Postage stamp quilt madness

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

This weeks work in progress actually started in April last year when Red Pepper Quilts posted their instructions on how to make a Postage stamp quilt. I had always wanted to make one and so, inspired I spent a couple of months just gradually cutting out 2 x 7 inch strips of fabric. Every time I made a quilt I would cut some extra strips for my postage stamp quilt.

Fast forward to January 2013. My pile of cut strips have been staring at me for months, daring me to start the process, so this week I dusted them off and bravely started.

Very quickly I realised that there was a special kind of madness in making a quilt with 1 1/2 inch squares. MADNESS. I started by chain piecing two strips of fabric together , sewing piece after piece. Then I chain pieced two of my sections together to form a block of 4 strips which were then ironed and cut into 2 inch strips. Feel free to head here for Red Peppers more detailed/coherent instructions.

Then the crazy really kicks in… as you now have piles and piles of 2 x 6.5 inch strips which have to be sewn into blocks of 4 strips. At this point seam allowance becomes crucial and you also give up worrying about colour placement and surrender to the process.

I am currently putting together my blocks, slowly but surely – the direction of your seams is important to make sure that the blocks sit right, which slows the sewing for me. I have made some progress – 17 blocks done 30+ more to go!!!! I have been fascinated by how the look of a fabric changes when it is cut into such a small piece. Patterns are out of context and colours appear that you did not know were there.

I just keep reminding myself (a) that it will be worth it in the end and (b) I never have to do this again. To keep myself motivated I did sew a couple of blocks together so I could see the effect. This quilt is going to make for one crazy game of eye spy.

16Jan2013

Night & Day quilt – Work in Progress Wednesday

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

Having just finished my gretchen block quilt top I decided that I wanted to do another modern take on a traditional quilt block. I settled on making the night & day quilt block using a grey and green color palette.

I am doing another paper piecing scrap quilt. I am really enjoying paper piecing again after 4 years of not doing even one foundation block/paper pattern. You can find quiltcache’s version of the Night and Day pattern here

I am only a day into this quilt and have already made a few blocks and a lot of mess. My work station is awash with grey and green fabric and my husband is now pulling grey thread off his shirts rather than the white he usually has to contend with.

I am really excited about how this quilt looks, even at this early stage. I am going to work hard to get it finished in the next week or so and promise to post the final quilt when it is done.

9Jan2013

Gretchen blocks – work in progress Wednesday

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

At Project Linus there is a constant need for boys quilts and every now and then I make a conscious effort to make boy appropriate quilts. I must admit my fabric stash is full of wonderful florals, pinks, princesses, mermaids and other girlcentric fabric. I do try to make a lot of my quilts gender neutral – not too many flowers, appropriate backing fabric and minimal pink.

This week I pulled blues and oranges from the my stash and also raided my scrap boxes for little bits and pieces to make a quilt just for the boys. I kept the florals to a bare minimum.

After some pondering I decided to make a gretchen block quilt (partly because I love the irony of making a boys quilt using a girl named block and partly because it is a cool block). The gretchen block is an easy, traditional quilt pattern and Seven Stitches has a great tutorial on making it here. I actually went the paper piecing route and Quilterscache has a great paper pattern you can find here.

I have a pile of blocks made and a pile still to make. I have been playing with the layout of the blocks and looking at what size I want to make the finished quilt. Although this is a traditional quilt block, my interpretation is definitely modern.

I am loving how the pattern and colours work together and the scraps seem to add a really fun element to the quilt. I am excited to see how it all comes together.

2Jan2013

Work in Progress Wednesday

Posted in WIP Wednesday by wombatquilts

One of my new years resolution was to try to post more of my work in progress quilts. I found a great site called Freshly Pieced, that hosts a work in progress blog party (the link is on my sidebar) which will hopefully help keep my on track.

Today I have been working on a quilt I had an idea for a month or so ago. I wanted to use black and white fabrics, which I love, and pastels, which I am not too fond of. I wanted to see how/if they married.

I decided to use a wonky churn block with 4 1/2 inch pieces. I think the block is a little big and if I was going to do it again I would go for a smaller piece, maybe 3 1/2 inch pieces. I also decided to alternate light and dark blocks to give the quilt some pattern.