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?

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.

3May2013

An abundancy of turquioise

Posted in Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This month there are a couple of resolutions in our house, that may or may not work. Firstly my husband thought it would be a good idea if we did not eat any processed sugar during May. I do not remember agreeing to this at all, but it seems that sugar is off the menu. If the posts get erratic, the colours get to bright or I stop making sense, it is because I am suffering withdrawals.

The second resolution for May was to finish up more of the quilt tops I have floating around. This resolution came about as I finished another two quilt tops this week and the pile of UFOs grew to an embarrassing level. More quilting less piecing. Combine this resolution with the other one and it could be an interesting month!

Anyway the two tops I finished up this week are both from the same pattern…. I blogged them originally here. I used this pattern…

..to make this quilt.

This was a fun scrap quilt to make – lots of turquoise, navy (my favorite colour) and pink/purple. I really like this colour combination, which I stumbled across while playing with my piles of fabric.

The other quilt top I finished was my 1001 Peeps top.

I was battling the wind when I was taking these photos. It is the problem of photographing tops as opposed to full quilts – there is no weight to hold them in place in even a gentle breeze.

It is another reason why I have to quilt these suckers before I post. I see a lot of basting in my near future!

29Apr2013

Paper Piecing Monday Boston Edition

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This week’s paper piecing blocks are in destined for the Quilts for Boston project. Last week the Boston Modern Quilt Guild put out a call for blocks, in the Boston Marathon colours, that will be made into quilts that will be “distributed those who would benefit from a show of support”.

So I grabbed some fabric…..

And went in search of some paper piecing patterns. I eventually decided to use two of the fabulous Lucky Star Block of the Month (BOM) patterns from Elizabeth at Don’t Call me Betsy. I signed up at the beginning of the year for the monthly paper piecing fix and I have been thoroughly enjoying making the patterns each month. I picked two of my favorite stars so far to make this week.

Block 1 is test block that we got in January, when the program started.

The block is made up of 8 triangle sections which give you a lot of options for playing with fabric and colour.

The second block I did was a simpler pattern from the series, but still lots of fun.

This blocks is made up of four sections and was really quick and easy to pull together.

I am hoping to get some more blocks done this week, and I will post as I finish them.

26Apr2013

A Trip around

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

Like a lot of quilters out there, I have been seeing Trip Around quilts and blocks on-line for ages and ages. I had seen some amazing versions but I had never really thought about making one myself… then the Portland Modern Quilting Guild set it as one of their charity blocks. That is when the trouble started.

First I checked out the pattern instructions from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltsville. Looked easy enough. My initial intention was to make just on block for the charity quilt so I cut 6 strips of fabric and made this.

What was not included in the instructions was how addictive this process was. My one block very quickly and easily grew to be this.

Lots of black & whites mixed with loud obnoxious colours makes for a fun quilt.

I backed the quilt with some Ikea fabric, did some diagonal quilting and machine bound it. I had never bound anything with solid black before but I think it works well with this quilt.

I am digitally adding my Trip to the growing collection out there on the web and then sending the real thing off to Project Linus for some one to snuggle under.

And in the spirit of Trip Around… here is visual trip around my quilting space (also known as our Living Room) as it looks this morning.

That is… wip on the floor… fabric on the table waiting to be cut…. batting waiting to be used…. and my hexies work station on the couch/sofa arm. Yes I am a messy quilter.