Plus One....

This is the year of the '18th' in our household with R seemingly at an 18th party just about every second week. R requested a Plus Quilt for a special friend's birthday which is coming up mid month.

Even though she actually asked way back in July....I still managed to only find time for it these past two weeks. Whilst it was a bit of a rush to the finish line which reduced due to booking in a machine service, I still managed it in good time and to actually take some photos before it leaves. (I made another quilt earlier this year and it left before I could get any photos and I'm still kicking myself.)

R and I discussed favourite colours and I could see her staring at my lovely stash of DS Quilts Picadilly which was released through Spotlight. It has the perfect amount of vibrant green, blue and pink which were all requested and even though based on traditional fabric designs has a modern edge perfect for an 18 year old.

I reluctantly agreed, dreading the prospect of cutting into much loved and hoarded fabric. But to my absolute delight it was being discontinued and discounted at Spotlight and I subsequently ran around to the four that span my area and picked up all bar one of the designs.

And because the prices were so cheap I managed to get two lots of yardage for a back...I had options even! I opted for the tiny blue flower and bound it the blue mosaic (my name for it!).

The plus quilt pattern is by Jeni Baker and is perfect for featuring a whole fabric line. I was a little short on the specified quantity in the range so I added in a bright yellow and orange micro gingham.

Now that the photos are taken, the quilt is ready for wrapping, and the blog written, I'm linking up with Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday.

One for the school and one for the .....cat!

Our family were firmly in the 'we're not cat people' camp. That is until we found a kitten abandoned in our outside laundry back in December. I'm not sure who adopted who, but in that short amount of time George* has become the fifth member of the household. So much so, after a little health problem recently I decided he needed a little quilt of his own to snuggle. (I've clearly run out of babies to make quilts for at the moment!)

I had a block in my head based on a quilt I had seen in the b&b we had stayed at in Culemborg in Holland a couple of years ago. I searched all of my block books and found that it could be made several ways, depending on how you placed your fabrics. Additionally, the block came with a plethora of different names! The one I opted for was Father's Choice and set about making George's quilt in a scrappy fashion.

 

I've used 9 blocks and I really love how the joining of the blocks makes for another star appear in the centre.The binding is also a combination of scrappy blacks...all bits of binding that I end up having left over from other bindings. My only problem with using these binding bits is that I bind by hand at 2.5" width and by machine at 2.25". Luckily I was machine binding this one as I figured that it would be in the wash more often than usual, so was able to trim down the wider bits.

There's been a bit more quilt action happening in between life as we currently know it...my studies, R's year 12 studies, L joining the rowing team....all of which cuts into my sewing time!

This past Easter, Clare invited the girls around for a sewing day and to catch the last rays of warm autumn sunshine before the chill set in. I used the time to cut up a bunch of solids from the stash and ended my day with a pile of lovely triangles.

The autumn weather was obviously influencing the selection as I had initially intended something with a bit more of a pastel outlook.

But I love this colour scheme nonetheless and whilst the photos seem a little dull due to late afternoon photography, it's really quite vibrant.

The back is the last of some Ikea fabric I purchased way back when Ikea first opened here in Adelaide. I think it was part of the Cecilia range that also included the 'birds'.

The orange and pink co-ordinate beautifully with the front. This one will go to school as a fundraiser.

Oh...and here is George checking out the quilt action....cheeky orange cat!

* George is George because he has quite a definite cross across his back, a little like the St George Cross in the Union Jack.

Modern Maples.....

Way back in October my sister commissioned me to make a birthday quilt for her friend. I suggested the Modern Maples pattern which is a free pattern that has been floating around for some time. The recipient lives in the Adelaide Hills which is the city's home to autumnal foliage....even when it's not Autumn. (It was actually Spring time when she received her quilt in late October!)

I loved making this quilt. The blocks are really straight forward and is a great way to feature individual fabrics in a large-sh way. I chose to make my maple leaves traditionally autumnal so I got to use quite a few fabrics that were languishing in the cupboard because they don't usually go with my other fabric pulls. But together in this quilt....they were awesome.

The back features the last of my Ikea bird fabric in the brown. In fact, it was several long strip pieces that I jigsawed together in Kona Snow frames. My photos don't show this but it merged together really well.

