Once Upon a Time {A Finish}

I've just finished sewing the binding onto this one, and I'm really happy with how it has turned out.

This was really enjoyable to quilt. I quilted it using Aurifil 50wt in a pale blue (5006), which matches the lighter blue in the jewel fabric really nicely, and blends beautifully into the quilt top. I quilted each of the squares with straight(ish) lines, and left the story squares unquilted.

When I pressed this one I pressed all my seams toward the story squares (which really helped me match up all those seams). This, combined with leaving them unquilted, means they really pop out from the quilt.

Simple pieced back using the same background fabric as the top, plus some Michael Miller fabric I had in my stash (Bloomies by Pillow and Maxfield I think?).

Bound using the same Lizzy House stripe as the story lines in the quilt top.

Design - from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr's 'Modern Quilt Workshop' book (Once Upon a Time)

Size - 40" x 60"

Pieced and quilted using Aurifil 50wt cotton mako thread. 

Fabric - Lizzy House jewels in candy green, various novelty prints for the story squares, Lizzy House stripe for binding and story lines. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

xx Jess

Emma's Quilt

I'm really excited to show you my finished Windsor Lane baby quilt today (I'm jumping the gun a bit - it still hasn't been given so if you're looking at this Libby, LOOK AWAY NOW). I'm so bad at naming quilts, this one is simply 'Emma's Quilt'. 

There were a few dramas with the quilting on this one. I got really stuck with how to quilt the outer background fabric, and deliberated for nearly a week about how to do it. Baby Emma was born on Sunday - so Monday I decided to just go for it and get it finished. I got this far:

And then realised it was just completely wrong. I hated it. So I unpicked it. If you've ever unquilted anything you will understand how much I hated it to go through the pain of picking out quilting. Those echo shells only took about half an hour to do. Unpicking? Four hours. Ugh.

I need to trust my instincts more - my initial thought was to do straight lines radiating out in the background areas. So that's what I did second time around - and although I'm not 100% convinced it's right it looks a thousand times better than the shells. It was so much fun to FMQ straight(ish) lines (let's call them organic ;o) ) I'm not sure why, but the texture seems quite different from doing it with my walking foot and it was so nice not to have to stop and turn the quilt! I'll definitely be trying it again.

So, a few obligatory quilty close ups :o) The centre pink star is quilted using light pink Aurifil 50wt, and the remainder is quilted using soft white Aurifil 50wt (as opposed to bright white). The background fabric is Kona PFD (which is somewhere between Kona snow and Kona white) - and the quilting blends flawlessly.

All the quilting is free hand FMQ - apart from the circles which I drew freehand with dissolvable marker first. If I do something like this again I'm going to invest in some circle templates ;o)

The prints I used in the top are all from the gorgeous Windsor Lane line by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda - not at all my usual taste, but perfect for the new mum. The back is from another Bunny Hill range - it's a script print from their Ooh La La line (this photo is sideways - the script actually does run in the right direction ;o) ). I really love how the quilting looks on the back.

Especially that centre flower. It makes me happy :oD

For the binding, I went to one of our local quilt shops (one I'd never been to). I was pleasantly surprised how many modern designers they stock (Lotta and Denyse!!) - and they women who own it are just lovely. I took the quilt with me and the ladies in the shop helped me choose the binding. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the selvedge that I realised it's another Bunny Hill fabric - this time from their Lily and Will collection. So by accident it's a completely Bunny Hill quilt :o) Just as an aside, I'm also quite thrilled - they've invited me to hang some of my quilts in the shop! The quilt shop ladies encouraged me to go for bias binding, and I'm glad I took their advice - I really love the way it turned out. This was my first time cutting my binding on the bias and it worked pretty well (I used this tutorial).

All the photos above were taken before I'd washed it - it's now washed and I plan to take some post-wash photos tomorrow (it is soooo soft and crinkly and I think I love it even more now it's washed!). I've also made a pillow/cushion to go with the quilt (again, photos tomorrow!)

