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!

18Feb2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns by wombatquilts

Welcome to part 12 of paper piecing Monday. My husband asked me how many stars I am going to make for this quilt, he was a little scared I was not going to stop!. I decided that 20 was the number to aim for. It will make a 4 block x 5 block quilt which will be a nice size for some kid.

This week I have one of the last compass squares from Quilting on the Square.

The paper piecing pattern can be found here Block_9_Compass_of_Many_colors.

I changed the pattern a little, choosing to use the stripped fabric instead of using another lot of background fabric. I wanted to try and get a star that was a little different from some of the others I had done.

The pattern involves 80 pieces of fabric made into 8 triangles. The finished block is 12 inches (like all the blocks I have posted so far). I threw the stars together to show you a very rough work in progress shot. I am not sure that it all works together yet, but hope as more blocks are added it will start to look more cohesive.

11Feb2013

Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday, Quilt patterns by wombatquilts

For this week’s paper piecing Monday I have branched out and tried something a little different.

My darling husband bought me a fabulous book by Carol Doak – 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars, which is full of amazing star patterns. So for this week I choose the Ohio Star pattern from the book and decided to use the little bits of scraps that had been accumulating from my previous blocks. This is a truly scrappy block.

The block uses two different triangle patterns to make up a quarter of the finished piece.

The back of the block looks like this…. please ignore the loose threads.

6Feb2013

Symphony of colour – WIP Wednesday

Posted in Quilt patterns, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

My work in progress Wednesday is just full of colour. I have started a new quilt this week – another classic pattern with bright colours.

The pattern is called a double pinwheel and the components of the block are really simple. McCalls has a great link to making the block the traditional way – though I only used one half of their pattern. The link to their site can be found here. I once again raided my scrap box to start this project, as well as cutting into my stash a little – I was woefully short on purple scraps in particular! Because of the high contrast in the colours seams are everything and I must admit they are not as aligned as I would like with this block. Practice makes perfect, so onto the next block!

I have also finished the top for my pink and gold quilt. My niece quickly claimed this quilt as her own so there is a impetuous to finish it. We are now at the fun stage of pulling paper off the back. I do find this part of the process therapeutic but very very messy,