Bec's Quilt {the back}

I found this vintage fabric in an op shop years ago (I think its intended for curtains maybe, because it is quite heavy, and has a more open weave than quilting cotton) and decided to use it as the basis of colours for the back of Bec's quilt.

So I basically pulled all my fabrics in colours that would look right at home in a baby's nappy and went from there!

Bec's Quilt {the front}

Recently I finished this quilt for my sister for her 40th birthday.  Its a little late, she's about to turn 41 - but better late than never, right?

Chunking - New classes!

Exciting news - this year I will be teaching a new class at the Timaru Sewing Centre.  I'm really excited to be teaching patchwork classes again.

Ohio Star Quilts and the perfect binding

Recently I finished the second of the #milaandcuatroOhioStar quilts I have been making for my daughters.  When Ruby saw her one finished she exclaimed ecstatically:

#spherepicnicquilt - all finished and ready for ... winter???

I'm so pleased to share a finish with you - my Sphere picnic quilt!

Fishing for Geese: a baby quilt

When I first started making quilts I would see photos of gorgeous baby quilts that people had made and I would think "Wow, has this person ever spent any time with a baby? Don't they know that they poo, wee and vomit on EVERYTHING?"  Now I think, who cares - I'm not the one that has to wash it!  

WIP: City Samper and a Planning Sheet

Better late than never - almost 3 weeks in to the #100Days100Blocks Instagram sew-along I decided to join in ... and right from the first block I created (Block 20), I just couldn't help but rebel... Only one of the following 4 blocks was pieced strictly by the book.  Can you spot the rebellions?

This sew-along may just have helped me find my sewjo again.

Being late to the party means I need to do a bit of catchup, plus I have no time to sew on Tuesdays so I thought I would do a bit of planning and get the Tuesday blocks done ahead of time.  This means I'm doing the blocks all out of order and needed to keep track of which ones I've done ... so the planning sheet was born!  Born to be wild perhaps?

If you're interested in using this planning sheet, you can download it here (it's A4 - you may need to scale it):

• In Microsoft Word format
• In PDF format

The Morpheus Quilt

My brother, a deer farmer, recently got married.  This is the first family wedding since I started quilting so I was itching to make a quilt to give as a wedding gift.  I asked my brother who his all-time favourite stag was (Morpheus) and then designed the quilt based on a photo of that (now dead) stag.

Spot the flying geese

This is no generic, stylised stag's head.  This is a representation of an actual stag, one with a world record breaking set of antlers.  I wanted it to look like a stencil, and created a stencil based on a photograph.

Applique detail - ear and tag

The background is mostly 4" squares, with three points of interest provided by a plus block, some flying geese and a friendship star.  I wanted the background to be random, with no identifiable pattern.

When the quilt is on the bed the stag's head lies towards the foot of the bed.  It is quilted with horizontal wavy lines in the same manner as this and this.  The quilting caused me a lot of grief, with the amount of shifting that occurred.  I spent a considerable amount of time ripping out quilting, and then got to the point where I decided I'd spent enough time unpicking and that it was going to be gifted with more imperfections than I would have liked.

It was very well received and looks great in their bedroom.

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 97" by 97"
Pattern:  Original design - raw edge machine applique stag's head on a low volume background
Fabric: Many, many different low volume prints (no solids), three red prints used for the applique. 
Binding: Mini Confetti dot in Scarlet by Dear Stella
Backing: Doe Wideback - Crisscross wideback in Graphite
Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

This was my first time using 108" wide backing fabric, and I have to say I was disappointed.  I felt the fabric was very thin - is that normal for a backing fabric?  I had expected it to be the same quality as Kona, but it is much thinner.  Someone I follow on Instagram called it "lovely and soft", and I agree it is soft but for me that softness stems from the thinness of the fabric. Have you used 108" wide backing fabric before?  How did you find it?

Linking up to:

Needle n Thread Thursday 

Playing with Curves

Just when my husband had given up asking if I was ever going to finish a quilt for our bed ...

The main pieced section of this quilt is based on Brenda Gael Smith's Topsy Turvy quilt featured on the cover of the June/July 2014 Quilters Companion.  I used the pattern as a guide - I wanted to use only what I had in my stash so instead of using 1/2 yard of 8 fabrics, I used a 13 x 17" rectangle of about 16 different fabrics and followed the stack technique described in the article to make 16 blocks which were trimmed to 11" square (finished).  The smaller rectangular pieced section was made using the add-on technique.

Cover of June/July 2014 Quilter's Companion - source

The layout of the quilt is inspired by Rachel Singh's Wonky Cross quilt.

