Wordless WIP Wednesday

Posted in Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

22Mar2013

Loud, bright and fun… the quilt

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

.. and the nephew. When I was back in Australia I took the opportunity to photograph the quilt I made my nephew last year. I finished the quilt just before I started blogging and forgot to photograph it before I sent it on its way. Better late than never right….

This pattern was an out-and-out steal/borrow from a “do good stitches” quilt posted on Blue Elephant’s site. I fell in love with the pattern immediately and thought it would be great for my nephew. The block is simple and the directions are easy and clear – its foundation is a 16 piece block of rainbow colours. If you are interested in the pattern check out the above link for all the great instruction straight from the source.

For the back of the quilt I used some of the extra blocks I had. I usually have blocks left over because I make more than I need so that I have choices when I am putting the finished quilt together.

This quilt replaced a baby quilt I made for my sister about 12 years ago. I actually made the quilt without knowing that my sister was pregnant or what sex the baby would be. All I knew was I was heading out on an adventure and I did not know when I would be able to quilt again. This is the much-loved, much washed old quilt.

Photographing these quilts involved more time and effort than usual as there was much misbehaving, silliness and photo-bombing going on.

In amongst the crazy I did manage to get a photo of Miss Banana and her new quilt.

What I did not manage to photograph was the hilarious sight of my 6ft tall husband walking around Portland Airport with a pink and yellow quilt sticking out of his backpack. It is a sight I will not forget in a hurry.

20Mar2013

Sun and Sea Quilt – WIP Wednesday

Posted in Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

We have returned from Australia to a wet and cold Portland. Last week we were on the beach enjoying the weather and now we have freezing rain. It is meant to be spring but definitely feels like winter. To get myself out of my weather rut I decided to make a sunshine and beach inspired quilt this week.

Too start I raided my stash and pulled all the golden yellow/orange and sea blue fabric I could find.

This bright a cheery collection was then cut to make block pieces for a simplified Iowa star block (Block Central has an Iowa star paper piecing pattern that can be used) . I am not sure what the official term for this block is, so if you know please enlighten me.

In my jet lagged haze this block was about all I could handle. It is made up of four 5 inch blocks and all I had to do was sew down the two sides of the central triangle. Easy peasy. I managed to make quite a few block pieces before the sleepy haze took over. Going back to Oz is fun but the time difference is a killer.

There was, however, one advantage to the 14 hour flight back to the USA – I had some time to do some hexies. I had never done English paper piecing before but I had been drooling over other people’s hexies for months. Then, just before I flew out the Portland Modern Quilt Guild did a tutorial and I was hooked. To prepare for the flight I:

1. printed a pile of 1 inch hexagon blocks (I used the Hexagon creator at http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal/) ,

2. cut a stack of fabric squares – lots of fussy cut bits a pieces; and

3. found a pair of small travel scissors that would not freak out the airline security guys.

So in between sleeping I managed to make this wonderful collection of hexies…. 51 down, 549 too go.

I am not sure what I am going to do with them. My husband is encouraging me to work out what I want to achieve before I get to far into making hexies (he is concerned by my lack of a plan!). I have been toying with the idea of doing the classic hexie flower and I may try to a couple to see how they look.

Now it is back to sunshine and the beach…..

18Mar2013

Paper Piecing Monday part….

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

Okay I am loosing count of how many Paper Piecing Monday’s I have done (could be jet lag!). It does not seem to matter too much…. the more the merrier right. So this week I mixed up the patterns again from Carol Doak’s 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars to make this.

I went back to scrappy this week, using part of the Oklahoma block and part of the Ohio block from the book. The block took 92 pieces, some of them very small. It was a great way to use up more bits and pieces I had collected.

I am not looking forward to pulling the paper pattern off this star, but that is the price you pay for paper piecing accuracy.

4Mar2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns by wombatquilts

Back again for another Monday of paper fun. I worked again this week from 50 Fabulous Paper Piecing Stars but shook it up a bit. In the front of the book the author outlines how to make the 50 patterns in the book go a little further, by using two different patterns to make one block. Here is the results of my first experiment.

This star uses one half of the Utah star and one half of the Nebraska star, to make a fabulous new star using just 52 pieces to make. I did go less scrappy this time – keeping the attention on the pattern and not the individual block pieces.

I am still not sure if these pointy stars will fit in with the compass stars I have already made but I am having such fun making them all. So see you next week for the next installment.