Back with completed Urban abacus

Urban Abacus, a Quick Curve Ruler pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful was made into a top over a weekend in August.  This was my choice of pattern and fabrics, in answer to a request for a quilt for a 14 year old girl. 

The quilting pattern was chosen by my long arm quilter, Vicki Jenkin.  She is always right when she suggests a quilting pattern, so I was thrilled with the results = best seen on the  aqua backing.

I am really pleased with this finish!

a) it was a quick and easy pattern to make

b) I used two different lines of fabric and they melded well 

c) its modern but there isn't too much negative space

d) faster turn over for a quilt I have ever made = greater sense of accomplishment!

It has been safely delivered and I am contemplating how long before I make another!

Happy quilling, Sue.

Urban abacus from start to flimsy

I recently had a commission request from a family member for a teenage girl.  Of course pink was one of the requested colours, along with mint green and blue.  I had been quilting for so long I was busting to do some piecing.  But I wanted simple easy piecing and this pattern is certainly that!

Pattern is Urban Abacus by Sew Kind of Wonderful - made using the large quick curve ruler.  Simply the quickest quilt I have made in a long long time.  Blocks are 6 x 8" unfinished and whole quilt finishes at 50 x 67".

My fabric winnings from the guild show are unashamedly very pink!  Now I don't really like florals, so I find it hard to decide on floral prints for other people.  But the super large rose print looks like more of an ombre print when I cut it up. 

And in order to achieve the required nine prints for the pattern I dug through my stash and came across the Tilda fabrics I won for viewers choice at my local groups show in 2015.  This was the first time I had won a prize for a quilt and I was chuffed...but fabrics were very pastel and very very floral!  My friend Ann from Periwinkle Patchwork had donated the prize and it was very generous amount of fabric, but she knew it wasn't to my taste!  Sew its great to have a reason cut into it and use some of it in a quilt someone will love. Ironically I purchased this pattern from Ann and she also taught me how to use the Quick Curve Ruler in a class.

Super happy with the outcome.  I definitely think I will be using this pattern again.
Happy quilting Sue.

Sea Glass finished

Ta da!  Made from fabrics purchased at Periwinkle Patchwork, pattern is called Sea Glass from a book called Mini Wonderful Curves by Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson for Sew Kind of Wonderful - who make the mini curve ruler.

On display in my backyard while the sun was shining and the wind blowing.  Its winter so I cannot complain, just grateful for the rain!

I FM quilted this myself with three long swirls to cover each clamshell, in matching thread.  This pattern was suggested to me as it looks good if you don't manage to quilt back over the stitching line exactly it still looks good.....which was a great idea as my FMQ is still a WIP!

Bound in a grey Cotton and Steel fabric, I am very pleased with this finish. Its is to be gifted to a friend who needs a quilty hug. 

Super pleased our gazebo now has a roof but still waiting on the electrician to put in lights and plumber to hook up to the storm water.  Hubby is going to attach wood slats to the west end and around each side to semi enclose from the weather.  That process has commenced (varnishing wood) but paid work has to take priority at the minute.

Happy quilting Sue.

Three tops and a block

I had my annual long weekend away with friends in March to sew and catch up.  Life is busy was chaos and I didn't do any pre cutting before going away.  But I had the Mini Quick Curve ruler, Mini Wonderful Curves book and fabric I purchased from Periwinkle Patchwork packed together and I made this pattern called Sea Glass.  I love this book, but a lot of the quilts are wall hanging size, and this pattern size is a modest 28" x 35".  I brought extra fabric though and so far I have added a extra row on one side and bottom.  They are four inch blocks, so need to add more to make it a large lap sized quilt. 

Anyway that is on the to do list - as I girl cannot work on one quilt alone while on camp!  And there was only so much laying out room I could hog!

 

Sea Glass was only on my "to do list" since Christmas.  But this cutie has been waiting patiently for several years!  Vicki gifted me a Moda Frivols No. 5 tin - French General print Petite Prints Deux, and the pattern is called Atelier - finished size is 30 x 33".

Frivol tins hold pre cut 7" squares of fabric and the pattern warned that you needed to be very careful to not make a cutting mistake with the red....but I used every skerrick of the indigo & white and had red left over...go figure!  I love this little quilt and looking forward to having it finished so I can display it on my sea trunk coffee table.  

For my third project I had sewn an extra seam on all the flippy triangle corners for my Kim Diehl Warm Regards border and collected all the half square triangles in a little bag.  I trimmed them and sewed them into Broken Dishes for a new mini.  I didn't take any extra fabric to make a border and I am still debating if it needs one or not. 

During the weekend I made one block from the Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern Posh Petals.  I had all the fabric I had purchased in January at Elm Grove Quilts, but had not brought sufficient stash to supplement the scrappy look I wanted.  These are large blocks  at 16" square, but my sample was quarter of an inch too small.  So I need to either make it into a mini or unpick and reset my seam allowance...we will see which one wins!

Happy quilting Sue.

Sunflowers

My youngest son's teacher gave him some sunflower seeds.  I planted them (with him and he has shown zero interest since) and got this amazing flower.

Then my friend Lisa brought me the Mini Curve ruler book - by Sew Wonderful, which has a beautiful sunflower quilt in it.  I was planning to make another quilt first but wanted to practise my cutting technique...and sewing the curves!

So I made a couple of units from stash...which evolved into these blocks, which in turn became a table runner!

I got totally excited and quilted it! 

Ridiculously pleased with myself!  

Sewing curves is something I have avoided for a long while, but on a roll now...I predict 2019 is the year of curves for me!

Happy quilting Sue.

Piecing in Portland 3

Vicki brought new and old projects to work on.  

This is a Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern using their curved ruler.

Vicki had started the wedding ring on a previously sewing weekend with us in Bordertown.  So it was very appropriate that she got to finish the top in Portland.  

Vicki continued with the curved theme and started making this modern masterpiece using her curved ruler.

Which grew from a few blocks to this!

It is as stunning as the local scenery.

Portland, Victoria, Australia.

Mum used my Go Cutter to cut the stripes for these Courthouse Steps blocks.  She has a great collection of Kaffe Fassett fabric and chose to work in this bright red tone with shades of pink and orange.  A few more new fabrics from Periwinkle Patchwork were purchased especially for this quilt, but work was slow going as you have to plan which colour is going where, so it all matches.  It is a clever pattern, but you need to have your thinking cap on when you make these blocks.   

Happy quilting Sue.

Modern Curved Ruler Workshop

My friend and owner of Periwinkle Patchwork Ann, came up for a weekend to teach us how to use the modern curved ruler.  Now you have to appreciate that I always avoid curved piecing, so I made these pieces, with fifteen years experience as a quilter BUT with NO previous curved piecing experience.

On the Saturday we all made this table runner to practise the technique.  I don't think it went too badly, certainly the cutting was a bit trickier to get use to them the piecing.  And the bonus is no borders!  Well that's my take on modern pieces, I feel quite liberated not having to add borders!

On Sunday we were free to make other patterns with Ann's help, and many of the ladies had started quilt blocks using the ruler. I was sharing a ruler with Mum (my error didn't tell Ann to bring enough rulers) AND talking too much, so just stuck with making a second table runner.  I think it turned out well enough, but this "flower" pattern was a bit trickier.  

 

So when I browsed the patterns Ann had for sale, I chose this "Urban Abacus" by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  Ann had a sample made up with a gorgeous raspberry background and colorful fun prints, it was so pretty and a great way to showcase a range of fabrics, such as a layer cake.

 Ann is an awesome teacher and everyone said what a fun workshop it was!  And I conquered my fears of curves!