Granny Square Quilt…. wip Wednesday

Posted in Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

A little while ago I discovered the wonderful Granny Square quilt on Blue Elephants site. It was love at first sight. Using the tutorial on the site (they now has two different ways to make this quilt up) I started making my own Granny squares for one of my friends who has been waiting patiently for a quilt from me for year. I cut lots of 3 inch squares, played with the colour combinations and started making blocks..

I have made about 17 blocks so far and I have either 3 or 13 more blocks to go. I have not decided how big I want the quilt to be. Whatever the size of the finished quilt, I know I will have to get it basted somewhere other than my house. My quilts are usually for kids and are usually not much bigger than 60 inches wide. I do not have the floor space to baste anything bigger really. Luckily I have a quilting partner in crime who has more floor space at her place (heads up Lisa).

Anyway working on these blocks this week it made me think about using some of the spare 5 inch squares I had lying around to make a BIG version of this quilt. So yesterday I threw together this quick and simple quilt top for Project Linus.

The quilt top is currently 47 x 47 inches, just the right size for a little kid. I think there will be more of these in my future, it was just way to easy to make.

Now back to the smaller blocks… I keep missing my deadline to have this quilt finished. I am now promising delivery by August… just in time for a birthday, hopefully.

20Feb2013

The joys of paper piecing – wip Wednesday

Posted in Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

This week I have been working away on a couple more quilts, all of them paper pieced, and it got me thinking about the pros and cons of using a paper foundation pattern for your blocks.

Lets start with the new block I started this week.

I loved this colour combination and I wanted to make a high contrast block where the pattern would be crisp and clean. It looks so easy but I must admit I managed to commit several of the paper piecing deadly sins. According to quiltbug.com they are:

• Placing the fabric wrong side up
• Not following the design – putting the fabric in the wrong place. Sometimes this is caused by not realizing you are working on a mirror image block.
• Placing the fabric the wrong way so it doesn’t fit the block when you flip it over
• sewing on the wrong line
• cutting the fabric piece instead of the seam allowance
• cutting the paper pattern
• catching one fabric piece in the seam allowance of another.

Yep yesterday I managed to do most of them…. I am blaming tiredness. It is simple to commit these faux pas, and with the detailed Monday paper piecing patterns I post, it is more than likely I will have to unpick at least 6 or 7 times while making the block. Ah the fun.

Then there is the joy that is bits of paper floating around your house. My floor is currently scattered with little bits of paper that have evaded the vacuum cleaner after preparing my purple and aqua quilt for basting.

The advantages for paper piecing for me are:

1. I do not have to accurately cut into my scraps – I can just pull the little bits and pieces, iron them and then use them where they fit.

2. It helps me with my inability to be precise. I can, and have accurately measured, cut and pieced quilts but I get frustrated easily when things do not line up. This is also the reason that I love “wonky” and “modern” as quilting styles!

3. It allows me to make detailed, accurate blocks that I could not make freehand – in particular my star sampler could not be done without paper patterns. I do not have the skill to make these patterns without help!

In the end I think extra steps of paper piecing (like ripping the paper pattern off) and the little hiccups (aka the deadly sins) are worth it for most of the quilts I make. When I started quilting I was overwhelmed by it all and a paper pattern helped me step into the process without freaking out too much. I am so glad I had that gentle introduction to the process, because now I am confident enough to just go with what ever I want.

I may even, one day, be confident enough to attempt curves!

13Feb2013

Wonky Stars – wip Wednesday

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

Today’s work in progress is all about the wonky stars. When the call went out last week for more quilts to replenish the Project Linus stocks, I turned to the old faithful wonky star. It is a fast, fun way to make simple kids quilts.

I have managed to finish one quilt….

I love how the quilt turned out and in particular the scrappy nature of it. I used different white and cream blocks for the background and blues for the star. I know it should, in theory, be the other way round – blue background with white stars, but I had a stack of white/cream scraps I wanted to use up. The quilting is simple as I want to get as many of these done as I can before next weeks monthly Project Linus meeting.

The quick and easy nature of the wonky star is why I choose to focus on them for this drive. I have managed to get another top done this weekend which I will try and get quilted this week. I “borrowed” the idea from another quilter I came across on the “wip Wednesday” hop. They had used a wonderful Eric Carlyle print as the center of their wonky star to great effect. I went with a Jone Hallmark kids print that had been sitting in my stash for a while.

My final wonky star is currently sitting on my design floor waiting to be sewn. It is the left over star bits from a quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago.

I hope to have it sewn and ready for quilting by the end of tonight, so I am going to stop blogging and go sew!

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,

And last but not least, I have just finished basting the grey and green quilt I started a couple of weeks ago.

Now I just have to quilt it!

30Jan2013

Finally back in the Pink…WIP Wednesday

Posted in Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

It has been a couple of quilts since I raided my pink fabric stash and I was having withdrawal symptoms. This was the cure…..

I am using an old pattern called “stick something in the middle” which I first used many many years ago, mainly to highlight fussy/novelty prints. When I dusted the pattern off, I saw it a little differently. I can no longer find the original link to this pattern or Mary Ann’s site unfortunately. So hopefully you can just pull the pattern off this blog directly and use it, if you want.

So this week my work space (our living room) is full of pink and yellow fabric, and gold thread is replacing grey on my husbands shirt! The space may look at little messy but there is method in the chaos.

So I am slowly adding blocks to my pile. As I have been progressing with this quilt I have been adding a few more fabrics – mainly some darker pinks and a few oranges. I felt the quilt needed a little more punch.