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Design: by me (based on the traditional  Dutch Rose block, with a variation on the centre star)
Size: 40" x 40"
Fabric: Windsor Lane by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda, Kona PFD
Thread: Auriful 50wt in soft white and light pink (for piecing and quilting)
Quilted: by myself on my Bernina.

Phew! If you're still reading, thank you for making through all my waffling! Just as an aside, I'm going to be doing a couple of giveaways in the next few weeks (Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day and the Quilting Gallery blog hop) so make sure you check back - they're going to be pretty awesome!

xx Jess

Baby quilt fabric selection

Ok so I said I'd hopefully be back in a few days with some finished quilts. I'm still working on those (really, I am!) but I got little distracted looking at fabric. I find every couple of days I start pulling out a bundle of fabrics, not necessarily with a project in mind, but just for the sheer joy of it :o)

I did actually have a reason for it today - my best friend is currently pregnant with baby number 5. And I really want to make her a quilt. They aren't finding out whether it's a boy or girl so it needs to be something fairly gender neutral (although she's not really a pink person anyway, so even if I knew it was a girl quilt, I would probably go for non-pink fabrics...) I've been admiring my small bundle of Meet the Gang for ages, and I thought I'd have a play with putting some other fabrics with it and see what I could come up with.

I'm really not sure which of these I'll actually use (probably not all the greens - I'll probably whittle them down to 2 or 3) I love how well the Lizzy House jewels coordinate with Meet the Gang (honestly, the could be from the same collection, don't you think?) I will probably add in some more grey/neutrals too. I'm thinking an improv square in a square style quilt - I haven't done improv for ages, and I'm itching to make something relatively quick and simple...

Baby is due at the end of May, so I'm thinking I'll probably make this one next, before I start on the Retro Flowers... sorry just thinking aloud here ;o)

xx Jess

Lotus Garden Baby Quilt Tutorial

This quilt pattern/tutorial is available as a word document here.

Lotus Garden Baby Quilt Pattern

This quilt is really quick and easy and brilliant for a beginner quilter (or for the more experienced) as it has no seams to match up, and it comes together really quickly. It could easily be made larger (or smaller) by adding (or subtracting) rows of squares.
Finished Quilt size 40” x 59” (102cm x 150cm) - see below for photo.

Materials and Tools:

Each of the print I have used is from Amy Butler’s Lotus collection – but could easily be substituted for other prints. This pattern works especially well for large prints as the squares are quite large.
The following quantities are based on standard 44” (112cm) wide fabric. Fat quarters are considered to be 18” x 21”.
One fat quarter (or quarter yard) of Lime Full Moon Polka Dot
One Fat quarter (or quarter yard) of Temple Garland in Pink
One Fat quarter (or quarter yard) of Lace Work Floral in brown
One Fat quarter of Wall Flower in green
½ yard of Lotus Pond in yellow.
2/3 yard  of Temple Garland in Green.  I used this in the quilt top as well as for binding fabric – if you prefer you could make a scrappy border using left over pieces from the quilt top (you will have remnants of each of the prints used).
1 1/4 yards of neutral fabric for sashing (I used Moda Bella Snow)
Two yards of backing fabric (I used Moda Bella Snow)

48” x 68”  Batting/wadding of choice (I used 100% organic bamboo batting)
Cotton thread for quilting and piecing
Rotary cutter, ruler and mat

Cutting:

From each of the fat quarters, cut five 6” squares. From the Lotus pond in yellow, cut five 6” squares. The fabric quantities given are sufficient to fussy cut your squares if desired. You should have a total of twenty five 6” squares.
From the Lotus Pond in yellow, cut two 4” strips across the WOF.
From the Temple Garland in green, cut two 3” strips across the WOF. For the binding cut six 2 1/2” strips across the WOF (this leaves you with extra binding length).
From the neutral fabric, cut fifteen 2 ½” strips across the WOF; sub-cut five of these into thirty 6” x 2 ½” rectangles.

