A Finished Quilt!

It may be August but I am super excited to be able to show you my first quilt finish for 2017. 

This quilt was made using my leftover Cotton and Steel fabrics – I guess I could call this one Cotton and Steel Quilt #4!

(You can see my previous Cotton & Steel quilts by clicking on the following links: Cotton & Steel Quilt #1; Cotton & Steel Quilt #2; Cotton & Steel Quilt #3)

Cotton and Steel Quilt August 2015

Plus Plus Quilt October 2016

Cotton & Steel Quilt #3 November 2016

 

For this latest quilt, I made super sized economy blocks – a pattern in Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine Issue 46. For the first time I tried QAYG and was pretty happy with the end result. I didn’t struggle with the actual quilting process quite as much and think this technique may be my method of choice for future projects.

After joining the blocks together, I used a much loved Cotton & Steel fabric – Study Hall in black and white by Alexia Marcelle Abegg – from my stash for the backing. I joined the quilted front panel to the backing by stitching along the seams and around the grey background squares, both vertically and horizontally.

I’m very happy to finally have a quilt finish for the year and am now feeling quietly optimistic that my quilting –  and blogging – will continue, albeit less frequently than previous years 🙂

Linking up again (after a long absence!) to Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation

 

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Finally…Some Sewing!

It’s mid-year school holidays and after a LONG hiatus, I’ve finally found some time, and more importantly some motivation, to sew!

I’ve been whipping up some supersize economy blocks using my leftover Cotton and Steel fabrics. By now, you all know how much I LOVE these bright and beautiful fabrics.

These 16½ inch (unfinished) blocks were a joy to make and I made twelve of them in a matter of days.  I found the pattern for these blocks in Issue 46 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine (the cover quilt). I only had a small amount of white fabric left in my stash so I decided to pair it with some Bella Solids grey for the background to make the centre square of these blocks really “pop”.

In another first for me, I have decided to try QAYG (Quilt As You Go) to hopefully avoid my usual frustration when quilting on my small domestic sewing machine. I chose to quilt several diagonal lines through the centre of each block in an “X” pattern.

I had some initial concerns that the blocks might not match up neatly when I joined them together, but with plenty of pinning, I achieved what I think is a good result. I’ve ended up with a decent-sized 48″ x 64″ quilt top.

It’s been very quiet on my blog this year and I’m still unsure whether I have the time or commitment to sew and write regularly. I will see what this second half of the year brings.

Thanks for visiting!

Deb 🙂

 

 

Cotton & Steel Quilt #3

It’s no secret that I love Cotton and Steel fabrics. I have amassed a reasonable stash over the course of my two year quilting journey and have completed two quilts made entirely from these fun fabrics.

Although I haven’t made any many recent purchases, I still own enough Cotton and Steel for at least one – or maybe two 😉 – more quilts. For my latest Cotton and Steel Quilt, I am using the pattern Over the Rainbow by Keera Job of Live Love Sew. This pattern was published in Issue 31 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

Some time ago, I purchased a Cotton and Steel jelly roll – strips of fabrics from a few of their different collections – collated by the lovely ladies at my local fabric store Frangipani Fabrics. I decided, instead of white, to amp up the contrast with these glorious Cotton & Steel colours and use a Slate blue Homespun solid as the background fabric.

I really like the clean lines and angles of the log cabin block (this one really a quarter log cabin block) and it seems to be a design I find myself making again and again.

Is there a particular quilt block that appeals to you and that you have used a number of times?

I had this particular project listed as one of my goals for Quarter 3 of the 2016 Finish Along. I wasn’t too successful and only managed to finish four (out of 39) blocks.

In this past week however, I have made the most of every spare moment and am happy to report that I have made another fifteen blocks! Only twenty more to go…

Deb 🙂

Linking up to MCM @ Cooking Up Quilts, Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation.

Spring is in the air

It is Spring down here in the Southern Hemisphere. The daffodils are blooming and my first tulips have opened to reveal their beautiful colours.

I have so many unfinished projects to keep me busy but in my usual procrastinating fashion, I decided that I needed a new and quick project.

I found this quilt/cushion pattern in Issue 23 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and decided to use a few fat quarters of Moda’s Chic Neutrals with a few Art Gallery fabrics thrown in for good measure.

This is the first time I have made hrt’s (half rectangle triangles) and I look forward to using this technique in future projects. I quilted it simply by stitching a quarter inch on either side of the seams.

I fussy cut squares for the cushion front using some “Prospect Park” (Kitty Yoshida) fabric from my stash and used this same fabric for the back of the cushion.

I used a strip of Chic Neutrals in Egglant to bind the edge of the envelope back.

This is another much needed cushion for my couch 😉

I also have another finished goal from my Quarter 3 list for the 2015 Finish-Along to show you:

Three finished Noodlehead Open Wide pouches.

I think my favourite is the small quilted pouch, made from printed “Vintage Drill” fabric.

It’s the end of school term so I’m unsure as to whether much sewing will happen in the next two weeks while the kids are home with me.

Hopefully, if the weather is warm, we’ll be too busy outside enjoying the sunshine!

Deb 😉

Cotton & Steel Quilt

I didn’t manage to achieve a finish in time for the July ALYoF party. But as promised, my Swoon Quilt is now complete. You can read about it here.

For my August goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes (link up #56), I set myself the task of a binding “re-do” on my Cotton and Steel Quilt.

This quilt was originally completed in February 2015.  Looking back, I realise how much I have learned in six months. This quilting addiction/obsession – whatever you want to call it – has hit hard and fast!

I have several reasons for the binding re-do:

Firstly, I was not at all happy with these rounded corners. (Thankfully, I now know how to achieve a nice mitred corner 😉 )

Secondly, I had some fraying on one part of the binding.

I suspect this is because the two raw edges of the folded binding misaligned as I machine sewed them to the front of the quilt.

and Thirdly, just like my Amy Butler Quilt, I really wanted all of the fabrics in this quilt to be from the same fabric line. I didn’t have any surplus navy Cotton & Steel fabric back in February. The navy Spot On Robert Kaufman binding fabric I originally used has now been replaced with Cotton & Steel Basics XOXO in navy. I really like how the x’s appear and disappear around the quilt.

For the backing, I used some gorgeous coral August Lion and Moonlit Arrow fabrics. I quilted in a crosshatch diagonal pattern.

This quilt was made following the pattern Hourglass Twist by Karen Lewis. This pattern was featured in Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine, Issue 10.

This quilt is a birthday gift for my daughter who turns 10 next week.

Now I have a question for you:

Did you ever “re do” part of a quilt because you weren’t happy with it?

I’d love to hear what your experience has been so please leave me a comment if you’d like to share. Thanks, Deb 🙂

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes @ Fiber of All Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Designs and Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts.