Dogs on quilts

This summer I needed to make four cot quilts, all for boys. 

 This last quilt is for my husbands nephew - the first child for his youngest brother. My brother in law and his wife both love dogs.  This pattern was the perfect fit for a couple that love dogs.  So I ordered an online pattern on the internet and printed off the pages.

It has been many years since I have paper pieced.  I was a very keen paper piercer about 15 years ago and made many quilts from Margaret Rolfs books, animals on much smaller then these 8 inch blocks.  But I am clearly out of practise, as there was lots of unpicking and language that needed to be censored.  Especially on this ear, which I had to resew three times...last time because the first piece was upside down!  

By the end of the 11 blocks I was over paper piecing.  There are supposed to be two narrow blocks of machine appliqued paw prints at the top and bottom of the middle row.  But I was very grumpy so skipped straight to sewing the top together.  Please note this was the first time I had sewn flange on blocks as well.  I had real issues with the foot slipping and they are not straight, but I just persisted. 

This baby needs a quilt soon and I was determined to get this top done, so I could move onto something I wanted to do!  The eyes and noses were added last, I satin stitched those on, again fiddly and time consuming and I remembered why I love machine piecing v machine applique. 

But adding the facial features made the dogs come to life and I started to enjoy the cute dogs and the fun lime green spot.  I got all the  fabric for dogs out of my stash and the blue background was left overs from backing for another recently finished cot quilt.  I did buy the navy for the flange and the lime green.  

I needed to add a final border.  So back to Spotlight I go and found this wonderful star print.  I immediately brought the rest of the bolt, which was not a lot, as it will work well to tie a busy novelty print kids scrap quilt together really well.  I wanted the softest fabric for a backing so I purchased some flannel with dogs on it, super cute!  Quilting has commenced, as this baby has been born and the weather is cooling down!

Happy quilting Sue

Cot quilt #2

Still using the fat quarter bundle of African animal/primary colour prints I decided that simple sashed blocks were the go, using up the 1.5" strips I had cut from the first cot quilt. 

I really liked the white/red polka dot fabric I found in my stash, so sashed all the blocks using this to make the quilt a bit bigger.

These are all elephant prints, super cute!

I was one block short, so fussy cut from one of the other prints.

This quilt needed a border in my option and I when I was on a day trip to Warrnambool with my mother (to visit their quilt show), I found this amazing lime chevron print....it was on sale, so I brought the rest of the bolt!

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilt #1

I started out with a fat quarter bundle of kids prints and a desire to make four cot quilts. I found the  pattern in a quick clean up that I had but I cannot find it online to give you a link - sorry!  

I was happy with the blocks, but feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the colour.  

So I trialled some sashing in while (red dots) and blue (tone on tone dots), and the blue won. 

So while I am happy to have one cot quilt flimsy finish, I am still debating if I want to add a border or not.  So it might not actually be "finished"!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Using my stash

I needed and went looking for some mindless piecing over the weekend, making some more blue (January) Rainbow Scrap Challenge four patches.

Plus lots and lots of purple four patches for Febuary,  I managed to use up all the pre cut purple triangles, with three stars and one HST block.

I spent most of my sewing time quilting.  There is a limit to how much quilting my shoulder will handle.  So in stops and starts I free motioned quilted this cot quilt.  It started life as a panel, a friend had the perfect shade of blue for the border and then I had some digger & truck fabric for the border.  

Its a good feeling to be using up the stash. 

Its a fantastic, enlightening feeling to be writing my first post without any photo hassles!  I followed  Chooky Blue instructions posted on her blog, and emailed the photos off my phone to my blog - where they became this post :) .  That makes me so happy, you cannot imagine.  

My second source of joy over the weekend was buying myself a second hand desk, I have been using an old laminated table for years.  I had looked, but came to the conclusion needed to look second hand because I have a desktop PC, with a tower, so old fashion, and all the new desks are tiny little things (presumably for people with iPads or laptops) without any drawers to keep things in, so impractical!  So I can now blog in comfort, instead of being surrounded by piles of stuff, that did not have a home.  There was another purchase, from the local op shop - a little chest of draws, perfect for my sewing corner, but it needs sanding back.  A project for later....hubby is still working on the desk I brought our son. So he was relieved my desk didn't need any work on it ;) and so was I!

