Possum Magic - Round 3

Hello Possums,

I've been busy working on my border for Wendy's Possum Magic quilt ... and boy have I had some fun with this one!

This is how I received the quilt from the lovely Jo ...

Pondering a 3rd border on the design mattress

I think Jo was on the right track adding some pink into the mix ... it brightens the quilt up a bit and reflects the specks of colour included in Wendy's original centre as well as complimenting the gorgeous fabrics Sharon used in her 2nd border.

I still thought that the lime green star was a tad too prominent amongst all the blue and purple so I decided to add a ring of colour to help balance out the star.  I also decided that my border had to have a larger scale than the previous two borders, again to balance out the star.

Along came the perfect charm pack through @cotton_factory_destash on IG.

It's lovely jewel tones compliment this quilt beautifully whilst still adding a zing of colour.

Michael Miller Gem Tones

If you have a little boo-peep at Wendy's blog you'll be treated to an abundance of colour on colour quilts, so I thought (and hoped) that all this colour wouldn't offend her.

Tada!

and an inside shot to get another perspective of all that colour ...

and a stained glass shot just because I can :)

I'll be sending this lovely peacock quilt off to Carla now to work her magic.  Happy Wednesday everyone!

Serena xx

I'll be linking up to WIP Wednesday and Let's Be Social ... hope to see you there!

Take That Class

I just finished reading Alyce's post about her 15 minutes with Weeks Ringle ... truly inspiring.  You can go over and read the entire post yourself but one paragraph stood out to me in particular  ...  it was in line with attending classes at your local quilt shop vs soaking in information from an online format in the comfort of your own home.

"just keep swimming" says Dory

Mostly I've been going the online route myself.  Firstly, because it is easier to plug in when the kids are asleep rather than arrange babysitters/or co-ordinate with hubby's busy work schedule so I can leave the house for the day and secondly, we don't usually get a lot of the "big names" visiting us here in the most isolated city in the world (hmm, I wonder why?).

... just keep practising ...

But why wait for a big name, when there are plenty of skilled up quilters right on my door step?  I got wind of a beginners FMQ class running at a LQS recently and jumped on the class list.  I'm so glad I did.

I have been teaching myself how to FMQ for a while now ... again, online, when the kiddies are all tucked in ... and to be fair the information out there online is amazing and it's really helped me to nut most of it out and then I know it's up to me to practise, practise, practise.

BUT nothing beats a human being standing over your shoulder, tweaking your machine just that little smidge to make ALL the difference to the quality of your stitches.  A full day of practising to gain confidence in a room full of people at the same level as you.  Confidence to try new quilting patterns because you were just shown how ... how to backtrack properly ... how to get yourself out of that corner ... how to not get yourself in that corner in the first place!

Still a long way to go, but so glad I took that class

Kind words of experience from a human standing in the same room as you .. nothing beats it.