Category: Quilts

Surf and Turf meets The Birds and The Bees

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When Jess from The Elven Garden asked for pattern testers for her new Roundabout pattern I couldn’t help myself and volunteered.

I’m on a (self-imposed) fabric buying ban but still get the Simply Solids stash club every month. When I saw all the pinks and oranges together I really wanted to make a quilt using just the two colours. However, when I started pulling fabrics for the Roundabout pattern I added some fresh blues to the mix. As a neutral I decided to use some Heather Ross fish which I got when Claudia from Machen und Tun München had her destash.

Roundabout Pattern by The Elven Garden

I loved the combination and soon started cutting. I checked the fabric requirements for all the colours but not for the neutral as I was convinced that I had enough of it. Well, long story short, I didn’t. After piecing two quarters I realised that I wouldn’t be able to cut enough for another two. I wasn’t going to unpick; unpicking foundation paper piecing is a nightmare and I didn’t want to waste my precious Heather Ross. So I hunted around in my stash for a neutral I would be able to use for the other two quarters and found some My Happy Garden by Cloud9 Fabrics that I used as backing for Little Miss Bossy-Boots’ flannel quilt.

Roundabout Pattern by The Elven Garden

The top was pieced with my beloved Aurifil thread (2000). I don’t really need to mention it anymore, do I? I don’t use any other thread since falling in love with it two years ago.

I have a few things I need to finish before I can actually think about quilting this. The plan is   to practice my fmq and hang it on my wall in the sewing room.

The pattern hasn’t been released yet but once Jess has finished all the editing you will be able to win a copy on her blog as well as all the tester’s blogs, including mine!

Categories: Quilting, Quilts1 Comment

Hurty Finger

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That’s what I have after appliquéing many green half circles onto the background without a thimble. I’ve finally gone to find my thimble and am continuing the task with more pleasure. Only six more to go and then I’m finished.

I had to sew together two strips just to see whether it would really look the way I imagined it.

Green

It does.

Categories: Quilts2 Comments

A Little Bit of Green

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I have signed up for another swap despite vowing never to enter a swap ever again after the last one’s disappointment*. Anyway, I couldn’t resist the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap and signed up. My partner likes green so I’ve hunted down almost every green scrap I own (ok, who am I kidding, about half of them) and have cut half circles in three different sizes. 40 different fabrics have been used and I still have more if I need them. I’ve always known that I like greens but didn’t realise that I had quite that many different ones.

40 half circles

Now all I have to do is appliqué them onto the low volume background. I may be a while.

 

*I wasn’t in the least disappointed in what I received; oh, no, I absolutely love the mini I received and enjoy looking at it every day as it’s hanging on my sewing room wall. No, it was the fact that after sitting for hours hand sewing and really putting my heart in it my partner didn’t even say ‘thank you’ or let me know that the parcel had arrived.

Categories: Quilts, Uncategorized1 Comment

Birthday Quilt

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I’m not sure why but on Wednesday last week I suddenly decided to make my mother a quilt for her birthday. It had to be a quick finish as her birthday is today. Layer cake to the rescue!

I bought a layer cake of ‘Honey, Honey’ by Kate Spain quite a while ago. The prints are so cheerful and gorgeous, I absolutely love them. In fact, I decided while making this quilt that I have to try and find some yardage of some of the prints as I think they are p.e.r.f.e.c.t. I have yet to see a collection by Kate Spain that I don’t love but this one truly makes my heart sing.

Mam's Birthday Quilt

Every now and then I pulled out the layer cake and wondered what pattern I should use to make a quilt. I put it back not being able to decide. Now that I knew I was making a quilt for my mother I had to come up with something. In the end I decided to go for big tumblers to let the fabrics do the talking.

Cutting Tumblers A bit of washi tape on the ruler ensured that the angles were all the same. As some of the prints were directional I had to make sure I cut the tumblers the right way and I’m pleased to report I only made one mistake. As it was fairly early on I could swap that tumbler with one from one of the other rows and sort it like that.

The quilt was pieced with Aurifil 40wt (2021) and free motion quilted with my favourite Aurifil 40wt (4654). I did some big flowers, leaves and insects and added Little Miss Bossy-Boots’ and my name and the year. My fmq may not be perfect but, by Jove, I had a lot of fun doing it.

FMQ FlowerCaterpillarSnailBeeNames

I love this quilt and I hope my mother does too (I might just steal it back if she doesn’t). The best thing? Kate Spain saw my picture on Instagram and wished my mum a ‘happy birthday’.

Happy Birthday

Categories: Quilts1 Comment

Jewel Ta Dah!

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That’s right, Jewel is finished. Maybe I should’ve changed the name as it doesn’t really look like a jewel but, hey ho, I can’t think of anything else.

