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.

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

RSC cot quilt finished

Sew I finally got the quilting and binding done on this cot sized quilt. It all came out of my stash, apart from the cute dot border fabric I brought on sale at Periwinkle Patchwork when we were on summer holidays.

 

I just quilted diagonal lines in the bocks and stippled in the border.  This quilted used up some of the Rainbow Scrappy challenge star blocks and four patches that I have been making for the last few years.  

Somehow for no apparent reason I have not made a single RSC block this year.  When I think it through its because I dont have any neutrals cut.  I do have a small collection of stash left (that is not reproduction fabric) but the majority of the neutrals are very cream/.tan and I was enjoying the white neutrals in this quilt with the clearer colours.  However scrap reduction must continue, so cutting some more 2.5 inch strips in neutrals is getting bumped up the to do list priority, so I can reduce my scraps and make some more charity quilts.

Happy quilting Sue.

Warm Regards by Kim Diehl flimsy finish

Warm Regards - 60 x 60 " pattern by Kim Diehl.  I have made a few adaptions to the pattern, nothing serious, but appliqued my berries rather then make suffolk puffs.  

Its hard to get a good photo when it takes up most of the space on the lounge room floor.  But I was handing it over to Vicki Jenkin, long arm quilter expert to work her magic.  I am just very lucky that she had a cancellation in her schedule, so there was a rush to get it finished.  It was the push I needed, because other projects are calling me and I was ready to start something new, but did not want this become a UFO.  I have several quilts that are honestly at the stage I need to either throw them out or give them away, but its like that favorite dress you don't fit anymore, because one day I might loose weight / find the motivation to finish that quilt LOL!  Another reason why this quilt is going to the LAQ, because it would never get finished if I was to quilt it!

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilt finishes

 This is the first cot quilt I made from the primary coloured fat quarter stack I purchased at a destash sale.  I am pleased I didn't add a border, there is enough fun colour happening in this quilt and its still a good size.  I quilted it myself on my domestic Bernina.  Straight lines are my standard go to quilting, especially for kids quilts where the fun fabrics need to shine.

  Machine quilting does take a toll on my right shoulder, but this wasn't too bad.  I have purchased a new (but ridiculously expensive latex) pillow, but it has helped enormously reduce pain in my shoulder, so go figure clearly it was the way I was sleeping?!  This quilt has been posted to new bub - first grandchild of good friends.   

I have actually delivered these two green chevron bordered quilts to their owners, as we were visiting their home town recently. But sadly in my rush (it was a mad week with both hubby and I away for work, so juggling kids was priority) I forgot to take finished photos.  These two pictured waiting for binding stitched down were delivered to my husbands cousins new babies....well one is nine months and the other two months old!

BUT I do have photos of tops when completed, so that will have to be substitute. 

Happy quilting Sue.

Modern plus quilt is finished

Ta da, a finish! The simple plus sign pattern I worked out with help of my expert quilting friend and quilt shop owner, Ann from Periwinkle Patchwork. Ann has lovely fresh modern prints and colours in her shop, which I love, but don't have in my stash - because I am a reproduction kinda girl!

-

Having said that I really enjoyed these fabrics, especially the neutrals, when making this quilt.  The only hiccup was the binding. I purchased a stripe, but it ran across the fabric and I didnt think to cut it length ways :(  Still it added a quirky element to the quilt?!!

A close up of the quilting pattern, long arm quilter Vicki Jenkin helped me choose...which I love!

The backing, a Jodie Carlton fabric, seagulls....colours are just perfect for this quilt.

Modern Plus Quilt 59 x 59"

Happy quilting Sue.

Warm Regards flimsy progress finally

Generally I find, there is a task as a quilter that you simply avoid doing, for me its cutting large pieces of fabric.  Or in this case, trimming back my 20" square central applique block for Warm Regards quilt.

I had procrastinated for three days....which meant that I had two cot quilts fully quilted and with binding machined on....even stitched the ends in!

But finally at the end of the weekend I just "did it!".  

Sew with a perfectly trimmed square I was able to sew on the three block deep sides, and then the longer sides with more applique and pieced blocks.

I am thrilled to finally get to this stage! The only thing delaying progress had been my fear of trimming that centre square!

However I was productive in the meantime nad have been making appliqued blocks for the final border.  I squeezed in piecing two borders before I had to stop and make tea.  The final step is to applique more berries over the joins in this borders.  I tried, but didn't quite match up all the triangles with all the block, so I might need to unpick a one or two to make them perfect.

Very excited to see this beautiful quilt nearly finished.

And the hunt for a backing fabric must commence....damn another excuse for shopping trip!

Happy quilting, Sue.