Lost in London - a finish for Make Modern Magazine

Ever come up out of a subway or metro station and not know which way to go?  That was us on holidays in London looking for the British Museum.  Turns out it was right around the corner!  Same thing happened in Moscow looking for the train station to St. Petersburg.  So this quilt was nearly called Looking for Leningradsky but Lost in London sounded better to me!

I'm so happy to finally be able to share a finished quilt with you today. Published in issue 5 of Make Modern Magazine this month, this is my second published pattern.  It makes an 84" x 84" bed quilt using warm colours on a low volume background.  It is inspired by the vintage London Roads block which is a 12" block with small arrows going around in a circle.  I was reminded of that feeling of not knowing which direction to go and decided to point the arrows towards each other.

The second design intention was to make the arrows really big and scrappy.  I chose red as the accent colour and pink, yellow and orange for the other arrows to keep it warm.

Those of us living on this side of the pond might remember Trinny & Susannah from What Not To Wear?  When wearing red they always advise keep it hot and that's what kept running through my mind with this one!

As this is the biggest quilt I've made to date and quilted on my home machine I kept it simple and used a meandering all over pattern.  I find it really quick to do and it took me three evenings to quilt up this baby!

So there you have it, my secret project that has taken up quite a bit of February and March finally shared.  I love how it looks in the spare room here but guess who nabbed it to cover her sofa?  Yup, mum made off with it as soon as I had the photographs taken!  To be fair she did help with holding up the background stand!

There are 14 projects in this month's Make Modern with the cutest cat made in a geometric style that I am itching to try.  There are also interviews with Cotton + Steel and Weeks Ringle & Bill Kerr.  It's available to buy here for 6.95 Australian dollars, about 5 Euro so great value for a quilting mag!

Linking up to the Friday Finishes!

WIP Wednesday–Lots going on!

Lots going on around here at the moment!   I guest posted about using Microsoft Word to design a quilt over on the Modern Quilters Ireland blog this week and I've got 3 projects with deadlines in the next few weeks on the go, so have been busy sewing, pulling fabric and buying batting!

Sorry I haven't had too much time to spend writing and sharing about the projects but here's a not so quick progress report.

Techniclolour Galaxy
I uploaded my colour scheme to the Palette Builder tool on Play Crafts and it helped me pull colours off my Kona colour card.  Some were spot on and some where the new colours added recently which I don't have so I picked a good few chips that were pretty close to what I wanted.  I found curry and sunflower too close to each other in reality so opted for butter and sunflower instead!
These are the fabrics I chose from my stash that are close to the colours the palette builder suggested from the drawing.  Some are really close and some a little off but still perfectly usable.  Really happy with how this this worked out!

The fabrics are shot cottons I bought from Craftsy.  They had a sale on last year with quite a bit off and I bought both the light and dark fat quarter bundle of the Kaffe Fassett collection.  They are very close in colour to my Kona colour card chips!

I definitely don't have enough blues! I will need quite a bit of blue for this and managed to pull 4-5 fat quarters.  I've heard shot cottons shrink a bit when washed and am not sure how to mix them with other fabrics.  Anybody used these fabrics before?  Any advice?  Hawthorne threads and Cotton Patch has them for sale by the yard so I will have to purchase to supplement what I have on hand.

I'm not sure yet if this will be an all solids quilt or to mix in some prints.

For the moment though, I have enough to get started with block number one which involves cutting templates and using a white bias strip to cover the joins and hold the pieces in place.  I've bought a clover bias maker 3/8", steam a seam lite 1/4" fusible strips and some Moda Porcelain ( a gorgeous off white) from my local quilt shop (The Limerick Quilt Centre) and will let you know how I get on with this next week (first time doing this!)

Reflections
The Irish Patchwork Society & the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild have a Hands Across the Borders exhibition and this year the theme is Reflections.  The quilt has to be maximum 1m square.  I've had an idea of a raindrop creating a ripple and the light reflecting through it in my head since the theme was announced and I just can't shake it. 

In the making, the triangle seemed too harsh a shape for the curves so it changed quite a bit to the natural tear drop shape of rain.  I chose the light and blue fabrics from the architextures range which I bought from Fluffy Sheep Quilting.

I had intended to make this about 21" (the length of a fat quarter) but in talking with G we decided bigger might have more impact in such a simple design and go mad with the quilting (eek!) so I up sized it to about a yard square.

I sewed the dark fabric onto the light blue about half way down and folded it back to have it layered over the lighter fabric.  I used a print out of my design to create a template to cut away the top dark fabric with my rotary cutter (scary moments!) and reveal the lighter fabric underneath.

