I Spy kids quilt top finished

After resewing all the four patches into their background colours I laid them out as a top. 

I did not want sashing that was too light or too bright.  The polka dots was just right!

 And the stash revealed 2.5" novelty squares perfect for sashing, some of which had previously been fussy cut - others were just too cute to throw away, even if I did cut off half the kite!

 

I auditioned a few options for borders, but it had to be red in the end!  

Ta dah!  A lovely kids quilt - not large, but the majority out of my stash.  And although incoming fabric (sashing) was more then outgoing fabric (completed top), the sashing will go towards another top in the same style, but next time with bigger squares.

Now back to stash browsing to find a backing!

Happy quilting Sue.

Last years finishes - never seen before!

Honestly it was only after I blogged about what I had made for the year and I did an audit that I realised my written list was longer then my photographic evidence/blog posts.  Still it has taken me weeks to round up the details of these projects - a lesson in there somewhere!

This is the table runner I made out of a Moda charm pack Atelier by 3Sisters. 

 The pattern was So Charming from Tonya Alexander (see her website Eye Candy Quilts HERE), published in the Summer 2016 edition of Quilts and More magazine.  

This sweet rail fence mini in strawberry and cream colours was a surprise gift for Lisa's birthday.  Hence I never blogged about it...but that was no reason for forgetting to take a photo! 

Luckily Lisa was happy to loan it back to me for a photo shoot.

This pattern was from the Spring Stitching day out at Quilters Harvest 2015 - by Shelly Kelly and is a little needle case that you hang.  I haven't put a loop on mine, because I have no intention of hanging it!  But a loop and button to close it would be more to the point.    

Happy quilting Sue.

Opps more purchases!

 While we were in the big smoke I booked my machine in for a service.  But then a few kind bloggers told me about a new to me patchwork shop (Bellarine Sewing Centre) and I decided to check it out. After all I had to buy fabric for borders.

Mission accomplished!  

It is so hard to match reds, but choosing a print for a skinny border  against the reds in the quilt top was even harder to pick.  I ended up with a shirting because the colours were right for the quilt - even though it is not a reproduction quilt. Still they play nice and even better with the French General red for the last border.  

Let me just say next time we are in Geelong I will insist on going back to Bellarine Sewing Centre, because they have a great collection of fabric; mainly modern, bright colours, but they also have a decent stash of reproductions!

While complimenting the lady who helped me, on the size of their reproduction collection, she apologized that the reproductions don't sell as well, hence they were restocking with more moderns.  Not a problem for me, LOTS of the reproduction bolts were on SALE at half price!  And the reproduction collection that is staying was still big enough to satisfy my needs.  

Sale fabric had a minimum cut of 50 cm, SEW nice to buy big pieces, not sure why I feel compelled in shops to buy repro's in miniscule amounts?  Which I regret later when a fabric becomes a favorite  and you quickly run out :(

No particular plan for these, just what I fancied off the sale rack.  

Happy quilting Sue.

Darling little Dickens meets Bambi

I bought a charm pack called Darling Little Dickens from Gails Patchwork Emporium in January, along with a mint green fabric.

I was on a mission to make a quick, cute cot quilt for DH cousin who had baby daughter #2.  Bub was early and we were going back to visit family in the same town in a matter of weeks, so I wanted to perform miracles.

 

The miracle of me staying focused on one project!

I decided (with advice from Lisa and Mum) that mint green sashing was not going to work.  But good old white (from the stash) looks perfect.

Accompanied by a few left over charm squares cut down for cornerstones.  

 The mint worked better as a border.

I managed a fancy quilting pattern on the border - with my walking foot.  There was enough mint green fabric to bind the quilt.  

One cute, quick baby quilt - made and delivered within a month!
 Happy quilting Sue.

Rainbow Scrappy challenge - Sea green progress

The declaration that February's colour of sea green/ aqua - colours not quite blue and not quite green, sent me into a spin!  Immediately I could picture the polka dot aqua I had used as a background, so I knew there were scraps, but a variety, absolutely not!  Liar, liar, pants on fire, I found a good variety when I went digging - not huge pieces, but enough for the job :)

 I decided to use my scraps wisely and just make star blocks. I already have blocks made in RSC from 2015, but definitely not in aqua. 

 I managed to squeeze out four star blocks from my scraps.

 Digging through my endless boxes stored around the house I found more UFO's!  These 7" four patches made to use up my novelty fabric - bits of aqua here!

I took to them with the unpicker and re sewed them into "colours".  I just find "I spy" quilts so much easier on the eye when laid out like this.  

 So without intending to, I have unearthed a forgotten UFO and resurrected it - just need sashing now but nothing suitable in the stash - opps more shopping!

It is hot here, really, really hot.  Too hot for anything except mindless piecing under the struggling air conditioner.  

Happy quilting Sue. 

Mid Winter Red - making progress in Summer

At camp, during winter 2015 (Aussie winter) I made these blocks from a Mid Winter Red layer cake, using a tutorial by Missouri Quilt Co.  The pattern is called Disappearing pinwheel by Missouri Quilt Co, but I have been referring to them as Pinwheel in a Churn Dash on my UFO list.

 The 20 blocks were relegated to the naughty box because the outside edges were all on the bias, due to the construction method (ie quick and easy!).  

Hence the blocks were all slightly different sizes and needed trimming.

I hate trimming!

However I love buying fabric.  So with sashing and cornerstone fabric purchased these blocks came out of the naughty bin.

Confession; I never trimmed them!

I just pinned carefully and sewed them to the correctly sized sashing and pressed, pressed, pressed.

They look pretty good to me!

I ran out of sashing, but have ordered more by snail mail.  

In the meantime its nice to know that one UFO is back on track.  

Happy quilting Sue.

Meet Me in the Middle of Barcelona

This quilted was started May 2016 with a layer cake called Barcelona and some grey shot cotton.

This pattern is called Meet In the Middle and is free HERE at Jo's Country Junction blog.
You cut 2.5" strips from the layer cake and join them together with your background fabric.

Sew all the strips together.

 

 And voila you have a quilt top!  Just needed some quilting.

Too easy, this quilt looks good, no tricky seams to match and is a perfect single bed/large lap for long teenager's size.

 I am definitely going to make this again, but next time I am going to sew wonky lines across the strips instead of SITD parallel - idea courtesy of Lisa who made the same quilt (if fact the pattern was her idea!) and I much prefer her quilting method.    

Meet me in the middle of Barcelona, finished in January 2017.

Happy quilting. Sue.