Sunday Stash #195 Waterfront Park by Violet Craft

Waterfront Park by Violet Craft for Michael Miller

Waterfront Park is the latest collection by fabric designer Violet Craft.  The collection pays homage to her hometown Portland, Oregon.  Waterfront Park consists of 35 fabrics - 8 different designs each inspired by life on and near the water including bridges and boats, twinkling waters, birds in flight, as well as some great fabric stash basics.  (I also love the inclusion of several true navy color fabrics which are often hard to find!).

Waterfront Park - Flight

The fabrics featuring birds in flight as well as the Domino Dots (pictured below) are among my favorites from this collection and both are great fabric stash basics; mixing and matching readily with prints from a range of collections.

Waterfront Park - Domino Dots

Waterfront Park by Violet Craft is now available from:

Westwood Acres (Etsy)

Stash Modern (Etsy)

Fabric Bubb (Etsy)

Fabric Worm

Pink Castle Fabrics

Waterfront Park - Half Square Triangles and Union Station

Enjoy Sunday!

Rita

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Quilt As You Go - Tiny Tinker Tote

Tiny Tinker Tote - Back

I made another Tinker Tote!  This time though I reduced the size of the pattern by 25% for a smaller bag; not so much a carry-all tote but more like a handbag. Printing the pattern at 75% does not alter the construction process and although I was fairly familiar with the instructions I did refer back to the online class several times just to re-acquaint myself with some of the steps, in particular the zip pocket instructions.

Want to see inside?

Fabrics Used:

Flower Sugar 2013 by Lecien

Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt (from stash).

Robert Kaufman Essex Linen Yarn Dyed in Black

Original size Tinker Tote (at the back) and Tiny Tinker Tote.

Notes for the reduced size Tinker Tote:
~  Reduce the width but not the depth of the pockets.  My pocket is only a few inches deep and a little bit more depth would have been handy for a useful pocket.
~  The binding on the original size bag is a little awkward.  On the reduced size bag it is a lot more awkward.  Lifting my sewing machine up and out of the sewing table insert would have helped (I didn't think of that at the time and it probably would have saved me from muttering a few choice words).

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Quilt as You Go Patchwork Bag - original size Tinker Tote
Tara's Craftsy Class:

Tara Rebman- Quilt-As-You-Go: Patchwork Bags - TINKER TOTE

A Flock of Flying Geese Quilt II

The Flying Geese Quilt is finished and considering the number of flying geese units made I am pleased that I can still say that I have loved making it.   All negative thoughts about flying geese units have been dispelled.

The weekend was spent basting, quilting, and binding.  I am a pin baster and baste my quilts on the floor - a hard wooden surface - which involves crawling around on hands and knees. It is a task which I dread and spent more time thinking about and deferring than actually doing.

When I posted this image of my basted quilt on Instagram I was asked what my secret was for a flat quilt, and why so many pins?  I am afraid that I have no secret.  I suspect that basting is a technique you get better at over time as you get a feel for how tight to tape the backing and batting, and how firm to pin the quilt top onto those layers.  I do pin the edges of the quilt top first which makes filling the remainder of the quilt top with pins much easier, and I use a lot of pins - every 3 to 4 inches.  I have used a few extra pins for this quilt as I knew I was going to be quilting a 1 inch grid onto it which isn't so forgiving if there is excess fabric in either the quilt top or backing fabric.

I almost exclusively pin baste my quilts - very occasionally I will get out the spray baste for a small project like a pillow cover.  This technique works well for me and I therefore continue to be a pin baster.  I am however a strong advocate for doing whatever works for you.  Don't change something that isn't broken but don't be afraid to try a different method if you are having difficulty.

I love the 1 inch grid of lines and although quilting it is a little laborious it is definitely worth the effort.  The visual effect is so appealing that you can't help but reach out and touch it.

For the back of the quilt I have used a beautiful Japanese import fabric 

by Suzuko Koseki - Paris Daisy in White/Aqua.

And for binding I have used a white/pink/brown stripe from the Color Basics collection by Lecien.

I have listed this quilt for sale in my Etsy Store.

You can see all of the listing details here:  Modern Flying Geese Quilt

Thank you for stopping by!

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:

Red Pepper Quilts Etsy Store
A Flock of Flying Geese Quilt II - in progress

Basting and Batting

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Sunday Stash #194 - iHaus by Michelle Engel Bencsko

 

iHaus by Michelle Engel Bencsko

iHaus is the recently released collection by Michelle Engel Bencsko for Cloud9 Fabrics and is a contemporary perspective of Bauhaus Art- a German School of Art (1919-133) with primary palette - red, blue, and yellow and simple shapes - circles, triangles and squares.  I rather like the simple clean lines of these fabrics and in particular love the Hexagon prints!

iHAUS by Michelle Engel Bencsko is now available from:

Pink Castle Fabrics

The Fat Quarter Shop

Alexander Henry - Pop Art - In Crowd and Countdown

Also arriving this week ~ a bundle of black/white fabrics by Alexander Henry. Alexander Henry (AH) fabrics are unique and sought after, and often feature bold and large scale designs.  For reference the numbers on the Countdown print are 3 inches tall.  Both these prints are new releases although the In Crowd print (with faces) is a reprint of an earlier AH fabric.

