Double 9 Patch Quilt Along

Its time to show you my version of the Fat Quarter Shop's Double 9 Patch Quilt - its one of their new patterns in the Classic & Vintage series.

the last quarter of this year's Finish-A-Long

I had a list of proposed finishes for the 3rd quarter Finish-A-Long and of course didn't get any of them done - its been a bit hectic around here lately !! as there are still a few hours to link up with the last quarter Finish-A-Long I'm just going to repost that list - I'm hoping to have some time in November and December to get these long overdue quilts actually quilted and finished !!

2017 finish-a-long Q3

Its time for the third quarter in the 2017 Finish-A-Long - I'm joining in this quarter with a list of quilts that need to be quilted !

Over previous years I've joined in the world wide event that is the Finish-A-Long and I wasn't really that successful in getting finishes done but I'm a bit more determined now (read - my UFO list is out of control!!) so I'm willing to try again - haha !!

a little progress !

at the beginning of January I posted about my UFO/WISP plans for 2017.  I’m concentrating on a handful of projects at a time to try and get some finished.

I was thinking a quarterly update would be fine but then I thought that I should do an update each month to keep these projects uppermost in my thoughts as I've discovered I'm very much an "out of sight out of mind" kind of girl !

I'm happy to say I've actually made some progress on most of the UFOs on my current list !

1. Bubbles block info

I’ve made another block and have three more to do - my deadline for these is March !

2017 quilt project planning

It seems a lot of quilters are planning their goals for this year and like me are taking a different approach to goal setting !!

With so many projects on the go and after a few years of planning and not getting things done or planning and then doing totally different projects I've decided to do things differently this year and only plan a handful of projects that I'd like to get done.

I'm hoping that by having a list with only a few hand sewing and machine sewing projects on it I might actually get some finished which might just motivate me to keep going - I'm also allowing myself a couple of new projects so I don't think I'm missing out altogether !

First on my short-term short list is the Bubbles Bee - this is a Flickr bee and its my only commitment this year - I only have four more blocks to make for this Bee and one of them is already overdue from November !!

ALYoF April and May !

a mini quilt is my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes for May but first a roundup of my April almost finish !

The Happy Weekender quilt was my goal for the April ALYoF and I'm happy to report that I added the borders to the already half made top and also completed the quilting - yippee !

If I'd got my butt into gear I might have had the binding done before the ALYoF linky deadline - I just needed to clean off my cutting table so I could trim and square up - its funny though - I was tossing up about machine sewing the binding or hand sewing so I think that was really the issue that held me up !

I'm pretty happy with the quilting - its an all over "meander" of loops and hearts - this is the second time I've used this design - I feel pretty comfortable with it already so I'm hoping that if I keep practicing I might even be able to think about using another design on my next quilt (or maybe the one after!).

this weekend I'm going to trim and square it up and sew on the binding and I think I might machine sew it down - I need to practice so that I can use it on charity quilts that might get a little more rough treatment in the washing department :)

onto my ALYoF project for May ...  I want to finish the Thimbleblossoms mini quilt - Puddlejumping - which uses the rolling stone block.  I've used a Wallflowers charm pack (by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew) which I think is just adorable!

Its small, simple (although a smidge fiddly) and just the right size project to get done in a few weeks -  I've sewn the blocks together but it still needs sashings then basting, quilting, and binding - oh and yes mum, don't forget the label :)

 

2014 finish along - my second quarter list

I had six hopefuls on my first quarter list for this year's finish-along and I got two quilts finished - quite an improvement on last year's efforts - and I did make progress on most of the others too so I'm rolling those over to the second quarter list.

I straight line quilted Through the Trees and also sewed on the binding - it just needs to be hand sewn down.

I also sewed the rows together on the double wedding ring quilt so now its ready for quilting.  I'm planning on hand quilting it so it might just go over two quarters but with winter fast approaching it will be nice to sit and sew with a warm quilt on my lap.

I cut out half of the single girl quilt pieces and sewed up quite a few of the arcs so hopefully some more progress this quarter too !

I sewed together the backing for the pink spiderweb quilt so I just need to baste and quilt it - its a charity quilt made by members of the do.good stitches care circle and as its my month again in May I'd like to have this one finished by then !

I'm adding the spinning stars quilt to this quarter list - I sewed all the pieces of the blocks together over the last couple of months so it would be good to get a quilt finished within six months of starting it !

I'm also adding a couple of tops that were made and then put in the cupboard waiting for the quilting - well quilting time is here !!

box of chocolates is a quilt that I made in April 2011 - when I put a photo of it on flickr I had a comment that it looked like a box of chocolates so that's its name !!

another top is my wonky max and whiskers quilt - this one was made in August 2011 and I'd love to be using it this winter - I love the max and whiskers fabric - I did put this one on my 3rd quarter list last year and I said I was going to hand quilt it - well that plan is out the window !

my last one for this quarter is my summer house hexy quilt - the pieces were cut out in September 2011 and the top was finally sewn together in September 2013 - it was on my 3rd quarter list last year so hopefully I'll get the quilting done this quarter - talk about a drawn out finish !

that's eight quilts for my second quarter list - better get started !!

modern quilts

Way back in April I purchased the spring issue of Modern Patchwork magazine and as soon as I saw the Lava Lamp Revisited quilt by Jacquie Gering I knew I had to make it !  Lava lamps are way cool and this quilt was very quick and easy quilt to make.

