Briar Rose wip Wednesday

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I finally got up the courage to cut into my bundle of beautiful Briar Rose fabric. I wanted this fabric soooo much that I saved up my money and pre-ordered a 1/2 yard bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics… something I had never done before.

The bundle has then sat, untouched, on my quilting desk. I would occasionally pat it or rearrange the fabrics but I could not find the perfect block to inspire me to pick up my rotary cutter.

Fast forward to last weekend when I got a fabulous email from Katie at SwimBikeQuilt. I had won a prize during her 100 Quilts for Kids campaign… and the prize was three pattern from the fabulous Red Pepper Quilts. Needless to say there was much excitement and shouting and dancing around the house. I had been eyeing up Rita’s Labyrinth pattern for a while and was so excited to receive a copy of it in my pattern bundle. I now had the perfect Briar Rose pattern.

The pattern is so easy to follow and so fun to make. I have been having a blast cutting up my stash, laying out the block bits and choosing what fabrics goes where.

It is a refreshing break for me to be using just one line of fabric… no wading through scrap bins…. no huge piles of fabric in one particular colour.

Instead there is just a bundle of pretty on the cutting table and a yard or two of Kona Snow. Not a piece of paper in sight. (my printer is taking a bit of a rest).

Though I must admit that my blocks are not as perfect as they would be if I was using a paper pattern, I love them none the less. I am embracing the fun of making these blocks, enjoying the beauty of the fabric line and relishing the thrill of doing something a little outside my comfort zone.

27Sep2013

Lost Geese Quilt top finished

Posted in Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This week I managed to get my “Shell logo” inspired flying geese quilt top finished. By the time I had finished laying out this quilt top it had earned the name “Lost Geese”, can you guess why?

Yep is it a little crazy… but kind of fun. Lots of novelty fabric and fun stuff to make the eyes really explore the madness.

I had a lot of fun making the “geese” go all over the place. I love the lack of pattern or rhythm to the piecing (though it frustrated my husband a little). Too really throw things into disarray I added a smattering of yellow triangles on a red background. Chaos rules!

I paper pieced these blocks as I love to have sharp clear triangles in my flying geese and paper piecing is the only way I personally can get that precision. My original post has a paper piecing pattern you can grab if you are interested in trying some geese.

This top has been added to the pile that need basting. I am going to see if I can convince my hubby to help me again this weekend to baste a quilt or two.

20Sep2013

I love a sunburnt country…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I have finally finished my “Sunburnt Country” baby quilt… it definitely took me longer than I had planned but I think it was worth the wait.

This quilt was a collaboration with a family friend, who commissioned me to make a modern bright baby quilt that had a hint of Australia in it. You can find my original post about this project here.

The graduated colours are inspired by the Aussie sun (bright, hot, & at times unforgiving) and because it is a baby quilt there are lots of little novelty bits and pieces to explore.

And…

My original quilting plan was to do a circles radiating from the yellow center of the quilt. Unfortunately my left thumb has not been co-operating, so I had to resort to drastic measures, which included getting my darling husband to baste this quilt.

The quilt is backed with a fabulous Australian print I picked up when I was home in March.

Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie on gum leaves, perfectly Australian.

To finish the whole thing off I bound the quilt with a navy sketch fabric and a Wombat Quilts tag.

This little piece of Australia is headed to the Mid-West to keep a Aussie/American baby warm and hopefully remind her that her Grandmother in Australia loves her.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

13Sep2013

Quilts for kids

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I can not believe that we are already 13 days into September… this month is going way to fast for me. I have Bee blocks to do and quilts to finish and not a sewing elf in sight. Augh!

As September is slipping away I bustled this week to get a couple more quilts finished for the 100 Quilts for Kids project. I raided my pile of unfinished/nearly finished quilts and found two that I could easily complete without too much sweat, and that would be kid suitable.

The first quilt is my scrappy spiderweb quilt, which has been sitting waiting to be completed for over a year.

I really put a dent in my scrap pile with this little beauty. Lots and lots of different fabrics which means lots of “I spy” potential. It is a really fun quilt.

The other quilt I finished this week is a quick and easy wonky star quilt. I must admit wonky stars are my all time favorite “go to” quilt if I have to get something done in a hurry.

For this quilt I used a darling fussy cut novelty fabric for the center piece and then bright scraps for the star points. Most of these scrap triangles were left over from my “sparkle punch” wonky star quilt.

To back the quilt I used some bigger pieces from the same fabric range by Jone Hallmark.

Both these quilts side by side you can see which one I spent days and days making and which one was done in a few hours. In the end both will be loved and treasured in equal measure, I hope.

6Sep2013

Yummy Quilt finished

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

The weather in Portland has finally turned, and the rain and cold of the last two days has spurred me onto finish my Yummy Charity Quilt. I do struggle in summer to finish quilts, partly because the sun beckons me out to play and partly because it is too hot to be working under/over/on a quilt. Here is what my rain inspired burst of activity produced…

This quilt started life as 20 packets of 2 1/2 inch squares of “Happy Mochi YumYum” and some Kona “Snow”. You can read/see more about its humble beginnings in my original post.

I had fun randomly placing the squares and messing up the one white one print pattern. I like how the finished quilt feels a little off kilter.

To back the quilt I used the few remaining blocks and spare squares of fabric. The back is random but kind of fun.

I kept the quilting simple – I am still only able to manage straight lines at the moment, and bound the quilt in a fun green leaf print I had in my stash. A dislocated thumb makes basting, quilting and binding in particular hard work.

quilt binding

The finished quilt is part of the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS, which the Portland Modern Quilt Guild is supporting. If you are interested you can find out more about the Challenge here.

Now it is back to enjoying the rain…