Colours of this week are purple & aqua!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Project Linus, Quilt patterns, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This week has been a weird week. I have not got as much done as I would have liked, as our family is preparing to run away to Australia for a couple of weeks. In between the packing and the last-minute shopping I did managed to get this quilt finished.

This quilt is made up of 16 of these 12 inch blocks.

I used a really easy pinwheel paper piecing pattern and lots and lots of scraps of fabric. There are a number of simpler versions of this block on the web but I love the extra punch of the added pinwheel. The pattern and dimensions I used are:

Eight of these pieces make up one of the finished blocks. If I was to do the quilt again I would probably stick with more strongly contrasting fabrics – the blocks that have the dark purple against the aqua are so much more punchy I think . The contrast makes the pinwheel pattern really pop.

I am still doing just straight quilting…. maybe when I return from vacation I will be sufficiently relaxed to forget the stippling nightmare. I have to be braver with my quilting. The backing is a selection of different fabrics I had in my stash. Nothing too exciting but I like how it looks, particularly the Erin McMorris “Somersault” fabric.

I finished it all up with a scrappy purple binding. I do love scrappy binding – bits of solids, bits of prints, different shades, different patterns. The scrappy does not work with all quilts but it seemed to be just right for this one.

Now it is back to packing and cleaning…..

25Feb2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Well it is Monday….again, which means another block to add to my paper piecing star quilt. This week I opened Carol Doak’s 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars and decided to make the first star I came across (actually the first star in the book), the Alabama Star.

I loved the boldness and simplicity of this star. I used scraps except for the dark inner star – I wanted that to be the same fabric for some reason! This really was an easy pattern using just 56 pieces.

Now there are only 7 more blocks to go before I call it quits on the red/aqua quilt…. not that I am counting!

13Feb2013

Wonky Stars – wip Wednesday

Posted in Finished Quilts, Project Linus, Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

Today’s work in progress is all about the wonky stars. When the call went out last week for more quilts to replenish the Project Linus stocks, I turned to the old faithful wonky star. It is a fast, fun way to make simple kids quilts.

I have managed to finish one quilt….

I love how the quilt turned out and in particular the scrappy nature of it. I used different white and cream blocks for the background and blues for the star. I know it should, in theory, be the other way round – blue background with white stars, but I had a stack of white/cream scraps I wanted to use up. The quilting is simple as I want to get as many of these done as I can before next weeks monthly Project Linus meeting.

The quick and easy nature of the wonky star is why I choose to focus on them for this drive. I have managed to get another top done this weekend which I will try and get quilted this week. I “borrowed” the idea from another quilter I came across on the “wip Wednesday” hop. They had used a wonderful Eric Carlyle print as the center of their wonky star to great effect. I went with a Jone Hallmark kids print that had been sitting in my stash for a while.

My final wonky star is currently sitting on my design floor waiting to be sewn. It is the left over star bits from a quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago.

I hope to have it sewn and ready for quilting by the end of tonight, so I am going to stop blogging and go sew!

18Jan2013

Wonky Star Quilt finished

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

I finally finished my wonky star quilt. I had blogged about finishing the top a month or so ago and it has taken me a while to actually get it quilted. I am really pleased with how it turned out. It is a true scrap quilt using different colour bits and pieces for the stars as well as scraps of tone on tone whites for the background.

I ummed and ahhed about how to quilt it. I started doing a loopy quilting pattern but did not like it so unpicked it all and started again. I ended up quilting stars all over – no set pattern just big and little stars all over. I really do have to work on my quilting skills. I get bored with this part of the process and I must admit I get a little sloppy.

I backed the quilt with a wonderful Alexander Henry fabric that just really worked with the colours I used. I framed the fabric I had with a white border which I think works okay. I love the fabric but probably could have found another way to make it work. I have just discovered Elizabeth Hartman’s FREE Craftsy course on quilt backs which has got me thinking about other ways to back my quilts. It is a great course and you can find it here.

I have now washed the quilt and it is ready for delivery to Project Linus. I post wash all my quilts before I deliver them to PL. I do love the feel and look of the quilt when it has been washed, all soft and puckered. Are you a post or pre washer?