In keeping with the curvy ripples the raindrops became less angular and more curvy applique pieces. So now I just have to stitch the raindrops, baste and quilt it - all by March 13th!

This is the quilting plan so far.  Circular quilting echoing the ripple and adding in some rainbow colours, wavy wiggle on top maybe?  I'm going to try and quilt in a dragon fly too.  Nervous about this one - not sure I can pull it off as I imagine it!

Oh well, it's only fabric, what's the worst that could happen?

Lost in London 84" quilt for Make Modern
And the last project but most important is to get my submission quilt for Make Modern Magazine finished.  Pattern is written, blocks are made and am onto piecing the quilt top - hope to baste it on Saturday for quilting all next week!  I am going to attempt to quilt this on my home machine all by myself!  No pressure then.  Just needs photographing by March 15th!

I can't show you pattern details but here's the fabric I'm using!

So that's what's going on around here, what are you guys up to?  Any WIP's you really must get finished?

Linking up to

Make Modern Magazine & Pattern Release

It may have seemed a little quiet on the blog but it's not due to lack of quilting related activities!   Last year, Make Modern Magazine published my colour block pattern called Storybook. 

It gives instructions for a baby quilt (40"x40") made from 5" charm squares and a bed size quilt (90" x 72") made from 10" layer cake squares which I made for my mum.  I love how it looks in her bedroom and keep wanting to steal it back!

I've had a second design accepted and am working hard on that at the moment for issue 5.  It will be an 84" x 84" (biggest quilt I've ever made myself!) based on this arrows idea I shared last year in the Around the World Blog Hop.  I can't show you pattern or in progress details on this one just yet but I'm making good progress.

In the meantime, Make Modern have reduced their subscription prices and are now offering individual magazines at $6.95AU, about €5 which is a great price for a quilting magazine! 

One of the other big pluses about publishing patterns in Make Modern, is that after the issue is replaced by the next one, the pattern rights revert back to the designer. 

So, I now get to sell my pattern on my own blog!  I re-formatted it to add more detail for the layer cake version and lots of photos.  Suzanne, in our Just Threads sewing group comes from a Quality Assurance background and inspected the language and instructions thoroughly!  She even made a quilt!  Suzanne added in some solid fabric to the outer border and had some charm squares left over to make a cushion.  Fabrics are Good Fortune by Kate Spain and I love Suzanne's swirly quilting!  Thank you so much Suzanne!
  

Due to the EU VAT laws, I'm offering the pattern through Payhip (who look after all the VAT for me!) and have updated the blog header and added a new Pattern Shop page. It's all very exciting and I have to thank Kristy, Jane and Lara at Make Modern for this and placing me on the path to writing a pattern!

The blog header images are licenced from Clipartof.com and as soon as I saw the Jack Russell and Basset Hound images, I had to buy them - they are the spitting image of Charly and Wilbur and even capture their personalities perfectly. 

So while I get cracking on finishing pattern number 2, I hope you will visit Make Modern Magazine and their blog page where you will find previews, prizes and guest posts.

Linking up this week to Thankful Thursday @ Quilting Jetgirl.  Next week, fingers crossed I'll have a Night Sky finished Quilt to share in time for Jana Machado's Quilt-A-Long on the 25th.

Make Modern Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Make Modern Magazine Blog Hop!  Make modern is a new online magazine from Australia, with patterns and articles for Modern quilters.  Lara, Jane (Where Jane Creates) and Kirsty (Quiet Play) have put together a great first issue and today I get to show you my contribution to the magazine.  

This is Storybook, a quilt pattern using pre-cuts to make a colour block quilt.

This was my first time using a brushed cotton and even though you can't see it in the quilt it is super soft (a little like flannel) and perfect for a baby quilt.

I used 2 charm packs of Storybook by Kate & Birdie for Moda for this very quick to piece baby quilt. My cousins in Chicago have just had a baby girl so I may just have to make another one!

As this was also my first pattern published in a magazine I asked my friend and fellow Just Threads (Sewing group) member Paula Rafferty if she would like to quilt it for me on her longarm.  She did a fantastic job quilting the cow jumping over the moon (keeping with the storybook theme!)  I love it to bits!

I think Teddy does too!  Not having any kids ourselves (just the 2 dogs!) I used this teddy bear as my model!

One of the things we were asked to think about, when writing our patterns, was to include options so things can be changed up a bit and add a bit more value for the readers.

I scaled my pattern up to a layer cake to make a bed sized quilt for my mum.  Since I began quilting, I've not made a proper bed quilt for my mum.  She has 'borrowed' 2 pieced cushions, a mini-quilt and I am under orders to make her a Christmas table runner but no proper big quilt.  Feeling a bit guilty about that I thought this was a good opportunity to finally make her something for the winter.