Making the Rows of Squares:

All seam allowances are 1/4 “ throughout this pattern.

Sew a 6” x 2 ½” rectangle to one side of each 6” square (chain-piecing if preferred).  Press seams toward the print fabric.

At this stage, lay out your squares (with sashing strip on one side) five across and five down in an arrangement pleasing to the eye. Based on the layout you decided upon, sew the first two squares in each row together - you should now have five pairs of squares with sashing strips between them. Again, press seams toward the print fabric.

Continue in this manner, until you have five rows of 5 squares with sashing strips between each [diagram 3]. Finally , sew a sashing strip to the end of each row, and press toward the print fabric.

Making the Long Strips

This quilt has four sets of width of fabric strips of print fabric, with a neutral sashing strip on either side.

Sew  each of the 4” wide lotus pond strips to a 2 ½” WOF sashing strip, and press toward the printed fabric. Repeat this process on the other side of the lotus pond strip – you should end up with three strips joined as in Diagram 4. Sew each of the 3” wide temple garland fabric strips to sashing strips in the same manner. You should end up with four WOF sets of strips.
At this stage, lay out your rows of squares and strip sets and decide on a layout that you like (refer to the photo for layout plan).

Once you have chosen your layout, sew a WOF sashing strip to the bottom of your uppermost block row, and press toward the blocks. You will have some of the sashing strip overhanging on either side of the block strip – trim this so it is square with the sides of your block row.
Next, sew the next block row to the other side of the sashing strip (matching up the sides of the block strips), and press toward the block strip. You should end up with two block rows with a sashing strip between. Repeat this process for the bottom two block rows (so they have a sashing strip between them).

Now it’s time to join all your block rows and strip sets together. The strip sets are wider than the block rows so first of all, measure the width of your block rows and cut the strip sets to this width. Assemble the rows according to the photo on the last page.
When its done, quilt and bind as desired!

This pattern is intended for personal use only. Please do not distribute or copy it. I worked hard to write this up :)

Willow Wren Baby Quilt

I started cutting this fabric last weekend, along with a whole bunch of other fabric, intending to make a really colourful quilt using 6" squares. But once I started getting it onto my design wall I just wasn't happy - and decided it needed some sashing between the squares. But alas, I had run out of white (remedied as of yesterday, thankfully!) So I used some of the squares and the rest of a Bella solids jelly roll I had (just enough of) to make up the quilt top.

This is a pattern I made up and have made three quilts using it now - and I have nearly finished writing up the pattern which will be a free tutorial once its done :)

I stippled this one - I really do love the texture that stippling gives a quilt! I used a cream thread to match the sashing.

The backing is a single piece of striped fabric (Benartex I think) in pink, orange and yellow which looks pretty good with the front. The binding is Kona Cardinal - I love the red across the width of the quilt top and I think the red binding looks really great.

Quilt Stats:
* Fabric - Willow wren from Alexander Henry, Bella solid in snow, Kona cardinal (binding)
* Pattern - my own design
* Size - 40" x 60"

This one is for sale in my madeit shop.

I now need to get onto some quilted bottle bags for my parents, quilting my Charmed prints quilt for my nephew and quilting my daughter's 1001 peeps quilt ready for Christmas - 11 days should be enough?!? I may have some late, late nights ahead of me...

happy stitching,
Jess

Boys at Play

After working with the girls Children at Play range I was keen to get stuck into my stash of the boys range. I kept this one simple, cutting 6" squares of the prints I had and adding some metro living circles in navy.

I love how it turned out - although I did mix up a couple of the squares when I was sewing the rows together... I quilted it 1/4" away from the seams on both sides.

I did my first pieced back for this quilt too - with a few left over pieces and some blue Kona (hyacinth I think?)

