Oh Dr Seuss!

The wonderful world of Dr Seuss - Robert Kaufman fabrics:  Celebrate Seuss! and Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss Enterprises!  I do love these awesome characters that have brought so much joy to generations of readers.

And late last week and over the weekend I've enjoyed cutting into my Dr Seuss fabric bundles.

I really wanted to make a quick something that would be fun for a child to enjoy, and came up with the idea to make some placemats. It did require quite a fair amount of fussy cutting so as not to chop up too many of the characters, and the placemats certainly took a little longer to make than anticipated, but they've turned out so colorful and rather adorable.

The Dr Suess fabric collection comes complete with a panel of larger scale character prints and I have selected two of these to feature on the back of the placemats.

The placemats are quilted with a simple cross-hatch and bound in a black and white pin-stripe fabric which seemed to be an entirely appropriate match for these bold prints.

Sorry for the picture overload today!

The placemats are listed in my Etsy Store.  You can find the listing here.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

A Stitching Marathon

... and the Bayou quilt is finished.  The quilting was indeed a marathon effort and thankfully it was all smooth sailing.  Six hours of frenetic stitching (and also a little mind numbing) and just over two large bobbins of  thread were used to get through all that stitching.

But I think it was well worth the effort.  The quilting has added a whole lot of character to this quilt not to mention a beautiful texture ~ I can't stop myself from touching the rippled and squishy quilt.  To keep the lines running fairly straight I have had to mark every second line, lining up my ruler with preceding stitch lines at the same time ensuring that the line is marked at a 90 degree angle with seam lines.

The back of the quilt features minimal piecing using some of the left over fabric strips as well as a few extras that were used when auditioning different colors.

Sewing long strips of fabric together is not always an easy task and I do have a few simple tips:

• when cutting strips of fabric from edge to edge, fold fabric along the length, selvages together (although the selvages may not be perfectly aligned)
• line up the bottom edge of your ruler along the fold of the fabric ensuring it is straight and square up the edges of the fabric.
• be sure to take your time to rotary cut accurate strips
• reduce stitch length
• allow your sewing machine to feed the fabric through, don't pull or tug at the fabric.  Use dual feed on your sewing machine if available.
• Sew strips into pairs first, then sew together pairs, and then sew together pairs of four strips etc.
• Alternate sewing the strips from top to bottom and vice versa.
• If the fabric you are cutting has a really loose weave use a little spray starch (available from most grocery stores) to stabilize the fabric (it wasn't required for the fabrics used for this quilt).
• Press seams by allowing the weight and heat of the iron to do the work while you lower and raise the iron.  I do use steam when pressing.

For binding fabric I've used Amy Butler Full Moon Polka Dot - a much loved fabric - which frames this quilt with a zing.

As usual I have updated my Etsy Store and listed this quilt for sale ~ you will find the listing here. SOLD

Thank you for stopping by and happy stitching!

Rita

Alice - The Quilt Pattern

That's right, Alice is finished and I think she has turned out so pretty!  Who said blue and green should never be seen?

This was such a fun quilt to make, I've really enjoyed playing with my green/blue fabric scraps, and piecing simple blocks with a great effect.

And just like any other quilt, Alice deserves a fancy back.  The Owl fabric is by Australian fabric designer Saffron Craig, and was just the perfect size and color for the back of this quilt.

For binding fabric I have chosen a Kaffe Fassett Spot ~ an aqua dot on chocolate brown.  It ties in well with the back of the quilt,  and adds a bold frame to the overall quilt top.

And the good news is that I have written a quilt pattern for this quilt.

 Alice ~ The Quilt Pattern is now available from my Etsy Store. 

I have also prepared several scrap fabric bundles which will help get started making this quilt, and will provide you with a color guide for further fabric selection.  I know that choosing fabrics can be a huge hurdle in getting your quilt started.  You can find the listing for the scrap bundles here. SOLD  Starter fabric bundles INCLUDES  the Alice ~ The Quilt Pattern.

Happy Stitching!
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Alice Quilt - in progress

A Finished Citrus Quilt

Well, it's all done and I am pretty pleased with how it has turned out.  How versatile are those Half Square Triangles?

I've really fallen for this mix of colors!  These citrus colors contrasted alongside the fresh white fabric, make for a traditional quilt with a contemporary feel. Working with these fabrics has brought the feeling of Spring sunshine right into my home.
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Quilt Measures 55 inches x 71 inches.

The back of the quilt features a 14 inch wide strip of patchwork using printed fabrics that complement the quilt top  (together with a splash of blue), and those readily available in my scrap bin.  The solid background is Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White.

As you can see the quilt is quite heavily quilted, with diagonal lines outlining the Half Square Triangles, but only through the lower half of the block (the solid white fabric).  Three lines run in both diagonal directions, as well as two horizontal quilting lines on either side of the seam line.  Four large bobbins of thread, and approximately 7 hours of stitching (and yes it does get tedious, but the effect it is well worth the effort).

Solid fabrics really show up quilting detail, and I do love the look of the closely spaced quilting lines, especially if  it doesn't result in tucks and puckers (Phew!)  The quilting is really prominent, and has become another feature of the quilt.

For binding fabric I have used a Kei Honey Comb in a Spring Green colorway,and as usual it is entirely machine stitched.  I decided to time myself this time to see just how long it takes from cutting binding strips to the finished  binding.  The binding on this quite large quilt took approximately 2.5 hours of solid work - include all the usual distractions that occur, and your looking at all that I accomplished  just last night.  Some nights are like that.

I have updated my Etsy Store to include this quilt.

You can find the listing here.  SOLD


Thank you so much for stopping by.  Your visit and comments are eagerly read, and very much appreciated!

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:

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.
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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
Fabric:  City 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!

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.

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:

FabricWorm

Hawthorn Threads

Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics

RELEVANT LINKS:

Wordless Wednesday

Innocent Crush - Work in Progress

Innocent Crush - Quilting and Hand Stitching 

Eye Candy

I hope you will bear with me today as I have loads of pictures of the finished "In A Spin" Quilt to share with you.

This was probably one of the most fun quilts to make!  I really enjoyed playing around with the vintage fabrics, ensuring that I could get the most use out of the limited fabrics on hand,whilst still fussy cutting the triangles.

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This quilt is relatively easy to make, although it does require just the right mix of fabrics; narrow and wide stripes, some bold, others neutral.  Careful handling of bias edges is also recommended - use a quick burst of spray starch for loosely woven fabrics if necessary.

I have quilted this quilt by once again stitching on both sides of all seam lines.  I do like my quilts to look  more densely quilted and I have therefore repeated this process twice more, stitching a total of three lines on each side of a seam line (6 lines for each seam).  The lines are stitched just over 1/2 inch apart (the width of my presser foot), and have created a dense grid which has in turn added loads of character to the quilt.

For the back of the quilt I have used a  print called Neo Geo by Jackie Shapiro.  I had purchased multiple yardage of this print and thought it appropriate to use a geometric print for this particular quilt.

For the binding I had contemplated using a striped fabric to stay with the overall theme of the quilt, however my heart ruled my head and I have used a binding fabric - Kei Honeycomb in black with white polka dots.  I don't regret it, I love the obvious contrast!

This quilt is for sale.  

If you are interested in purchasing it, you can find it listed in my 

Etsy Store.  SOLD

RELEVANT LINKS:
In a Spin Quilt - [workinprogress]
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