Specky Stars

The local quilt group I belong to near my home had a visiting Tutor for a day.  The lady who came run this workshop is a very clever teacher and comes up with amazing ideas. 

New fabric, new project and day of sewing with girlfriends - I was in!

I chose an 'ocean' coloured batik jelly roll and a very dark blue/black mottled batik for my background.

The blocks are assembled log cabin style.  It took a bit of thinking to figure out the construction because you made the blocks like you can see in the photo...... 

I frist blogged about Specky Stars in February when I wrote about the mistake I made and had to unpick the same piece 48 times!

...... and it's not until you lay them out that you can understand how it all goes together.

All laid out.

Once I got it all laid out, it was easy sewing.  The blocks went together like a dream.  The backing fabric was called "karneval" and has some fabulous swirls in the pattern.  The greens in the swirls are the same colours as in the blocks, even though it is predominately blue.

Backing chosen.

Then it was onto the quilting.  I used a very dark grey, not quite black thread for the quilting.  Meandering with the odd spiral and swirl for extra effect.

For the binding, I chose an emerald green which matches the brighter greens in the quilt top.  

I got the hand-sewing on the binding finished quickly.  I have to admit to getting a bit dis-illusioned with this quilt during the construction of it, but once I got it all laid out and the quilt top completed, my desire to get it finished quickly kicked in because it turned out much better than I originally thought it would.

A great not quite single bed, but bit larger than lap quilt size of 54in x 70in.  Perfect for when feeling a bit chilly.

I'm super pleased with how the backing turned out.  The added strips left over from the batik jelly roll just provide some calmness to a very busy fabric.

And.... Ta Da...... here is the finished quilt!

Specky Stars has been claimed by my 16yr old son.  
 

Diligently sewing ...

I've got 3 projects on the go at the moment, and it's leading to lots of productivity but also lots of mess!

New York Beauty blocks.  I was working on this one and making great progress, but kept on feeling that some of the colour and scale of print balance in the fabrics was not quite right.  After a few days of contemplation,  I ordered some more fabric to even out the patterns in the 'fill in" squares.  The fabric arrived last Thursday and it's provided the look I was after.  I am not sure if I will get back to that this week coming or not.

A sneak peak of one of the blocks.

Until I started this project, I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy foundation piecing  I am loving the use of some really old fabrics being combined with brand new fabrics to come up with something that is very unique.



Modern Quilt  I am in the process of putting the quilt top together.  I pulled it out to complete the blocks while waiting for the fabric for the New York Beauty to arrive.  I completed all of the blocks and was merrily cutting and sashing away until I realised that I had cut ALL of the long sashings too short by 1in.  In the moment of realisation of my error, I may have said some unladylike words.  Because I am intending to exhibit my modern quilt later in the year, I am being particularly fussy with things being 'just right'.  Off to the quilt shop this morning and I was able to purchase more of the same fabric so that I can re-cut those sashing strips. 

Here's the made up blocks, ready for assembly into the quilt top.

***  I'm sorry, but I cannot share any photos of this quilt until after it has been exhibited - those are rules from the entry conditions.




Specky Stars is a local quilt shop pattern for using up a jelly roll or scraps.  It was a workshop we had on 17/05/2019 at  the Friday group I attend.  The class was the day I turned 50, so I was an absolutely hopeless class participant because not only was I doubting my fabric choices, I was far too excited at the prospect of being flown to an island later that day for the weekend to celebrate.

Partial blocks.  I'm assembling them 'log cabin' style and
adding the same strip to each block for easy chain piecing.

During January, I decided to rip (unpick) all of the parts I had sewn - same error in every block -  and then I cut all block parts for the entire quilt and put them in labelled ziploc baggies.  Since then I have been working diligently on that project each Friday at quilting bee and have 2 sides left to sew on each of the required 48 blocks.   I have pressed the parts and trimmed the flipped triangles on the remaining parts ready for next Friday.   I hope on 28/02 to have all of the blocks completed.


Of course, all of this work means that my sewing room has become very, very untidy.  It's time to go in there and put some things away.  My goal is to be able to quilt one of these quilts next week, and that takes up space for basting.  Plus all things need to be cleared off the sewing table so that I don't  end up with stray bits of fabric attached to back of the quilt accidentally!

Sunshine Coast Bag....

Love, love, love this bag.

Take one Bali Pop, lots of thread, a strong sewing machine needle and 50m of cotton cord, throw in a couple of days, mix it all up and then you get an amazing bag.

Not a quick bag to make, but really quite simple in construction.  I found the pattern, designed by Aunties Two, in Australian Homespun, No 93 (Vol 12.2).  Using a method called 'clothesline technique', the strips from a Bali Pop (batik jelly roll) are wrapped around a cord and then butted together to make a whole new piece of very sturdy fabric.

I've had the pattern and the Bali Pop for about a year now, but took approx 6 months to find someone who stocked the cord.  And then lo and behold - a deadline came along!  All of a sudden the date of my friends 40th birthday was here and the bag had to be finished for gifting.

It's a big bag.  In fact large enough to be a very useful bag for work because it will hold all essentials including lunch - most important - and laptop with some pockets inside for the little things.

I am really pleased how this bag has turned out.  I will certainly be making it again, especially as I now know where to purchase the cord!

Tropical Dreaming

Finally something finished to post about!  Some 2 months after I publicly announced how wonderful I would be at finishing projects this year, I have had my first finish - complete with a label.

This quilt is called Tropical Dreams. 

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I had a go at competing in a Jelly Roll Challenge. The theme was dreams. When I saw the Bali Pop “Spumoni”, I thought of nights in the tropics, with all the lush colours of the rainforest and waterfalls around me. So I challenged myself to come up with a pattern that would let me slip away into ‘holiday’ mode of no stress and yet allow me to make a quilt top in one day.  This quilt “Tropical Dreams” is the result.



While I got absolutely no-where with the Jelly Roll Challenge, I completed the quilt to make a wonderful lap quilt, so that I can dream of a tropical holiday in the rainforest!

 Above, the front of the quilt and, below, the back of the quilt.

And, true to form when publishing to my blog - the photos turn out sideways...  sheesh.......