The binding is a red stripe from one of the Dr Seuss ranges, and it suits the quilt perfectly. I machine stitched it and I think I've finally got it pretty much down pat now - it worked really well :)

This one is listed in my madeit shop.

Onwards an upwards... starting another project and getting that done hopefully in time to still quilt my charmed prints quilt for my nephew for Christmas, and my 1001 peeps quilt for my daughter for Christmas...

happy stitching!
Jess

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2011

Amy at Amy's Creative Side is hosting the bloggers quilt festival - and being a very newbie quilt blogger I thought I'd get involved in my first one :) - its so inspiring to see all the fabulous quilts being created around the world!

This isn't a new quilt, but it IS a recent one (last month I think...) and it is my favorite I've made so far. I'm a big fan of making baby quilts and this one is no exception. My inspiration for this one was Alissa's great Spark's baby quilt tutorial (found here).

Fabric: Magenta Bird Tree by Saffron Craig

Size: 40 1/2" x 54"

I'm not usually a fan of pink, but I love the combination of pink, green and purple in this quilt. I am also a HUGE fan of Saffron Craig's fabrics and I thought they lent themselves perfectly to this style of quilt. I was a bit dubious about using black in a baby quilt, but I love the effect it has bordering the squares.

I quilted it along the black sashing in black thread, and then hand-stitched around each of the centre squares.

Thanks for checking out my small space in quilty-bloggy land!

happy stitching,
Jess

WIP

Two works-in-progess:

Summery quilt using Kate Spain's central park (LOVE these fabrics)...

And blocks finished for a super-girly very pink quilt...

Owls and Spots Baby Quilt

I have had this quilt top finished for a month or so, and rather than finish it off I started a couple of other quilts.

Whoops! I now have two part-pieced quilts on the go, another quilt top ready to quilt, and a birthday quilt to start for my friend's daughter who turns 3 in a couple of weeks. And now I've written it all down I feel quite overwhelmed... I guess I'll just knuckle down and get it done (its a good thing its something I love, hey?)

Anyhoo, I was really undecided about how to quilt it - and even when I was half-way through quilting this one I had a bit of a panic attack and seriously wondered if it was going to look ok. But once I'd finished it and bound it I changed my mind - I really love it! The texture looks great - the lines are uneven widths in the most part, and some are wavy (which was deliberate... although my other-half's first comment was "but some of them aren't straight! and they're all different widths!", which kind of didn't set my heart at ease :/) - but I think it suits the fabric. And I love how it looks on the back of the quilt too.

This one is available for purchase here.

happy stitching!
Jess

Under the Australian Sun - A Custom Quilt

This was my first custom quilt made with fabric chosen by my customer, which wasn't part of my stash. She wanted an Australiana cot quilt for her baby's nursery, and had spotted this range of fabric designed by Leesa Chandler for Robert Kaufman. This fabric range is gorgeous - Australian wildflowers and leaves with gold highlights. The photos really don't do it justice - its been wet and windy in Tassie this week, so I didn't have an opportunity to take outdoor photos before I sent it off. 

The sashing and binding are cream cotton, and I stipple quilted it in cream thread. 

I hope your week has been full of stitching and quilting!

Jess

Magenta Bird Tree Quilt

I am completely obsessed with Saffron Craig fabric. Especially the Bird Tree range in magenta and green. If you haven't discovered her, check out her online store here - it is totally worth it, I promise! Her fabrics are just beautiful!

I have made a few quilts using her fabrics (Beetle Bugs and indigo Bird Tree) - and I happily have a lot more of them left in my stash. I really wasn't sure how I was going to use the magenta bird tree fabrics though - until I came across this tutorial (thanks Alissa!!). So I based this quilt loosely on Alissa's Sparks baby quilt.

I made the inner blocks a bit bigger, and added an extra border of fabric around each block, but the general design is the same. Apart from the Bird Tree fabric, I used Kona solids (hyacinth, plum, cactus and black) and Amy Butler quilting solids in fuchsia. I have to admit I felt a bit weird using black in a baby quilt, but it works so well with the other colours!