If you'd like to make this quilt you can find the free download here!

Linking up to Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday....even if I did finish it a few Friday's ago!

At a crossroads....

Literally...and figuratively!
I haven't blogged in months. And I've never not blogged for this long. Blogging this year seems to have been hijacked by the 'in the moment' opportunities of Instagram (I'm @sewandsews) and the mundane-ness of having to connect my Nikon to the laptop because it doesn't play nicely with the desktop computer and the laptop is invariably in someones bedroom because they've been watching a movie....and so on, and so on! It's such a shame. I mostly blog for me as a record of what I've created quilt wise with a smattering of family life, but I also know our far flung friends like to check in every now and then to see what we're all up to...so I'm doing it. Here's a collection of this past winter gone.

Most of my quilting friends know of my love for Denyse Schmidt fabrics. Over the years I've amassed a rather substantial collection of fabrics, both international releases and those released through our local Spotlight store under the DS Quilts brands. I decided they needed to be let loose from the cupboard and whilst cutting one very large project (which is now bundled up in a plastic tub!), decided on another. Using a plethora of 2.5" strips and squares is my Arkansas Crossroads quilt. I used the free download pattern by another Adelaide quilter, England Street Quilts.

To say I'm thrilled with it is an understatement. Right now, it's my favourite.

The back and binding continue with the DS Quilts theme and cobbles together some of my larger pieces of Hope Valley and some Spotlight editions in the pinks, purples and oranges.

The binding uses more...and after a little miscalculation oopsie I had to improvise and added in a tiny odd bit of the blue flower from Picnics & Fairgrounds which I've used over and over in so many quilts these past couple of years. It's a nice reminder.

I've often said how I keep all my scraps. It's a problem but so far a nice one to have. It expands creativity in my opinion. Sometimes this manifests as a sleepless night...but hey, at least there's a positive outcome. This little baby quilt was built using the triangle offcuts from the 'X' blocks in the above quilt and a few lone 2.5" squares to make the little scrappy stars. And because I love the fabric so much, I set it all in scraps of solids. I loved that I had enough solids big enough to cobble out a little baby quilt.

The backing is brown gingham that was gifted from my boss who was purging her linen press. It's perfectly plain and a little bit old fashioned and is the perfect foil for a back to let the front speak for itself.

Another quilt that was a long time in the making was adapted from the Modern Log Cabin book by Susan Beal. It was the cross quilt quilt on the front that inspired me to purchase the book. This is my version of the cross quilt, adapted using 2.5" strips. It gives a slightly different dimension but sweet nonetheless. Here it is finally finished on my clothes line and looking at this picture, taken in the depths of our very cold winter just gone. It's lovely to have spring arrive!

On the back I made a giant log cabin cross, set in white.

And finally, what I'm working on right now. It is scaring the pants off me because it's so big. The biggest quilt I've ever made. Here it is at basting stage. The challenge was to find floorspace big enough and I ended up using my office. You can see my shoes to the side where I had to remove them to accommodate walking over the top of it because it spanned the whole width of the foyer!

This is for my SIL in Perth. She loves everything Sugar Skulls and asked me to make her a quilt featuring them. Typically, I was at the end of the sugar skull fabric releases but did manage to get some locally from Voodoo Rabbit in Brisbane who specialise in rockabilly, tattoo, retro and punk  fabrics and picked up some fantastic Alexander Henry day of the dead fabrics. There was also a release from Spotlight and I managed to score (yes, score but a long story of a frenzied woman who had visited every store within a 20km radius!) some of their coloured skulls. There had been a black and white release but alas, not for me!

The pattern is the Kismet medallion quilt by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession fame in Sydney from the Material Obsession Two book by Kathy and Sarah Fielke.

There have been others in between all of these quilts but are currently laying dormant in the 'to be processed pile'. Here's to more quilting and blogging in the very near future! And to celebrate all of these finishes, I'm linking up with Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday!

Trip the light fantastic....

After a giant leap into the new year with a Scrappy Trip Around the World back in January...(just like quite a few of us!), the rate of progress slowed to a virtual snail pace leaving the quilt top languishing for a while. Mind you, I wasn't ignoring it...I just had a few study issues to sort out like major assignments and exams! Now that they're over for the moment and seeing as this quilt is intended for someone special by July, I thought I'd better get myself into full throttle and finish this little beauty up.

