A special little quilt

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

Last night I managed to finish one of two little quilts I have been wanting to make for a while now. These quilts are special not just because of their lack of colour, but because of the thinking behind them.

This simple little quilt is made up of a variety of 3 inch squares of white and cream tone on tone fabrics. I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing the fabulous Molli Sparkle’s “No Value quilt“. It was a challenge to work with just white but it was great fun. I ended up using off white and cream to get some variation in the quilt, so the eye had something to follow.

So why tiny little white quilts… Christmas last year some friends of our suffered the heartache of having their son be still born. It is a heart ache I can not imagine, but one that a few people I know have suffered. There was nothing I could do at the time but cry, support and pray. Recently I was talking to some members in our Project Linus group who told me about the little white blankets that a group had been knitting and crocheting for some local hospitals. These tiny blankets are used to wrap a child in when it is presented to its parents to say goodbye. The parents can then take the blanket home as a remembrance of their child.

I do not knit but I thought that a tiny quilt would be just as useful. So I set about making two little quilts in remembrance of my friends and their son. As with all my quilts there is a splash of Mirror Ball and a splash of Pearl Bracelet fabric… and a huge dash of love.

I backed this quilt with a scrap of white fabric I had and a splash Mirror Ball and bound the quilt with Michael Miller’s Couture Cotton in Cream.

I have one more of these quilts to bind and then they are off to do their job of bringing comfort and support. There are a number of wonderful charities that delivery blankets/quilts to hospitals for this need, including Forever Warm in the USA, Sands in Australia, Sands in the UK and of course your local Project Linus chapter or Neonatal hospital.

On a much happier note, our friends who suffered such heartbreak last year have just had a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Life really is a wonderful roller coaster of a ride.

25Oct2013

Appleville Quilt finished

Posted in Finished Quilts, Project Linus by wombatquilts

I managed to finish my Appleville quilt this week… another Project Linus finish for October. I started this quilt a week or so ago and it was a real challenge for me.

I was using a “cheater” panel for the first time and really wanted to highlight each of the individual illustrations somehow. Once I had worked out my colour scheme and pulled some appropriate supporting fabric from my stash, the individual blocks came together easily. My original post on the quilt was full of optimism. Then the struggle began for me with how to lay them out.

I had never worked with this much white/negative space before. My design wall was a blessing as I moved the blocks around trying to find a flow I liked. Once I had a layout I was happy with the real hard work began. It was like doing a jigsaw puzzle piecing in the white Kona cotton. The top part of the quilt took me ages to put together but by the bottom section I was an old pro. There are even some Y seams in this sucker (another first for me). I would love to hear from anyone who has advice, tricks or tips on doing this kind of piecing. I know I have a lot to learn.

With the top all pieced I now had to fill all that negative space with quilting First off I tried some hand quilting in red thread – I liked it but my wrist is not healed enough to handle that much hand quilting at the moment…. so unpicking number one.

Then I quilted lines inside the blocks and tried a little free motion pebbles in the white space. I did not like it, and again my wrist was not up to that much pushing and pulling of fabric through the machine… unpicking number 2. In the end it was straight lines and boxes.

It does the job, but is not as beautiful as I would have liked. I am still coming to terms with my quilting shortfalls (which is my actual quilting) and my current physical limitations (my darn left wrist). I am chomping at the bit to do some proper free-motion quilting to build up my skills.

For the back of the quilt I used my favorite printed panel and made it the focal point.

I think it is one of the cutest quilt backs I have done. And it is all because of this little print.

Appleville Quilt Details:

Style: Modern free form

Fabric: Appleville by Robert Kaufman & Kona White

Finished quilt size: 47″ x 57″

11Oct2013

Rainbow I Spy Quilt done and dusted

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

Week two of October and I have another quilt finished despite some walking foot hiccups and a Briar Rose obsession. This week’s Project Linus finish is a little bit of a cheat – I pulled an old unfinished top out of the cupboard and quilted it up. But it is still a finish and still counts… right?

