Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sunday Stash #75

Fun new fabrics by Barbara Jones for Quilt Soup:


Summertime by Barbara Jones

You know I cannot resist a good dot:


Although if I had to pick a favorite print from the Summertime collection it would have to be these:


I think some of these prints are really good basic stash additions which will work really well with other fabric collections.  The colors are vibrant.

Enjoy Sunday and Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 29, 2010

City Weekend Coin Quilt

A cute baby quilt, purposefully made to use up not only some City Weekend fabric scraps but also the ever growing stash of small and odd sized pieces of batting:


By rotary cutting 2.5 inch strips from my leftover City Weekend fabric scraps, sewing a 1.5 inch strip of white fabric to the length of the first strip, and cross cutting this strip into 2.5 inch units, this quilt comes together really quickly.  Arrange the two-piece units at random and sew together into rows, then sew rows together.  Lots of strip and chain piecing.


The back of the quilt is pieced, again using scraps ( I cannot believe how much CW fabric I've still got left!).  And did you see the quilting?  Not a  straight line in sight:


A wavy line of running stitches - one of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine.  This was so easy  and fun to do, I didn't have to move the fabric from side to side to create the wavy line, instead the needle changes position with every stitch. 


And another deviation from RPQ "standard practice":  a stripey binding.  The color match was perfect and I couldn't resist this cute combination.


The City Weekend Coin Quilt is for sale.  You can find it listed in my Etsy Store. SOLD

Thank you for stopping by!

Fabrics available from:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Crossed Paths Quilt

Why is it harder to name a quilt than to choose binding fabric?  But here it is, the finished Crossed Paths Quilt:


Only yesterday this was just a quilt top without borders!  As you can see I had a really productive day, adding borders, piecing the backing and basting the quilt sandwich all before the teens came home from school. 

Quilt back - a patchwork strip of City Weekend fabrics
on a Kona Ash background.

The quilting was started late afternoon and took about 4 1/2 hours of solid stitching to complete. No tucks, no puckering and fabric pulling.  It was a good basting day.
.

This quilt is  quite heavily quilted, but I really love the effect of all the intersecting lines. I outlined all of the seams by stitching approximately a quarter inch on both sides of the seam lines, first creating a foundation grid by outlining all of the individual blocks and then filling in the remaining lines.


I didn't have enough fabric to finish the quilt with City Weekend fabric, so I chose to play it safe by using the much loved Kei Honeycomb (Japanese Import) white spot on a red background for the quilt binding.  The machine stitched binding was completed late into the evening (or was it early morning?).


Some easy reference details:

Quilt Size:  44.5 inches x 50.5 inches
FabricCity Weekend by Oliver + S and a neutral linen/cotton fabric
Block size:  6 1/2 inches ~ 42 blocks
Border:  4" x 2" strips (finished size)
Backing:  Kona Cotton Ash ~  1.5 yards


I have updated my Etsy Shop!

You can find the listing for the Crossed Paths Quilt here.  SOLD

Less stitching and more domesticity today!

Monday, October 25, 2010

City Weekend - Cross Quilt

Another Pillow
Determined to work with my Fat Quarter bundle of City Weekend fabrics, and having new found enthusiasm for all things "cross quilt" I have started a new project inspired by the pictured pillow (left)  by Zum-Zum on Flickr.

There are countless variations of cross quilts but this particular layout really appealed.  Featuring straight lines and simple piecing it truly reflects my favorite kind of repetitive piecing and overall design.

I was happy to find some free time on the weekend to sew, and wasted none of it:

I have enjoyed making these simple blocks and although my initial thought was to piece a nine-patch block, this method was soon replaced by using a single strip of fabric for the center of each block.  The blocks were orientated according to the center strip; alternating a vertical strip block with a horizontal strip block.  This also meant that the seams all nicely locked together when the blocks were pieced together.


For the background fabric I have used a Handkerchief Linen (55% cotton, 45% linen) in a neutral color.  The linen blend is a little more difficult to work with, but does add a nice texture to the quilt.  I have also pre-washed the linen blend fabric to remove shrinkage (I don't otherwise pre-wash cotton fabrics).


Today, I am piecing some borders.  I think the quilt top calls for a burst of color.


What are you working on today?

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sunday Stash #74

The wonderful world of Dr Seuss - Robert Kaufman Fabrics:  Celebrate Seuss! and Cat in the Hat:


Bold irregular dots and stripes (these stripes would have been perfect for my In a Spin Quilt!).


