WIP Wednesday

Got my camper van cushions finished just in time for my cousin to give as a Christmas present - I just love these and in the new year I'm making one for myself!  The fabric was Kona solids with Essex Linen in Steel and fat quarters from the Tidal Lace bundle I won from Anne@Playcrafts.  Still have a good bit of this bundle on hand and am pondering projects...

In the meantime the Christmas sewing is in full swing! 

I've finished up my three carol singing snowmen.  This is for our branch challenge in the Irish Patchwork Society.  We are to make either a Christmas stocking or a wine bottle cover.  These three guys are singing Rudolph's song where Santa asks him to guide his sleigh.  Now just to come up with a back and a cuff and put it all together!

Finally last week, while writing about the Night Sky Quilt-A-Long that Jana is hosting on her blog, I was struck by the red, aqua and white colour combination of this little star.  I'm still thinking of this for a larger project but I had an idea to use the left over triangles from the large blocks in this Christmas Quilt. 

The 16" blocks use flying geese made with the strip and flip method in the pattern, which gives a nice big leftover triangle.  So instead of putting them in the scrap basket, I'm using them for my Christmas cushion swap with the Modern Quilters Ireland.  We had some last minute join ins and my swap partner changed, so I've been having a rethink of what to do for a cushion top. 

I think this shining star would be perfect, so partner I hope you like it!  I found it while having a browse in Barbara Brackman's Encylopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns while looking for something else.  It caught my eye and I had a go at drafting it up to a 16" size.

I have just enough triangles left over in red and aqua and am using a layer cake square for the ray in fabric similar to the triangles. I think it will be really nice hand quilted.  Here's hoping it all goes to plan!

Linking up to Finish it Friday and

Design Wall Monday - Coastal Cruisers!

I finally got around to the three Coastal Cruiser Cushions my Cousin wanted for Christmas - (sorry - couldn't resist all the alliteration there!)

My uncle spotted the cushion I was finishing for my friend Sarah, told my cousin and next thing you know I had a Christmas order for 3 of them!  In colours close to the original Tula Pink designs made from her collection Salt Water. 

Now I don't have any of Salt Water in my stash (have a little bit of Prince Charming and Hoppy Dot!) so I've been collecting a few fat quarters here and there thinking Camper van, Camper van the whole time, straying somewhat from the brief colourwise!

Then as luck would have it, I won this bundle of Tidal Lace by Windham Fabrics from Anne @ Playcrafts.  

It arrived last week and is really gorgeous!  It's full of sea shells and sea shades including blues, greens and this lovely coral.   Thank you for a great prize!

And it's perfect for Tula Pink Camper Vans!  I added Essex Linen grey and a Kona medium grey as background to this green version.

For the blue I used the co-ordinating solids in the bundle.

Lastly for the orange I had a Fat Quarter Bundle from Fluffy sheep quilting of Kona oranges and yellows and put this dark orange with the paler colour from the bundle to get a set of three!

I have to stitch over the pieces held down with fusible and stitch the logo in the middle and then straight line quilt them.  It is going to be hard parting with these three, I'm loving the colours!

The Tula Pink pattern can be found free here!

Finish-A-Long quarter 3 goals

It's time for Finish-A-Long again and I have been busy in my head all weekend trying to put together a doable list for this quarter!

I managed 2 finishes from my quarter 2 list, so this quarter is pretty much a carryover on almost everything and I've added in things I really, really want to get done!


Carryover

• Penny Sampler (Stiched in Color)

I knew this wintery quilt wasn't going to be something I wanted to work on in the spring but I'm not taking it off the list, as I do want to have it done for Christmas this year!

• Wilbur!

This one is nearly done - just needs the final push to get finished!

•  Charm Pack Cherry (pattern Fatquartershop.com)

I have no excuse for this one really.  I bought the most beautiful Tula Pink backing fabric from Craftsy on sale and have a half bolt of wadding on hand and it's still not done!  This quarter definitely!

