My blue period continues…

Posted in Other fun stuff, Quilt patterns, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This week I got a little side tracked by a pile of scraps sitting around my sewing space. Most of the time I do a good job of keeping my creative urges under control – I usually jot the idea down in my note-book and go back to what I should be doing. This week the “should be doing” was quilting my sister in laws quilt... instead I took the scraps from that quilt and made some of these…

Yes the scraps from the project I SHOULD have been finishing tempted me into making log cabin blocks. In my defense I had a whole pile of 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric already cut and lots and lots of scrappy little ends of fabric. They cried out to be made into a log cabin, and I could not ignore it. The end result of this diversion is this lovely little top…

This 40 x 40 inch quilt top took me about 4 episodes of “Top of the Lake” to make and came together really easily. I already knew the colours worked together and all the cutting was done I just had to make log cabins.

I am really beginning to love what you can do with solids. I struggled with the first quilt with the lack of pattern, but now can not wait to make my next solids quilt. I have a cunning plan already.

This fun little exercise not only distracted me from my quilting to do list, but also added another UFO to my pile, but it was worth it. The only hard thing about this quilt so far has been photographing it in the howling wind this morning…

10Jan2014

My To Do list for 2014…

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

This week I have been thinking about New Years Resolutions a bit – my personal resolutions like “visit hospital less this year”, our family resolutions like “get our kitchen in shape” and finally my quilting resolutions.

This last resolution list is a long long long long one. I seem to have put more thought into it than any other and the highlights include:

1. Finish up the stack of quilts I have started including….

Briar Rose quilt top from October

Lost Geese quilt top from September

Star String quilt from August

1930’s Star quilt… circa 2000

2. Tackle making a curved block or quilt no matter how terrified I am.

3. Finish making the blocks for a number of quilts I started and then put aside including…

My Jacaranda inspired blocks from April 2013

My Princess bubble gum quilt

My Tula Pink City Sampler qult

4. Make more charity quilts… make them simple, easy and fun. I want to commit to delivering at least 2 a month in 2014.

5. Finish up projects where the blocks are done but for some reason I have not put the top together…

Work in progress granny quilt blocks. Simple bright quilt block

My Granny Square quilt

My red & aqua star quilt

My Denyse Schmidt Zakka Flower quilt

6. Design more paper piecing patterns.

7. Improve my free motion quilting. Practice and practice and practice.

8. Finally make a quilt for my husband.

I am excited by the promise of what 2014 can bring… and all the quilting yet to come. This year I am Programs Coordinator for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild which is going to be a hoot and means even more quilting in my already quilt stuffed life. I look forward to sharing my quilting journey with you and seeing what amazing things you also create.

23Dec2013

Christmas has invaded…

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

I have spent the last couple of weeks fending off the coming Christmas invasion but I finally had to surrender last week and just embrace the season. What this means is that there has been copious amounts of Christmas cooking….

which resulted in a staggering number of Christmas cookies (aka biscuits) which we delivered around town yesterday….

Operation Cookie drop 2013 was much more successful than 2012’s operation (which ended abruptly after only 3 hours). This year we managed to deliver to 16 different households in two States – it took us 6 1/2 hours, over a 1/3 tank of petrol (gas), 4 Christmas albums and quite a bit of caffeine.

As we staggered home at 8.30pm last night we both agreed that we needed to re-think some of the aspects of this tradition. We both agreed that next year we need to have more Christmas themed outfits for our delivery, with my husband enthusiastically declaring “great you can quilt me an elf outfit”.

So now that I have surrendered completely to the holiday spirit I am going to take this week off to enjoy the company of my darling husband, our fabulous friends and family. I am going to watch “Love Actually” for the third time this week, try to sleep in a little, try not to eat too much and see how long I can go without quilting something. I will be back next Monday, sugared up and ready to go.

So until then…from our house to your house…. Merry Christmas…Happy Holidays… Happy Hanukkah…Seasons Greetings.

18Dec2013

The week in fabric…

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

This week my design wall has been very busy. I have been pulling projects up and down all week, working on a number of things but not quite finishing any of them. First up I did more of my Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt Blocks…

I have been having a great time playing with novelty fabrics as I know that this is a quilt destined for a little girl. In other words you can not have too much pink or too many mermaids.

I am now 28 blocks in… I know I am not going to make all 100 for this quilt, but I do have a few more to go.

The other project I started playing with this week is my Scrapbeelicious quilt blocks. I have now got almost all my Bee blocks in and have started working on how I want to lay them out. I received the most amazing blocks from my fellow Bee members and I am so excited to be working on this quilt. Here is a sneak peek of what I have up on my wall at the moment…

I am going to make a few connecting blocks and really look at how to use negative space to give the blocks room to breath. This is going to be fun.

30Oct2013

Simple quilts – an ongoing work in progress

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

Any of you that have been following my blog for a little while or anyone who has plowed through my site will know that I am pretty prolific in my quilt creation. I am constantly trying new patterns or new colour combinations. I make a lot of quilts. In the last 6 months or so I have got into the habit of cutting 3 inch squares from any of the scraps left over from my current project.

As I am cutting fabric for a new quilt, I will make sure that any scraps that are big enough get cut into a 3 x 3 inch square and put into a shoe box set aside for them. It has become a habit that means my scrap pile is a little more manageable and I have a ready supply of 3 inch squares for projects.

What can you do with a pile of 3 inch squares you may be asking… so far I have made:

1. Granny Square blocks

2. Doll quilts… that are currently in need of quilting!

3. Graduating colour quilts – Sunburnt country is made up of 3 inch squares

4. Paper bag quilts – this quilt top is being made with a bag of white scraps and bag of pastel scraps. I chain pieced white and pastel squares together, then sewed them into strings of 14 blocks long. When finished this will be a very easy, but cute baby quilt.

I have used the same paper bag process to make a number of fun quilts including my niece Zoe’s quilt.

Up next I really want to make a scrap vomit quilt with all my 3 inch squares. A total random hodge podge of fabrics sewn together to make something ugly beautiful. Sounds like fun!