The intended loves green and her room features a lot of saturated rainbow colours. So each block has a bit of green. I know this quilt is known as 'scrappy' but I can assure you, to get the desired look I cut into quite a few horded fabrics.

I debated about how to quilt, almost deciding to attempt some dogwood or orange peel effect but fell back to the trusty stipple. As part of the process, I quilted one block row at a time, moving to the left, right and down, then up. That probably doesn't make a great deal of sense but it was a wonderful way of keeping the quilt moving evenly. The other bonus was that working with the 2" frame, the stipples are very evenly sized and quite dense. I'm thrilled with it!

Because of the mesh of colours and prints I decided to keep the binding really simple and went with a solid chocolate which works wonderfully framing the backing which is a Bonnie and Camille, lime and aqua from thier Vintage Modern range.

A lovely finish for this week and linked up with Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday.

Sharing the Granny love....

A few months back the 'Sew and Sews' girls decided that we would contribute a bunch of 2 1/2" scraps into an exchange pool so we could make granny squares out of different fabric to our existing scrap piles. We all agreed that we were a little jaded by some of the scraps that we'd been recycling (over and over) in our own scrappy quilting endeavors.
We had the best fun diving into the pool and playing the matching/contrasting granny game. It was hard work avoiding what you were comfortable with and trying to dodge fabric that you had actually contributed! Many a "what about this one?" shout out was heard as we begged for ongoing colour combination reviews.
I think after that first night I finished up with enough for 7 blocks. At the time I was regretting not bringing my phone to take photos of the combinations I'd concocted....even more so when my sewing bag fell off the back seat on the way home, spilling the contents over the floor of the car! Sad but true.
After stitching those initial first few blocks the lure of the granny square pulled me right in and I couldn't wait for the next catch up so I delved back into my scrap bin completing my 25.
And here she is....a Granny Square Quilt just for me!

I've made 3 grannies now and I've loved them all. The first I gave away for a fundraiser and the other was a joint gift for a friend so the whole time I had me in mind for this one.
For 'my granny' I've used cornerstones which I incorporated into the block. That worked quite well and was less stressful than matching up blocks using long sashing strips.

The backing fabric is a piece of fabric that I bought in Melbourne when we first went interstate on the first 'Sew and Sews' fabric buying extravaganza! It was in a discount basked at GJ's for about $4m! It's a bit vintagey-nanna looking so it has been kept in storage all this time for just the right project and this was certainly it.
Because of the vibrant back and the mixture of fabrics on the front, I struggled for the perfect binding. In the end I opted to go plain and chose Kona Charcoal. I love it. No....I really love it!
If you want to make a Granny Square quilt of your own head on over to Jolene's blog for her tutorial.

This quilt is 5 x 5 (25 blocks with borders) which finishes up at around 65" square and is free motioned stippled.
And for the last word. I placed my absolute favourite 'exchange' block right in the middle. It's purple...a colour I NEVER use let alone own. Thank you girls for sharing the Granny love...we should do it again!
I've linked up to Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday!

Stained glass spools.....

I've been slowly cutting and piecing this little quilt top over the past couple of weeks.
It features some now very old Moda fabric called Snippets by American Jane. In my book, Sandy Klop is the queen of red, blue, green, yellow, orange and pink combinations in traditional, 1930sh, feed-sacky (another of my made up words!) type prints. I have always loved this line, hence keeping it all these years. This was the first ever jelly roll I purchased way back in May 2009 when the girls and I whisked off to Melbourne for a weekend on our very first 'Sew and Sews' fabric buying excursion.
But I'm on a 'use it' mission these days, so after a bit of fondling I began the hunt for a jelly roll friendly pattern. I eventually settled on a Camille Roskelley, Thimble Blossoms pattern called Spools which I've already talked about here. The pattern is pretty simple with a tonne of cutting of little bits and thin strips. I was a bit apprehensive about all the skinny sashing strips but mine has come together pretty well. Needless to say, Camille's patterns are very easy to follow.
Now the debate with myself about how to back it!

Ruby +.....

