WIP Wednesday - Moda Friendship blocks

At our Thursday night sewing group, some weeks ago, we decided to make a group project and chose to make blocks from Moda's Friendship Quilt-A-Long.  Moda released 31 blocks free to coincide with a blog hop showcasing the Moda designers.  All the blocks, except for this last one, have a light 3" centre where you can sign your name or showcase some favourite fabric.  This last block, number 31, is probably my favourite.  I love the colours that Paula chose for this hearts block.

As the blocks are only 9" finished we decided to make as many as we could between us.  Some of the blocks have quite a few pieces, approximately 2" and as you can see there is a bit of piecing in them.

I had block numbers 9 to 12 and then decided to do one more.  I used a mixture of Sunnyside by Kate Spain and Coquette by Chez Moi from layer cake 10" squares for my blocks.

Because there are so many small pieces, any inaccuracies in seam allowance builds up.  We ended up with 4 different sizes in the end between the 6 of us.  We all used different fabric ranges with a theme of Spring in mind and decided to sash the blocks to unify the whole quilt and help control the final size.

We auditioned a few fabrics but decided that Navy would work well with all the blocks.  So last weekend I cut 3" strips and chain pieced away.  Side pieces were 9.5" long and the top pieces were 14.5" long.

I kept the sashing on the large side so we have options in the layout.  Tomorrow night, we can have fun laying them out.  I love this bit, arranging, re-arraning and swapping around!  We could do a straight layout or an offset one and trim the borders back. 

This is my first group quilt and it has been tons of fun.  The blocks themselves need reading through first as I don't think there is any one of us that didn't have a problem at some stage.

If you want to try any of these Sylvia's Stitches has collated them all on her blog along with links to the designers they were allocated to.  Some of the designer links don't work anymore but the block links all work perfectly fine.  They are all sitting in a pile at home now and I can't wait to bring them to the group for the next stage of putting them all together!

Linking up to

WIP Medallion Baby Quilt

It's a real work in progress here today.  I'm making my centre panel using hexies for the Medallion-A-Long hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland.  It's open to anyone to join in.  It's tons of fun but I'm a little behind schedule.

I'm supposed to have a centre panel and the first border on by now bringing this up to 24.5" square.  Well, I'm not following path 1, I'm doing the slightly improvised while still following guidelines path 2!  My centre block is rectangular measuring 18.5 x 24.5" already without the first border on and will hopefully measure 24.5" x 30.5" when border 1 is done.

I have a balloon and a kite all basted up and ready for joining.  I underestimated the time it takes to hand piece hexagons so still working on these guys!

There will be clouds in front of the sun (this is Ireland after all!) and I found this lovely cloud like fabric in a new bundle of Tailored by Annette Tatum.  I bought this on sale from Craftsy and it has lovely pastel colours going through.  Very baby quilt friendly.

 The guidelines are to introduce as many fabrics as you want to use in the quilt in the first third and as I'm making this from a mixture of scraps and stash I've gone a bit mad.  I've got multi-coloured flowers and will have 2 little bees from the pastel fabric buzzing around them.

So far the plan for the first border will be a chequerboard with hearts in the corner.  I'm going to need 3" hearts so I'm hoping to draw up a template and paper piece them! 

 So a bit behind but making progress.  Linking up to Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland and

Finish-A-Long update Q4 2013

So my quarter 4 To Do list for Leanne's Finish-A-Long included 3 quilts and 4 smaller projects.  I thought adding in the smaller projects would get me past the 2/5 I accomplished in the previous quarter and it worked!  Plus getting that bit closer to my goal really motivated me to finish at least one of my carryovers.  Nothing like a deadline to prompt some action!

Here's how I got on.

Carryovers:

• Halloween quilt - done!  It was a late finish (completed last Friday!). 

• A Dog's Life Applique Project - done!  I used the first panel and added section 3 from Lynette Anderson's pattern to make a mini quilt for Schnitzel & Boo's mini quilt swap.

