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29 July 2014

a seabreeze giveaway


Last week it was my turn on the seabreeze mini quilt along blog hop and as well as making a mini quilt I also made a seabreeze pillow to giveaway.


I had such fun making this pillow - I made the blocks 2 inches rather than 3 inches so it ends up as a 18 inch square pillow.

I used the same fabrics and same layout that I used in my mini quilt and quilted it on the diagonal - I was going to cross hatch it but I'm happy with the softness of just doing one line.

I used one of my favourite fabrics Erin McMorris' Summersault for the back - the raindrops just happen to have the same colours as the front !  I made a zipper back too !


If you'd like to win this pillow, just leave me a comment ! if you follow my blog then you can leave a second comment telling me that !  If you're visiting from instagram I plan to have another giveaway for my instagram followers very soon !!  please note that due to postage costs the pillow insert isn't included !  I used a 20 inch insert for the photos.

I'll get mr random generator to pick a winner on Sunday 3 August 2014 at 6pm (australian eastern time)

and don't forget the seabreeze mini quilt along blog hop is still going on and finishes with a linky party on Saturday 2 August over at host Angie's blog - you can find all the details here.

25 July 2014

b o o m !!

This is Boom - my entry for the Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Fabric Challenge.



earlier this year the Modern Quilt Guild announced a fabric challenge with Michael Miller fabrics - we were to make something quilted with six fat eighths provided by Michael Miller - adding solids or any other Michael Miller fabrics.

These are the fabrics I received on 2 May.


As soon as I saw them I had an idea to do a "brick" design based on one of the fabrics - I cut out a few of the fabrics using a dresden ruler and put them on my design wall and I didn't like it at all !

So I just started rearranging the fabrics and of course being dresden pieces I automatically put them in a circle - my thoughts were an atomic blast but the strobe of a disco ball was edging in as well !



having already cut them out meant that I needed to fill them ! I had some Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Luna that looked really good with the fabrics so I used that.

I managed to sew pieces of solid to the already cut dresden pieces and then recut but for the record its much easier to sew the pieces together first then cut them out with the ruler !


so it was starting to take shape - the fabric range is called Pinwheel Petals and there is a wonderful petal fabric that I thought might look good in the centre - I had already decided that I wanted to piece the centre and outer circles - well, it was a challenge so I might as well really challenge myself !

I tried out the petal fabric for the centre but wasn't convinced.


So I did a bit of colouring in (using the avery app) and added a piece of luna around the petal in the centre - still not happy !


but I was happy with the idea of the luna for the background.  I tried the petal again with the luna in place and folded the petal flower fabric up.


after much deliberation, I decided I liked just the luna in the centre.


it was starting to look like I had imagined ! phew !!

now I just had to work out how to piece it all together - I have enrolled in Cheryl Arkinson's Circles craftsy class so I knew that I could make templates but they're way easier when they're 3" circles !!
I ironed one of the quarter circles onto freezer paper and then traced the outline onto folded greaseproof paper and added a 1/4 inch seam - it was a bit fiddly but it worked !

so I managed to piece the outer, middle, and inner circles all together and I had a top ! woo hoo !


so onto the quilting !

I'm pretty much in love with matchstick quilting and as its a mini and a circle design I didn't even think about using my beginner free motion quilting skills !  so matchstick quilting it was - I looked at a few different threads and my choices were Aurifil varigated 4662 or King Tut varigated 927 - I went with the Aurifil !

the quilting began !


it did take a few hours - well, I didn't actually time it but it took the best part of a day and a bit !


half way through I asked my IG friends for their thoughts on quilting the centre - I did a few sketches and posted on IG - I was tossing up between #3 (in keeping with the matchstick quilting) and #4 (for the bubbling centre of an atomic blast) and suggested maybe #3 - most agreed so I happily finished off the centre too !  next time I'm going to use the pebbles for the centre !


and finally the quilting was done !


I just needed to bind it and Boom was finished !

