Triangles on a Roll Lawn Quilt

At the beginning of the year I started making a lawn quilt using a selection of Cotton & Steel lawns. I had not made a quilt out of this soft delicate cotton fabric before but had been become fascinated with using it after starting my Liberty adventures. When I got my hands on some yards and half yards of some Cotton & Steels prints I started playing…

C&S lawn quilt

To make this quilt I used some Triangles on a roll... which was another new experience for me. I managed to get my hands on some rolls of this fun way to paper piece while I was at Quilt Con…

triangles on a roll 2

These paper rolls allow you easily make a continuous line of flying geese with no joins. Triangles on a Roll also use a pretty waste free method, which I love.

traingles on a roll 3

You are also not having to flip the pattern to look at the reverse side (as you do with other patterns) because the marks for aligning your pieces are printed on the front of the pattern….which is genius.

quilt detail So for my quilt I did three rows of 14 geese and I made sure that one of the geese in each row was a made from an alternative colour way of my geese fabric.

optical illusion

When I started this project I did not have a grand plan… I just wanted to play with Lawn and see how it quilted up plus I wanted to play with the triangle on a roll.

flying geese detail

There is a fun optical illusion with this quilt that I did not plan for but which I kind of like. But more than anything I love how soft this quilt is. The quilt is headed to the local PICU, and I know it is going to be of extra cuddly comfort to some kid.

binding

I also know that I will be using lawn again to quilt with as it is just so soft and I am already planning my next Triangle on a roll project. I love this way of paper piecing….

13Jul2016

Peer Pressure

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

From my last post you may have gathered that I am spending a lot of my Summer teaching kids how to sew. It is a great job but last week, as I was teaching a class on sewing doll clothes, it was pointed out to me that they were the only clothes that I make.

Now I make a mean American Girl doll outfit….

But as I stood in the store with my fellow workmates I realised that every one of them was wearing clothing they had made for themselves. All of a sudden I felt the pressure to make something other than tiny little outfits. And so my Washi dress obsession started…

pattern I had had a copy of the pattern for over a year and had heard great things about how it fits more voluptuous women….but I had not been brave enough to try it, until last week. I got my pattern at my local quilt store Modern Domestic (and they still stock the pattern) but you can also download the pattern at the Made by Rae website.

After making a “muslin” test run, using a RJR solid in navy, I was in love. I then proceeded to make three more Washi dresses, getting fancier each time.

washi dress This is the second Washi I made using Lecien’s Flower Sugar fabric. I love this dress, it is so fun and playful and I love the dot lining I used.

washi lining After making my first dress I decided to line the bodice and not just interface it. There is a great series of video tutorials that take you through lining your dress step by step.

double gauze washi dress For my next Washi I used a Kokka double gauze which is heavenly. I loved how this soft fabric drapes with this pattern… I have actually made two double gauze Washi… the one photographed and the one that I am wearing while typing this…

pattern pieces

So the question now is how many Washi dresses are too many? I may have to reclaim my design wall for quilting…but not until I have finished the denim Washi I have cut out…

2Jul2016

A Bee Block for July…

Posted in Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

So June has been a crazy month. If you want to know what I have been up to you can check out this post by Living Room Real Estate… here is a hint… it involves fabric and kids…

modern-domestic-fabric-portland-7

But in between classes I have manged to get some sewing done… and have spent my precious free hours this week finishing my Quilts for Pulse quilt top (which I will blog this week I promise) and testing blocks for the Do Good Stitches bee. This month I am setting the block for the group and I finally decided on this beauty…

flower block

The pattern is a free pattern from Cloud Nine called The Amsterdam Quilt.
The pattern is for 12 of these flowers but I need my Bee members to make just two of the flowers, so I have broken down the pattern to outline making just one flower so here goes…

fabric for one block

For one flower you will need:

Two (2) x 4 1/2 inch squares for the top of the flower
One (1) x 4 1/2 inch by 8 1/2 inch rectangle for the bottom of the flower
Two (2) x 5 inch green squares for the leaves
Two (2) x 5 inch squares of white for the background
Two (2) x 2 1/2 inch white squares for the flower top
Two (2) x 2 inch white squares for the bottom edges of the flower
One (1) x 1 inch by 8 inch brown rectangle for the stem

