Revisiting Starry Night

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Last week’s paper piecing blocks, along with some of your comments, reminded me that I needed to finish my Starry Night quilt top up. So this week I am determined to make some good headway on it…. starting with a couple of new 6 inch blocks…

This little star is another of Don’t Call Me Betsy’s “Lucky Star” blocks from last years BOM series. It was fun using my teeny tiny bits of scraps to make this pretty.

I did make a small adjustment because of the size of the block, and used a larger scrap for the final blue sky piece, opting not to do a little piece in the corner. I also realised making these blocks that I needed to use smaller scale prints to get that scrappy contrast.

With my second star I managed to squeak some Pearl Bracelets in, but I had to position the scrap just right so the dots showed up. This block is a 6 inch star that I found on my EQ7 program – it has some neat paper pieced blocks. Julie at 627 Handworks’ Global Concept block is very similar to my tiny block, but bigger. You can find her free paper piecing pattern here.

I think one or two more blocks and I will be ready to start putting this top together. I am going to work this week at how I want to handle the negative space, playing with some scrappy navy/blue blocks as filler. I will share the results next week.

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….

26May2014

Some Lucky Stars to end the month…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

This month I have been having a blast making blocks for #opgivewarmth. Sarah at www.nohatsinthehouse.com set the most fabulous palette for May and I have been having fun raiding my scraps each week. This week I got extra carried away. I started with…

This darling star is 6 1/2 inches (for a 6 inch finished block) and the pattern comes from Don’t Call Me Betsy’s Lucky Stars BOM from last year (2013).

I loved this paper piecing BOM series but extra loved the fact you got every block in two finished sizes per pattern – a 12 inch version and 6 inch version. I had not made the 6 inch blocks before so thought this was the perfect time to give some of them a run.

I went with some of the easier patterns at this size. There are some beautifully complex blocks in this series but I was not emotionally ready to tackle them at the small scale.

The Lucky Star paper piecing series is running again this year and you can still get last years series as well. Elizabeth at Don’t Call Me Besty has fabulous instructions and each BOM series comes with great introduction to paper piecing instructions and test blocks. It is worth checking out.

So these are the last of the May blocks heading to Sarah. I will now sit patiently and wait to see what wonderful palette she has chosen for June. While I wait I will be dusting off my Starry Night quilt and doing a few more of these small Lucky Star blocks in blue and yellow.

23May2014

Neon overload

Posted in Quilts by wombatquilts

This week I managed to finish my Neon pink quilt top…finally.

I must admit I procrastinated lots and lots about how to get the different sized blocks to work. Finally two of my fellow PMQG partners in crime suggested the same solution… border the blocks with white and then cut them down to the same size. Michelle and Kimberly’s genius idea saved my head from exploding from a math over exertion.

This quilt started life as two orphan blocks from a PMQG Michael Miller challenge last year – an 11 inch star block and an 11 inch modern line block. They were too fabulous not to do something with… and so I made some supporting blocks.

You can find paper piecing patterns for most of these blocks under the “free paper piecing patterns” tab if you are interested. .

The fabric used is all Michael Miller… the Neon range in pink, with Cotton Couture in Soft White and my new go to grey Fog. The grey really does a wonderful job of toning down the Neon overload!

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.