More improv…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

So this week’s quilt uses a technique similar to last weeks but gets a very different looking quilt… which I love.

Like last week this quilt uses a foundation, this time a navy blue 5 inch square, and uses scrap strips…. but this time I used just warm solids and a band of white.

Also this block’s component adds fabric to two opposite sides of the foundation…last weeks only added fabric to one side of the foundation. The result is a tighter collection of diamonds on the quilt and the navy foundation feels more like sashing.

As you can tell I used a variety of different shades of blue for the foundations…mainly because I was using up scraps… but I love how the variety gives the quilt some depth and interest.

The backing of this quilt was one of my favorite sheet – a London themed Whim sheet. I have been using sheets for a few years to back quilts and love Martha Stewarts “Whim” line that Macy’s stocks. I actually bought two of the London sets and are hoarding the last of it for a special quilt that I have planned.

This quilt has also already headed out to Dornbecher PICU… I will eventually catch up and be showing quilts before they head out into the world, I promise!

The pinkies will, of course, have the final word…..

Quilt Details:

Blocks: Improv diamond using 5 inch foundation

Fabric: Variety of Kona solid scraps

Size: 54 x 63 inches

7Jun2019

Another Do Good finish…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I am back with another finished Do Good Stitches quilt… actually the weather in Portland has been lovely these last couple of weeks so I had the chance to photograph a few quilts which I will share over the coming weeks… but first up…

These blocks were made by myself and my fellow Hope Circle Bee hive members. I love a good wonky star and this block was extra fun because of the low volume background.

Using blacks and dark grey for the stars meant that the fabric we used as the background could have more color and interest in it. The stars were going to stand out against just about anything we threw at them… so we went fussy cut, novelty print crazy. The background does make for a good game of I spy.

The only low volumes that were a little problematic were the black and white ones… and only when they were used in making the star points. When choosing your low volume fabrics for a project it is always a good idea to:

(1) double check that they read low volume…. I do this using the mono chrome setting on my phone camera. Some low volumes can be deceiving and are tonally much darker than they appear.

(2) check that the print does not interfere or intersect with the foreground or main fabric. I have had this happen when the low volume print have had a strong print with the same color in it as my foreground fabric (this is why the black and white prints could be problematic with this quilt).

Because of the structure of this block you have a bit of built in negative space to play with. The block uses 3 1/2 inch squares, so one side of the block is just negative space (you can find the directions for the block here)…

Scrappy wonky Star 12 inch block

This allows you to play with the layout of the stars on the finished quilt. The layout can be uniformed or more off grid, like I did.

I must admit I loved the randomness of the star layout in this top… I think it gets your eye moving around the quilt in interesting ways.

As always this quilt is heading out into the world to do some good… at our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. So many hands help make this beauty and I am constantly reminded how many good people there are out there in the world, trying to make a difference.

Quilt Details:

Block: 12 inch off set wonky star
Fabric: Scraps and more scraps
Size: 60″ x 60″

6Apr2018

Catching up is fun….

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

Going through my old photos recently I found a couple of quilts that I had not shared on the blog… some of them I was happy to let go but there were a few that I wanted to share… the foxes was one and this is another…

finished scrap quilt

I started these blocks a year or so ago, after I managed to give myself a nice little concussion… the blocks were easy and used up quite a bit of my 2 1/2 inch charm square stash. I used a free pattern I found at the Fat Quarter Shop called Sister’s Choice…and it was the perfect project for my addled brain.

block detail

I did not have to cut up too much fabric… just the sashing as I used all my precut scraps to make the blocks. nI was not going to sash the blocks originally but I like how the white gives the quilt breathing room. It really works… and I must admit I have sashed some more quilts since this.

