Work in Progress Wednesday

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

One of my new years resolution was to try to post more of my work in progress quilts. I found a great site called Freshly Pieced, that hosts a work in progress blog party (the link is on my sidebar) which will hopefully help keep my on track.

Today I have been working on a quilt I had an idea for a month or so ago. I wanted to use black and white fabrics, which I love, and pastels, which I am not too fond of. I wanted to see how/if they married.

I decided to use a wonky churn block with 4 1/2 inch pieces. I think the block is a little big and if I was going to do it again I would go for a smaller piece, maybe 3 1/2 inch pieces. I also decided to alternate light and dark blocks to give the quilt some pattern.

The blocks came have come together really quickly and I have just finished the quilt top this morning.

I am not thrilled with it, but it will make a good Project Linus quilt I think. I will now add it to the pile of quilt tops that need finishing.

31Dec2012

Paper piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

This week I have managed to finish my block on time…. yipee. I am not 100% in love with this block and I may do another block with this pattern to see if I can “get it right”. As my husband reminded me last night, I am doing this blog to document the good with the bad. So here it is….

I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I am addicted… so the pattern is again from Quilting on the Square. A copy can be found here block11snowcrystals

The pattern is another eight piece block and I am loving using up little bits of scrap fabric to make the smaller pieces.

Shortly I am going to have to start thinking about how all these blocks are going to come together. I have been enjoying just playing but at some point I will have to look at the bigger picture.

27Dec2012

Paper Piecing Monday… on Thursday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

As they say “better late than never”… and so here is this weeks paper piecing block.

Once again the pattern is from Quilting on the Square’s collection. You can download the pattern here block7featheredcompass. I am finishing up another version of this block at the moment, but have hit a few snags – I messed up three of the block pieces by putting the red and blue squares in the wrong place. There is an afternoon of unpicking in my future I fear.

As you can see I have been using markers to colour the relevant bits of the pattern so I stay on course. Obviously there was a little too much Christmas cheer and failed to follow my colour code on the other blocks. AUGH! I will pay more attention next time.

24Dec2012

Paper Piecing Monday delayed

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

Due to holiday preparations – mainly lots of days spent baking cookies/biscuits – paper piecing Monday is being delayed a couple of days. I hope to have my new block and the corresponding pattern up on Wednesday.

Merry Christmas… happy Hanukkah… happy Holidays.

18Dec2012

Handmade Christmas Adventures

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

This year I decided to make a couple of Christmas decoration wreaths for some friends. I personally find it hard to make Christmas quilts, I do not like the idea a quilt would only be used for a short time every year.

So armed with a hot glue gun, some tinsel and lots and lots of Christmas baubles (sourced predominantly from thrift stores) I started making my first wreath. There are lots of instructions on-line and I decided to go with Georgia Peachz instructions (http://retrorenovation.com/2010/12/11/how-to-make-a-christmas-wreath-out-of-vintage-ornaments/) because I was using mainly vintage glass ornaments. Her instructions are:

Start with extruded foam wreath base and wrap in tinsel-tone garland securing with hot glue.
Important to add a wire loop here before proceeding.
Glue larger ornaments around the outer rim of wreath form.
Lay flat and then fill in with smaller ornies.
I like to mix up ornies with kitschy little things.
Important to use HIGH TEMP hot glue.

That’s it in a nutshell!

What is not mentioned is how many decorations you need. The answer is A LOT. I added some newer decorations for texture and size (mainly the glitter baubles and small glass decorations). The other thing that is not mentioned is how dangerous a very hot glue gun can be. – I now have a wonderful collection of burned fingers, but I think it was worth it.

My colour choice for this wreath was based on a handful of bright pink vintage decorations I had. I used purples and light & dark pinks to compliment the hot pink.

I delivered the first of my wreaths on Saturday and my dear friend, Margaret was appropriately impressed. Okay I had actually told her that no matter what she thought she had to oh and ah…. too much time, effort and burn cream had gone into making this!