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. 

Squared Away - Purple or Green??

It was supposed to be one project - "Squared Away" it was called; an easy summer mystery quilt, with free clues from the local quilt shop.  Two colours, plus a colour to place circles over 4 patches.  Easy right?  No.  I loved my colour selections, however, when I started to make the quilt,  I didn't like the blocks together in my chosen colours.  Even with the border/sashing strips added, no, no, no.....  In frustration, I put the whole lot in a zip-loc bag and left them to marinate for a very long time. 

During 2017, I decided that each time there was a 12-hour sewing session with my local group, or a Retreat weekend, I would pull out a few of these zip-loc bags (I have a lot of them) and work on the contents until it becomes a finished - done done - item.

After consultation with a couple of friends at the 12 hour sewing day - I came to the decision that these would be two little quilts.

First - here's purple;

Second - here's green; 

I ended up with two of the same greens next to each other and it looked a bit "blobby", so I used left over fabrics to make a half Dresden Plate (sunflower) to make it a bit more interesting.

Both quilts were simply cross-hatched through the squares to keep them soft and cuddly.  They both have the same spotty backing and striped binding.

Moral of the story, sometimes, time away from a project can turn what seemed to be big problem - for such a small quilt - has turned into two delightful quilts for little ones.

These two little quilts will be donated to the Very Snuggly Quilts program run by Victorian Quilters.

Happy New Year 2018 and ponderings

Recently I read the following statement:

" A legacy of quilts shared with others is better than a garage sale of

quilt tops after you die." Author Unkown

There is a lot of truth in that statement.  I am always surprised when I give a quilt or get asked for a quilt that someone else really likes what I do.  Yes, I have received criticism over time, but that only seems to strengthen my resolve to improve what I do and not spend too much time worrying about the [bad] critics.

I have many goals to complete for 2018 and many of them include quilts to give, keep or exhibit as well as many knitting projects and hopefully some embroidery too.

For 2018, I appear to have a goal each month until August and then it'll be time to take stock.  There are many big projects in my list.

Up to March, I need to complete the following, which are my own designs:

• Boy cot quilt - done, needs label.
• Girl cot quilt - done, needs label.
• Liberty Fabric Quilt for exhibition - centre is pieced, borders started.  
• Quilt for friend's 60th in early April (to be valued mid-March)

Other things which I have planned/started, designed by other talented ladies are:... 

a) my ultimate goal which is to complete the 1718 Coverlet by Susan Briscoe for an exhibition in the UK in August '18.  This is one heck of a big task, started, but only just.  

and: b)  in the meantime, because I saw something bright, new and shiny - I started the "Daisy Blue" BOM by Esther Aliu .  I was more than happy to let myself be distracted during this holiday period.  

Here's my centre panel so far....

The pieces are sitting on the paper pattern at the moment and still need to be fused onto the background.  I'll cut out the circles when I find my circle template.  A nice mix of hand embroidery and fusible machine applique.  I have seriously mixed up fabric genres in this one - Kaffe Fasset, batiks, fossil ferns and some more traditional patterns.  And... surprise of the day, my Hubby, who often has no opinion walked in when I was taking the photo and said "WOW, I really like this one!"  Far out, I didn't think he took any notice of what I do....

I'm feeling happy; lucky to have some truly amazing friends, access to wonderful fabrics, a good sewing room and a family who support what I do.  Yep, you guessed it, my "word" for 2018 is Blessed.

Wishing everyone, peace, love and joy for the coming year.

Goal setting...

No photos today - sorry folks, but I have set some goals for August, and hopefully, by writing them down here, I will be accountable to cross off as many as I can.

In a message on a Yahoo group that I belong to, one of the members asked:  

• How about you?  Do you have plans for August??

And here is my reply; 

Why, yes I do, thank you for asking! :)  My August plans are:

1. Continue to quilt  my version of "Dancing Nines" 
2. Bind Dancing Nines.
3. Complete "Bali Bluster" quilt top - it's in many, many pieces at the moment and is made up of Birds in the Air blocks.
4. Layer, baste and quilt Bali Bluster quilt and hopefully get the binding done too.
5. Work on Splendid Sampler blocks.
6. If I get done on the above, pull out "Garden Gate" kiddie flimsy to baste/quilt for a baby, which is not due until Feb - but I'm pretty slow at hand-sewing binding.

To tally up:

- Dancing Nines is an UFO from Aug 2016 (pattern by Bonnie Hunter)  
- Bali Bluster was started on 21/07/17 - new start 10 days ago in a class at my local group.
- Splendid Sampler I started in May this year when the second sew-a-long started.

- Garden Gate is an UFO from October 2014.  (see this post)

These are big goals for me, as I'm not as fast as some at quilting/binding, but I'm being very optimistic.  Two UFO's and one new start to be completed by end Aug.

