Circle

I have an idea for a quilt. Now, I have a lot of ideas for a lot of quilts and I’ve had to start writing them down as I’m worried I might forget.

This quilt design involves some circles. You may remember that I did some portholes after the first Fat Quarterly retreat and I love this technique but I’m worried it might make a quilt fairly heavy and a bit stiff. I therefore decided to try out some inset circles. What better way than to experiment than making a mug rug.

Mug Rug

I think it turned out really cute. I like the improv circle and the way the circle sits flat. It’s a little fiddly but once you get the hang of it it’s actually quite quick. All you need is a little freezer paper and some glue. Claudia from Machen und Tun München has a great tutorial.

I used some Kona solids and Timeless Treasure sketch and think the mug rug looks sweet in those pastel colours. I’m not normally a pastel girl as they remind me a lot of the 80ies when I was growing up (showing my age here, guys).

Circles Mug Rug

I’m really looking forward to making this quilt. Probably some time in 2075 after I’ve done all the other designs that are on my list.

 

 

Blogger’s Quilt Festival: Small

After finding the time and gumption to enter Jewel into the Blogger’s Quilt Festival I’ve decided to go for it and enter another quilt: The Heron Log Cabin.

This quilt was made to showcase the Heron print from Across the Pond by Cloud 9. I fell in love with this print but only bought a fat quarter. I have no idea what I was thinking but hey ho it’s nice to surprise yourself sometimes. Anyway, I decided to make a quilt that would be all about this print. Around about the same time I bought a Kona brights jelly roll and when I opened it to take all the purples out to use as binding I realised that the blues and oranges went really well with the Heron print. The idea to make a large log cabin quilt was born.

Heron Log Cabin Centre

I cut a centre panel from the fat quarter and then cut 2 1/2″ strips from the Heron print making sure the Herons were going up and down and across. Then I started sewing the jelly roll strips on. From time to time I would insert a Heron to break up the solids and use more of the fabric.

Heron Log CabinIn the end I only used the oranges, pinks, reds, blues and greens from the jelly roll. I wasn’t sure how to quilt it so I asked for advice on Instagram and Krista from Poppyprint sent me a picture of how she would quilt it. It’s basically like chevrons going towards the centre. I think it gives the quilt a wonderful modern look.

Heron Log Cabin

The quilt was pieced with Aurifil 50wt in 2600 and quilted in the fabulous variegated Aurifil 40wt that I seem to use on all my quilts lately, number 4654. It finishes at 46″ x 57″ and is perfect for snuggling on the sofa. It’s backed in the Ikea Britten Numbers and bound with Windmarks Mirage from Tule by Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics.

Heron Log Cabin

Please take the time to go and browse all the other fantastic entries to the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. I’m sure you will find lots of great inspiration. All you have to do is click on the link below.

 

AmysCreativeSide.com

By the way, this quilt was on my FAL and I’m happy to say that it means I have finished two of eleven WIPs. I’d better get a move on!

Good Fortune

I love all of Kate Spain’s fabric lines and would buy every single one of them if I had more money. I did, however, buy a charm pack of ‘Good Fortune’ two years ago. Some of those charms were used in my first ever foundation paper pieced project, the double ring of flying geese, Lynne taught at the first Fat Quarterly Retreat and which ended as a cushion.

Some more charms were used to make this cushion. I do apologise for the quality of the pictures. It’s a grey and miserable day here today.

Good Fortune

This time I decided to play around with the quilting as I really want to become more confident at free motion quilting. I decided to quilt a grid in the centre simply following the seams using an Aurifil 50wt (5006), do some pebbling on the orange border with some Aurifil 40wt (2150) and a leaf pattern in the blue border with my favourite variegated Aurifil 40wt (4654).

Good Fortune Detail

My pebbles are definitely pebbles and not circles and some of my leaves have been visited by caterpillars but I love the textures and imperfections and can’t wait to do some more free motion quilting on my Heron Log Cabin which is up next.

I have found that for me the ideal speed at which to free motion quilt is a snails pace. That’s alright, though, it becomes quite relaxing when you go that slowly.

This is my first finish on this quarter’s Finish Along list.

I Follow, You Follow, We Follow

Last Saturday I noticed that I had 297 followers on Instagram (I’m lemonshark on there). I love Instagram because you can easily upload a picture of what you’re working on and get feedback from likeminded people. Anyway, I posted a picture of this number and said I was going to organise a giveaway of an EPP mini once I reached the magic number of 300.

Instagram

Imagine my surprise when I was tagged by Karie (karietkq on Instagram) who had posted a collage of some of my EPP designs and suggested to her followers that they should follow me. Within half an hour I had ten more followers and by the end of the day 46!

So I sat down and designed this mini:Giveaway Mini

So far I’ve done the first round and I’m in love with it. I really hope that people will like it too and enter my giveaway. It has some of my favourite designers and fabrics in it, Tula Pink, Denyse Schmidt, Carolyn Friedlander and, of course, some Kona solids and I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of the week. If you like it and would like a chance to win it you’ll have to hop on Instagram and follow me…

EPP Giveaway Mini

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

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.