Everybody loves a wonky star…right….

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

My final finishes for 2015 and first finish of 2016 has been putting the binding on a couple of wonky star quilts. If you follow this blog you know how much I love a wonky star, and I found during my recent health issues that I could make wonky stars without too much effort or thought (I seem to have good muscle memory for this quilt block!)….

What made these quilts so easy for me to make was that I used some of my huge stash of 5 inch squares and lots of scraps. For this first quilt I grabbed a pile of blue squares and my bag of white/cream scraps and got to work.

What you can not see too well in the photos is that each center of the star is made up of improv scraps. This is my favorite bit of the process… sewing all the little scraps together to make my own fabric.

For all my wonky star quilts I did simple straight line quilting, but with this quilt I used a variegated thread I found in my thread box. I kind of love how it turned out…

For my next two wonky star quilts I took some scraps of Hoffman batiks that I had been given and had some fun…

This is my favorite of the quilts… I love how the soft pink and blue play together….

Plus I got to play with novelty prints which makes me so happy. The background for the stars uses 4 different Batiks and with all these quilts the colour variation in the background adds a nice texture to the overall quilt I think.

I got to back my pink stars with some of my favorite fabric from Michael Miller. I love the mermaids so much…and this fabric was so perfect for the quilt it had to be used.

For the background of this quilt I used creams/beige batiks from a Hoffman layer cake or two. I do not use batiks much in my quilting but I love how they work as a support to the modern quilting fabrics. For this quilt I played with batting loft and used a wool batting.

The batting gives the quilt a lovely warmth and softness… it is nicely puffy. I can see why long arm quilters would choose to use a higher loft batting, as it really does make the quilting stand out.

So there are my last and first finishes. Very simple, very easy and kind of fun. Each quilt finishes at 41 inches square, a perfect size for our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

4Dec2015

More finishes for 2015…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I am really really obsessed with getting some of my quilts finished this year… and I am running out of year. So the push is on… I have recently finished up a quilt top I made for the 100 Quilts for Kids drive, but my health hindered me finishing it on time.

This was a fun and easy quilt to make. I used some of the thousands of 3 inch squares I have cut over the last year or so from my scraps. The background fabric is a grey/blue hatch fabric by Timeless Treasures. I love how it plays against the solids.

Came together so easily using chain piecing. I just sat at the machine sewing a background fabric to a solid, one after another. I had an impressive string of fabric pieces by the end of the first stage.

I kept the quilting simple, just straight lines through the background fabric. For some reason I did not want to run stitches through the solid fabric… and I love the plaid feel this quilting added.

For the back of the quilt I found the perfect piece of Ikea fabric…

Somehow those bathing beauties just seemed to work. I have been hoarding this fabric for a little while and was waiting for the perfect quilt to use it with. To finish it all off I used a selection of Kona solid greys to bind the quilt.

I spent yesterday morning at Project Linus Portland processing quilts… including this quilt.

Quilt Details:

Pattern: Simple four patch using 3 inch squares
Fabric: Solid scraps and Hatch in Steel by Timeless Treasures
Size: 40″ x 50″

11Sep2015

Dinosaurs for everyone…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

This week I finished up my Lizzy House Dinosaur quilt….

Over the summer I taught a wonderful group of young ladies (aged 10 – 14) how to make a quilt. Blocks from my test run of that class are what made up this wonderfully fun quilt…

The pattern is a simple rail fence variation….

all you do is cut strips 3 inches wide by the length of the fabric (usually 42 inches long)… then you sew four of these strips together… then you cut out 10 1/2 inch blocks… easy peasy.

The highlight of this quilt is of course the dinosaurs…. oh how I love those dinosaurs….

Oh and there is butterflies as well, of course….

A simple backing…..

and binding using a fabulous ombre fabric I found in my stash and a couple of scraps.

And there you have it, a simple fun kids quilt….and I have another quilt done for 100 Quilts for Kids.

Quilt Details:

Name: Dinosaurs for Everyone
Pattern: Rail Fence
Fabric: Lizzy House Natural Histories, Pearl Bracelets and Butterflies
Finished size: 50 x 60 inches

1May2015

An interesting source of fabric

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

At Christmas my darling husband gave me a set of Munki Munki flannel pj’s. Pajama giving at Christmas seems to be a very American tradition..but I have fully embraced it. When I opened my Christmas package only one thing came to mind….this is going to make a wonderful quilt.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Munki Munki brand, their top designer was/is Heather Ross and collecting the pajama prints and using them for quilts is very popular amongst modern quilters. This is of course what I tried to explain to the husband when he found me cutting up my pajama top.

Seriously how could I resist these darling gnomes…

So a flurry of fussy cutting ensued and my favorite “go to” block pattern, the wonky star, was employed….

What was interesting about making the top in particular for me was that I used all flannel. I had previously back several quilts in flannel…I love the soft finish particularly for baby quilts… but I had never pieced in it.

For this top I used some flannel scraps a friend had given me and bought some more from my local quilt store… and I tried to use as much of the source pajama fabric as I could…including the sleeve and leg cuffs which were bright green.

Most of the flannel I used had a wrong and right side and it was at times tricky to tell which was which…. except for the Cloud 9 flannel which was beautifully thick and lush and was reversible.

The end result was this darling little baby quilt… and I love how soft and cuddly it is.

29Aug2014

Some little quilts for a good cause…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

Last week Maryann, the PMQG President, and I dropped off a collection of darling little quilts for a new Neo-natal ICU unit that has just opened up locally.

We delivered nine quilts, and know that other PMQG members dropped off more during the week. We picked the quilts up at Modern Domestic, who kindly allowed us to use their store as a backdrop for the photos.

The quilts included a couple I had made…. including a disappearing nine patch quilt using some lovely Hoffman Batiks that Sam at Hunter Design Studios had given me.

A lovely little strip quilt I made using a Moda Scrap bag.

And a simple patchwork quilt using leftover Glitz fabric from Michael Miller. I was so excited to see how well this fabric washed up.

The fabulous Monica Solorio-Snow made two darling quilts using her Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric.

Monica very kindly did up a free PDF pattern for this quilt which she shares on her website Happy Zombie.

There were so many different techniques used to make these little quilts… Wonky low volume crosses by Mary Ann…

Fussy cut bordered squares done by Susan Paris…

Charming nine patches by Michael Ann….

And simple patchwork.

Not all the quilts had labels attached so please let me know if your quilt appears in this collection, so I can credit your lovely work.

The need for these quilts will be ongoing, so I already have a couple more in the works. If you feel inspired to make a little (36 x 36) quilt, most hospital NICU’s take quilty donations, or you can also drop a quilt off with your local Project Linus Chapter or other blanket charity. It really is an easy way to make a difference.

So dust off those orphan blocks, pull out that novelty print you have that you do not know what to do with… go on make a quilt…you know you want to.