12 Fat Quarters - So Simple!

A new set of 12 Fat Quarter and a super easy pattern - this is a sure fire way to get the sewing mojo happening!  I'd had the Fat Quarters for a few weeks before deciding what to make with them.  They are so gorgeous, especially some of the weird and funky flowers in the bigger prints.

The 12 Fat Quarters - ready to cut....

I cut out all the blocks and sewed them up in January 2020.  They got packed away and my sewing room was turned into an extra room for a belated Christmas celebration with Hubby's family.

Blocks made and laid out.

They stayed packed away until May 2021, when in the midst of another set of "stay at home" lockdown orders and the late Autumn/early Winter blues were setting in.  I decided to open the box and let the joyous colours help me beat those 'blues'.  

Can almost see the quilting detail.

I was hoping the photo above would show a detail of the quilting, but it hasn't come up as well as I would've liked.  I quilted this quilt in a lime green thread on my domestic sewing machine with a tumbling heart-shaped leaf design.

The piece of fabric for the backing was not quite the correct size, so the left-over squares and fabric pieces were added.

And, of course there must be the shot of the backing onto the front.  The orange binding is just the ticket for creating a good contrast between the front and back.

Finished Quilt - measures 49in x 56in

Here is the finished quilt.  Taking the photo on quite an overcast day has really made the colours sing.  Unfortunately, the fold lines show, so it's been re-folded along different lines and put aside until it's forever home becomes known to me.

Pattern used:  So Simple by MODA.

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. 

Orange and Chocolate - part 2

Hmmm, exactly 4 years after making the quilt top and backing for Orange and Chocolate, I now have a finished quilt!

During December, at my local quilt group we were chatting about how many projects people have started and what are your thoughts for finishing them.  I mentioned that I have 14 quilt tops, backings and some bindings all together in a large plastic tub.  My intention is to quilt one per month - total 12 - during 2019.  A lady across the table from me, quick as wink, said "but you'll have 2 left over" - far too quick with her math!

When I got home, I took the lid off the tub and looked for a smaller quilt that I could easily quilt before Christmas.  I first shared my ramblings about this particular quilt in 2014....
  Orange and Chocolate 

Front of quilt with the backing and binding for the full colour combo.

I completed Orange and Chocolate a few days ago.  Yes, it has a home to go to.  Sometimes I think "I'll just finish this one" and then, quite out of the blue, a recipient appears.  Orange and Chocolate will be given to a friend who is undergoing medical treatment.  While our weather is incredibly hot at the moment, she will get cold, simply because that is what chemotherapy does to you.

Here's the front of the quilt, with it's lovely big orange flowers....

One of my friends was quite surprised by how much she likes this quilt, because when I started it she was very uncertain about the colours and the plan.  I have to admit, that without the applique flowers, it did look a little bland.  (This is the same friend who found the perfect fabric for the binding.)

The back of the quilt, with even more flowers because I cut out too many for the front.....

and a close up of the quilting, stitched with a variegated lime green thread with flowers and leaves.

Chocolate and Orange has finished up at 122cm x 160cm (48in x 64in) and will provide a much needed hug to a worthy recipient.

Pink!

When I realised we had a family gathering at our house for Easter Sunday, and that my neice's birthday is close to that date, I couldn't help myself, I had to make a cake with pink.  Something that is very rare in my house of boys.

A pale pink, nice and subtle is what I had hoped for, nope, I poured a bit too much food colouring into this icing....

A beautifully, feather light chocolate sponge, made by me.  I am so pleased with how the actual cake turned out - it was perfect and I quite surprised myself with that one!

Decorated with wafer flowers and Persian fairy floss, my niece's eyes lit up when I showed it to her.

Gathered around the outside table, we managed to shield the cake enough to stop the wind from blowing out the candles and sing happy birthday.  There was very little cake left afterwards - it was  delicious.

Christmas Dining

Yay!  It's finished!  Back in January I posted  twice about the Poppy Table Runner that I had simmering away in my stash of projects.  I initially wrote about it as my first item for the Book It Challenge that I decided to take part in.

To say the applique stitching on this table runner was demanding, would be an understatement - it was slow with all the little points and curves, then I got onto to the miniature blue flowers, oh my goodness, I am sure that they bred and multiplied while I was stitching them down - they never seemed to end!

Back of runner to show the stitching around the applique shapes.

  My husband said:  "Holy Cow" when I showed him......

Detail of poppy flower

Detail of feather quilting down the centre

And, finally, here it is - all 162.5cm x 39.3cm (64in x 15.5in) in stunning glory.  I have re-named Poppy to be Christmas Dining because it shall grace the centre of my Christmas table this year.

I am extremely happy and very proud of myself for finishing such an intensive project.  Apologies for the bragging, but I'm super stoked!!

Pattern: "Poppy" from More William Morris Applique by Michele Hill pub 2012

Chester Criswell - Blocks 1 to 5

In the spirit of the revisiting of the Chester Criswell quilt (see CCCQ blog button on right) and the fact that I am very slow at applique, I have decided to do a few blog posts over the next couple of months of the blocks I have completed so far.