Happy quilting Sue.

The year that was - 2016.

In 2016 I made one wall hanging, 

and 2 cot quilts.

I have no idea why I have started a blue and orange theme - this was not intentional!

Then there were three table runners completed; 

a citrus coloured one, a Pineapple themed one, 

and there is not photo of the 3rd, oops!

I finished one single bed quilt - for Aussie Hero quilts.

I finished 3 large quilts of which 2 were old UFOs - Farmhouse Basket quilt and

- Scrappy Sprouts.  Which was also my leaders/enders and Rainbow Scrap challenge project.

 I ignored the rest of my UFOs to start and finish Autumn Star quilt in the same year!  My excuse is that it was a stash buster and cleaned out a large portion of my autumn toned quilts.

 Finally towards the end of the year I made two mini quilts (what only two?!),

sadly there is no photo of the second one :( 

Two dolls quilts (plus a mattress/pillow)

and two teddy bear sleeping bags were made and posted off, 

but again, I am missing a photo of the second sleeping bag. I am going to try and obtain pictures of the missing items - but 2 of the 3 items have been gifted, so no guarantees.

In 2016 I started a new job, had  IT problems (they seemed endless but been fixed now) and DH continued to travel regularly for work (despite advise his travel was to be reduced) and I started travelling for work!

So while I initially thought my overall output was down compared to 2015,  I am now just happy I got to finish anything!

Happy quilting, Sue. 

Orange and blue friendship star cot quilt - flimsy finish

Another flimsy finish....only cot sized but I am still really pleased with it.  

Pleased because the blocks haven't languished in a corner for six months.  

But super pleased because I used up almost all of the left over strips to make a piano key border. And then found the perfect fabric in my stash to make the side borders.

I always feel pleased with myself when I make a quilt completely out of my stash!  And I even found in my deep dark stash enough novelty flannel left over from another quilt for the backing....its got diggers and trucks on it...so perfect for a little boy : )

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilt - a lovely finish

 I am really happy with this finished quilt.

Love the simplicity of it

And I love the quirky zigzag quilting on the border.

I was disappointed to not be able to stitch down the binding, but thems the breaks.

I would rather save my arm/hand pain for something else.

Thanks Mum for coming to my rescue, so another cot quilt is finished!

Happy quilting Sue.

Progress report

With my new job there has not been a lot of time spent at the sewing machine.  

However I was pleased to get the Stitch In the Ditch (SID) done on this cot quilt.

 Deciding how to quilt the borders was a a frustration.  In the end I went with wonky zig zags.

 I just made it up as I went along!  And then I liked it so much I did a second row ; )

Might use this again, I like it so much.

Binding all made, attaching it is on my to do list!

Happy quilting Sue.

Quilt Camp - Part 5

Phew, you finally made it to my work from  quilt camp!

I wanted to get this top sewn together, so started off sewing the backgrounds above the flowers and the sashings to join the columns. I was very lucky to get some neutral fabric donated to me, to enable a scrappy pieced background.

Alas once I was done we decided the quilt was plenty long enough but not wide enough!

Searching through the box I found plenty of left over blocks, but not necessarily in the colour I wanted.  So we fiddled and I made a few new blocks to make a sixth row.

I also wasted time making four patches for "dirt" at the bottom of the sprouts and then decided to not use them.  The Scrappy Sprouts quilt finished so much bigger then I expected (88x88") so I sent it off with my friendly long arm quilter.  It was also too big for a good floor photo!

I am really happy with this quilt and cannot wait to get it on my bed when winter arrives.

I couldn't come to a decision about sashing, none of the colours I had with me worked.  So I sewed all the Dresden blocks together and I am nowt contemplating what to do for a border instead.

These half square triangles needed an injection of red.  

But when I went shopping I came home with a red and orange

stripe and a blue and orange stripe instead.

I made triangles from the red/orange stripe and was happy with the extra colour.   Equally excited that I got all the blocks stitched together before I went home from camp!

Now just need to see if the blue/orange strip looks OK for a border : )

Happy quilting Sue.