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 :)

WIP Wednesday - A Children at Play Week!

I had a major finish this week - my first bigger-than-a-baby-quilt (its about 80" square) and I'm really proud of it! You can check out my blog post for it here.

Once I'd finished that one, I started cutting into my Children at Play by Sarah Jane. I have been busting to get into these fabrics for a few months - but other projects seemed to take priority somehow, and I was trying to decide what to make with them (I got a bit over-enthusiastic and ordered nearly every print in the girl' Children at Play range, as well as quite a few of the 'boy' ones - they are Just. So. Cute). After having heaps of fun with my wonky log cabins for my Autumn Forest quilt I thought I'd keep a good thing going and make some more - well, lots more...

So this week I've made three doll quilt tops, each around 21" square (ish):

And a whole bunch of blocks destined to become a big quilt. The size of these varies a LOT, so they'll all have a white set of logs around the edge before I join them together...

The light pink behind them is my new design wall :-) - although when I went to get felt to do it, the only colour choices were black or light pink, so I went with pink... which makes some of the edges of these blocks disappear (its nearly exactly the same shade of pink).

I'm also going to make a matching pillow case for the quilt, and some tiny doll pillows to go with the doll quilts. I think I'll be well and truly sick of pink by the time I finish these (not my favorite colour! I am so hoping my daughter grow up to love blue and green like I do...)

Other long term WIPs:

1. Excuse the TERRIBLE photo - this is my 1001 Peeps quilt top which is finished (took a LONG time to get this one done - I worked on it very sporadically). I'm just trying to decide how to quilt it - possibly FMQ some largish stars, and then echo quilt around them.... not sure though (ideas would be appreciated :) )

2. Pop garden baby quilt - this has been sitting in my UFO pile for ages. I should probably finish it as its small and will be a quick finish.

3. Fandango baby quilt - when I pulled this one out to photograph it I fell in love with it again, so I might actually get it finished sometime soon as well... excuse the extreme wrinkling, for some reason I had literally shoved it in a bag?!

I am also intending to do the Charmed Prints quilt along (still trying to decide on what fabrics to use) and I am also going to start the Modern BOM over at Sew mama sew - possibly using some my Echo I got last week (SO in love with that fabric!!)

This weeks stats:

Finished: 1!
New Projects: 4? although 3 are doll quilts which are nearly done so not sure they count...
Currently in progress: 4 (7 counting doll quilts)
Wanting-to-start-but-not-enough-time stage: 2

happy sewing!
Jess

Celebrate Colour - an Australian Autumn Forest Quilt

I have been sewing like mad to get this quilt finished - from start to finish in about 10 days, which I am quite proud of considering the size (around 80" square)!!!

My inspiration when choosing the fabrics for this quilt was definitely autumn in an Australian forest. While we do have some trees that are deciduous many of our native trees and plants are evergreen, so while there are patches of orange, yellow and red, there is still a strong element of green.

You can see my previous posts for this quilt here, here and here. This quilt was a first in lots of ways for me. My first bigger-than-a-baby-quilt, my first time pulling fabrics from different lines and designers (rather than a single line), my first time using a quilt-as-you-go method and my first time using improv piecing.

My fabric choices for this project were browns, greens, oranges and golden yellows - which happen to be some of my favorite colours as well as shouting 'autumn' to me.

The sashing is mostly Kona ivory - but I ran out and only had enough to sash 13 blocks (whoops!), and didn't have time to order more before the deadline to get this finished... so I used Kona PFD for the remaining 3 blocks and the sashing between the blocks.

I quilted each square (around 19 1/2" square each) in a spiral outwards from the centre block, following the lines of the wonky log cabins.

For some reason, my camera doesn't like the orange-white spotty print and it appears to be much more pink than orange in these shots...