I made the top for this quilt about 3 years ago and finishing it up was an interesting exercise which showed me how much my piecing has improved. All over this quilt there are seams that just do not align…

A simple square quilt and my edges are squiffy. I am a little embarrassed but pleased to say that I have got better over the years. Plus the small mistakes here and there do not detract from the fun of this quilt.

The colours are bright and the fabric is varied. There is so much to see in this quilt, it is going to make for a wicked game or two of “I Spy”. And it is was so easy to put together, lots of 4 1/2 inch blocks in a graduating colour scale.

The quilting is simple… more straight lines. The backing is also simple, another IKEA fabric (part of a 100% cotton duvet cover).

All finished off with some purple binding.

I know this binding is a little crazy but I was out of solid navy fabric, which is my usual go to binding for a rainbow quilt. But now I have excuse to go shopping. YIPPEE!

4Oct2013

A solid finish

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

I committed this week to try to finish a quilt a week for October… and I mean baste, quilt and bind. I want to try to get as many quilts finished and delivered to Project Linus before the holidays. A crazy goal I know, but I have to give it a go.

To start this slightly mad schedule I decided to make another trip around quilt. I love these quilts, they are so easy and fun to make. This one is a little different for me can you tell how?

Those of you who know my work will note a distinct lack of pattern on the fabric. Yep I made a completely solid quilt. I have only made one of these before and it was a disaster, luckily this one came out much much better.

My Trip Along started life as a jelly roll, that has been sitting in my stash for quite a while….

I love the colours of the roll, but did not know what to do with it until I had to make some Bee trip around blocks recently. Those blocks inspired me to make another Trip Around quilt and so the fun started. I managed to get 16 x 12 inch blocks out the one jelly roll (with a little finagling to get the last block complete).

With the first Trip Around quilt I did I went scrappy, bright and used the traditional block layout but with this quilt I went with a wave layout.

My hand is still not allowing me to do any quilting other than straight lines, but luckily I think it works perfectly with this quilt top. I quilted diagonally across the top using a nice Sulky thread to add some shine to the stitches, my way of compensating for the lack of print on the fabric.

To finish it all off I had to find a piece of backing fabric that would compliment and offset the solid fabric front. I was thrilled to find in my stash this AMAZING Alexander Henry print.

Here is a close up detail on the fabulous jungle print. It really is the most perfect fabric for this quilt.

All that was left was to label and machine bind the quilt. Staying true to the front of the quilt I went with a Kona solid binding in dusty purple.

So one quilt down for this month a few more to go…

Fine print: I do reserve the right to subtly or not so subtly pull out of my “one quilt a week” schedule. I also reserve the right to call myself crazy for setting such a schedule.

9Aug2013

I do not love it… but

Posted in Finished Quilts, Project Linus by wombatquilts

If you are like me, you have some quilt blocks, tops or even finished quilts that you really do not like. You had a great idea, a vision in your head and what you have ended up with has fallen a little short. What do you do with these quilt projects?

For me the challenge becomes finishing them. This quilt is a case in point. I made the top months and months ago. It sat sadly in the corner of my quilt space, unloved. But last week, when I realized I had not given quilts to Project Linus in months, my wonky churn dash got dusted off and is now finished.

I must admit I took some short cuts with finishing this quilt.

1. I did simple, quick and easy straight line quilting using plain white thread.

2. I used a whole cloth back – IKEA fabric of course. No fancy pieced or even scrap pieced back.

3. I raided my box of pre-made binding and just picked one. Usually I um and ah about the binding (it is a big decision after all). 9 times out of ten I normally end up making binding specially for the quilt being finished.

4. I machine bound the quilt. I usually like to hand sew the binding, as I find it a nice handmade finishing touch.

All these little decision mean I get the quilt done much quicker, with minimal fuss. The quilt is then ready to be washed, dried and then delivered to Project Linus, leaving me ready to move onto the next one.

This is the next one… another quilt top that has been sitting in my cupboard, this time for years.

I encourage you dust off an old unfinished top or that pile of quilt blocks. Finish the sucker – quilt it, bind it, wash it and deliver it to your local Project Linus or Quilts for Valor or Wrap them in love or Quilts for Kids or whatever charity you choose. Let someone love and be comforted by your quilty creation.

Go on you know you want too…