I quilted it in horizontal wavy lines, in the same way that I quilted my Princess and the Pea quilt, in an attempt to echo the improv curves of the piecing.

The binding was a compromise - this is a reversible quilt, and the other side has a totally different colour scheme, I had purchased a yellow Michael Miller Ta Dot to use as the binding when I finished the other side of the quilt so stuck with that in an effort to use what I already have.

Although I love asymmetrical compositions in quilts, I have come to the conclusion that I like symmetry on the bed, so the next quilt I make for our bed will feature a symmetrical design of some sort.

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 85" by 80"
Pattern:  Combination of Topsy Turvy pattern and improv pieced  
Fabric: All solids - Kona Silver for the background, and a combination of orange/blue/white/grey from my stash.
Binding: Michael Miller Ta Dot in yellow
Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

Linking up to:

Sew Cute Tuesday
Fabric Tuesday
Needle n Thread Thursday 
Finish it up Friday

The Princess and the Pea

This reminds me of all the mattresses stacked precariously one on top the other in the Princess and the Pea fable, hence its name.  I have wanted to do a stacked books or stacked coins (??) type quilt since seeing this one by Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k handmade.  The prints are 2 1/2" wide strips of varying lengths, all centred on a Kona snow background.

This is the back of my I Spy a Charm (Matilda) quilt.  I love the idea of double sided quilts - being able to change the look of the bed simply by flipping the quilt over.  It does have drawbacks though, namely having to choose quilting and binding that will work with both sides. 

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 57" by 80"
Pattern:  improv pieced  
Fabric: Various prints, Kona Snow background.

Binding: Dear Stella Confetti Dots in orange with an accent strip in s yellow Kate & Birdie Paper Co Bluebird Park print
Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday (Crazy Mom Quilts)

TGIFF

I Spy a Charm (the Matilda version)

Another quilt made using my I Spy a Charm pattern, this time using the Matilda collection by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures and with alternating border colours (grey and orange) which gives the quilt a very different look from my Charley Harper I Spy a Charm quilt.

I made this quilt to be reversible so the quilting had to be something that was going to work on both the front and back.  These organic wavy lines gave the quilt great texture. 

It feels great to have this finished, it has been in the WIP pile for many, many months!

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 57" by 80"
Pattern:  "I Spy a Charm" (available in my Craftsy store) 
Fabric: Matilda by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures, with some Kate & Birdie Paper Co Bluebird Park print.   Background fabric is Moda Bella Bleached White, with the blocks framed in a generic grey and orange.

Binding: Dear Stella Confetti Dots in orange with an accent strip in s yellow Kate & Birdie Paper Co Bluebird Park print
Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday (Crazy Mom Quilts)

TGIFF (hosted by Quilt Matters)

The Harlequin Pillow

 

I am really into random at the moment, I think it adds interest to a piece because people need to look for just a little bit longer while their brains try to find a pattern.  With these randomly placed HSTs, I focussed on the dark blue while determining the layout - ensuring the dark blue was evenly (yet randomly) distributed.  Straight line quilting radiating out from the hour-glass centre - the colours of which make me think of a harlequin, hence the name.

Linking up to:

TGIFF

Finish it up Friday
Sew Solid Sunday

Teddy Bear sleeping bag

Recently I had fun whipping up a quilted sleeping bag for a teddy bear, inspired by a Flossie Teacakes pattern, although I didn't buy her pattern and made it from memory, so it actually looks quite different.  I made one using scraps left over from my Vintage Improv quilt, then of course I had to make another one because I have two children and they are still learning how to share.

I like the look of curved edges but didn't want to make bias binding because it just seems like such an inefficient use of fabric, so I used cross-grain binding and I'm happy with the finish (seeing as they are just play-things for my kids).  The binding on the back of the curve has a couple of little tucks in it, which you can see below - I machine stitched the binding and had to do the curves a couple of times, so the stitching is a bit messy, but my kids don't care!

Curved binding from front

Curved binding from back showing tuck in binding

Both of these are made almost entirely from scraps, including Frankenstein batting (I cut the Kate Spain binding from yardage, otherwise everything came from scrap bins) so these are projects 30 and 31 of Scraps 101.

Loving the improv low volume background on this one

In other news, I have recently succumbed to the charms of Instagram, you can find me here - I'd love for you to come and say hello!