• Panel number 2 I was going to turn into a lumbar cushion for the sofa but didn't quite get there this time,  Still looks like this:

Maybe next quarter!

New Projects:

• Penny Sampler Quilt from course with Stitched in Color.  I managed to work on it all the way up to Christmas and then other things took priority, so no finish time.  This one is going to be a carryover to Q1 2014 for sure.  I love this project, a very different way of looking at a sampler!

• Christmas Lone Star lap quilt.  Well this was intended for my Aunt and Uncle who had a red feature wall in their front room.  Just before Christmas they redecorated so I'm not sure this fits anymore.   I'm putting it away until later on in the year!

• Christmas Table Runner.  This one I did finish!  I made it for the Modern Irish Quilter's Christmas Swap and it was great fun.  Love this fabric range Joy by Kate Spain for Moda.

• Finally I wanted a cushion out of my fussy cut squares I received on Amanda's swap at What the Bobbin.  I received these lovely 4.5" squares,  

and made this cheery cushion for my sofa.  Starting a collection of handmade cushions here!

Apologies for the odd lighting.  I'm sick with a horrible headcold and not risking venturing out in this winter weather for a daylight photo today!  So that's 4/7, an improvement on last year.  Now to think about the next list for this quarter!  Linking up to 

Mini Quilt Swap

1. Mini Quilt Preview, 2. Hexagon Mini Quilt, 3. Fall-Inspired Mini Quilt, 4. Winter Forest Mini Quilt, 5. Winter Tree Mini Quilt, 6. Quilt for My Fav Little Mini Quilt Swap#2, 7. Christmas Mini Quilt for a friend, 8. Modern linen mini quilt 12" square, 9. Asian Sunbonnet Sue Mini Quilt, 10. Better shot - Finished MMM bookshelf mini-quilt, 11. Bunny mini quilt made for side of barn in Layton Quilt Guild..., 12. Crazy Cat Mini Quilt #2, 13. Spring mini quilt swap piece 1, 14. rainbow triangle mini quilt, 15. Whale Mini Quilt, 16. Mini quilts

Schnitzel & Boo has organised a mini quilt swap (any size from 6" square up to 24").  Having a browse through Flickr at all the gorgeous mini quilts it was an easy decision to join this swap.    Above are some of my favourites.  I normally gravitate towards bright clean colours so am a little surprised to see beiges and creams in my selection.  Must be the effect of Autumn coming on! 

This is a secret swap so Partner I hope you like my choices and really anything goes!  I love stars, trees and animals (especially dogs!).  Of all  the mini quilts above I'm drawn most to #7, the house surrounded by trees in the snow.  Despite the winter scene it seeems so cosy and inviting!  For more mini quilt inspiration the Flickr group is here.

Finally a Finsh - Quick Baby Quilt

Well the pieced top went together in no time. This Strip and Flip design by Cluck Cluck sew really is a very quick quilt top to put together.  I bought gorgeous purple Moda fabric for the backing, basted it and then procrastinated on the quilting.

I originally had in mind a swirly pattern but then changed my mind to straight line quilting. When I first decided to make this quilt from the tutorial on Cluck cluck sew I had friends in mind expecting in the summer but as I was piecing it I was thinking of a different friend the whole time. So maybe that change of mind influenced the finish. I am very pleased with it and just happy to finally have a finish under my belt!

If only the Irish weather would co-operate I'd have better photos.  Supposedly going to be good this weekend.  Here's hoping.

Linking up to


and Finish it up Friday

Bounce Basted

I don't know about you guys but I always feel as if the quilt is close to done when I've got it basted and all three layers put together.  It really starts to feel like a proper quilt at this stage.  I have to psych myself up to baste as it usually involves washing the floor until its spotless.  So on Saturday morning I felt motivated to just get on with it.  I popped into my LQS and bought the most beautiful orange backing fabric.  

