Monday 23 April 2012

All gone a bit wonky

Okay so apparently I missed the memo about just how much fun wonky stars are!


I've been waiting for the wadding for my Siblings Together quilt top arrive (which it did on Friday) so in the meantime I made a little wonky star baby quilt using this tutorial.

Even with all the trimming (of which I'm not a great fan - always paranoid I'll chop a chunk off that I wasn't meant to) I loved making them.  Fabrics are Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman from Frumble and Klona cotton in pink and pomegranate from Backstitch.

All my new favourite things (wonky stars, HSTs, paper piecing) seem to involve a lot of trimming - ah well such is life.

I've got some Izzy flannel for the back - not a perfect match colour wise but not too bad. 

So next up basting (for this and the Siblings quilt)
Bye for now
Sarah

Wednesday 18 April 2012

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday again and lots to report as I haven't managed to blog much recently.

Finished

Baby building block quilt
 Pattern : Baby Building Blocks by Cindy Lammon at Moda Bake shop

 Fabric: David bundle and Riley Blake flannel from Emma's Fabric Studio plus one orange print from my stash

I'm so please with how it turned out and really glad I went for it with free motion quilting.  Although it is a bit jerky in places I love the overall look.

It was posted off at the weekend and yesterday I got a call from my friend Elspeth saying that she loves it  :-)

In progress 

Siblings together

I've committed to making two quilts for Siblings together, a charity that helps siblings in care keep in touch, as organised by Lynne of Lily's Quilts.  For more info see here.

First off is one I make from may scraps
Fabrics: Modern Workshop by Oliver+S and klona white
Pattern: adapted from Small Plates from A Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  Initially I was going to back it in orange or turquoise but after perusing my swatch  card I've settled on klona Corn Yellow as it is the best match to the colours in the quilt and the extra width of klona keeps it economical.  Backing and batting are ordered so hopefully can get cracking on the quilting this weekend.

Today I received fabric for my second Sibling together quilt





It was donated by the wonderful Katy of I'm a ginger monkey.  There are six pieces from the Natures Effects collection (all of which are WOF and range from 12 to 30 inches in length!) and a yard of kona cotton in Wheat.  Wow!

I'm not sure what I'll do with them but my initial though is to use Super Zig pattern by Monica Happy Zombie with a pale beige/tan instead of white.  But my sewing buddies are coming over tonight so I'll get some more input there.

No progress

Bed quilt - although working with the Modern Workshop scraps has reminded me how much I like the fabric so I'm ready to get going with this one again.

Twiggy lattice quilt
Alice Mixtape quilt

New projects

Wonky star baby quilt - decided to make a baby quilt for a friend of a friend.  She has been very complimentary about my sewing and has had a rough pregnancy so I thought it would be nice to make her something and I fancy trying wonky stars.  Fabric is on order.

Paper pieced bag - my first commission! One of the ladies from the Wee chap's after school club got in touch and said that her daughter had been visiting at Easter and had fallen in love with the bag I made so could I please make another for her to buy!

That is about all for now - I'm feeling very enthused about sewing and since the Little lady has suddenly decided at the age of 2 years and 5 months that she can go to sleep by herself without an hour of messing about and having someone sit with her I might actually have more sewing time from now on!

Linking up with

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Bye for now
Sarah

Saturday 7 April 2012

Siblings together - making a start

Hello

I've signed up to make a quilt for Siblings Together, a charity that helps siblings in care stay in touch and get together.  The lovely Lynne of Lily's Quilts has organised it and so many fantastic quilters are on board.

Already there are loads of quilts being donated - just have a look!

I spent a load of time surfing online fabric shops looking at fabrics that I'd like to use but in an effort to be frugal I investigated my scraps.  I don't have loads and I'm not very good at combining fabrics yet so I wasn't that hopeful but I did have a lot of 3" by 10" strips of Modern Workshop by Oliver+S - off cuts from a couple of layer cakes (the rest will eventually be a bed quilt for hubs & I).

After a lot of calculations (maths is definitely the hardest part of quilting) I worked out that with the strips and a few left over layer cake squares I had enough to make a decent size quilt top.
Here are the first four blocks

It was inspired by the Small plates pattern in A Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman.  The quilt should finish at about 66" by 76" which I think is a good size even for a teenager.

It is all cut out and I'm itching to get going!  Hope to have some time over the Easter weekend.

Hope you all have a great Easter.

Sarah

Sunday 1 April 2012

Fresh Sewing Day & Small blog meet

Happy April - hope not too many fools around ;-)

March has been a busy month - although I set myself a couple of major projects and then did my usual thing of procrastinating.  But anyway before we get to that here is a summary of what I got done in March:
I tried out paper piecing for the first time - and oh how I love it!
To feed my paper piecing addiction I made three bags for the lovely ladies who ran the Wee Chap's after school club (it closed at the end of term).  They were a massive hit so I'm pleased I made them.
I have finished the top and basted the Twiggy Lattice quilt I'm making for my Mum's 60th birthday.  Well her birthday was the 25th March and she arrives here on Thursday (she lives in Dubai but is back to help look after the Wee Chap over the Easter hols) and unfortunately it will not be finished by then because:
1) the a fore mentioned procrastinating
2) the Little lady contracting tonsillitis and a ear infection at the same time and hence robbing me of sleep and enthusiasm for sewing
3) deciding that my initial background quilting plan (straight lines on sashing) wasn't working and spending the last three nights unpicking - why does it take sooooo much longer to unpick?

But I've decided I'm not going to stress about it - I'll wrap it up as is on Wednesday night and let my mum open it and then take it back and hopefully have it finished by her next visit in June.

So the plan for April is to finish the Lattice quilt, finish my building block baby quilt and most exciting of all, get cracking on my donation quilt for Siblings Together.

Linking up with
Lily's Quilts

and
Lily's Quilts
Now off to visit some new blogs.
Sarah