Alexander Henry - In Crowd and Countdown are available from:
Pink Castle Fabrics
Fabric Worm
Stash Modern Fabrics

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

Disclosure:  The iHaus bundle of fabric was sent to me courtesy of Cloud 9 Fabrics without obligation - the words, photos and opinions however are all mine. 

A Flock of Flying Geese Quilt II

This quilt has also been on my to do list for some time and is inspired by a traditional quilt from Anthropologie (see Pinterest Pin here); I have however changed the feel of the quilt by overhauling the color palette and adding a range of printed fabrics.

Flying Geese have never been my strong point but I have recently had more success by over-sizing my units and trimming with a Bloc-Loc Flying Geese ruler. The process is still the same with each flying geese unit being made from 1 rectangle and 2 squares (as shown in this tutorial), but over-sizing and trimming means greater accuracy which in turn makes sewing together the units into a quilt top much easier.  The Flying Geese units each measure 6.5 inches x 3.5 inches (including seam allowances).

I also saved the little trimmed triangles/wings from all of the flying geese units - these would usually go straight into the rubbish bin. Rather than waste them I have sewn them into half square triangle units, doing so with each finished batch of Flying Geese units. I have already pressed them but the units still need trimming. 

252  - 3 Inch Half Square Triangle units.
Their final destiny is yet to be determined.

An excellent sewing week and hoping for more of the same this weekend.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Bloc-Loc Flying Geese Rulers
A Flock of Flying Geese Quilt I
A Flock of Flying Geese Quilt II - the finished quilt

Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt

A Finished Quilt and a Picture Post

Well, I am really happy to scratch another quilt from my quilt "to do" list, although in the meantime several others have been added.  That's the way it goes; it is never ending in a good way.

I have again kept the quilting really simple with a combination of ditch stitching the seam lines around all of the white sashing, and straight line quilting a set of double lines on both sides of the center square of the nine patch blocks. 

  

For the back of the quilt I have used a favorite print from the Posy Collection by Aneela Hoey (Bouquet in Daisy - my last yardage of this print).  For binding I have used a red/white stripe fabric from the Color Basics range by Lecien.  

As you can see in the above picture I like to crank up the stitch length when quilting.  It is a personal preference to see more of the quilting stitch.  The longer stitch is more visible and looks more like a top stitch as opposed to a really short stitch which can tend to bury itself and hide in the layers of fabric and batting. Having said that, I do try and blend both the top and bobbin thread with the quilt top and quilt back.  I do want the stitches to compliment the fabrics.

This quilt is for sale and I have updated my Etsy Store.

You can see all of the listing details here:  

Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt

RELEVANT LINKS:

Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt in Progress - including all cutting and fabric details.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt - Work in Progress

Sunday Stash #193 - Lush Uptown by Erin Michael

Lush Uptown by Erin Michael
Paint by Number - Birds - Unpainted
Painter's Palette in Moss, Sky and Playground

Lush Uptown by Erin Michael is the reprint of favorites from the previously released Lush and Uptown collections (2007/2008) in a fresh new color palette.  I haven't hoarded stashed any of the prints from the prior collections but I am not impartial to doing to so this time around.   Pictured above are my pick of the range although I am eagerly waiting for a bundle of the full collection to arrive.  Waiting waiting ...

Lush Uptown by Erin Michael is now available from:

Fabric Worm

Pink Castle Fabrics

Westwood Acres (Etsy)

The Fat Quarter Shop

Fort Worth Fabric Studio

Lush Uptown by Erin Michael for Moda Fabrics

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

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[workinprogress]

A Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt

This one is an old favorite and a remake of a quilt that I made way back in 2008.  The original Strawberry Patches Quilt was the start of what was to become Red Pepper Quilts when I received an email inquiry asking if the quilt - photos of which were uploaded to Flickr -  was for sale.  It was a surprise to hear that someone would be interested in purchasing my work and it gave me the confidence to start blogging my quilts and my addiction to love for fabric.   

Some quilts have more meaning to me as a quilt maker than others.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of my quilts.  I love the quilt in progress, and I love the quilt a little more when it is finished and I have managed to snap some decent photos.  But then there are those quilts with which special memories are associated and this is one of them.  The Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt has been on my quilt making bucket list (it's a long list!) for some time and I was itching to get started on it this week.

And so it has been a week of cutting small squares, some of which are from my scrap bin although most are from stash.  I have again used a variety of red and pink fabrics with a splash of orange.  It did not come as a surprise to see that my variety of fabric on hand has increased significantly since 2008.

DETAILS DETAILS

• Traditional nine patch blocks.  All fabric squares are cut as 2.5 inch squares.
• The size size of each nine patch block is 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches.
• Sashing - 1.5 inches wide (includes seam allowances)
• Corner stones - 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches (includes seam allowances).
• The cornerstones fabric is a fussy cut design from a Liberty of London Tana Lawn print called Kinnear in Red.
• Quilts Stats: 504 red/white/orange squares | 63 white squares | 48 cornerstones

I am planning on spending this Wintry weekend basting and quilting.  Perhaps even binding. Perfect really. And you?

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Strawberry Nine Patch Quilt - The Finished Quilt