Now I normally pull up my multi-coloured Ikea rug in the only downstairs room that's a dog free zone but Gordon has taken over this space to sort out things to go in the attic and it’s a real mess.  I did take a picture but Gordon was horrified I'd show the world how messy he is so I deleted it.  Maybe now he'll get a move on and give me my basting room back!

So I had to use the living room instead and move sofas, coffee tables, dog beds and then hoover like crazy and wash the floor twice to make sure all floating dust devils were gone.   I had just enough room.

2 hours later and movie watched (Life of Pi) I had the basting done.   I've never made anything this big before and very nearly ran out of safety pins.  Charly managed to sneak in at the end of the process and I nearly had a fit  getting her off the quilt.  In the end I gave up and grabbed the camera to take a photo.  

Wilbur on the other hand opened an eye to see what was going on but really didn't care enough to bother getting up from his warm sunny spot in the garden.

Now onto quilting - this is going to take a while!

Bounce Bordered Finally!

From this...                                                     To this.









 And this...

To this.

So happy to finally have this quilt top done.  I absolutely love it.  It was tons of piecing work.  Over 560 squares not including the border.  This design by Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt company is just gorgeous and the scrappy border is perfect for it.  I'll be remembering this border for future use.  This was a labour of love and I can't wait to get it quilted up!

WIP Wednesday : Bounce

Yes I am still working on my quilt top made to the pattern "Bounce" by Miss Rosies Quilt Co.  I made great progress last week and then came to a grinding halt over the weekend.  So much so I worked on a quick baby quilt instead of working on completing this project which is intended for Gordon's Auntie Maura.  I read that procrastination happens when you are unsure how to proceed or unsure how to complete a task.  I really think this is true.  After laying out all my pieced stars the pattern calls for trimming them down off-centre or  wonky to make them bounce.  This required being brave and cutting into my beautiful blocks so naturally I avoided it!

So yesterday I plucked up the courage and stared cutting and sewing the blocks into rows so I could chose the best placement (up, down, to the left, to the right).  Took a while but I got there eventually.   Look at all that background fabric I cut away!

Rows all neatly placed over the chair waiting to be sewn together and then onto pieced scrappy borders which I've never made before.  Looking forward to this bit!

Linking up to 

Very Quick Baby Quilt

Have you seen Cluck Cluck Sew's Strip and Flip baby quilt?  It uses a jelly roll and is super quick.  I had this on my to do list for a while so today i decided to give it a try.  (I'm really procrastinating on cutting up my Bounce squares!  Still procrastination by making isn't all bad!)  

I broke into a jelly roll of Amelia fabric by Me and My Sister to finish off the Moda Bake Shop Jumbo Coins quilt I made for family as a thank you for letting us (and our two dogs) use their house in West Clare for a holiday last year.  WIP photo below.  I don't have a design wall.  I use the bed in the spare room!

I'm really regretting not taking any finished photos of this before I gave it away.  It used the same fabric range and the scrappy binding from the jelly roll was great.  So 3/4 of the jelly roll left and wondering what to do with it I stumbled across the Strip and Flip quilt and knew I had to try it.  I thought the Jumbo Coins was a quick and easy make but I have to say this is the quickest quilt top ever.  

I even managed to crank up the machine for full speed for the first time! 

 All 25 strips sewn together and held here by Gordon to whom I promised I would not show his face in the photo only the sewing.  I don't think he quite believed me from this pose - he's done a great job of hiding behind the first stage of the quilt top!

 The pattern advises to press seams open and not to the side as I usually do - another first.  Then make two cuts to the top and add a white sashing to the centre piece.

 Finally flip this piece around and sew quilt pieces to either side.  Really easy, fun and just so fast!  Look at him - still hiding!

I do like the scrappy look and am planning on using this for some Free Motion Quilting practice but I think the original design at Cluck Cluck Sew with the colours graduating from hot to cold and reversed makes a bigger impact.  If I make this again I'll rejig the layout.  Still very pleased and a brilliant design!

Linking to the small blog's link party at Lily's Quilts.