• Medallion QAL with Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland.  

I did manage another border on this and am in repetitive block hell on the last round.  I'm paper piecing stars, which probably would have been done quicker if I had template pieced diamonds and sewed them EPP style.  Oh well, live and learn!

• Modern Irish Bee Quilt

There are 2 more of these 20 beautiful blocks on the way to me so I've not finished and am glad to have this one to look forward to.  I just love these!  Thanks to all my Modern Irish Bee hivemates for these gorgeous blocks.

•  Triangle QAL with Sassy Quilter

Using Patchwork Prism by Anna Maria Horner as inspiration this quilt top is a rainbow of fabrics from Minimalista and Florence.  I've got some of it pieced - 2 more rows to go.  Can't wait!

•  Colour Wheel

I did make a colour wheel for my mini-quilt swap so I'm re-considering on these hand dyed fabrics.  I'm open to suggestions - thinking of lots of wonky houses maybe?

And because that's not nearly enough to be getting on with how about a few new ones?

• Global Scrap Bee

I received these lovelies from my Global Scrap Hivemates.  I'm piecing them all together along with 6 more to complete the quilt top.  The block is from Clover & Violet and is really quick and fun to do.  This is going to be such a cute quilt!  Lots of people gave extra- much appreciated!

• Picnic Quilt

I've been thinking of a picnic quilt with laminate fabric backing and this field of summer flowers seems just the thing.  These are blocks from Stash Bee Hive 10.  Thank you ladies!  I'm thinking of a double border on these guys to grow the quilt.  What do you think?  Double border or more flower blocks?  The pattern is Spring Blossom from Charise Creates.

And finally remember this Coastal Cruiser (pattern by Tula Pink)?  Well it's finished!  And a cousin of mine likes it so much she wants 3 of them!  

• So on the list are 3 more

That's it, that's the list for this quarter!

Linking up to 

WIP Wednesday - Patchwork Cushions!

My good friend Sarah asked me if I'd help her make some patchwork cushions to spruce up her spare room.  While I was wandering around the Limerick Quilt shop, I spotted a charm pack of forty 5" squares the shop had put together, from Flo's Garden by Andover fabrics.  I only went there to buy new blades for the rotary cutter but when I saw the gorgeous pinky corals and cute woodland theme I thought straight away of Sarah. 

So last Saturday, we got stuck in slicing up the home dec. weight fabric Sarah had bought and the charm pack of Flo's Garden.  Don't they co-ordinate perfectly?  The stripy fabric will be the same used for her curtains and the floral surround is from the same collection. There will be two of these traditional looking cushions with the pinwheel in the centre.

Our friend Mary, and her 2 1/2 yr old Maeve (my youngest Godchild!) arrived to see how we were getting on and joined in the fun.  I think we have the makings of a fabric lover here!

And a dog lover!  Girl after my own heart!

So while I was making pinwheels and adding stripey borders, the girls got to work pulling apart the rest of the charm pack and the co-ordinating home dec. fabric to make this applique cushion cover.  It's the free pattern from Tula Pink called Coastal Cruiser.  I just love this pattern! 

We had to piece some of the charm pack squares together to get pieces big enough for the VW Bus and the girls had great fun deciding on what to use for the lights and windows.  I talked Sarah through how to use the fusible paper.  Didn't she do well?

So to finish them off, I'm going to sew down the raw edges with a zig-zag and quilt this one in straight horizontal lines.  As it's made from the same fabrics, it should co-ordinate well with the pinwheels even if it is a less traditional design.  I've the batting and backs cut to make an envelope back for them all, from the neutral check fabric in this block above.  For the 2 pin wheel cushions I'm just going to do some light quilting with a wiggly free motion stipple design.

There will be one more applique cushion to complete the set, (yes a dog!) but we didn't get it finished on the day.  All in all I think we did well for 6 hours work!  

Linking up to