JewelI love the hand quilting and will definitely do more of it. I also love the red binding. Little Miss Bossy-Boots was crying when I told her that she couldn’t keep this mini.

This mini quilt is off to its new home in America. Bye, bye, little quilt!

 

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Quilting, Quilts1 Comment

Jewel

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When I designed this EPP pattern I named it ‘Jewel’ because I thought it looked like a square cut precious stone (very original, I know…).

Jewel

However, once I started sewing I really liked the way it looked without the corners and, thus, it now looks completely different.

Jewel You may also have noticed that I changed the way I used the colours. I often start with a plan and then deviate from it. It does mean the piece looks very different to what I had originally planned. I like both versions and may still go back to the rainbow version one day.

Jewel being hand quiltedThis is the first time I’ve hand quilted any of my EPP minis and I really like the look of it. I think there may be a few more in my future. I’m hoping to have this finished tomorrow as I need a few more colours of thread for the quilting. It’ll get its proper ‘ta dah’ moment then.

 

 

 

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Quilting, Quilts1 Comment

A Mini Mini

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I just wanted to show you the finished mini I’m giving away over on Instagram (I’m Lemonshark if you’d like to try your luck).

MiniThis little mini was designed and made for the giveaway. I used some of my all time favourite scraps, such as Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander, Summersville by Lu Summers and some Tula Pink. You can’t go wrong with Tula Pink. The whole thing was pieced and quilted in Aurifil 50wt (no 2600, my favourite). For the quilting I did some stitching in the ditch and echoing as the quilt is busy enough as it is.

It was appliquéd on some grey Essex linen and bound with more of the yummy Tula Pink print I used. This mini mini finishes at 13,5″ and I’m in love with it. It’s going to be a little difficult to give it away but a promise is a promise.

I’m thinking of putting the templates for this mini up on the blog. This will then be the last pattern on here as I’m going to open a shop on Craftsy.

 

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Quilts1 Comment

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

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Quite a while ago I ordered a jelly roll of Kona brights by Robert Kaufman; not because I needed it but because I love solids and it called out to me. Once it arrived I put it on my shelf and admired the vibrancy of the colours and how well the colours looked together.

Last year I opened it and grabbed the purples to use as binding for the Mindless Flannel quilt. Then I rolled it back together again, stood back and admired it some more.

On Monday the admiring stopped and the cutting started. After sorting out the yellows and greys I turned to one of my favourite fabrics ever and chopped that up too. ‘Heron’ is from the line Across the Pond by Cloud 9 Fabrics . The design of this quilt had been in my head for quite some time. I could picture it and I really wanted to do it but there was always something else I needed to finished first. The list of things I need to finish is still as long as my arm but the quilt top has finally been made and it’s just the way I imagined it would be.

Heron Log Cabin

Excuse the poor quality picture. We have been swallowed up by the fog and despite having all the lights on it’s still really dark. However, I love the bright colours in real life. It has, of course, been pieced with my favourite Aurifil thread 50wt colour 2000 which is a lovely neutral colour that seems to go with all the colours in this quilt.

It finishes at 48″ x 60″ and is going to go and live on our sofa once I’ve quilted it. Little Miss Bossy-Boots tried to get this one too (she already has two quilts) but I thought it would be nice to have one we can share.

My dilemma now is how to quilt it. Once upon a time I would have just echoed the log cabin but after taking three (!) fmq classes on Craftsy I really want to do something else. Should I go for feathers (very ambitious), dot to dot quilting à la Angela Walters or use some of the designs I’ve learned from Leah Day? Answers on a postcard, please!

PS I will post better pictures the minute we have a sunny day.

Categories: Quilting, QuiltsLeave a comment

Tea?

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I love being part of a bee as it challenges me and lets me discover new sewing techniques. Last month’s request by Di from Quiltova were tea cups in bright and contrasting colours and fabrics. The pattern is by the talented Sarah Fielke whose Craftsy course Big Techniques from Small Scraps I bought ages ago because I wanted to learn how to do needle turn appliqué.

I would lie if I said I loved making these tea cups. Or rather, I would lie if I said I loved making the first tea cup as I just couldn’t get my head around working with the templates of the saucer ends. The seam ripper came out countless times and the air was turned dark blue until I gave up and made some HSTs.

Tea CupsI went back to Sarah’s class and watched the two lessons for needleturn appliqué again before attaching the handles. That’s what’s so great about Craftsy, you can go back anytime you want and re-watch the relevant lessons.

I’m totally in love with these tea cups now and would love to make one of these quilts, which is called All That and the Hatter, myself. Isn’t that the best name for a quilt? I’m now hoping Sarah’s book will be put under the Christmas tree for me. Please, Santa, I promise to be good and stop swearing…!

Categories: Quilting, Quilts, Sew Euro-Bee-An1 Comment