It feels good to have this out of my head and written down.  This list has been printed and put up in my sewing room so that I can have the satisfaction of crossing things off a list! 

Book It!

One of the lovely ladies in a Yahoo group to which I belong is running for 2017 a "Book It" Challenge.  You need to make a project from a book or magazine or pattern which you already owned for a few years and have never gotten around to using.  Alternatively, it can be something from a book that you have already started, which is what I am doing.

OK - so I took out my first intended project for the Book It Challenge, from my long list [copious amounts of UFO projects].....

Upon pulling this project out - I had to deal with a dust cloud that had been sitting on top of the ziploc bag, several sneezes later, I could then open up the book to remember which of the two Michele Hill patterns/books I had been working from/on.

"Poppy" table runner (67" x 41") with many detailed flowers and leaves.  The pattern comes from the book More William Morris by Michele Hill - pub C&T 2012.

What I have found is:  all fabrics, all shapes traced onto vliesofix and fused to the flower and leaf fabrics, but not cut out.

In my notebook - dates say this project was started around October 2013.

And then........


From the same book - More William Morris,  I have also started "Summer Stroll" a stunning children's quilt design, made as a row by row.

Three of the five rows have been completely fused on and are waiting for stitching.  the other two rows are shapes, drawn onto vliesofix and fused to the fabrics, waiting for cutting out and sticking to their background pieces.

My notebook tells me that "Summer Stroll" was started in February 2013 as part of a monthly class.
First things first - I will work on "Poppy".  One project at a time!  Seriously, who am I kidding??

PS:  Please excuse the odd sized font - I have tried a few times to make it all the same, but to no avail.

On The Move....

Ready, set, go!  Choose your mode of transport and then you're on the move, to far away places and many adventures.

This quilt was finished and gifted way back in May, but I've only just gotten around to showing it off.

I was asked to make a quilt by a friend, who wanted a special gift for a new mum and baby.  Definitely a boy, (whose dad is a Bulldogs supporter - blue sashing, white blocks and red binding) the quilt needed to be fun and with the possibilities of adventure when his imagination gets into full swing. 

The whole quilt.

The pictures are from children's colouring pages, free on the internet from various sources.  I felt blessed when I googled images and so many free pictures were at my disposal.  I have to say a huge thank you to the people who put them up on the world wide web for the rest of us to use.

Airplane block detail

Certainly not my normal run of the mill things to applique, but, oh, so much fun to do!  I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt and seeing the pictures come to life under my fingers.

Back of quilt.

I drew the circular quilting lines to add some movement to the quilt by tracing chalk circles around a dinner plate and then overlapping them.  I did not want the quilting to be dense, so as to keep it nice and soft for cuddles.

Simply just fun - it was nice to have a break away from my normal piecing projects.

Pinwheeling....

My most recent finish!  It seems that hand-made items have their time to shine, each in turn.

When I pulled this one out of the box a couple of months ago, I felt very happy and calm with the project.  I had a feeling that the new Mum (baby not yet born) would like the quilt and guess what?  She sure did.  It was with great delight that she squealed and then jumped around with joy at receiving this gift - her grandmother (my aunt) and her great-grandmother (my grandmother) were also quilters, so she felt it was very special.

I originally posted about this particular quilt here, in April 2013.  

Front of quilt.

The gorgeous soft flannelette backing.

The idea/pattern for the large pinwheels is from the Moda Bakeshop website and makes great use of 5in charm squares.  I added on the borders to use up some leftover fabric pieces and to make the quilt a little larger to suit a cot and then a sleepy time quilt for when baby becomes a toddler.

For the quilting, I used a large swirl wave design over the pinwheels, ellipses in the narrow border and then swirls in the outer border.  

I have plans to make another one with 5in charm squares that are predominately pinks and already put aside.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing "pinwheeling" come to life.

This is finish #6 of 12 planned for the year.

Ladder Climbing

Bored, I was.  A little bit tired of making Honour Quilt blocks in my marathon session to catch up with the monthly block issues, I procrastinated by looking through some magazines.  While looking for something quick and easy, that I could make in one afternoon, I found the pattern "Garden Ladder" in Australian Quilters Companion, issue 60 (Vol 12 No 2).

In my stash I found the following fabrics:

Three of the Fat Quarters were new fabrics from a retreat purchase - the visiting shop had so many exceptionally nice pieces that I just had to have, and the others were either left overs or un-used from other projects. 

Finishing at 37in x 51.5in (94cm x 131cm), this pattern makes a great baby quilt.  I have chosen a red binding, but it'll be a while until said binding is attached because I have to quilt it first!

Warm Fuzzies

I made the child that left the following message on my sewing machine.......
Just gorgeous!