This version of the pattern uses 2 layer cakes and the layout is included in Make Modern with the baby quilt above.  The fabric used is from the Limerick Quilt Centre and is called Table for Two.

Photographing this was a little tricky.  It was quite windy so Gordon had to stand on the tripod legs to keep this from blowing over while I grabbed a photo.  It blew down 3 times and we got some funny smiles from the neighbours walking across the green with a bed quilt draped over a photo stand!

The back was made with a a panel pieced horizontally and I quilted this on my home machine using a wiggle stipple.  I just have to label it and then it'll be on it way to mum this week!

If you would like to see more of Make Modern there is a preview here on Issuu and if you would like to buy the first issue or subscribe you can do so here on the Make Modern website.  The Make Modern blog is worth having a look at with many guest posts and interviews with the contributors.  

The blog hop is continuing throughout September and there is more to see on the following:

1^st September                   Make Modern
3^rd September                   Kristy @ Quiet Play
5^th September                   Where Jane Creates
7^th September                   Gina @ Party of Eight: Our Story
9^th September                   Molli Sparkles
11^th September                 Juliet @ The Tartan Kiwi
13^th September                 cat&vee
15^th September                 Ruth @ Ben and Charly’s corner
17^th September                 Kelly @ Kelliotmagic
19^th September                 Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
21^st September                 Serena @ Sew Giving
23^rd September                 Melissa @ Ms Midge
25^th September                 Anne @ Hudson Valley Quilts

Make Modern Magazine

Make Modern Magazine is out today!  It's a new online quilt magazine put together by Lara, Kristy@ Quiet Play and Jane@ Where Jane Creates.

I have a baby quilt design included in the first issue and am very excited to have my first published pattern!  There is a photo of my quilt on the Make Modern Blog and guest posts from some of the contributors there if you would like to have a look!

If you want to check out a preview of what's included in the magazine, Kristy, Lara & Jane have provided an overview of some of what's included here.

There is a blog hop kicking off today and it's my turn to take part on the 15th when I get to show you some details of my quilt but for now the blog hop schedule is below. 

1^st September                   Make Modern
3^rd September                   Kristy @ Quiet Play
5^th September                   Where Jane Creates
7^th September                   Gina @ Party of Eight: Our Story
9^th September                   Molli Sparkles
11^th September                 Juliet @ The Tartan Kiwi
13^th September                 cat&vee
15^th September                 Ruth @ Ben and Charly’s corner
17^th September                 Kelly @ Kelliotmagic
19^th September                 Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
21^st September                 Serena @ Sew Giving
23^rd September                 Melissa @ Ms Midge
25^th September                 Anne @ Hudson Valley Quilts

WIP Wednesday : Table for 2!

There is a new online craft magazine coming out in September called Make Modern.  It's the brainchild of Jane, Lara and Kristy.  I met Jane thought the Plum and June Let's get acquainted blog hop and have been following Kristy's paper piecing link up for quite a while so I was very excited when they accepted my baby quilt design.

The deadline for submission was last week so to test the pattern, I made a larger version for my mum out of 2 layer cakes.  Can you believe in all this time I've never made my mum a proper quilt?

I was surprised by that and determined to put that right.  I can't show you guys the finished quilt tops yet but I can show you my WIP on the back of mum's larger version!


So last Saturday having completed the quilt top mum and I popped out to our Local Quilt Shop, the Limerick Quilt Centre, to buy backing fabric.

I had a plan to let her pick out the backing fabric and I'd piece it straight down the middle, easy peasy!  Of course when we got there mum spotted these panels from the same range as the Layer Cakes I had used called Table for Two and really liked them. The panel has 8 prints using these 2 designs.

Trying to figure out how much fabric I'd need for a quilt approx 72" x 90"finished and how to piece in the panel was tricky but luckily Maeve the shop owner arrived and worked it all out for me in a heartbeat!   Then of course mum and Maeve realised they knew each other and came from the same part of town so we were there a while!

So this is the back!  Originally when mum picked out the panel I thought about having it going down the back of the quilt off centre but that would have been expensive.  Turned out we had just enough width of fabric to piece on either side of the panel going horizontally and this was the last of the bolt too!  Just made it!

To baste a quilt this size I had to clear the floor and move all the furniture up to one end.  Amazing how much stuff you can have in one living room!

Just enough room to fit with a few inches for me to work my way around it with the masking tape!

My shadow Charly was sent outside to guard the garden while I got on with the important job of pin basting through all the layers.  It took a bit of time and I didn't notice until the quilt was done that it had started to rain.  Sorry Charly, don't think I'm in her good books today!

Linking up to