 I quilted along the black sashing 1/4" away from each seam, but because the blocks are so big I needed to do some more.

It took me ages to decide what to do - I toyed with free motion quilting the solid areas in each block (leaving the centre square un-quilted), but decided to hand-quilt around each centre square instead. I used DMC embroidery thread (from my past life as a cross-stitch fanatic :) )

 I really, really love this quilt - definitely my favorite I have made!

Silent Cinema Quilt

This one has taken a LONG time to get finished - I completed the quilt top a few weeks ago, and then received a couple of custom orders so I didn't get a chance to quilt and bind it until this week. I have completely fallen in love with Jenean Morrison's prints - I LOVE vintage stuff, and her florals are just so retro and fabulous - and work so well with the more abstract graphic prints in this collection.

I thought long and hard about how to quilt this one - I was tempted to stipple all over it, but wanted something that would highlight the fabrics a bit more. So after browsing the amazing world of quilting blogs for hours (looking for some inspiration) I decided to quilt it along the white sashing, 1/4" in from the seams. I am really happy with the result, and was surprised how well it worked.

I also decided to machine stitch the binding at the back (I'm not a great hand-sewer and it takes me FOREVER to hand stitch binding) - using the fabulous tutorial here (thanks Rita!)

My Silent Cinema quilt is available for purchase here.

xx Jess

Zoo Quilt #1

A friend of mine asked me to make a quilt for her sister who (was) having a baby. I finished the quilt last night, and bub was born this morning so it was awesome timing really!

 The design brief was pretty simple - not girly (as her sister isn't really into girly girl, plus they didn't know the sex of the baby), and something with animals and bugs. I had a bundle of Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle (and some coordinating Kona solids) in my stash and it fit the bill perfectly, so I went ahead and created. I ended up making A LOT of blocks (something like 60...) so I actually put together two quilt tops for her to choose from (plus a few left over for a third quilt). This is the one she chose:

Its a bit hard to see from the photos (taken in a rush as my baby had a very brief sleep) but I quilted it using a variegated blue thread. And I ran out of the blue, green and orange in the quilt top, so had to make a dash to Spotlight to grab some binding fabric - its a darker blue than in the top, but works really well with the bahama blue. The backing fabric is some minty-green solid I had stashed and I really love the combination with the binding. I love the fact that this quilt doesn't really have a right-way-up, since the animals run every way across the fabric.

I am a little sad I've used up all my urban zoo stash in the bermuda colourway - I LOVE the colours in this range. But I have another two quilts to finish off using these fabrics, so stay tuned! All three are quite different, despite using similar blocks...

My first custom quilt!!

I haven't blogged in almost two weeks! Only because I haven't had any finished quilts to put on here - although I have 6 at various stages of completion. I had a couple I was about to finish, when I had two custom quilt orders - my very first ones!! I finished one of these today - using fabric from Amy Butler's Love Collection. I really loved working with these fabrics and have a couple of ideas for quilts using the rest of my stash...

It's the same pattern (my own design) I used for my Lotus Garden quilt (it just works so well with Amy Butler prints). The sashing is Moda Bella Snow, and I free-motion quilted it with cream cotton thread. The binding is machine stitched to front and back (its a biggish cot quilt (about 40" x 60"), and the last one took about 4 hours to hand stitch - I'm really slow - so I decided to give machine stitching it a go - and it looks pretty good.)

Lotus Baby Quilt

I did finish hand stitching this one last night, and am really happy with the end result.

I used fabric from Amy Butler's Lotus collection (which I completely love!) and bordered it with Snow Bella solid. I quilted it in a meandering free-motion style, which has added a lovely texture to it. The binding is the same temple garland in green as in the quilt top (machine stitched at the front and hand-stitched at the back.

Its for sale in my madeit shop here. And its destined to become a pattern - really great beginners quilt as there are NO seams to match and it came together really quickly :)