An oldie but a goodie…

This week I wanted to share a recent finish that was actually started years ago… so many years I am a little embarrassed.

Photos can not do this neon pink justice… it really is vibrant and a little crazy. The grey and white does a good job of calming the pink a little…

A few of these blocks were left over from a Portland Modern Quilt Guild challenge in 2013… the rest are ones that I added (some I even designed the paper piecing pattern for!)….

Okay I have to admit I have a problem letting things go and this was particularly true of the couple of blocks I inherited for the charity program. They just screamed to be made into a quilt, but they were so bright that they did play nicely with any of the other orphan blocks I had… you see my dilemma right, I had to make more blocks to go with them.

Someone who appreciates pink in all it’s glory – actually my kind of person…. is going to love this quilt…and just in case the front was not enough to sell it I found some fabulous Ikea fabric in my stash for the back…

This quilt has already made its way to the local PICU where it definitely brightened some kids stay, I am sure of it.

Quilt Details:

Fabric: Michael Miller Neon fabric and Cotton Couture
Blocks: various paper pieced blocks
Quilt Size: 52 x 52 inches

23Jan2015

Quilting with friends

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

Wednesday I had a wonderful day quilting with some of the members of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. We had an incredibly productive day and finished 3 quilt tops and also threw a quilt up on the long arm.

What made the day extra special was that we were working in a space that was displaying a collection of our Medallion quilts…

Once a month Modern Domestic hosts our charity sew day. We get to work in their wonderful space and use the amazing Bernina sewing machines in their work room. It is always hard for me to go back to my basic Brother machine after a day of luxury sewing on the Bernina!

So what did we get done I hear you ask….

We managed to get this floral beauty quilted on the long-arm machine.

Lots of loops and a couple of flowers were stitched into the top by a number of PMQG members. It is really fun to have a top that anyone can have a turn on, so we usually use a simple free motion technique and people can embellish if they are so inclined.

We also made a collection of wonky snowball blocks that became a sweet little quilt top…

And a couple of orphan blocks also became quilt tops. Anne made a sweet little disappearing nine patch….

And while we are talking about Charity quilts I wanted to share another quilt that was recently finished…

The blocks were orphan blocks donated by the fabulous Elsa Hart, I put the top together and finally the amazing quilting was done by Kazumi Peterson.

Kazumi quilted this fabulous pattern into ever block with my favorite bubbles pattern in the sashing. I really love how this quilt turned out and I am realising more and more how important the final quilting process is.

I know most of you already know this, but for me every time I see a quilt properly quilted I am in awe of what those top stitches bring to a project. It is spurring me to really tackle my lack of quilting skills this year.

25Jul2014

The PMQG Orphan sampler

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

At this week’s PMQG meeting we delivered a large stack of quilts to a local Charity, Camp Erin. It was so wonderful to see the beautiful quilts that people had created for this charity. Among those delivered were three quilts made at our Charity Sew Days and the Orphan block sampler I put together….

The blocks in this quilt are fabulously diverse and really kind of fun…

Some of the blocks I trimmed, some I added borders too and others I cut in half…

There are hexagons, scrappy trips, churn dashes, nine patches and modern improv blocks. We have it all…

For the backing I found a wonderfully bright and slightly obnoxious Kaffe Fassett orange floral print that was just perfect…

The beautiful quilting was done by PMQG member Kazumi Peterson. Kazumi added an overall floral motif which went perfectly with the back of the quilt and added such a pretty cohesiveness to the front of the quilt.

I then finished things off with bright orange binding. I knew that I had to highlight the orange of the quilt – the blocks and the backing. I had originally tried putting an orange border around the quilt, instead of the grey, but I found it fought with the blocks for attention. Orange binding was the perfect compromise.

My darling husband had originally called this an ugly quilt but I think he is very wrong. The finished product is fun and bright and pretty…but I am a little biased.

18Apr2014

Oh the plans I had…

Posted in Quilts by wombatquilts

This week has been a lost week for me. I got smacked hard by the Flu and have not sewn or been near fabric since Monday..yep I have been that sick! I had so many plans for this week… so many things that needed to get finished. Oh well.

I was going to just write this blogging week off as well, but for some reason, in my Flu state, I thought it would be a good idea to share the quilt top I finished a little while ago. It is a quilt top that I was not originally going to post pictures of, as my husband had declared it the “ugliest” quilt he had ever seen. Now emboldened by an assortment of cold and flu medication here goes…

Now in defense of this top, it was made using a bunch of unloved orphan blocks from the PMQG charity drive. There are some lovely blocks in the top, but overall the colour scheme is not me.

Putting the top together I took apart some blocks, cut up others and generally took liberties. I just loved the challenge of seeing if I could make this work somehow.

In hindsight I think I would approach the task differently and use more negative space… putting in solid fabrics instead of some of the cut down blocks. Next time… and there will be a next time because there are more of these orphan blocks.

So on this Friday I say it is time for the ugly quilts to come out of the closet. Share your fuglies. Photography them. Facebook them. Instagram them. Let them have their moment in the sun.

Okay I am now going back to bed with my tissues and my Dayquil.