Pink and Grey Log Cabin Finished

My Pink and Grey Log Cabin Quilt is finished! I am SO happy with how this one turned out. I don't normally work well with lots of printed fabrics, but I think I've nailed it with this one.

Here is the finished product. It sits nicely on the top of a double bed, with a teeny bit of overhang.

I wanted to keep the quilting on this one simple, as the colours and fabric are quite busy. So I just did quite wide apart straight line quilting following the zig zab pattern of the quilt. This also worked well with the back of the quilt which I did another pieced back on (I am sooo hooked on these as it means I can use normal width fabric for backs and not spend on the extra wide).

I gave plenty of thought to the binding. I really wanted to do a bright green to mirror the centre square of each block but didn't have the right colour on hand. So I went with the grey dots!!
And here is a final arty shot. I suck at these!!

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Pieced Back for Pink and Grey Log Cabin

I didn't want to buy a backing specifically for my Pink and Grey Log Cabin quilt. And I didn't have enough of any one grey fabric to make one. Added to which, I had have seams on the back. So this equals the need for a pieced back. As I planned to do a zig zag quilting following the lines of the log cabin I wanted to do a pieced backing that would reflect this design, this is what I came up with.

It looks a bit saggy here, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I've now got the quilt basted and the challenge will be to make sure the back and front zig zag line up. I think this would make a great, quick quilt project.

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Omigosh Redux Quilt Finished

My Omigosh Redux quilt is finished!!

I started and finished the quilting on ANZAC Day and then bound the next day. A simple cross hatch based on the blocks. I stuffed it up a bit. I was going to do quilt big gap quilting but miscalculated. And it was easier to add more quilting than to take out what I'd already done. But I still looks good. There are a couple of bumps from where I went back and there were movement.

Here I am squaring up the quilt. I always really enjoy this step. Makes the reality of finishing immediate. I also really enjoy binding the quilts. Although that is a bit of a struggle at the moment with the vision problems I am having.

Here is a close up of the finished product.

Here the quilt is finished being quilted, but not squared up yet. Miss Hattle says it's very comfortable!!

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Progress Report - Omigosh and Log Cabins

I was able to get two tops sewn together this week after work.

Omigosh Redux is top is done. I love how it looks. I will go with simple quilting. Not sure what colour binding to go with though. Might have to consult some quilt shop ladies.

Pink and Grey Log Cabin is also done. I am thinking of putting one more round on two sides as it's a bit smaller than I thought. I will have a think about it over the weekend. I will be doing straight line quilting following the zig zags. I am thinking of a pieced back for this one.

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Hexagons

I have joined the craze! I have been using these as my handsewing project. Something to do infront of the TV or when waiting somewhere. I am doing them in 1930's repro fabrics.

I had planned on doing them with a yellow floral centre, but I am thinking maybe a more traditional yellow centre? Or is the plain yellow too bright? Opinions wanted!!!

I also couldn't help buying some of the new range of blenders that I saw at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago. Really loving the colours and patterns. I thought they lent themselves to 1800's repro patterns.

This is the range in a better light.

And here is Cleo helping me. I had them ready to iron after washing. They looked comfy!

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Unexpected Renovations

I was unexpectedly thrown from blogging for a while. My Dad called me a few weeks ago and only gave me a couple of days notice that he wanted to redo my lounge room floor. We have been talking about doing it for ages. It looks nice (see below) but the boards were all rotten and Dad had gone through it in a couple of places.

So with the help of my nephew, we started on the floor. We had the old floor up in about an hour.

As someone on Instagram commented, it's easy to forget how close to the dirt we live! 

In order to save both time and money, instead of individual floor boards or a floating floor, we just put down the chipboard sheets and then varnished them. We were hoping for a more golden colour, but I can live with it.

It only took about 5 mins to varnish the floor. Then hours to wait for it to dry. While the room was empty, I decided to paint it as well. As you can see the previous colour was not what I hoped when I first put it on!

I did the painting at night after work. I managed to get two coats on the first night, but it definately needed another one. Again, lots of drying time. During which time I basically I lived in my bedroom. So not alot of chance for quilting or sewing.

A certain feline just couldn't help themselves. Four pristine walls and one pay print!!! I had to do another coat anyway.

This is the finished room. I really like it. Tossing up whether to paint the boxes on the wall?

Everything back together. I am most pleased. Not bad for basically a weekend and under $600.

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Pink and Green Twister Baby Quilt Finished

And another one done!! This one is for my about to be grand neice. I love the Twister templates for quilts like this. Just very basic but sturdy quilting for something which will get a lot of wear (hopefully!).

If you'd like to see how the Twister template was used with this quilt, check out my previous Pink and Green Twister post.

Below is Hattie helping me with the binding. Which reminds me, this was my first attempt at mitred corners. Why have I not been doing this the whole time??? So much easier. And I found a great tutorial for doing the final join when putting the binding on - Bumpless Binding Finishing Trick:

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Repro Plus and Cross Quilt Finished

Yay, my Repro Plus and Cross Quilt is finished. I decided on a solid red binding and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I am hooked on the #xplusalong I think I need to make another one.

Previous post on initial construction of this quilt.

It is actually square, just looks a bit skew if cause of the angles.

The back looks really great as well. I think you could definately use this one as a double sided quilt.This side is very minimalist.

 

And finally, the arty cover shot!!

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Competition Winner is....

The Winner of the Dresden Plate template is....Teresa!!

Congratulations, Teresa. I will email you to get your address. Sorry Joy and Joyce!!

Since there were only three entries, I just wrote the numbers on paper and got someone from work to pick it out of a cup!! So much easier than using the Random number thingy. Well, it's easy to use, it's getting the image that's a pain.

To add some colour to this post, here is a picture of a very old UFO that I am trying to finish. I got it to this stage about 15 years ago, then I stopped sewing and there it sat. I've dug it out to finish it. I don't have any of the cream left, so I can make any more blocks. It's a bit of an odd size, too long for a baby quilt but not quite wide enough for a lap or single bed quilt.

I found a purple and black stripe fabric that I think will make an interesting binding. I am going to try and pick up some batting during the week and get it quilted on the weekend. Man, I am powering through things now I've discovered machine quilting. I got my Japanese X and Plus and a baby quilt, quilted on the weekend. Yay!!

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Repro Cross and Plus Quilt

So, I have always resisted Instagram, but last week I signed up for it and now I'm hooked. A couple of quilt-a-longs have been running on there and I sort of got hooked on the Japanese Cross and Plus one - #xplusalong! But I wanted to do it in something I actually had enough fabric for. So I started one in 1930's Repros, which is actually a good fit I think, as this is when the block is first dated to.

I have to say, I got a bit carried away. Most people are doing scrappy versions. This becomes a lesson in sitting down and thinking first, before cutting. I decided I liked the look of red crosses. I normally don't like the red in the repro palette. I tend to find it jarring against the pastels, but I am growing to like it and I think the contrast works really well with this block. Anyway...I cut up all the pieces, as you can see below.

For the most part this was not a problem. But I realised way too late that I could've saved myself alot of time cutting and ironing if I had strip pieced the red and white two patches that I needed. Lesson learned!!

The corner blocks produced many, many offcuts, which have now become little HST (used as leaders and enders in the string piecing!!). I think these will become several mini-quilts!!

Rather than joining the blocks straight to each other, I am using sashing. This sashing will then create secondary crosses between the blocks and make an all over pattern.

This is what the rows look like sewn together.

This is the completed top. No border is planned. The blocks are 10" finished. I had hoped to start quilting it this week but various things came up. I am determined to get it done this weekend!!

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