Paper Piecing Monday with a twist

Today’s paper piecing block is a tiny bit different. At last month’s Portland Modern Quilting Guild we were given a sampling of Michael Miller’s fabulous new Neon range. It was love at first sight. The fabric came with the challenge to make a 12 1/2 block or a sewn item out of just the Neon line and Couture cotton bits we were given. After pre-washing the solid fabrics I lay out my Neon bits and played. I do not usually wash my fabric before I use it, but the intensity of the dye to get the neon colours means that pre-washing is a necessity for the solids in this line.

After lots of arranging and re-arranging I came up with this block.

The pattern is the Connecticut star from Carol Doak’s “50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars” (my favorite book at the moment but I promise I will move on soon!). I played with the pattern in the book a little, to get the effect I wanted. I am relishing the freedom that these paper piecing patterns encourage.

I LOVE THIS BLOCK!

I have such fond memories of the 1980’s, they were pretty good years for me, bad hair and questionable dress sense aside. I swear I had a shirt back then that was in the same fabric as the center part of the star!

I had so much fun with this fabric line that I just ordered more Neon from Fabric.com. Please don’t tell my husband!

29Mar2013

35,000 and counting

Posted in Project Linus by wombatquilts

Last Thursday our chapter of Project Linus processed/bundled it’s 35,000th blanket. A wonderful achievement that was appropriately celebrated.

An amazing group of women and men from Portland and Vancouver have worked hard to make, quilt, mend and label 17,500 quilts, 10,500 fleece blankets and 7,000 afghans since 2001. You can see some of the quilts and hear some of the stories about blanket recipients at the chapter site.

This Project Linus chapter is the third one I have been involved in. I started making Project Linus quilts in 1999, when my sister was a nurse at the local Children’s hospital. At the time there was no Project Linus in Brisbane, Australia, so we set up a chapter. At first there was just me and my quilts, but it slowly built, with the tireless effort of my sister, to deliver to all the major hospitals in Brisbane. Working with my sister to supply blankets I got to see and hear first hand how much my blankets were appreciated.

When I moved to Bristol England in 2001 I started making blankets for the local Project Linus Chapter in Bath, and also to for the Royal Bristol Children’s Hospital. I was working for Aardman Animation, who had a strong connection with the Children’s hospital through the Wallace & Gromit foundation. Again I got to see first hand how my quilts were impacting.

Now each month I bundle up my quilts, not quite knowing where they are headed. They are made with love and sent off into the world where I hope they will bring some kind of comfort. I can imagine it is hard for some people to spend so much time making a quilt – a mini work of art – and then ship it off, not knowing where it will end up and if it will be loved or cherished. I am so lucky to have had such a personal connection to the process at the beginning of my Project Linus adventure. Having seen first hand the impact a quilt can make I know all my time and effort will help someone, somewhere.

27Mar2013

Wordless WIP Wednesday

Posted in Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

25Mar2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns by wombatquilts

For this weeks block I present Carol Doak’s “Montana Star”, another fabulous pattern from her book “50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars“. Yes I am addicted. Yes I should move on, but when there are such great patterns to work with it is hard.

This block is a nice simple pattern with just 56 pieces that make up the eight parts to the block.

Making this block was not without its “issues”, though. I may have had a slip of concentration during construction – I am not sure if I can still blame jet lag. The result was this interesting block section and a lot of unpicking…

I maybe onto something with this mistake….it could make for an interesting quilt. I will however, leave experimenting with this for another time.

22Mar2013

Loud, bright and fun… the quilt

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

.. and the nephew. When I was back in Australia I took the opportunity to photograph the quilt I made my nephew last year. I finished the quilt just before I started blogging and forgot to photograph it before I sent it on its way. Better late than never right….

This pattern was an out-and-out steal/borrow from a “do good stitches” quilt posted on Blue Elephant’s site. I fell in love with the pattern immediately and thought it would be great for my nephew. The block is simple and the directions are easy and clear – its foundation is a 16 piece block of rainbow colours. If you are interested in the pattern check out the above link for all the great instruction straight from the source.

For the back of the quilt I used some of the extra blocks I had. I usually have blocks left over because I make more than I need so that I have choices when I am putting the finished quilt together.

This quilt replaced a baby quilt I made for my sister about 12 years ago. I actually made the quilt without knowing that my sister was pregnant or what sex the baby would be. All I knew was I was heading out on an adventure and I did not know when I would be able to quilt again. This is the much-loved, much washed old quilt.

Photographing these quilts involved more time and effort than usual as there was much misbehaving, silliness and photo-bombing going on.

In amongst the crazy I did manage to get a photo of Miss Banana and her new quilt.

What I did not manage to photograph was the hilarious sight of my 6ft tall husband walking around Portland Airport with a pink and yellow quilt sticking out of his backpack. It is a sight I will not forget in a hurry.