Jacaranda inspired wip Wednesday

This week I have been working on a quilt that was inspired by the Jacaranda tree and in particular the silk screen print my brother-in-law did.  The print has been sitting in my quilting room, waiting to be framed, and this week I thought the colours would work well for a quilt.

Jacaranda silk screen

I played with the idea of purple with black & white fabrics, but felt I have  been overusing my b/w stash.  Instead I went with greys and choose a pattern that reminded me of a tree (but ended up looking like an arrow!).  The end result of my test run was this collection of blocks.

purple & grey arrow quilt block

I think I am going to have fun with this one.  I have made some grey/grey blocks and some purple/purple blocks and can not wait to start playing with some random layouts.  My husband wanted me to put some order into the layout – he is a science geek and loves there to be pattern, even if it is hidden.  Me, I love random when I can get it.  I think that is why I love scrap quilting so much, it allows for random in amongst the pattern.

The pattern is a free paper piecing pattern from Christine Thresh which can be found here.  I just pulled the gif from the site and sized it up in Photoshop.

I also managed this weekend to finish a couple quilt tops that I had lying around.  The first one is the 1001 Peeps top I started a last week.  It was quick, easy and fun to make.  Now all I have to do is quilt it and bind it.

1001 Peeps kids quilt top

The other top I finished was not so quick and easy… I have been trying to finish it for weeks.  It was a little more fiddly than some of my other patterns but worth the effort.  I still have to pull all the paper off the back but I have trained my husband up to help with this process, so it should be quick.

blue green star quilt top

I am trying to train myself to not start a new project until I have finished one of my old ones.  The question then becomes, does finishing a top count or do I only count quilted and bound projects?

Square in Square fun – wip Wednesday

This week I have been playing with the  “square in square” quilt block (also known as a diamond in a square block).  I stumbled across the pattern on the weekend and decided that I had to see what I could do with it.    The first experiment is  with colour –  navy, emerald and pink/purple.

square in square quilt block

I am excited about how this quilt is coming together. The colours work well together and the pattern allows me to use those scraps I love so much!  To make the square in square blocks I used the paper piecing pattern below.  There is some good instructions on how to make this block using traditional piecing on the web, including some great instructions from Why not Sew? which you can find here.

square in square block

I also used this simple pattern this week to start a 1001 Peeps quilt.  I have a stash of Lizzy House fabric including quite a collection of her Arabian Nights themed fabric.  I have used little bits and pieces here and there but I wanted to use one of the lines colorways to make a quilt for Project Linus.  It is such fabulous kids fabric.

1001 peeps squrae in square block

This pattern makes it easy to use fussy cut bits and pieces.  I love how it really frames the wonderful prints  in this range.  I am half way through making these blocks and the quilt is coming together so quickly.  I have used a few prints that are not from the line including some tone on tone fabrics and a couple of prints from other Lizzy House lines.  Too much fun.

1001 peeps block pile

I am now off to buy a new ironing board.  We somehow managed to put a hole in ours which is making ironing and quilting a little more challenging than it should be!