Hearts and Flowers

This quilt was made as a Block of the Month quilt challenge at our local group. Each month we got another instalment and paid a £1 for the pattern. The money collected became the prize money for 1st, 2nd and 3rd voted for by fellow quilters - aka quilters choice, at the AGM. Sadly mine did not win, but all the quilts were amazingly different and gorgeous.

I choose very pretty colours - not my usual colour choice at all. I enjoyed working with this range though and it made me realise how much I like white/cream for backgrounds.

 You can see here  how I have adapted this pattern

A couple more 'I Spy` Quilts

I have been busy making 'I Spy' quilts. Both use the same block - a quick easy yet effective block.
The first quilt I made was for my Mums volunteer driver's Grandson. As he does so much for my mum and helps keep her independent, I really did not mind making this one;

 It measures 48 x 77 inches and is the first to use my own label

The second one is for a friends baby girl.  This is much smaller at 44'' square.

Fun Cushions

Both my children  have large cushions they use on a daily basis, mostly for propping themselves up to watch tv or play kill'em quick games!

The first ones I made used Cat in the Hat fabric.  This is probably around 2005/2006, when the fabric in the UK was very hard to come by, and I stumbled upon a scrap pack at your local fabric warehouse.

 I added red and black and then wrote in chalk on the back Cat in the Hat. This was then quilted using thick white thread, and looked very effective.

Once No 1 son's cushion had been totally worn out I made another (any excuse), and I wanted to practice some curved piecing.  This was a little trickier than when I pieced the apple core quilt. I used 5 fabrics and stacked them on top of each other, all facing upward. Then I free hand rotary cut wobbly lines. Taking one strip from each fabric I pieced these together and then joined four blocks to make the front centre block. Borders were then added

The top was free motion quilted, but I did add a lizard outline. This was achieved by drawing a lizard onto freezer paper, cutting it out,  and gently pressing this into position on the finished back of the front of the cushion. I then carefully sewed around the lizard producing a wonderful effect using YLI Candlelight thread in the bobbin.

To compliment this I appliquéd a lizard on to the back of the cushion. 

Mystery quilt

A very long time ago I attended a mystery quilt workshop, not something I had done before, and maybe not again. Doing something like this is very hard to know what fabrics to choose, here I decided on two Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

 Why would I not do it again, purely because I like to know exactly what I have signed up for.

 It has been quilted in the itch to emphasise that pattern, and also a star motif has been quilted to replicate the star block

Colourful scrappy cotton reefs, WIP

This is my first attempt at a true colour wash quilt. I planned my colours on EQ5 and then decided upon  the cotton reel block Each block is 6" finished

Using the same fabrics I designed a border to run alongside the colours in the main quilt. The cream is a very fine calico. I am currently quilting the cream and outlining all the reels. as you can see its a work in progress.

Started early 2012

Let it Snow!

 This quilt panel is Winterberry Lane by Terri Degenkolb of Whimsical for Red Rooster Fabrics. I fell in love with the art work and loved this panel. I know some call its cheats quilting, but who cares I enjoyed making it. It measures approx 22 by 45"

 I have quilted all the panels to emphasise the main pictures. I have applied hotfix crystals to add sparkle, some glitter paint for the snow as well as lovely threads in the quilting. Simple but effective.

Made in 2012

Squared squares

I have been commissioned to make a quilt top. The fabric selection is a rich array of tonal fabrics which are so gorgeous.

I have decided (after consultation) with my client to make a square in a square quilt, quick easy and adorable!

Finished quit size 40’ by 50’

Basic instructions:

Finished block size 5 ½ by 5 ½ (total number of blocks = 80) Cut 1 ½ ‘ strips from all fabrics. For each block you must cut the following from the 1 ½ ‘ strips:

Central square 1 ½  ‘ square – cut 1

Middle frame 1 ½ by 1 ½ - cut 2

                          3 ½ by 1 ½ - cut 2

Outer frame 3 ½ by 1 ½ - cut 2

                       5 ½ by 1 ½ - cut 2

Assembly diagram.

In the next row the blocks will alternate with the previous row thus meaning that there are no seams to match.

All taken in the garden, and not a chicken in sight!

Bucket List

I often see quilts and think 'I really want to make that one one day,' but then the day passes and another quilt is the latest most fantastic one that I must make next. And so my list grows. However, I have no record of them, so here it is. I will give credit to quilt makers/designers/artist where I can.

From North Louisianana Quilters - Starbrust by pat Seager

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Love the way it is made with HST.

Oh Christmas Tree

This quilt was made approximately six years ago (must get better at labelling my quilts).

I choose to use scraps of red and green, mainly because I could not decide on one green or red fabric. I like the variations in the two as this adds 'texture' to the quilt.

The tree is set against a pale cream on cream fabric which has been tightly vermicelli quilted.

The pattern was easy to follow and can be found here

Storm at Sea

Having bought the Lynne Edwards Storm at Sea ruler a few years ago I thought it about time I had a go. I started with something small, just to get to grips with the technique and used some batiks that I had. So you could call this a scrap quilt of sorts.

Here are the fabrics I chose

Next came the design. I used EQ5 to design a table runner and decide on the colour ways.

Once the decision was made I set to making each block. The instructions are very clear with YouTube videos to help. I was amazed at how easy the pieces all went together. Soon I had five 16 x 16 blocks made.

This is what it looked like in fabric

 Simple boarders were added and the quilted following the lines of the wave pattern 1/4 inch on each side of the seam.