The best part of the process was putting together color combinations…

quilt detail

I struggled a little towards the end to find different color combinations and relied heavily on some neutrals to round things out… grey became my good friend with this project.

quilt detail 3

I finished the top up and then one of our wonderful charity long armers quilted and bound the quilt for me. I do not usually get this much help on my charity quilts but it was perfectly timed, as I was still struggling with post concussion issues. I love the wave pattern they chose…it is simple but adds great movement to the quilt.

quilt detail 2

This quilt went to the PICU over 6 months ago so it’s new owner should have warn it in well by now.

Quilt Details:

Block: Sister’s Choice
Fabric: both color and white on white scraps
Size: 50 x 50 inches

13May2016

A special quilt show…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I have been a little AWOL from the blog for the last couple of weeks because I have been feverishly finishing up quilts….

The first lot of finishes involved putting the finishing touches on some of the Guild’s charity quilts in time for this month’s display at Modern Domestic.

quilts on display 8

Usually when we finish up a charity quilt it is bundled up and sent off to the appropriate charity but for the last couple of months I have been collecting them so that they could be put on display at our local quilt store…

quilts on display 5

I can not explain how excited I was to see all our recent quilts hanging together. It was just so wonderful…and bright…and affirming. There are so many people who have had a hand in these quilts and there is so much love stitched into every one.

quilts on display 7

I also wanted to spotlight the newest PMQG quilt finish, so that you can see it in more detail…just in case you can not make it into the store to see it in person…..

quilts on display 4

For most of the charities we give quilts to there is a pressing need for boy quilts, and this quilt was made to as a gender neutral option…

quilting detail

Our colour scheme for the day was grey with a splash of aqua/turquoise. For a couple of months I had been putting all my grey scraps into a large bin, knowing that they would be perfect for an improv sew day.

improv quilt detail2 I love the improv days because everyone gets to do their own thing… and anything goes.

improv quilt detail There was a flurry of wonky stars made, spear headed by one of our charity sew day regulars Betty.

quilt block detail

Other people took the scraps and trimmings from other peoples blocks and made something fun.

We of course embraced novelty prints, because this is a kids quilt after all.

quilt detail

The fabulous quilting was done by another charity sew day regular, Kazumi. Kazumi is a professional long armer and you will see more of her work in the coming weeks as she has done some quilting for me recently!

29Jan2016

Finish Along 2016

Posted in Finished Quilts, Other fun stuff by wombatquilts

A week or so ago I signed up for the first quarter of the 2016 Finish Along. This is a online project that is run every 3 months… basically you sign up at the beginning of a quarter and say what you want to finish over the next couple of months. I am using the program to keep myself on track to finish up things before I start anything new.

If you are interested you can check out what people are doing there is an Instagram account – @finishalong and She Can Quilt is hosting the link up at http://www.shecanquilt.ca.

Anyway the goals I set myself for the next four months are…

Now I understand I may have over committed but I thought I might as well shot for the stars. But so far I have one of my Do Good Stitches quilts done…

This was such a fun quilt to finish up… I originally set this block for the Hope Circle of Do Good Stitches to do back in June last year. The block pattern is from Clover and Violet and you can find the directions here scrappy christmas star.

I was a little nervous about setting a Bee block that needed to be pretty accurately pieced to align, but it all worked out fabulously. I was able to coerce all the seams into alignment without too much effort…

One of the things I love about doing these scrappy blocks is seeing everyone’s fabric choices and extra love the wonderful selection of low volume novelty prints that were used…

There is so much happening in the quilt as far as print variation but the overall quilt is so quiet and gentle.

For the quilting I went of course with straight lines, which was perfect for this pattern. I used a cream Aurifil for the quilting (No 2309), which blended nicely between the teal, yellow and white/cream background.

For the backing I found the perfect Suzy Ultman for Robert Kaufman piece in my stash – and I had enough to do the whole back!

For the binding I used two different teal Kona Solids I had in my stash and of course hand bound it while watching the Australian Open Tennis. I am going to make the most of the last couple of matches to get another Do Good finish bound…..

So one finish down… at least 5 more to go….