Creamsicle is finished!

I put on a burst of speed and finished this mega quilt. I'm even a week ahead of schedule to take it to its new home.

I had hoped for some nice outdoor shots, but it's snowing again! Perhaps I'll get them at its new home, if the weather is better there.

This quilt was started right after Christmas, inspired by this block. I used about 30 low volume prints, very little from stash. At least I have a bit in my stash now! All the low volumes are white, grey, or ivory tones. I steered away from any tan. About half of the coloured fabrics came from stash, so we can't really count this quilt as a stashbuster!

I made the quilt in 4 sections for ease in the quilting. The front is a little directional , and the back is completely directional, so I had to be careful joining them together. The zigzag border was an added problem. I suppose I could have joined the quilt and put it on last, but I chose to do it on each section. That meant having the corner in the right place and allowing for the joining rows so that I had the zig going the right way. I don't know if I'm being clear, there was quite a lot of thought involved!

Here are some pics of the quilting: I outlined each star and diamond, and straight line quilted within them as well. Wavy FMQ lines in the squares between. The zig zag has a vine and leaf pattern along it, it's quite hard to see.

Here are a couple of pics showing the back. I love it! You can see where the joins are, and the quilting can be seen too.

Quilt stats:

size after washing -  92" x 100"
binding -  wonky black and white stripe from stash
backing - Ikea

Linking to:


TGIFF at Sew Fresh Quilts

Uh Oh!

As I was saying in my last post, I'm hard at work on this quilt. I've almost finished quilting half of it.  This is the third quarter. I spent two days putting rows together and making and putting the border on. It wasn't until last night that I noticed the mistake in the rows! No matter how I change it, there's a fair bit of seam ripping to be done. I've been going with "controlled random" for the background squares. After re-arranging the rows, it will be more like true random!

Linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

Do you make these crazy mistakes sometimes?

Till next time

Sue

Quarter Quilt

I've been sewing hard since Christmas. With the weather so cold and snowy, I had a good excuse to stay in my sewing corner!

I couldn't help myself, I started another quilt. I know, I know, what about all those WIPs??Well, there are only about 5, no 6, better make that 7, waiting to be finished.  But when the idea strikes, you just have to roll with it.

I caught a glimpse of a quilt block on Happy Quilting that Melissa made back in May for the Between Heaven and Texas blog hop. You can see it here. I made some changes to suit my plans, and here is the result:

I'm happy with it so far. I guess I will need about 36 stars and 36 diamonds. I've made over 20 of each, so I'm moving along quite well. The zigzag border was an accident when I made dozens of HSTs with the aqua and background instead of dark grey. I really like the result.

I'm planning QAYG in four pieces. I'll get back to you on how that goes!

This month in our online Bee, Becky asked for Arkansas Traveler blocks in rainbow colours with low volume grey background.

They were a lot of fun to make, using the tutorial from Lee at Freshly Pieced, found here

The block is pieced and then the background is paper pieced in, giving a lovely precise result. Unless, like me, your printer messes up the block size without warning. 

Here are the blocks, the right size now!

Till next time,

Sue

Finishing up in 2013

That's both finishing sewing projects and finishing the year. Incredible isn't it? I've already got plans for some quilts for next year, and took advantage of a fabric sale this morning at Fabric Spot. It's a Canadian business with modern fabrics. They offer great shipping rates, and an order of over $100 ships free in Canada. Need I say that I took advantage of this? My Christmas present to myself! And for the next few days you can get 25% off your whole order. That's the icing on the Christmas cake!

Anyway, I digress. Today I finished another baby quilt, this one is for my niece's baby boy who is due in February. I felt like a change and on the advice of my friend Lisa, I made the Giant Starflower Block from the tutorial by Jeni at In Color Order . The squares to make the HSTs are cut at 18" and then cut on the diagonal. I did all this, and then found that the quilt was going to be much too big, so I cut all the triangles down again. I now have enough triangles cut to make another 3 quilts!

The new size square is 12 3/4", not a convenient size to cut, I agree. Next time I would just cut with a
 12 1/2" square ruler.

The quilt measures 45" square, a convenient size for a baby, I think. The tutorial finished at 68" square, quite a difference.

The binding is scrappy, since I had so much left over fabric! It's backed in turquoise minky.

I got carried away with the FMQing. I've been watching the Angela Walters classes on Craftsy, this time the class on Quilting Negative Space. Of course, you learn something every time. Well, lots of things really, but there is always one hard lesson.  I started with the white areas, and really I should have started in the middle and worked outward. Anyway, it came out right. Relief!

Here are some closeups of the different quilting patterns I used:

Paisley in the background. It's not white, it has a faint green dot.

Wiggly lines:

Swirls:

Meander with loops:

I also tried two designs I liked less ( or made a worse job of, take your pick!) A meander with double loops really depended on ending the second loop in the same place as the first. It was hard to see. I also tried combining swirls with a pointy leaf. Let's just say the leaf didn't look very leafy.

Here's the quilt showing a bit of the back:

Also, I put on a burst of speed , ha!, and finally made my block Perennial Pleasures into a cushion cover.  

I had intended it to back it with some hand piecing I did. Let's just say that hand piecing is not my forte and leave it at that!

I'm glad it's done and in use at last.

So to all my quilty friends, have a very Happy Christmas and enjoy yourselves with your families. I've loved reading all your blogs, and I look forward to much more in 2014.

Best Wishes, and see you in 2014!

Linking to Sewing With Certainty, a series at Quilty Habit

Christmas Crafting

I thought I would share my recent Christmas projects with you. Christmas is so rapidly approaching, so I was glad that I joined the Advent Calendar Quilt Along at Better Off Thread. There is a link up with pics of finished calendars here . They all looked so pretty!

Here's a picture of mine, now in use. Since it's intended for a baby this year, it was hard to find things that were small enough, but still suitable for an 8 month old. This will be much easier in years to come!

  

The same baby also needed a Christmas stocking. I used a tutorial on Sew Like My Mom and made the fabric for front and back from 2 1/2 inch squares. It is not quite finished - I still need to embroider the name on the cuff.

Then I thought I would make a Christmas pillowcase for each of my GDs. Well, they are winter themed really, so they will get more use out of them. The fabric line is Brr by Laurie Wisbrun. I have quite a bit in my stash, so it was finally time to cut into it!

I've still got a few more small sewing gifts to make, and then I'll start baking. Are you making some things for Christmas?

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to:

Versatile D9P

I'm sure you all know that the title of this post refers to the Disappearing 9 Patch. It's a quilt block that can look very different depending on the layout you use.

While I was visiting my DS recently I saw one of my older quilts there. I don't know about you, but once a quilt leaves my house, I forget about it. And when I meet it again it's a bit of a shock. I think:

  1)  That looks quite nice
  2) How did I do that again?

The quilt I'm talking about was made in 2010, and I didn't take any pics of it. So I put that right.

This quilt is made from D9P blocks. I took a class, I knew nothing about it at all. The teacher advised me with the neutral coloured fabric, good advice I think!

The backing is a Mount Fuji print for my tree and mountain loving DS. I called the quilt Mountains of the Moon.

I FMQd it with a scrolly design using a stencil and chalk. Altogether a great learning experience.

Fast forward to this year. I made a little boy quilt featuring fussy cut truck fabrics, and the parents and I liked the D9P layout here:

I blogged about it here.

Then I read Kristy Daum's blog and tutorial on her Modernized D9P, and I made two baby quilts using her method as a guide. I wanted more low volume, so I added a number of 9 patches that were all neutrals, and no bright print at all. Here they are :

So there you have it. Four different looking quilts, all using the same block. I'm sure there will be more sometime.

Till next time,

Sue

Baby Quilt # 2 Finished

My last post showed you pictures of a baby quilt made using lots of low volume prints and white on white with a little Echo and some other brights.

I'm glad to announce that I've finished the second quilt too! The format is similar, Modernized D9P per the tutorial by Kristy Daum found here .

It's so much fun moving the blocks about to find the layout you like the best. I'm sure no two quilts could ever be the same.

 This time I used oranges and yellows from a charm square swap, a very little Kate Spain, and a  touch of Echo.

It's backed in white Minky, and I quilted it all over in a design called Paisley.

The border is an orange and white print from my stash, just perfect I think!

Here's the back showing the lovely soft Minky and the quilting.

Till next time,

Sue