I'm a bit lost for words over this one so I'll pepper this post with lots of images.
This is my Ruby Plus Quilt that I commenced back in December last year. I finally finished it last night and I'm as pleased as punch to have done so. Here goes....
Quilting started last Sunday morning. I was on a mission to get this quilt quilted before my holidays ended and even though it was the last day of our holidays and we'd headed to the country for lunch, I managed to finish it by days end. Needless to say I was a little bleary eyed once back at work!
This is such a pretty line of fabric by Bonnie and Camille. I've used the reds, greens, greys and a smattering of the pink.The binding is delicious!
This one will end up on R's bed. Those of you who know me will guess why!
It's lovely to have a quilt finished. Now onto some of the other UFO's that are calling for their finish. And here's another pic just for fun!

More Grannies....

Clare and I have decided to make a quilt for a friend who is facing a major health issue. We thought we'd make a Granny Square quilt, sharing the block making. Plus our other lovely Sew and Sews friends have gifted 2 1/2" precut squares and fabrics.Here are 9 of my 10 blocks. I was amazed how many Granny Squares you can eek out of scraps....even having already made one of these quilts recently!
Here's to good health and speedy recoveries.

Solid focus....

I've been playing with solid fabrics lately. There are so many options but my favourite, and this is regardless of solid or print, has to be working with scraps and stash.
I had a whole bunch of solid triangle offcuts from my Swoon quilt sitting in a little plastic zip lock calling out to me every time I opened the cupboard. Given their size, I cut a whole bunch of 4 1/2" squares and matched them up into sets of four, setting the triangles into 2 of each.
I played with mixing the triangle pairs which is a pattern I've opted for in the past but the matching pairs just worked so much better. I'm loving the colours....so very pretty.Quilting has started and progress is good....!

A solid finish.....

My Solid Foundations quilt is finished! I started this quilt back in late December for my brother JP who lives interstate. I've been picking it up and putting it down so it seems like it's taken an eternity to finish but after moving the basted quilt for the sixty millionth time, I felt an urge to start quilting it late on Friday night and it is now finally done.

There are so many things I really love about this quilt.

I love the solid colour in the square block construction. Some more than others as I got a little freer with them with the more I produced. I particularly love the little strip of coloured squares and rectangles at the bottom. I really love the green Ikea bird fabric on the back. I think it was from the Cecilia range last year and I've pretty much used up all that I had in this colour bar a few left over strips cut off after quilting.I love the strip of solid squares that runs down one side and across the top of the back. A great way to incorporate the front into the back and again using up most of these colours from the stash.
I'm really loving the solid black binding and think that it frames the whole quilt really well.

And most of all, I love how all of the fabrics came from my stash. Satisfaction indeed.

Quilt statistics:

Measures - 75" x 60"

Fabric - Kona Solids, Spotlight Solids, Ikea

Quilted - free motion meander by Theresa

Time for a payback.....

A little over 13 years ago, my dear friend Leonora presented me with the most beautiful quilt celebrating R's arrival. A hand quilted cot quilt featuring a star pattern in pastel colours. At the time I was honoured that one of my friends had planned a gift that far ahead because the time involved in creating it was evident in the pattern, the piecing and the stitching. She had even embroidered a pink 'R' in the corner. And not only that, I knew Leonora had made two quilts as another of our friends was also having a baby roughly around the same time. (I ended up with a premmie baby, so poor Leonora must have really felt the pressure when R arrived 8 weeks earlier than her pre-determined date.) I remember receiving the quilt when I was quite overwhelmed with the whole 'having an premmie baby thing', wrapped in the hand made box that her husband Michael had crafted. It was a gorgeous thoughtful gift and it was practical. That little quilt lived on R's cot or on the floor when I needed something to pop baby down on the ground. It's been put carefully away for years now and it wasn't until today when I pulled it out to take a photo that I revisted those lovely memories.

However, they were always there because I think it was that little quilt that actually inspired me to take up quilting. So when Leonora's '0' birthday rolled around earlier this year....the first of our group.....I thought it was time for a payback!

Leonora and Mike were lucky enough to be overseas having high tea at the Ritz for her special day this year and even though we only live a few streets away it wasn't until today that we had a chance to catch up.

Her payback present was a quilt featuring Amy Butler's Lotus collection and used Amy's Brickpath pattern. It looks fantastic in its new home! Happy '0' birthday Leonora and thanks so very much for the inspiration.