A work in progress to change the pace…

Posted in Quilts by wombatquilts

I recently had the privilege of receiving a review copy of Cheryl Arkison’s book “A month of Sunday’s”. The PMQG is often sent books to review and when this title was offered I jumped at it. I loved Cheryl’s first book “Sunday Morning Quilts” which she co-authored with Amanda Jean Nyberg.

This book has a different feel and pace to it than Cheryl’s last book. It has recipes, bag patterns, musing on life and the best chapter EVER on low volume quilting. The chapter “Turn it Down” does a marvelous job of explaining what low volume is, how it works and how to select fabrics. It has tips on value, scale and colour in low volume fabrics and I learnt some neat stuff.

The book’s quilting projects are all fabulously low key, low volume and fun. You are challenged to take what you have learnt about low volume and apply it to patterns. There are helpful hints about turning up the volume on the patterns too but they are all perfect for the quieter style.

Flipping through the book there was one pattern in particular that caught my eye and I knew I just had to make it…

So fabric was pulled (I had a surprising number of text prints!) and then cut. Now, after months of loud bright colours my design wall at the moment is full of scrappy low volume prints.

The wall looks so strange with the random placement but as the rows are sewn together I am seeing some magic appear. I used more creams in my top, which gives my Crossword an old newspaper” feel I think.

I have no husband for the weekend so I am hoping to have this top finished for a reveal next week.

15Sep2014

Joy Bell Block paper piecing style…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Last week saw the start of my new obsession… 12 inch classic blocks that use a simple square block. This week I have been playing with another block which I have seen called Joy Bell, Salem and St Gregory’s Cross to name just a few….

This block is another easy one to put together. You will need…

All these components are 4 1/2 inches unfinished and you can find the pattern for the arrow blocks here….arrow block. And of course the wonderful simple square, which will be in all the blocks here..WQ Simple square block.

When you have made the components the block is easy to put together, row by row.

When I was researching I found so many variations on this pattern… the simple layout above was usually called Joy Bell, and I also made a block using the layout referred to as a Salem block…

There are so many possibilities with this block, so to help with the “playing” process I made a colouring sheet (joy bells color sheet), so that you can come up with your own combinations. Download the sheet, grab some colour pencils and go to work…

12Sep2014

Starry Night… the big reveal

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts by wombatquilts

Okay I finally managed to wrangle the Starry Night quilt top enough to get some photos. I must admit there are a few strangling pieces of paper still attached to the back…

but I promised a reveal today so here goes…

As you know, if you have followed this quilts progress, I did not have a plan of how to put this together. I just went with the flow, putting pieces up on the design wall and jigsawing the blocks into a top (a technical maneuver I do not want to attempt again!).

My design wall was too small for it, so I had pieces hanging off the wall and laying on the floor….

My first step was to arrange the star blocks in a rough layout that made sure that they were as evenly distributed and as balanced as I could get them.

I carefully placed the bigger stars around the quilt making sure that the fractured stars were separated as well as the ringed stars. I wanted the eye to move around the top exploring and I felt this was the best way to do it.

I then I placed the smaller stars in the gaps!

Finally I just filled all the spaces with scrappy blue blocks… and voila… you have a finished quilt top. A scrappy, random, crazy quilt top.

8Sep2014

Something new for Paper Piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Over the next month or so I am going to try something a little different for Paper Piecing Monday. I recently found an old book of quilting patterns at a local thrift store and fell in love with the simplicity but complexity of the blocks. I was fascinated how many of the blocks used this simple square block …

So each week I am going to present a 12 x 12 inch classic block, and the pattern to make it…. starting with the Sawtooth Block.

To make this block you will need 9 components all of which are 4 1/2 inches square unfinished…

You can find the paper piecing pattern for the simple square block, which will be using over the next couple of weeks here…WQ Simple square block For the half square triangles you can easily make these traditionally or you can use a paper piecing pattern which you can find here….WQ Half Square triangle

You can also traditionally piece the simple square but I love the accuracy that you get from paper piecing for this. It also allows you to get your fussy cut center just right .

When you have made all your components, lay the block out and then start piecing it together.

You can remove the paper at this stage, particularly if you have traditionally pieced the half square triangle corners. To complete my block I sewed the three blocks together in rows and then sewed those rows together. Easy.

With all the blocks I will be showcasing over the coming weeks, there is so many ways to interpret the pattern. I will be using Lizzy House’s Catnap fabric range for all my blocks, but the patterns work just as well with solids and scrappy colour play as they do with complete fabric lines.

You get different feeling blocks depending on how you choose to place your colours and fabrics….