Winding ways to blue and white quilts.

I splashed out months ago and purchased a new die - Winding ways for my Go cutter.  I hadn't used it, but  a cold blustery day drove me into spending the day inside rather than gardening.

   I used a scrap of old navy blue fabric with some gorgeous shirting yardage.  It was less then ideal (block was too small), so I tried a different setting on my needle and another scrap of blue - Voile it worked perfectly!  Piecing curves used to scare me, but not any more!  Getting the centre perfect is going to require some unpicking, but thats OK as the rest of the block goes together fairly easily.

So now the production lines commences and a new quilt is in progress!

Blue and white quilts has been on my mind for awhile - as images were popping up online and I was sewing miles of binding on these two beauties.

I have made this pattern, in this colour combination before, as well as a autumn toned version.  Its a great scrap quilt pattern and easy to sew.  But I just had this fixation that I had to get rid of those pre cut 5" squares and 5 x 2.5" rectangles. .  

So when the larger sized quilt was finished and there was still a pile of squares and rectangles, I just kept sewing!  There was a whole lot of searching through scrap bins for  neutrals, to get it finished, but I got there in the end.  Simple quilting, scrappy binding and using up some much loved backing resulted in a great finish, I am really happy to donate these as teenage quilts for a children's charity.  

Happy quilting Sue.

Antique mini quilt, pattern by Ann Hermes

After a lot of searching on my blog I found a single  image of this mini quilt, which I apparently started in March 2017.  I don't know how long it took to put the border on, but I am sure that it was the border that was the reason it spent two years in the naughty corner!

I like things to be symmetrical and I just had to accept this was not going to happen with these tiny pieces.  The important thing is the quilt is  now completed (after pulling the house apart to find a matching scrap of blue for the binding) and I am happy!  Because it is blue and white all is forgiven :).  This mini will appear on my lounge room wall after our exhibition in late May....something else will have to come down, but its time for a change!

Pattern by Ann Hermes based on an antique quilt, published in American  Patchwork and Quilting magazine February 2011, finished size 17" x 17".

Happy quilting Sue.  

Leaders and Enders dilemma

A lady I know is moving house and while they are not downsizing, there will be less room in the new place.  The end result is that I have been a very happy receiver of goodies from her quilting room.  I was very happy to give these two books a new home.  

There are the cutest quilts in the Civil War Legacies by Carol Hopkins.  The Civil War sampler has some lovely blocks, but is also a very interesting read.

SCORE!  I didnt own any of Bonnie Hunters books, but now I do!  I learned all about Leaders and enders from following Bonnie, so it was great to have the patterns.  I am now trying to decide which pattern to choose as my new leader and ender for 2016. 

I love a good nine patch and Sisters Nine Patch ticks all the boxes!  How can you not love all those delicious red and white nine patches!  And I have loads of red and white stripes left over from my dresden plate quilt.

Then again Blue Ridge Beauty - a blue and white four patch combined with half square triangles is also tempting! 

OR perhaps I should throw caution to the wind and move away from controlled palettes and make this sweet quilt called Crab Apples, using all my 1 1/2" squares...I am sure I don't have 854 one and half inch squares, but then I have never counted them!

Ah decisions, decisions!  

Happy quilting Sue.