The joy of 5 inch squares.

Last year I had a brief period of time when I had some back issues that meant that sitting was not a fun thing to do. I decided that, seeing I could not sit at a sewing machine, I would cut fabric. For weeks I cut 5 inch squares out of my scraps and stash. The end result was hundreds and hundreds of 5 inch squares. Now all I had to do was find ways to use them.

My first step was to make a pile of simple baby quilts for Project Linus which played with colour (please excuse the dodgy i-phone photos).

This year I have got a little more creative with the squares, while still keeping it simple. First I used the squares as the basis for my wonky star quilt which you can see here. I then used the left over bits and pieces of that quilt (plus some left over scrappy white squares) to make this.

The 5 inch squares were used for the center pieces of the block, the background of the quilt plus I cut a number of the squares diagonally and used these triangles to make the star points. Wonky star quilts really are so ridiculously easy.

The latest quilt I used my 5 inch squares on is my extra-large granny square quilt, which I have just finished.

With this quilt I just lay the blocks down diagonally to make the pattern, sewed the blocks together then trimmed the extra edges and it was ready to go. Again ridiculously easy.

With both these quilts I did a simple straight quilting, running down both sides of the “ditch”.

The backing for both these quilts is from Ikea. The granny squares got the most fabulous fun lips fabric as it’s back (yes the photo is upside down!)

And for the wonky stars I went with a simple black & white music note fabric.

What I love about Ikea fabrics is their width. You can easily piece larger kids quilts with one piece of fabric plus their prints are really fun. Both these quilts are now finally finished and ready for delivery this month to Project Linus.

9Apr2013

Triangle love – wip Wednesday

Posted in Quilt patterns, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I have been playing with triangles just to try something different. Some months back I bought a triangle ruler after seeing some many fabulous triangle quilts on-line. I promptly came home and cut stacks of fabric and made my first triangle quilt.

The finished quilt was cute but far from perfect. The blocks did not line up exactly which annoyed me no end, and it was more time-consuming than I had thought it would be. I put the triangle ruler away in a drawer and moved on.

Fast forward 6 months and I had the urge to try triangles again. This time I found a paper piecing pattern in my copy of “Modern Blocks” which I scanned and amended a little. The end result was blocks that looked like this.

I love this pattern. It can easily be done free hand, using a triangle ruler and 1 1/2 inch strips. I have been playing with this block over the last couple of days using two different kinds of fabric from my stash. The above blocks are part of my scrappy quilt, which is coming together like this.

I love the olive and hot pink colour combination, but I did discover that my stash has a disturbing lack of bright pink. There is a trip to the fabric store in my future to rectify the situation. I also took this pattern and tried it out with some Denyse Schmdit fabrics I had in my stash.

I am not totally sure about this version of the block. I like the idea of using just one print in the middle with appropriate fabrics for the outside sashing but I think I may need a stronger central print. What do you think?

8Apr2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns by wombatquilts

May I present the Washington Star from Carol Doak’s “50 Fabulous Paper Piecing Stars“.

I went with scraps again – I have so many little bits and pieces I feel obliged to use what I can. The scraps combined with the background fabric (from Aneela Hooey’s “Sherbert Pips”) has made for a very busy but modern block. I think this is a paper pattern you could really play with to get very different blocks depending on your fabric/colour placement.

The actual block segments were an easy piece – just 64 fabric bits make up this complete block.

I am now heading back to the sewing machine. I have 5 different projects in various stages spread out around our living room. I have to do some sewing and then some cleaning before the husband gets home. Does anyone else have little bits of thread scattered all over the house?

5Apr2013

Sun & Sea quilt finished

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

I have just finished my sunshine and sea quilt that I started just after I came back from Australia… and I am really pleased with how it turned out. I keep looking at it and smiling. It reminds me so much of the fun time we spent at the beach, when the sun was shining and the water was warm. On this cold and over cast Portland day it reminds me that sun does shine, somewhere! Summer is not going to come quick enough for me.

The overcast day does have one advantage – it is great for taking photos (as long as it is not raining!). Okay, enough about the weather… moving on.

With this quilt I have been struck by how a quilt pattern can change when you sew the whole quilt together. I rarely map or sketch out the finished quilt. I really like to just see where it all takes me, for better or for worse. So I started the process with an easy block that looked like this.

The pattern in the block is like a simple star with four points. I mirrored the block pieces to give it a more interesting effect. When I look at the quilt now I struggle to find the stars, all I see is a pin wheel. The original pattern is in there, I just have to search a little harder for it.

This quilt was really quick and simple to make but the interesting part came when I was sewing it all together. There are sections of the quilt where 12 block pieces meet which causes a little bit of bulking, even with sewing seams flat.

To help with the bulking I chose quilting that would go through and around the center of this join. In having so much quilting through the bulk it helped flatten and strengthen this area. It also made for a lovely pattern of quilting.

A pieced back and scrappy orange binding finishes the whole thing off.

I must admit it had been a month or so since I had hand stitched the binding on a quilt and in that time I seem to have forgotten how to do it. The stitches at the start are a little big and a little rough, but by half way through the process I was back to invisible stitches. I was tempted to unpick it all but decided to leave it be. Looking at the small section where the hand stitching is visible reminds me that the quilt is hand-made and that a lot of effort has gone into the finished product.

3Apr2013

Square in Square fun – wip Wednesday

Posted in Quilt patterns, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I have been playing with the “square in square” quilt block (also known as a diamond in a square block). I stumbled across the pattern on the weekend and decided that I had to see what I could do with it. The first experiment is with colour – navy, emerald and pink/purple.

I am excited about how this quilt is coming together. The colours work well together and the pattern allows me to use those scraps I love so much! To make the square in square blocks I used the paper piecing pattern below. There is some good instructions on how to make this block using traditional piecing on the web, including some great instructions from Why not Sew? which you can find here.

I also used this simple pattern this week to start a 1001 Peeps quilt. I have a stash of Lizzy House fabric including quite a collection of her Arabian Nights themed fabric. I have used little bits and pieces here and there but I wanted to use one of the lines colorways to make a quilt for Project Linus. It is such fabulous kids fabric.

This pattern makes it easy to use fussy cut bits and pieces. I love how it really frames the wonderful prints in this range. I am half way through making these blocks and the quilt is coming together so quickly. I have used a few prints that are not from the line including some tone on tone fabrics and a couple of prints from other Lizzy House lines. Too much fun.

I am now off to buy a new ironing board. We somehow managed to put a hole in ours which is making ironing and quilting a little more challenging than it should be!