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

Outfoxed on the High Seas - A Finished Quilt

I am so, so happy to have finished this quilt. I made the quilt top back in January this year and then had a major brain freeze when it came to working out how to quilt it. After my sewing mojo issues last week I needed a finish to perk myself up a bit - so I picked up my High Seas quilt and did some sketching to work out how I was going to quilt it.

Three days of some pretty hardcore night time quilting (plus most of today thanks to my Mum looking after the smallest child) it's done. Quilted, bound and finished :o)

The pattern I used for this quilt is High Seas by Lizzy House, from her 5 Magical Projects book (all using 1001 Peeps). I used a bunch of different fabrics when making it, including lots of Outfoxed (in the blue/coral colourway), Denyse Schmidt, various Kona Solids, and some Amy Butler. The pattern did call for a border, but I decided not to - I like the way the waves appear to continue off the sides of the quilt.

I decided to try something different (for me) for the quilting on this one. I quilted the light spirals in a feather type motif, and the dark ones with a pointy flower just in the centre, with no quilting out in the 'arms'. It's not perfect by any means, but overall it looks really effective I think.

Apologies for the numerous quilting shots, I'm just a proud mama of this baby ;o)

I'm happy to say this quilt has been claimed by my 5 year old son (yes, the same one who declared last week he didn't want a quilt). Despite the pink in it, he loves the spiral pattern and has spent this afternoon snuggled under it :oD

Quilt Stats:

Design: High Seas by Lizzy House
Fabric: Outfoxed, Kona solids, Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler
Size: 54" x 63"
Quilted by myself using cream Aurifil 50wt thread

I am entering this into the Festival of HSTs over at Canoe Ridge Creations (its nearly all comprised of HSTs of various sizes)

xx Jess

Finishes at last!

Woohoo! Finally finished these commissioned quilts! I'm really happy with how they've turned out - now just the gut-wrenching wait till my customer receives them, and I find out whether she likes them...

I apologise in advance for the truly awful photos - grey miserable rainy day yesterday and today has meant no good photo opportunities. So they're inside shots.

Firstly, pillowcases (there are two of these, identical) - it has been folded overnight, hence the really bad crease lines in it... They came out really well. I used this tutorial again for them. It is such a straight forward tutorial, and you end up with a really great pillowcase at the end :o)

Quilt number 1 (plus a small person trying to help hold it up! May have had something to do with the whining from the person holding up the quilt ;o) )

Quilt number 2. Upside down now that I look at it...

And a bit of a close up of the pretty stripy binding - I really, really love striped bindings, and this pink/white stripe just pulled these quilts together perfectly.

Each of these measures about 82" x 58". I did take some photos on our queen sized bed this morning (just because it was such a grey, rainy day and I needed to get photos to my customer) and they pretty much covered the mattress. But then we got sun this afternoon, so I did manage to get some outside (much better) photos.

So big sigh of relief these are finally done - now I can start the next batch of projects :o)

xx Jess

High Seas progress

I have had such a brilliant sewing weekend! My partner went camping with our big boys and Zoe and I stayed home. Thankfully, with such a peaceful house, she decided that daytime sleeps were still a good thing (YAY!!) so I managed to get a couple of hours each day, on top of my normal night time quilting obsession. So I've actually managed to get 5 rows done. I finished the fifth tonight so haven't photographed yet, but here's a mosaic of the first four rows:

The blocks are all square - I'm just really terrible at taking straight photos with my camera. I still need to pull apart the top three (or maybe just recut the fabrics... haven't decided yet) and redo them without the light green (I'll be replacing with Kona Snow). I accidentally 'enhanced' the really bright one in the bottom row which is why its so much brighter than the rest... although that's probably more the true colours (its been really overcast and grey, so the light for photography has been terrible!) I'm pretty happy with how it's all coming together, although I'm now questioning the green DSQ check fabric as well. I'm not sure I'll have the patience to pull them apart and use anything different though! I'll cross that bridge once I've finished them all, and can see the entire quilt together I think.

I'm linking up to Manic Monday over at Sew Happy Geek




Happy stitching,
Jess

Children at Play Modern Quilt (and pillowcase!)

If you follow my blog you may recall my previous post where I had made a bunch of blocks using Children at Play... well I thought long and hard about what to do with them (I had 27 in all, each measuring about 12 1/2" square) and decided to make two quilts (one cot sized and one slightly larger). I finished the larger one last night.

I haven't FMQ-ed anything for a while and I had forgotten how much fun it is! I'm hoping to get the baby sized one and my three doll quilts finished in the next few days now that I'm on a roll. And I'm already thinking ahead to my next project (or three... why is it that I can't finish things without planning my next projects?)

And because I had some of the GORGEOUS Children on Parade (and lots of scraps of other bits) I made a matching pillowcase (using this tutorial). I think this will become a regular thing - it came together really quickly and worked really well - and I even did French seams!!!