I like to bind my minis in the same fabric as the background - I like the infinity effect it gives !
I decided to put a couple of coral slivers in the binding to add a little pop of colour - as soon as the binding was on I started having doubts about my choice but the lovely IG community put those to rest !


Boom has been entered on the Modern Quilt Guild website and is now hanging on my wall in my lounge room which makes me happy.

one final close up of that matchstick quilting - love !!!


Stats
size:20"x20"
pattern: improv dresden block
top fabric: Petal Pinwheels and Luna Cotton Couture - Michael Miller
backing fabric: Luna Cotton Couture - Michael Miller
binding fabric: Luna and Coral Cotton Couture - Michael Miller
batting: Warm and White cotton 
quilting: matchstick by me
thread: Aurifil #4662 varigated Creme De Menthe

23 July 2014

seabreeze mini quilt along

Hi there - thanks for joining me for the Seabreeze Mini quilt-along...

Thanks to Angie at GnomeAngel for organising such a fun blog hop - she has selected the Sea Breeze Mini by Megan Bohr of Canoe Ridge Creations for the quilt-along.  All of the details of the quilt-along are on Angie's blog and she is doing profiles on each of the bloggers so make sure you check it out !

I love making mini quilts - they're quick and easy and also a great way of of trying out a design before committing to anything larger !

I also love half square triangles - they are such fun and so versatile so of course this is the perfect combination for  me !

While thinking about fabric choices  I tried out a few different combinations for the quilt in EQ7


I think there is definitely a pink and white seabreeze in my future !

I decided to go with the solids this time - just for something different !  I used a mix of Spotlight Prima, Michael Miller Cotton Couture, and Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Elements but I've matched pretty closely to the following Kona solids:

Baby Pink, Carnation, Bright Pink, Cactus, Sprout, Lime, Bahama Blue, Azure, and Lagoon.

I'm calling it "Into the Shade" due to the ombre effect of going from light to dark !


I've put the top together and started quilting in straight lines - after looking at it for the past few days I've decided I need to do a few more lines of quilting - I have a bit of an addiction to matchstick quilting but I'm going to refrain from doing that on this one !


I'm also making a cushion/pillow for a giveaway - I'm making a smaller version of the mini with 2 inch blocks which will make an 18 inch cushion/pillow - I've used the same fabrics as my mini quilt - not sure how I'll quilt that one yet - maybe straight line or maybe cross hatching !


and because I love this pattern so much I've made a start on another cushion !  eeek somebody stop me !


I've made quite a few mini quilts with the eternally cute half square triangle block.  I like to sew them the old fashioned way - using my hera marker to mark a line diagonally on the square and sew on either side which is how I made the blocks for both the solid mini and cushion - I usually only cut my blocks 1/2 inch larger rather than the normal 7/8 inch so that I don't have as much waste.

However, last weekend I found another way of sewing the blocks together - I saw the Clearly Perfect Angle sheet on a sewing machine which jogged my memory that I actually had purchased one a few years ago and as I couldn't use it with my old machine it was put away.

After a bit of a search I found it and it fits the new machine really well !


it is a plastic sheet marked with angled lines - as well as sewing half square triangles you can use it to sew diagonal corners, joining strips for bindings and probably lots of other uses - all without having to mark your blocks.  I decided to give it a go and made some more triangles for another cushion - I'm happy with how they turned out but I might just make my blocks a little bigger next time I use the clearly perfect angle - giving me a little more wiggle room !

As I mentioned I'm currently making a cushion/pillow for a giveaway next Tuesday 29 July - if you are visiting from Instagram I'll be posting about it there as well as here so you won't miss out !


To continue with the Seabreeze Mini Quilt-along blog hop - tomorrow's bloggers are Rachel @ Little White Dove and Penny @ Happy Spider Knits Podcasts - can't wait to see what fabrics they're using !

I also hope you checked out yesterday's bloggers Kellie and Gillian from Secret Society Sewing - Gillian even printed her own fabrics to use !

Have fun making your own Seabreeze Mini and don't forget to come back next week for the cushion/pillow giveaway !