Strawberries and Cream

I love the red, pink, and orange color palette, and after last week's fight to quilt the Half Square Triangle Quilt, I needed a project where the focus was on easy, fun, and color!

Baby Quilt measures 21.5 inches x 30.5 inches

This baby girl quilt is made from 100% cotton fabrics and wadding. It is wonderfully lightweight and would be great to use as a crib/cot quilt, a play mat, a stroller blanket or even a change mat.

It is machine pieced and quilted. The backing is made from a soft and cozy flannel fabric by Valori Wells.

I have added this quilt to my Etsy Store. It would also make a thoughtful and unique baby shower gift! updated 5 August 2009 SOLD

A Finished Quilt... Hooray!

I have finished quilting the Half Square Triangle Quilt, but not without a few choice words being expressed of which this quilt is probably not deserving.

 

While I was on a roll I also forced myself to add the binding as this tends to be my weakness in terms of unfinished projects. The binding fabric is from the Katie Jump Rope range of fabrics by Denyse Schmidt. It is dark brown and really frames this quilt well.

And another picture:

This is such a easy quilt to make, and the variation in layout of the blocks is almost endless. I do hope you give this a go too, don't be put off by the triangles, as the quick Half Square Triangle piecing technique means you never have to work with any bias edges.

Umm ... have I mentioned I may have started a new little project?

Well, I did - I am enjoying playing with color and fabric. The colors of choice were red, orange and pink. A mixture of color clashes that combine remarkably well. More soon.

RELEVANT LINKS:

All the details for this Half Square Triangle Quilt can be found here:  http://www.redpepperquilts.com/2009/07/all-details.html

Gone Quilting

Quilting the Half Square Triangle Quilt is proving to be character building.

I am quilting by outlining the colored/printed fabrics as they run their course across the quilt. This means a lot of turning and maneuvering the quilt from left to right and top to bottom all under the arm of my sewing machine.

I always look forward to the quilting process, but find myself wishing it was finished. I am almost there.

Sunday Stash #11

Some recent additions to stash: -

Red Letter Day by Lizzy House - Pear Bracelet in Feather and Pond
Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries by Heather Ross - Dots in Orange/Red and Red/Blue

I am not a greedy quilter, just materialistic!

All the Details

I am flabbergasted by your response to yesterday's Wordless Wednesday sneak peek at my new quilt. Thank you so much for all those amazing and positive comments, I can now only hope that the rest of the quilt lives up to expectations!

Finished Quilt Top 55" x 55"

I am happy to share with you some of the details of this quilt as I think this really is a very simple quilt, made from only one block, and that is the Half Square Triangle. I have mentioned before that there are many great tutorials on the internet for making Half Square Triangles including videos on YouTube. Half Square Triangles are quick and easy to make if you use one of these piecing techniques.

I made 400 Half Square Triangle Blocks, using bright and colorful designer fabrics for one side of the block and the solid fabric that I used for the other half of the block was a linen/cotton blend in Hessian colorway purchased locally. I cut 200 squares of solid fabric and 200 squares of printed patchwork fabric, each square was cut to measure 3.75 inches. With the printed fabric facing up I paired each square with a solid, drew a diagonal line, and stitched a scant 1/4 inch on either side of the line. I then cut along the already marked center line. Ah Presto! (See this tutorial if you need further clarification).

I carefully pressed each block with the seam allowance towards the solid fabric as this linen blend fabric was a little heavier in weight then the cotton fabric. Once pressed each block was trimmed back to measure 3.25 inches.

The layout possibilities are endless for Half Square Triangle Blocks. When I started this project my intentions were to make a Baby Zig Zag Quilt (that's why the blocks are so small), but the project grew and I started to envision all the layout variations. I even searched the Internet for inspiration, but found none! So I laid out 400 blocks many times, and turned them, and cleared the slate, and started again time and again until I was happy with the overall look.

It was then time to piece them together. No mean feat as I had laid out the blocks upstairs, away from the dog and the teens who might inadvertently wreak havoc amongst the blocks. I pieced the quilt together row by row, carefully stacking the blocks of each row one on top of the other, being careful not to turn the pile in my hand even before I got downstairs!

The piecing went well, however, I would not recommend you tackle this project with linen/blend fabric as it really is too heavy for small pieced blocks. Some of the seams are bulky to say the least, and my sewing machine was less then happy at times, even breaking a needle to show contempt! (I also had to re- press some of the HST blocks seam allowances in the opposite direction to make the piecing process easier and to reduce bulk).

I am very pleased with this quilt. This is such a simple quilt: - it can be made from scraps of colorful fabrics, you can adjust block size and and quilt size, as well as endless variations in layout. Hope you are inspired to make your own!

RELEVANT LINKS:
Blog post for the finished Half SquareTriangle Quilt can be found here:
http://www.redpepperquilts.com/2009/07/finished-quilt-hooray.html

Wordless Wednesday

Do you Trim?

Some progress has been made on my next quilt project, albeit slowly. Just when I thought I was ready to test run a layout of the Half Square Triangle (HST) blocks, I came to the rather unexpected conclusion that I had made no where near enough blocks! I am still about 120 blocks short (how can this be?). That just goes to show you how bad my maths is.

120 more blocks still required!

I wonder if you trim back your blocks? I prefer to make my blocks just a tad on the large side, even up to 1/4 inch bigger than what is needed, and then trim the blocks back accurately to the correct size. I find this works well for me; it makes sewing blocks together a breeze, and therefore results in a nice flat quilt top. It is however a very time-consuming task.

Maybe I have to trim back blocks because my sewing technique just isn't up to scratch?

Mmm ... Can't add, can't sew - but can still make a quilt.

My Space

I have just started a new project and have enjoyed pulling fabrics from my stash and cutting 4 inch squares.

These fabrics represent a large proportion of my favorite fabrics. Bright, strong colors and often just a simple design printed on the fabric is what appeals the most.

Here is a picture of my work space, and what it looks like today.

I am busy cutting, sewing, ironing, trimming and working on the layout on the design floor. The quilt layout is still in the planning stages in my head, and unfolding slowly before my eyes. I am just sitting back enjoying the piecing and watching it develop.

Another good sewing day coming up.

Sunday Stash #10

Not only do I have oodles of fabric, but also a significant button collection.

They are stored in vintage glass milk bottles and their milk caddy.

My collection of orange buttons came from a thrift store at a cost of 1 cent each!

Pillowcase Baby Quilt

The finished product:

The finished quilt measures 25.5 inches x 30.5 inches. The quilt top was made from a standard size recycled pillowcase (with a 15 " square of fabric leftover), and 1/2 yard designer fabric.

I used a cotton/wool blend batting and quilted it again with straight lines for more emphasis on the simplicity of the block.

The back is pieced with some of the left over pillowcase fabric and another 1/2 yard of Kaffe Fassett Polka Dot fabric, this time in the colorway Sprout

To frame the quilt and in keeping with the pretty colors used in the quilt, I added a pink check binding.

This environmentally conscious baby quilt is now listed in my Etsy Store, be sure to check it out! Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!