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday

TGIFF
Anything Goes Monday

Plus Cushions (aka Cushion Crazy Part 3)

I have started offering modern patchwork and quilting workshops from my home studio, the first of my workshops is called "The Plus Cushion - An Introduction to Modern Quilting".  Here are some samples I put together for the workshop.

The workshops are aimed at people who have never dabbled in patchwork or quilting - no sewing experience is required, and you don't even need to own your own sewing machine, as I have student machines available.  The workshop is held over weekend (with two four hours sessions) and creates this simple yet striking quilted cushion cover.

This next cushion, which to me is the most striking of the three, was made by one of my first students.  I was so pleased with how this finished, the woman who made this has not sewn since school and doesn't own a sewing machine - look at what she created, isn't it fantastic?

If you live in Canterbury, or even North Otago, and are interested in learning the basics of modern quilting, why not come along to one of my workshops?  Further details can be found on my "Workshops and Events" page.

Linking up to:

Finish it up Friday

TGIFF

Wonky Pods - the lap quilt edition

Another quilt made using my newly released Wonky Pods pattern, this time I used a strip piecing technique to create random/crazy pieced blocks without borders, and substituted these for the wonky cut pattern blocks.  The quilt finishes up at about 56" x 57" so is a great lap/throw size.  It uses a mixture of prints from my stash - Botanics,  Mormor, Alison glass text prints ... and a few others.  I find when creating crazy pieced blocks it's good to have at least 10 fabrics - preferably more.

I FMQed it in an all-over meandering, I love the texture and how it crinkles after washing, this is definitely my current go-to quilting style.

It is backed with a vintage sheet.

If you're interested in making one of my patterns, they are all currently marked down 25% to celebrate the release of my Wonky Pods pattern and I Spy a Charm pattern.

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 57" by 56"
Pattern:  "Wonky Pods" (available in my Craftsy store) 
Fabric: Various.   Background fabric is Kona Snow. 
Backing: Vintage sheet.

Binding: Fanfare (from Spotlight)

Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up to:

TGIFF

Finish it up Friday

Vintage Improv - a lap quilt

 

All fabrics in this quilt are re-purposed vintage bed linen - either sheets or pillowcases I've found in op shops around the country.  I wanted to make a quilt similar to Candy Coated from Sunday Morning Quilts (the quilt on the cover), but while cutting out the first few strips I thought maybe I'd add a couple of random bits of interest in there - the flying geese, a star, and also make a feature of one of the prints.  The feature print didn't really have the effect I wanted, but the star and geese certainly did.  There are 11 different prints in total - 9 are used for the strips, 1 is used only for the geese and star, and 1 is used only on the back.

I'm really all about improv, I struggle to follow a pattern to the letter, and indeed I didn't really get past the photo or first couple of lines of the cutting instructions for Candy Coated before deciding to just make it up as I went along.  Quilting books and patterns are mostly just springboards for me, inspiration for creating something similar but different, or maybe not even similar but inspired by. 

I quilted it in an all-over meander, it's been a while since I did anything other than an all-over meander.  A few minutes into the quilting I decided it wasn't the best decision for this quilt at all, but carried on because I couldn't be bothered unpicking.  I'm used to meandering over vast amounts of negative space, and I found it difficult to actually see where I had quilted, and where I needed to go, because of all the busyness of the prints.

For the binding I used one of the sheets, a white with itty bitty flowers scattered over it, so it reads quite like a solid. 

This quilt is a gift, but won't be gifted for a couple of months, so it is going to lounge around my studio for a while, which I find immensely valuable because I get to look at it and think and ponder.

Quilt Stats - Vintage Improv
Finished Size: approx 50" by 57"
Fabric (including backing and binding): Vintage bed linen - 11 different sheets or pillowcases.

Pieced and quilted by: me

Favourite part: That it is a break from my usual style (there are NO solids in this!!) and was very cheap to make (everything from stash)

Have you ever made a quilt from vintage bed linen?  How did it turn out?

 Linking up to:

Fabric Tuesday
Sew Cute Tuesday
TGIFF
Frugal Friday
Finish It Up Friday
Needle and Thread Thursday

Cushion Crazy (Part 2)

Crazy-pieced cushions - I've been experimenting with monochromatic colour schemes.

They all have covered zippers in the back, I used this tutorial from Adrianne, although I changed it a bit to take into consideration my short zips (8").  I wanted to use what I had on hand, rather than buying longer zips.  It's a bit of a workout to get the forms through the smaller zip but that's fine with me.

You'll no doubt be pleased to hear that there is still one more instalment of my cushion crazy series!!  Tune in next week for the final few.

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday

Needle and Thread Thursday

TGIFF