And of course individual prints with  instantly recognizable and much loved characters without whom a childhood is incomplete!


Robert Kaufman - Celebrate Seuss and Cat in the Hat fabrics are available for purchase from  FabricWorm and FabricWorm on Etsy.

 Enjoy Sunday!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Quiltmania

Quiltmania Issue 78

Whilst Quiltmania Issue 79 arrived in the UK early October, (as seen here - Mrs Schmenkman Quilts), Issue 78 arrived at my Newsagent this week (someone please tell me why it needs to take so long for magazines to arrive downunder?). 

Blueburst by Aline Vandenbuleke

I don't buy a lot of magazine anymore but this one really caught my eye and made its way home with me.  Quiltmania #78 has some really interesting and colorful projects; including a good mix of easy and more complicated quilt designs using various piecing techniques. 

Wagon Wheels designed by Kandy Petersen, pieced by Sandy Klop

Goodness I love this magazine, even the advertisements are interesting!


The other arrival this week is a long awaited FQ bundle of City Weekend fabric (Oliver + S for Moda),


and as I was keen to play with both the City Weekend fabric and the  Wagon Wheels quilt pattern from Quiltmania magazine (as pictured above), I traced and photocopied the arcs for paper-piecing:


Then I carefully traced the pattern sheet and cut out the remaining templates using cardboard.  However, it wasn't all that much later that I worked out that whilst the arcs included seam allowances, the templates did not.  It helps to read the pattern sheet, it would have saved quite some frustration.


I was determined to finish the (one) block, and although I love the design and the fabrics, I didn't enjoy the piecing process.  Alas, it will be a lone block and will join the block stash.  

Happy magazine, fabric and block stashing!


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Sugar and Spice

... and all things nice.


It's done!   The Innocent Crush Quilt is finished  I do love how it has turned out.

SPECIFIC DETAILS:

Fabrics Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner, combined with Kaffe Dots
Design:  Very heavily based on the Sugar and Spice pattern in the new release book Quilts en Provence by Kaffe Fassett.

Kaffe Fassett's Quilts en Provence: 20 Designs from Rowan for Patchwork and Quilting
Quilt Size:  51 inches x 66 inches
Size of Squares:  3 inch squares (including seam allowances)


Quilt Back:


The back of the quilt features more Innocent Crush and is pieced with 8 1/2 inch squares.  I was pretty happy with how well the quilt back lined up.  I ensured the quilt top was pinned straight by matching a seam line from the quilt top with a seam line from the backing, both horizontally and vertically, prior to the rest of the quilt being basted.

Quilting:

I straight-line machine quilted this quilt first by outlining the seams of the 16-patch blocks to stabilize the quilt sandwich, and then cross-hatched the rest of the quilt by stitching diagonal lines through the small individual squares.  No line marking was required (yay!).


Hand-Stitching:  A row of hand stitching in zig-zag formation was quilted along the top edge of the quilt in Perle 8 embroidery thread.


Binding:  Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Chartreuse (this is quickly becoming another stash favorite!).


And the quilt was labeled using fabric selvage:


I have listed the Sugar and Spice Quilt in my Etsy Store.


You can find the listing here. SOLD

Innocent Crush fabric collection by Anna Maria Horner is available for purchase from:

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sunday Stash #73

It is obvious that I do enjoy working with color, however there are some colors that just don't have the same appeal as others.  For me one of those colors (besides purple!) is the entire palette of browns:


 Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton ~ Brown Palette color chart here.

This will be a color challenge quilt for me when it eventuates.  Brown and beige mingled with a little splash of orange/yellow (and maybe red?). I think it will work.


Do you have a color palette that you find challenging to work with?

Enjoy Sunday!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Update update ...

A little progress report on this "back to Winter" blustery Saturday.

The Innocent Crush Quilt has been basted and rapid quilting progress was made.  There was lots of quilt wrangling and a great workout for the arms and shoulders, otherwise all went rather smoothly.


As the quilt back was significantly larger than the quilt top (and thought it would be a shame to have to trim it all off after quilting),  I stitched a border along the top edge of the quilt. To add a little interest to this border I have started hand-stitching a little detail:




The minimal amount hand stitching is limited to just the border, compliments the colors of the quilt, and doesn't detract from the overall design.  I just wish I could enjoy the hand-stitching a little more.

Have a great weekend!