Paper Piecing Monday for #opgivewarmth

This weekend Sarah at nohatsinthehouse.com unveiled the colour palette for May for her charity block program #opgivewarmth. I was immediately smitten with the possibilities…

So this month I will be working with this palette for all my paper piecing Monday posts…. and of course sending the blocks to Sarah so she can make some wonderful charity quilts.

To start this process I picked a few of the colours in the palette and a lovely star blocks and came up with this…

The pattern is another Craftsy free block… Lone Starburst by Six White Horse Patterns and at 56 pieces it is not too complex.

Feel free to join the palette fun and make a 3, 6 or 12 inch block and give some warmth and comfort to a child. This is a perfect way to help, as not everyone has the time to make a completed quilt for charity but making a block or two is an easy way to help. More details and information on the project can be found here.

2May2014

Zakka Flower top…

Posted in Quilts by wombatquilts

…is done. It took a lot of unpicking and sewing but it is finally finished.

This is one of the biggest quilt tops I have made, finishing at 70 inches x 85 inches. I was struggling a little to wrangle it through the sewing machine at the end.

I actually struggled quite a bit with finishing this top because in the cold and flu haze of a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the paper off the blocks BEFORE I sashed them. Silly silly silly move.

It meant I had to unpick the sashing a couple of times to get the blocks to align properly. But half a ton of Best Press, a trip to the store to pick up more Kona Snow and lots and lots of pinning later I got it all done.

Zakka flower detail That just leaves making the back, basting and quilting to do… but I think I am going to take a break before I attempt the next steps. I need to get my head around dealing with a quilt this big… any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

30Apr2014

Some Random block fun…

Posted in Quilt patterns, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

I am desperately playing catch up on my Bee blocks and other projects that have been sitting around too long.

First up I have caught up on my Do.good.stitches blocks which included this fun ditty…

A wonderful wonky pin wheel. The pattern is from Greenleaf Goods who have a great tutorial on their site. It was a fabulous scrap buster and I am looking forward to doing my own version.

The other do.Good.stitches block that I have just finished up is the fabulous Granny Square block by Blue Elephant Stitches.

I have made this block a couple of times but love the instructions that my fellow Bee member added… Heather told us to make the white squares extra long… we added 3/4 of an inch to the pattern. This extra wiggle room makes trimming the block so much easier than the original pattern.

We also used 3 inch blocks instead of 2 1/2 inch squares and I am now fired up to use some of my 3 inch square scraps to make more of these blocks. But first I have to finish my original Granny Square quilt.

My Granny Square quilt is still on my 2014 To Do list but this week I did make some progress on the list … I am determined to finish my Denyse Schmidt Zakka flower quilt. I have made the last of the blocks…

And now I am onto sashing. I am hoping to have the top done for a Finish Friday… really hoping.

And of course because it is Wednesday I am linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced..

25Apr2014

Metallic Mini Finished

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

This week I managed to get my Modern Metallic mini quilt finished, just in time to get it entered in PNW Metallic Challenge competition.

This quilt is made up of 3 inch log cabin blocks, you can find the paper piecing pattern I used in my original post. As it was a metallic challenge I choose my most favorite metallic fabric, Michael Miller’s Mirror Ball Dot in Rice, Silver, Platinum, Onyx and a splash of Citron.

I knew I really wanted to quilt with metallic thread though I had never done it before. First up I tried hand quilting but that was an unmitigated disaster. Metallic thread is so fine that I was just making a hash of everything. After several attempts to get hand quilting to work, I finally resorted to machine quilting, which has its own issues.

This time I was smart enough to do some online research… resulting in a tips list:

1. Use a new, sharp needle.
2. Load a lighter weight neutral thread in your bobbin
3. Loosen the upper tension on your machine and make sure the metallic thread is not catching on any particular point.
4. Stitch really really slowly to avoid breakage.
5. Try not to get too upset when the thread breaks.

I can not imagine trying to quilt a normal size quilt with metallic thread. I do not have the patience to even attempt such a feat but I will be forever in awe of anyone who is crazy enough to do it!

As for the last step, binding, I was ridiculously indecisive and actually bound this quilt twice! My first biding was a citron solid – which I was not thrilled with and so unpicked. I finally settled on a solid black binding, something neutral and not too fussy. I have never unpicked a binding before but when you are dealing with something so small you can make these rash decisions and change your mind without too much hassle.

Quilt Details:

Block: 3 inch paper pieced log cabin
Fabric: Mirror Ball Dot
Finished size: 15 x 15 inches

23Apr2014

Keeping the volume on low…

Posted in Quilts by wombatquilts

First for all thanks for all the well wishes over the last two weeks… it has been slow going but after 10 days of wallowing in self-pity I am slowly getting back into quilting. Yesterday I finally put the machine back up and sewed a little… I thought I was at last okay enough to “operate heavy machinery”.

So I have been slowly, very slowly quilting a darling low volume quilt I had pieced before I got sick. Actually I have pieced two quilts which are almost identical – they use the same fabric but just arranged differently. It is a custom order for two gorgeous twin toddlers who happen to really like pink… girls after my own heart.