice to have a normal weekend.  No obligations, no visitors staying, nobody to cook for except your own family.  Hope you had a good one too.