For the back, I had about 3 yards of a print from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain so I cut 8 backing squares from that, and then pulled various shades of yellow-green from my stash for the remaining 8 backing squares. At the basting and quilting stage I hadn't planned the layout of blocks, so layout for the back of the quilt was a mystery until I'd finished putting it together. But I actually think I like the back more than the front...

I love how the quilting looks on the back, and I think the coal-grey binding and sashing works really well with the greens and yellow-greens (I am completely in love with grey at the moment!)

The finished quilt measures about 80" square. I will definitely be sticking to baby quilts for a while after wrangling this one!

This is my entry into the Celebrate Colour competition over at Stitched in Colour.

Wonky Log Cabin Quilt - Quilting

I finished and sashed the rest of the blocks for this quilt over the weekend, and forgot to take photos of the rest... I also spent a lot (A. LOT.) of time working out how to quilt it. Having only made baby quilts (the largest being 40" x 60") I was a bit hesitant about how I'd go quilting an 80" square quilt - and I didn't want to stipple it or do straight line quilting either. So I decided to try something new and quilt it using a quilt as you go method (using this tutorial).

So I squared the blocks up to 19 1/2" each, and cut batting and backing squares a bit bigger (about 21", just to give myself some wriggle room if the quilting went pear-shaped). I quilted each of them in a similar way to my 1001 peeps doll quilt.

And now I'm joining them together... which may or may not end up being an easy process (but so far so good!)

Wonky Log Cabin Quilt - Blocks part 1

I have been sewing like a mad woman with these blocks! I've finished 8 since Monday...

 They range from about 15" to 17" (not necessarily square) and I'm going to add off-white sashing around each and then square them up to about 20 1/2". The plan is to make another 8 blocks and make a quilt around 80" square... if I don't run out of strips before then! I have added a couple of fabrics that weren't part of the original plan just to attempt to have enough fabric - I think I will (well, hope!)

I'm linking this to WIP wednesday over at Freshly Pieced :)

Autumn Colours Tunic

Despite being in the midst of spring here in the southern hemisphere I made this top as part of Celebrate Colour, over at stitched in colour. I have had this fabric (some vintage fabric I bought on etsy I think...) for ages, and was inspired to make something with it for celebrate colour since its such an autumn-ish print.

I used McCalls pattern M6025 (printed in the early 90's) - its actually supposedly a dress, and I guess it could be for some people, although I prefer not to wear a dress that barely reaches the top of my legs... so I'm calling it a tunic top :)

The sleeves are 3/4 length so its pretty perfect for this time of year in Tasmania (although the weather still seems to be fluctuating between summer and winter... it would be nice if it could decide which it is!)

I'm definitely an autumn person when it comes to colour choice (orange, brown and greens) so this round of Celebrate Colour totally appeals to me!

Thanks for looking!
Jess

Wonky Log Cabin Quilt - Fabric Selection

My first Block Party quilt is going to be for me. So I've chosen a range of fabrics that are some of my favourite colours - I definitely lean toward an earthy palette of olive greens, rusty oranges and browns so my fabric choices for this quilt reflect that somewhat... I did take a pic of all of these together but it was terrible, so I'm left with the individual ones after I'd cut strips.

Blockprint in orange (Heirloom by Joel Dewberry), orange spot print

Trailing cherries in brown (Amy Butler Midwest Modern), Park Fountains brown (Midwest Modern), Optic Blossom in gold (Midwest Modern)

Full moon polka dot in green (Amy Butler Lotus),  Eggs in grass (Freebird by Momo), Wallflower in olive (Amy Butler Lotus), Trees in Leaf (Just Wing It by Momo)

Kona Ivory, Kona Spring, Amy Butler quilting solid in celery, Kona Cactus, Amy Butler solid in gold, Amy Butler solid in orange.

Some of these were scraps left over from other projects, others were FQs or half-yards. I have cut strips of various widths from each (ranging from 1 1/2" to 3") and have started piecing block - I'm having a ball with it!

Hope you're having as much fun as I am!
Jess