Construction is pretty simple. I started by marking a diagonal line down the middle of all the white squares using my trusty Frixon pen…

line marking

The squares will form the corners of the flower top and bottom. You need to make sure that you are making a mirror image when you sew them to the flower top pieces and the bottom section…

mirror image

I then sewed down my marked line..actually I sew just a hairs width on the outside of the line as it seems to give me a more accurate corner…

corners

The top piece is then completed by sewing the two 4 1/2 inch squares together to create a white V in the center of the top…

flower top

I then used the same technique to sew the 2 inch squares to the bottom of the flower section.. Then onto the leaves, where you are making four (4) half square triangles using the green and white 5 inch squares…

trim leaves

There is quite a bit of wiggle room with the HST’s so you can easily trim them to 4 1/4 inches square.

leave construction

You end up with four half square triangles that are then sewn together to make the leave sections.. The flower pieces then go together quickly and easily, as per the instruction sheet.

For my Bee flowers I have requested bright/jewel coloured flowers. I want the flowers to be bright and happy and I have limited each flower to one busy novelty print and one more graphic colour as I did not want the flowers to be too insane… it was hard as I love my novelty prints but top and bottom busy novelty prints was just a little too much for even me!

finihsed flower blocks

I think this is going to be an fabulously bright and cheerful quilt when done. I love how easy to make these blocks were…and just warning they are a little addictive.

17Jun2016

Liberty Love…

Posted in Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

I have to admit I have become a little obsessed with Liberty of London fabric. I have been getting a monthly bundle of Liberty from Ava & Neve and every time I get a new package I get excited all over again to use them to make something beautiful. (I extra love that though Ava & Neve are based in my home town of Brisbane but they ship to the US for no extra cost).

Liberty fabric

I have become bundle addicted and I stalk the post box at the end of each month waiting for the next hit… it is such a great way to get a good stash of Liberty lawn without to much expenditure… and I have also become obsessed with using as much of the fabric as I can, resorting to saving little tiny pieces that with quilting cotton I would usually throw out.

This week my Liberty obsession manifested itself in the form of a hexi pillow…

This lovely pillow used 75 different one inch hexagons of Liberty on a background of Essex Linen…

pillow detail 2

I used Nicole at Modern Handcrafts modern hexagon tutorial to make the pillow. This tutorial is fabulous and I love the easy at which the hexagons are attached… there is no hand sewing the suckers together, just glue.. lots and lots of glue.

The pattern also allows you to play with how you layout the hexagons. I choose to taper my hexies off at the edges of the pillow…

I so loved this pillow that I have started another Liberty pillow… so stay tuned for next weeks installment of “Cath’s Liberty Obsession”.

3Jun2016

More curves…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

It seemed fitting to finish this week by sharing my most recent finish…which was also my first curved quilt EVER…

finished circle quilt

I started this quilt 2014 after being challenged to do some curved blocks for a quilting bee (thanks Michelle for the challenge!). For this top I used the EZ Circle ruler and the blocks are decidedly bigger than Monday’s adventure. If you want to learn more about the making of this quilt you can check out my original post here…

quilt detail 3

For this top I used a huge stack of solid scraps that I had in my stash…including Konas, Couture Cottons, Bella cottons and some American Made cottons. I do not make a lot of solid only quilts but solids seemed like the perfect way learn to curve piece (no pattern distractions!)….

quilt detail 2

I am thrilled with how it all turned out. I had Kazumi do some fabulous all over quilting on this baby…and I love the circles upon circles. I was worried at first that the quilting may compete with the piecing but I think they work well together…

quilting detail 2

And there is no way I could have done anything this cool with the quilting by myself. The quilt is backed with some fabulous IKEA fabric which seemed to compliment the crazy of the front of the quilt…

quilt back

A little scrappy binding and I have another quilt off my WIP list. I am really rocking them this quarter… of course with some help from a very talented long arm quilter… it feels a little like cheating but I so love what Kazumi brings to my quilts.