5in Squares become a Chandelier!

Starting with 2 very pretty packs of 5in Charm Squares, a pretty piece of grey fabric and a quest to try out a 'new to me' pattern, lead to this super fun quilt to make.  

The charm squares and background fabric. 
The pink fabric was later put away and not used.

The thing with Charm Square packs is that they are so pretty and gorgeous range of colours when you look at them side on.  

Such a pretty rainbow when viewed side on.

A nice, quick quilt to make, with easy cutting and chain piecing, I had the top together in no-time at all.  Since making this quilt, I have ordered 2 more charm square packs to make another one.  I just can't help myself!

A peek of the backing onto the front.

As each block only used 1.5 of each 5in square, I joined the rest of the pieces together to make a fun panel to put into the backing.  This is part of my goal to use all of the fabric in each quilt I make instead of accumulating left over scraps.

Left over pieces pieced together to make the back more interesting.

I quilted this quilt on my DSM with an all over surf-curl wave pattern, using 50wt variegated thread.  Super easy to quilt and no tension issues.  I'm pretty proud of the quilting on this one.

The finished quilt!  49in x 72in

We were having issues with the very sunny day and so the photo had to be taken under the verandah to stop it from being too blown out with the light.  An interesting quilt and a bit of break away from my 'usual' colour choices.






Chandelier Beads pattern can be found here.  I changed the pattern sizes to use 5in squares.

Charm Squares and Flowers

Preparing a new project to take away on Retreat, when you have someone special in mind is always fun.  Using gifted charm squares - 4 x 20 piece packs - plus an idea to have some appliqued flowers scattered through the quilt to add interest certainly got me eager to start.  And.. with 11 months until the intended birthday that I was making this quilt for, I thought I had plenty of time!

Fabric Selection.  In the end, the light green fabric was left out.

Before the Retreat, I fussy cut the applique flowers from the red fabric so that the little white flower in the print made a nice centre.

Fussy cut flower.

I then fused the flowers to their backgrounds and appliqued them with a very small machine blanket stitch at my local Friday Bee.  They were very happy little blocks to stitch.

Flowers fused but not yet sewn.

 All cut out and ready to go on Retreat.  The applique blocks are in the bottom of the container.  So easy to chain sew while chatting to others. 

First order of the day was to sew all of the short sashing strips to the sides of the squares before joining them into rows.  90 blocks in all.

The laying out of the blocks and getting the colour balance right took me quite a long time.  The yellow squares were quite a bit brighter than the other fabrics in the pack and they needed to be balanced throughout the quilt.  Also, while laying out a quilt on Retreat, everyone has an opinion and it made for some fun conversations.  😄  I always find it fascinating how other people perceive colour and placement.

Backing and binding onto front.

I finished this quilt off with simple in the ditch quilting so that it would stay nice and soft for snuggling under with a good book.  The binding is a teal batik which matched perfectly.

The finished product!
56in wide x 62in high (142cm x 158cm)

I completed this quilt in time for my niece for her 11th birthday.  A good size for her to grow into teenage years with.  And.... she loved it upon opening, as did my sister (her mum).   

Note:  While there is nothing new about sashing charm squares to make a quilt and I have done this many, many times before and taught others, I did use the free template from here for my flowers.  The flower template is half-way down the page.