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09 August 2013

quick charm pack quilts !

back in January this year I decided to tackle free motion machine quilting so I thought I'd buy some charm packs on sale and make up some practice quilts !

my idea was that charm quilts would be quick and easy to make and wouldn't cost that much !  I wasn't really thinking about the added cost of the batting, backing, and bindings !

I purchased 5 lots of 3 charm packs and after searching for patterns for a while at the Moda Bake Shop I finally did some mockups in EQ using different solids so I could see what the final quilts would look like.

This pattern is called Honey Honey Layer cake.


I decided to go with the poppy as a solid for the Tapestry rather than the snow but when the solids arrived I discovered the poppy was entirely the wrong colour so it was back to the drawing board !  I finally found a solid from the Tapestry range which was double the price of the kona solid I chose for the others so there goes my idea of a cheap practice quilt !

Thankfully the other solids seem to work well - I purchased Ash for Kissing Booth, Carrot for Serenade, Charcoal for Odds and Ends and (not shown here) Chocolate for Oh Deer.



I still haven't worked out which pattern I'll use for the Serenade charms - my first choice was this giant star that I'd seen on Jeni's In Color Order blog but using half square triangles instead.


when I ordered the carrot for the background I didn't order enough so I've come up with these other two patterns !


the one above is based on a pattern from the pillow I received in The Pillow Swap - I can't seem to get away from half square triangles - which I love to make but they are time consuming - and these were supposed to be quick and easy !

for the Odds and Ends charms I'm using another Moda Bake Shop pattern - Happy Weekender quilt.
 

Hopefully when I start this quilt it won't take too long to put together !

I'm going to use the garden fence pattern by Hyacinth Quilt Designs which I love for the Oh Deer charms but as it only needs one charm pack I'll have to find a use for the other packs.


I chose the chocolate for the background of this quilt - it seems I like bold colour rather than light backgrounds !

I'm using another Moda Bake Shop pattern - charming stars - for the Kissing Booth charms with kona ash as the background.

After 6 months of searching patterns, getting the right backgrounds, and generally stuffing about - a few weeks ago I finally made the Tapestry quilt and I love the celery solid !



Unfortunately I only have backings for the Serenade and Oh Deer charms so I'm still no closer to having some quilts for practice!

At this rate I think that 2014 is going to be my year for free motion machine quilting - LOL :)

5 comments:

  1. Love them all; you must have had quite a time deciding!

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  2. oh gosh Leanne, some lovely fabrics and lovely layouts, but (wagging finger) where is the FMQ? lol.

    my advice? take the least loved charm pack, whack 'em together alternating with solids, buy a fleece blanket ( ikea here does lovely ones £3 each) baste the flimsy onto the fleece and now FMQ.

    you can make the flimsy and be FMQing all in one day- ok its not strictly a quilt (only two layers so for competitions you need to look for a coverlet category) but a great snuggle blanket for a kid, fab on a pram. or a wheelchair as itdoesnt slip off so easily AND you have FMQ practice!!!!

    gee that was bossy of me, sorry!!!!!

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  3. I love each of these, especially the chevron one. I have a small rug with that pattern on it and every day I think I should make that quilt. I think that you will have beautiful quilts in the end.

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  4. Haha you are making me think that all my UFOs last year were a good thing! They gave me lots of practice!

    Maybe you should offer to quilt for someone else who has loads of quilt tops!?

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