Paper Piecing Monday – Tardis edition

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

After finally finishing my epic red/aqua compass star blocks, I was set to launch my latest “sampler” selection for Paper Piecing Monday. Then I found a silly pattern on-line and just had to do it.

I do not usually do novelty or “object” paper piecing but when I found a Tardis pattern on Fandom Stitches I just had to give it a try. The pattern is a little confusing (some of the colour coding is not quite right and some of the pieces are not quite big enough) but I stumbled around and made it work.

For those of you that do not know what the Tardis is Wikipedia states: The TARDIS^{[nb 1]}^[1] (/ˈtɑːdɪs/ (Time and Relative Dimension in Space)^{[nb 2]} is a time machine and spacecraft in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who and its associated spin-offs.

This block is 6 1/2 inches square and contains some of the smallest bits of fabric I have ever paper pieced with. I decided to make this block in a moment of insanity. It was the same insanity that said “use prints not solids”.

When I showed my husband he said “great, now you only have to make another 99”. I can confidently say that is not going to happen. My next Tardis related quilt adventure, when it happens, will be an adaptation of this strange plastic thing I made at a recent trip to a kids science museum.

I think it will make a great template for a quilt… using 4 inch squares and not tiny bits of fabric!

17May2013

Oh what a week

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

After last week’s spring clean I felt so refreshed and energized, and it is reflected in the fun I have had this week. The highlight of the week has to have been having Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studios talk at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. I love the freedom of Jacquie’s quilts and am sooo inspired by seeing her quilts in person and hearing her talk. I can not wait to cut my poppy quilt up and try to make something modern and different from it. Stay tuned.

This week I also managed to finish a quilt. Surprising I know, but I felt I had to get something completed. So here it is…

This quilt started a little while ago with this modern Ohio star block (posted here)….

And it grew into this fun bright quilt. Once again with the block you can see the star pattern, but with the quilt you see so much more (mainly lots and lots of triangles!).

I struggled for a couple of weeks over the backing of this quilt. I pulled out and prepared a couple of printed fabric choices but nothing seemed to work just right for me. Then I woke up yesterday morning with the perfect solution. I grabbed some solids and little bit of quilters linen and made this backing piece.

I decided to quilt along several of the block seams to really highlight the triangles in the pattern. I used lime green thread so that you could really see the quilting on the back. I do not usually do this, but in the spirit of new things, I gave it a try.

It does mean that you can see a couple of my not so straight lines but I am embracing the imperfections.

I am entering this quilt in the Bloggers Quilt Festival in the two colour category. It is the first time I have entered a quilt and the quality of the quilts entered is amazing. Check out the site, in particular their quilters focus, for some amazing inspiration.

Now I am off to do some more quilting. I have a stack of quilts that unfortunately are not going to finish themselves… unless someone will lend me some quilting elves!

15May2013

A day of play – wip Wednesday

Posted in Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

I have been having some fun over the last couple of days, playing with my quilting. The other day while out walking around my neighborhood with my husband I took this photo.

This beautiful flower inspired me to make a modern improv quilt. I worked for a couple of hours last night and so far this is what I have…

I will keep going and hope to have the top finished by Friday. I had made a deal with myself NOT to start any more quilts until I had finished some, but when the inspiration grabs you, just go with it…. right?

The other playing I did yesterday was looking at how I want to finish up my Paper Piecing Monday quilt. After getting some great suggestions I worked with a couple of colours…. here are my top picks, in no particular order.

navy sashing on paper pieced star sampler quilt

ONE – Navy blue

TWO – Red

THREE – White

FOUR – Red & white dot

Then there is the no sashing option…

Let me know what you think? What is your favorite?

13May2013

Paper piecing Monday… finally

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

I have just finished the last block for my aqua and red star quilt. It took a while to decide what I wanted to do for the last block but I finally ended up with this…

I went with the Oregon Star from Carol Doak’s “50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars“. It seemed fitting to do the state star from where I live. I amended the pattern a little, making it a 60 piece star.

I am now going to spend the rest of the day playing with sashing. I am still not sure whether I want to sash or not and have no idea what colour to use, so playing will be a necessity. I looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

What do you think? All suggestions, hints and advice greatly appreciated.

10May2013

Fabric Friday

Posted in Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This week I did a bit of a spring clean on my fabric stash. I pulled out a ton of novelty fabrics that I have had for years and years, but really do not work with my current esthetic. I then spent hours cutting hundreds of 8 inch blocks for Project Linus and when I got bored, what was left was bundled up to give to the charity as well. I am sure they will be used to make some great kids quilts.

The process got me thinking about the fabric I now treasure and use. If you have seen any of my recent work you will notice I love to make scrap quilts. I love how you can play with colour and pattern within scrap quilt. In my most recent quilts I have used fabric I have had for 10+ years alongside newer fabrics to my stash. Don’t get me wrong, I have designers and collections I have hoarded and use as well – anything by Heather Ross, Aneela Hooey, Lizzy House and Denise Schmidt, but my heart currently belongs to scraps.

My stash is sorted two ways…

1. The above designers collections as well as my 1930’s fabric and Kaffe Fassett fabric get their own separate box – I have box for Heather fabric, a box for Aneela’s fabric etc.

2. Each colour (red, blue, green etc) has its own box or two.

What I consider my neutrals (which includes white/cream) tend to have more than one box….

Navy blue

Black & white

Grey

Within my colour boxes there are some fabric lines that I consider my “go to” staples. Nearly every quilt I have made in the last 6 months has included some of these lines.

1. Lizzy House’s Pearl Bracelets…. I started collecting Pearl Bracelets with her Castle Peeps line and then went a little overboard when they were released as a separate line. I bought a 1/2 yard of all of them at Hawthorne Threads.

Lizzy House’s Pearl Bracelet

2. While on Lizzy House…. her Jewels fabric is a fabulous modern tone on tone line that I use all the time. Again I started collecting this line with Castle Peeps and pick it up whenever I find it.

Lizzy House’s Jewel fabric

3. Art Gallery’s Oval Elements are another fabulously modern tone on tone fabric that I use regularly. I love the quality of Art Gallery fabric, they are sooo soft and the colour choices with this line is incredible.

Oval Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics

4. The glittery fun that is Michael Miller’s Mirror Ball Dot. I love sneaking some of this fabric in to give my quilts a subtle little sparkle and have used up most of my stash of this line!

Michael Miller’s Mirror Ball Dot fabric.

5. Talking of dots… I have a huge collection of them in my stash. My go to dot fabrics are Michael Millers “Ta Dot” and Kaffe Fassett’s “Spots“. You can not fail with these beauties.

I have recently started adding copious amounts of chevrons into my stash as well. They are giving my dot collection a run for it’s money!

I must admit I have become less afraid as time goes on, of using the last bit of a fabric because I realised there is always more beautiful fabrics coming down the pipe line. I am currently saving my money for Heather Ross’s Briar Rose.