When it was finished I was a little shocked at how washed out it looked - I don't think I've used so much white in a quilt before !  I'm planning on using a bright varigated thread to quilt with or maybe using a few different colours to put a bit of colour in that white !

Of course its not at the quilting stage yet as I haven't organised the backing - I'm thinking of using this fabric from Emily Herrick's Technicolour range - I think it may have been made just for the Lava Lamp quilt !

Also in the magazine is the Retro Rubies quilt by Alyssa from Pile O' Fabric.  Alyssa used Oakshott fabrics in this quilt and as I have a big box of Oakshott I thought it was about time I cut some of it up so I made the Retro Rubies as well.

I was kind of making both quilts at the same time and I didn't read the instructions fully for putting the rubies together so I ended up sewing half of them the wrong way !

lesson learnt to make sure to read the instructions every step of the way !!  lucky I love my quick unpick - lol ! apart from my little mistake, the quilt went together really quickly and I really like the design.

I've ordered some thread to quilt the Retro Rubies and as its a wall hanging I'll just use a solid for the backing.

Hope to show these quilts all finished sometime in the near future - I think my free motion quilting is improving a smidge :)

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 :)

a year of lovely finishes for January

its finally done - the little capsule/pram cover that I made for Lucy is finished ! and I think its sooo cute:)

I know exactly what took me so long to get this little sweetie finished - the quilting !  it seems that every time I think of quilting I panic !  but you know what - I loved doing the quilting on this little one and it wasn't hard at all.

I've discovered I love doing straight line quilting so I've just got to remember that ! 

When I think back to a couple of minis I made last year I can't believe I hand quilted this quilt...

I was worried I'd mess it up if I did straight line quilting - and now I think how great it would have looked with some straight line quilting like this one...

I'm so glad I did straight line quilting on that one - I think it really makes the quilt !

so now I really want to try free motion quilting and I definitely panic whenever I think of it but I don't want to straight line quilt every quilt I make !!  I just need to remember that I CAN do it and the more I practice the better I'll be :)

I think for my February project for a lovely year of finishes I might have to find something that needs quilting so I can practice fmq :)

I was hoping to post a photo of Lucy in her capsule with the new cover but alas her mother has been a bit busy on the farm so hopefully I'll get a photo soon !

I'm linking up to a lovely year of finishes - the linky party closes tomorrow !

book review - free-motion quilting

I've got a new book to review - this one is Free-Motion Quilting by Angela Walters.

As a novice quilter I was really excited to get Angela’s first book on free motion quilting and it didn’t disappoint.

Angela starts off the first section by explaining that getting started in free motion quilting is all about practice and she suggests drawing designs on paper first – that way you learn how to space your design and move around without getting stuck which is something I can relate to !!

The second section is about supplies with suggestions on threads, marking tools and other helpful notions.  I was interested to learn that Angela uses polyester thread in her quilting !

Then its straight into the designs  where Angela explains how to make swirls and circles, squares, lines and vines and arcs and points – Angela’s easy to follow directions make this a perfect starting point to learn free motion quilting.

Angela then shows how to use your practice designs in modern quilts which usually have a lot of negative space and she suggests designs to use in different styles of quilts - square in a square and log cabin, zigzags, wonky quilts and strip quilts.

In the final sections of the book, Angela looks at designs for modern quilts that contain different shapes and designs and makes suggestions for using more than one design on a quilt - she also takes you through her ideas and thought process for designs on modern quilts that she has quilted.

This is a fabulous book full of design ideas that work wonderfully on modern quilts.

so I thought I'd show you some of my quilting ... I've been practicing drawing as suggested by Angela ...

and after some hesitation I just started quilting...I tried to do some of the designs ... some wannabe swirls and pebbles shown here...

and some not too bad double loop swirls...

I'm doing ok when I'm moving to the right and looping but I seem to have trouble changing directions - I think that's why I can't seem to do stipple quilting !

but I'm pretty happy for my first attempt and the back is ok - no puckering or bird's nests that I've heard so much about ...

and it seems my tension is ok as well...but my pebble attempt (top left in the photo below) needs quite a bit of practice - again its the where to go next that I have issues with!

one thing I did notice is that quilting uses a lot of bobbin thread so next time I'll make sure I have a few bobbins wound in advance so I can practice for more than half an hour !

I'm also pretty happy with my 26 year old Elna that seemed to cope quite well with my very fast quilting even though I can't drop the feed dogs !

so now I just need to practice, practice, practice and then practice some more and one day I might even be able to quilt my own quilts :)