I did not start Chester Criswell at the beginning.  Approximately 2.5 years ago, while nursing broken ribs and unable to sit at my sewing machine; desperate for something to do; I stumbled across the Chester Criswell blog, some 6 months after the first blocks were published. 

12in blocks, large pieces, simple colour choices and an enjoyable afternoon reading the quilt story, I was wanting to know more.

Block 1

I went to my stash, pulled out some red and green half metre pieces, a large piece of Quilter's Muslin, my silk threads, and thought I can do this!  It didn't take long to realise that perhaps I might need some help to find an applique method which would suit me.  Who knew there were so many ways to hand applique?

Block 2 - appeared twice in the original quilt.

My Chester Criswell Quilt journey started with Block 3.  It really is the hand applique project where I managed to grasp the finer points, and, with the help of a one-on-one lesson from an expert at our now defunct 6-12 group, I had an "aha" moment where all the skills I had been taught previously came together and made sense.  Once I had that revelation, I was on fire.  I started to love watching the leaves, flowers and other shapes come to life under my fingers.

Block 3 - appeared 3 times in the original quilt.

While making the blocks, I have been trying as much as possible to use the same number of reds/greens and orientate the blocks the same way as the original quilt, as best I can from the whole quilt photo.

Block 4

Block 5 (this was not my favourite to applique, but I was very pleased when it was finished.)

The original Chester Criswell Quilt does live here in Australia. Sharon, who owns the quilt, has been able to trace her family history back to the USA along with the family stories which have been woven through time.

Chester Criswell Quilt information and patterns are available from here.

Orange and Chocolate

Hmm - who thought this post was going to be about food, with a heading of "Orange and Chocolate"?  I have to say, the idea of orange and chocolate did make me think of orange flavoured chocolate!  Which, by the way, I happen to love, especially when it's made with dark chocolate.... mmmm.... going to raid sweet cupboard now....

Ok - back again.  My orange and chocolate story is about a quilt.  The original pattern only had 9 blocks in the quilt and I wanted to include 12 blocks.  I had started to make this quilt as a help to a friend who was struggling with the 'stack'n'slash' cutting method, so I grabbed some fabrics and cut beside her, taking her through the process; step by step.

The front of the quilt is mostly greens, with a bit of chocolate and lots of nice fresh green.

However, the back is all chocolate and orange... 

... with some teal coloured deer.

There are flowers on the back of the quilt, because when I was cutting out the flowers for the quilt front, I just kept on drawing and fusing and then my flower garden bloomed profusely.  I had to plant those extra flowers somewhere!

One of my friends did ask why I was making this quilt - she really didn't like it before the flowers went on - and my response was, because it makes me happy to be helping another quilter with her cutting and the freshness of the fabrics also made my happy.

The pattern for this quilt is available from Patchworks Unlimited.   Sorry, I don't remember the name of the pattern and it is lost in the mess that is my sewing room.

I have no idea what colour or pattern of fabric to use for binding on this quilt, so any suggestions are welcome.

Funky 1600 JR Quilt

For quite some time I had been wanting to make a 1600 Jelly Roll quilt to find out what people on Yahoo groups were talking about.  Gosh, who knew that making a 1600 JR quilt could be so addictive?  I think I could make one in every colour way in my stash, if I had enough colours of each that is.

Now, the JR 1600 quilt instructions can be found here.  These very generous people at Heirloom Creations are happy for others to use their idea as long as you give credit - which is more than fair in my book.

I made my own 'jelly roll' from my stash of black/white/grey.  I had so many bits of these colours, that I just chopped them up one afternoon into appropriate lengths.  That night I made the quilt top - how fast does a JR 1600 go together?  Inside 3.5 hours with getting dinner for the family in the middle of that and pressing the seams!  WOW!

When I had sewn my black/white/grey fabrics together, which looked fabulous on the sewing table when in strips, I thought err, boring, dull, lifeless.  Off to visit my good friend, the internet and search some images to try and liven up this extremely boring quilt top.  I found the answer to my prayers here.  I wrote to Corina of cwquilts and she very kindly gave me permission to use her idea with credit applied at the time of posting to my blog.

My version of the 1600 JR Quilt:

In making this quilt, not only did I have fun, but I was once again reminded of the wonderful generosity of Quilters all over the world who are not frightened of sharing what they know with strangers.  I am indebted to Heirloom Creations and C W Quilts for giving me some sewing pleasure.

Mmmmm - more cake......

Two more cakes.  Better be careful, or I'll be known as the 'grey haired fat cake lady'!

Two recent birthdays within the family, just a day apart.

This is how our dessert looked at the family birthday dinner.....

Flowers.......

And....

Dragons......

The dragon cake had candles which re-light after they're blown out.  We missed one re-lighting and then the dragon caught fire, so the poor thing has a slightly singed wing.  Oh dear - fire flying instead of fire breathing.