Wee Wanders WIP Wednesday

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I have been playing with a selection of the Wee Wander’s fabric range by Michael Miller. I love this fabric and have had a blast playing this week.

Using the fabric for inspiration I pulled supporting fabric from my stash and ended up with this lovely bundle.

As soon as I bought the Wee Wanders, I knew what block I wanted to use – the Rolling Stone Block which dates back to the late 19th century…

I found this block, and great instructions on the Dont’ Call me Betsy site. I went with the traditional block layout but no matter what layout you use, it is an easy block that is made up of three units.

1. A single fabric square… perfect for highlighting the wonderful fussy cut horses …

2. A block made up of a rectangle of your chosen neutral (for me it was Kona Snow) and a rectangle of your coloured fabric. This was a great opportunity for me to chain piece, something I do not often get to do…

3. A square in square block, that is paper pieced, but can be done traditionally as well. For my blocks I removed the paper from this unit before I sewed the block together (a first for me, but it worked perfectly).

These units are then laid out to make a finished 12 1/2 inch block. I must admit for my block I enlarged the block slightly to room for the horse blocks. My unfinished block is 14 1/2 inches square.

This week the weather here in Portland has been gloriously hot and I have not got as much of this quilt done as I would have liked. I have three blocks completed…

and…

and as the design wall shows, a number in process.

I am determined today not to be distracted by the sun…or the cat… of the World Cup. AUGH!

25Jun2014

A smattering of quilt blocks…

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

I can not believe that June is nearly over…. this year is slipping away way to fast. It was with a small amount of panic that I realised this week that I was running out of time to finish up some of my Bee blocks, so armed with a pile of fabric, my iPad and a caffeine enriched beverage I set to work.

First up was the June blocks for my Do.good.Stitches bee…

The block is a great log cabin variation…Though one block does not look that exciting, put four of them together and you get a fabulous orb pattern…

While we are on the subject of Do.good.Stitches Bee blocks, here is May’s blocks which were a blast to make…

I have not done a cross block before and loved how easy it was to do. I got a little carried away with this block and made a few extra. I used Rachel from Wooden Spoons easy dimensions to make the block…plus lots of starch!

The final lot of Bee blocks I got done this week is a repeat of a block I did last year….

Yep the mini flying geese crazy is back. This month it was Stephanie from Quarter Incher’s turn to be Queen of our ScrapBeeLicous Bee, and she choose the Liesl Made’s Flying Geese Block. Yipee….

So I retooled my paper piecing pattern and set to work raiding my scrap stash. I actually think the only way to make this kind of quilt is to do it as part of a Bee (and to paper piece ti!). There is no way you want to be making more than a few of these blocks… okay there is no way I could make more than a few of these blocks and remain sane!

As it is Wednesday there is only one thing left to do….link up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

28May2014

The beauty of the Altantic Sea

Posted in Colour Play, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I have been working hard to get my Atlantic Sea Quilt top done. This quilt started life many months ago as this block…

After making of few of these blocks I put them together to see what the pattern would look like and found that there was a beautiful meta pattern (as the hubby would say) which was giving the quilt a real sense of movement.

The pattern I am using is a free paper piecing pattern from Quilters Cache. You can find a link to the pattern under my “free paper piecing pattern” tab or on the original post.

Fast forward a month or four and I have made lots and lots of blocks. This week I pinned what I had made up on the design wall and Instragramed the results.

I liked how it was coming together but I thought it needed a little something. I could go with a coloured binding but I did not think that it would be enough… so this week I whipped up this block.

And then added it to the quilt work in progress….

All of a sudden the quilt came alive. I love this little splash… I think it helps the eye identify the pattern easier and makes the top sing…

Now I just have to sew the last couple of rows together, remove all the paper from the back and the top will be done. I am so excited by this piece of scrap magic. I had a blast raiding my scrap bin for this baby!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday….

21May2014

PMQG Medallion WIP

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

In the past week I have been working hard to catch up on my Portland Modern Quilt Guild Medallion quilt. I was officially two borders behind… and now I am all caught up…

As an officer” of the Guild this year I was gently persuaded to take part in this Medallion along but really wish I had thought my colour scheme through a bit better. As my husband loudly stated last week “why on earth are you making a pastel quilt!” . I have been asking myself that question for a couple of months now!

Don’t get me wrong I am loving the process of making this quilt, I just wish I had thought about the fact I would have to live with pastels for months and months! But the process…oh I love the process. Each month another border is added and each month, where possible, I turn the border into a paper piecing pattern.

For this month’s border I made a triangle/flying geese paper pattern (which you can find here PMQG Medallion Border 4 pattern) and the corner-stone pattern as well (you can find that pattern here PMQG Medallion border 4 cornerstones)

If paper piecing does not float your boat but you like the borders, check out the PMQG Medallion site. My fellow officers have done a great job of explaining how to make the borders with traditional piecing. You will also find all the directions and measurements for our Medallion if you are interested in playing along.

As it is Wednesday I am of course linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

30Apr2014

Some Random block fun…

Posted in Quilt patterns, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

I am desperately playing catch up on my Bee blocks and other projects that have been sitting around too long.

First up I have caught up on my Do.good.stitches blocks which included this fun ditty…

A wonderful wonky pin wheel. The pattern is from Greenleaf Goods who have a great tutorial on their site. It was a fabulous scrap buster and I am looking forward to doing my own version.

The other do.Good.stitches block that I have just finished up is the fabulous Granny Square block by Blue Elephant Stitches.

I have made this block a couple of times but love the instructions that my fellow Bee member added… Heather told us to make the white squares extra long… we added 3/4 of an inch to the pattern. This extra wiggle room makes trimming the block so much easier than the original pattern.

We also used 3 inch blocks instead of 2 1/2 inch squares and I am now fired up to use some of my 3 inch square scraps to make more of these blocks. But first I have to finish my original Granny Square quilt.

My Granny Square quilt is still on my 2014 To Do list but this week I did make some progress on the list … I am determined to finish my Denyse Schmidt Zakka flower quilt. I have made the last of the blocks…

And now I am onto sashing. I am hoping to have the top done for a Finish Friday… really hoping.