I'm linking up to {Sew} modern monday over at Canoe Ridge Creations :)

Work in Progress: 1001 Peeps

This quilt is a labour of love. I feel like its taken forever, but now the bulk of the quilt top is done I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with it. Please forgive the dodgy photos (I couldn't find a good spot to hang and photograph this...) The pattern I'm using for this is Fussycut Framed Fairytales by Kate Conklin - I'm not usually a pattern person, but this one really appealed to me and its perfect for this fabric.

It was fairly time-consuming to fussy cut each pair of blocks, but worth the effort I think.

I'm working on the floating squares border and I'm hoping I'll get the quilt top finished in the next night or two... But I'm really not sure how I'll quilt this one (so its probably going to wait a while me thinks - I need to think of the perfect way to do it!)

happy stitching,
Jess

1001 Peeps Doll Quilt

I have been slowly (very slowly) working on a quilt for my daughter using 1001 Peeps by Lizzy House, with Kate Conklin's Fussy Framed Fairytales quilt pattern. I started and finished about four quilts after starting it, but have begun again and am determined to finish it before I start anything else!

I had a few big scraps left over from the fabric and when I saw the doll quilt contest on SewMamaSew, I thought these would be perfect for a doll quilt. I had just received my copy of Block Party (another story all together - but how much inspiration can one book hold? I LOVE it!!) and I was desperate to give a scrappy log cabin block a go - and how much fun is improv piecing? I'm addicted! So Zoe now has a completed doll quilt (but no big quilt...) and I really love it (she does too :) )

I was going to make a few blocks and join them, but got carried away - this is about 20" square.

I had so much fun quilting this - I've decided doll quilts are the perfect way to be a bit more experimental with my quilting - its so much easier to move the quilt around (and doesn't require scrunching metres of quilt up to fit it in!). I quilted this using a variegated pink/purple thread, and spiralled outward from the centre square. I love how it looks, and I'll be attempting it on my big wonky log cabin quilt I am planning...

I'm hoping to have some WIP pics of the big 1001 Peeps quilt up soon (I am really in a purple place with fabric at the moment!)

happy stitching,
Jess

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 :)

Beetle Bugs Quilt Finished!!

So this quilt has taken me a bit longer than I thought - not because it was tricky, but because I got distracted by a couple of other quilt projects. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to hand stitching binding for some reason...

Anyhoo, this is my finished Beetle Bugs quilt, using fabric from the Beetle Bugs range from Saffron Craig.

I LOVE this fabric range - the colours are superb, and I think it works really well with the dark grey, crimson and orange borders. I machine quilted it in the ditch using some fab black/red variegated thread - although in retrospect it would have looked better had I quilted away from the seam lines... but still, it looks pretty good.

I am actually writing this up for my first pattern (gasp!!) and would LOVE some pattern testers if anyone is interested? I have plans to make a girly one using the fields range from Saffron Craig as well (once I finish the other 2 quilts I have on the go!!!)

Baby Blanket Giveaway!!

Spring has sprung! To celebrate the return of the sun, and to promote my facebook page for The Elven Garden, I am having a give-away being drawn next Saturday at 9pm EST. Up for grabs is this super sweet patchwork baby blanket:

The blanket measures 66cm x 77cm and features fabric from Saffron Craig's Fields range. It is backed with super-soft white flannel, so its the perfect light-weight blanket for spring/summer and its the perfect size for a pram (or just for tummy time on the floor). These will be selling for $45 in my madeit shop.

To be in the running to win, simply 'like' my Facebook page. For extra entries, suggest me to your friends, and get them to write on my wall who sent them :)

Pinwheel Quilt

 Etsy is a fabulous resource for anyone one with an interest in handmade, vintage or craft and sewing supplies. It has mostly been etsy that has fed my fabric addiction and I have spent hours upon hours looking through all the incredible fabric that is available. There are also a massive range of quilt patterns (mostly available as PDF) amongst pretty much every other type of pattern you can think of. Even better for someone like me, is the fact that many people are happy for you to sell quilts you have used their patterns for, provided you acknowlege them when listing your item.

So when I saw the pattern for Lovely Little Pinwheels by Little Louise Designs, I had to try it. I mostly make much more simple quilts that showcase fabrics (simply because I love to make the most of the design of the fabric and not chop it up too much). But I had a stack of Kate Spain's Fandango fat quarters that I didn't know what to do with, so I gave this one a go. Not to say that I don't like Kate Spain fabrics (she is one of my fave designers) - I just don't really like pink and had bought it intending on making a dress for my daughter. Which I did in the end, but I had heaps of large scraps and got a few more pieces along the way...

So a big thankyou to Little Louise Designs for the use of her pattern (very easy to follow and surprisingly quick to make!) My Fandango quilt is available for purchase here.

My Bird Tree Quilt

I get excited about fabric a lot, but especially so when it comes to fabric designed by Saffron Craig - they are just so inspiring and gorgeous!

I have finally finished my bird tree quilt, made using fabrics from the amazing Saffron Craig's Bird Tree range. I started this one ages ago (I only had a few small pieces of her fabric and bordered the squares with yellow - which I just didn't like). I got hold of some more of her fabric and designed the quilt to use more colours for the borders and am so happy with the result.

This one is up for sale in my made it store (link here) - and I am working on a cushion to go with it which will be listed in the next day or two.