Final Sunkissed Blocks

I've finished off the final blocks off my Sunkissed Granny Squares. I really enjoyed these blocks, they really work up so quickly. I ended up with alot of blocks. I have enough to make two quilts. The first one in progress can be seen at the bottom. I'm planning to put corner squares on between the sashing.

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Blue and White Half Square Triangles

I have a bit of a big project in mind for next year. I am thinking of doing a Block a Day challenge. In preparation for that, I am making a heap of blue and while half square triangles using the 8 from a square method. So far, I've cut up a heap of 6 1/2" squares and marked them out. I can now sew a few at time when the fancy strikes me. What I like about this method is that I can set the seams BEFORE I cut them up and not worry as much as about stretching the bias. It will involve a bit of trimming but I'd rather do that than rely on getting them perfect with no margin for error (cause that just wouldn't work!!)

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Repro Log Cabin Progress

On Saturday I decided the jobs I had planned weren't that important, so I stayed home and worked on my Repro Log Cabin quilt. I was able to lay the blocks out ready to be pinned together. I only pinned to keep them in the right order.

Here you can see Miss Cleo assisting with the layout.

I got this far and then was totally exhausted, so I layed down for a while as I had to go out in the evening. I figured best to stop and wait until I had a clear head. Sleepy head equals quilty mistakes!!

I'm glad I did. As I was waiting to go out, I checked my Log Cabin board on Pinterest and found a layout I liked better. It still has the star in the middle but rather than just continue the radiating lines (which I wasn't super happy with as they don't quite work on a quilt with this few rounds), I found one with a corner treatment I preferred much better. Almost like Geese in Flight. Here are some of the other layouts I considered.

Only problem is, once the rows were sewn together, I was one block short!! (Top right corner). At one stage, I was two blocks short but I found one. So I need to make one more block. It won't be an issue as I have heaps of strips left. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to cut, sew and iron. Anyway, I got all the other rows sewn and the top one is done bar the missing block. So just need to iron the rows and sew together and the top will be done. Not sure whether to do cotton batting or make another one with a wool blanket. Thoughts?

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Field Greens Quilted and Ready for Binding

I managed to get Field Greens quilted over the last couple of days. It was actually probably a bit easier than quilting with cotton batting. I quilted it at about 3" as there is a bit more movement with the woven blanket than you'd get with standard batting which is more like a felt. Also, the wool will be quite heavy when wet so I figured the closer quilting would distribute the weight over more of the stitching, reducing the chances of tearing or pulling seams.

There were a couple of issues with the blanket batting moving while it was being quilted. Because the blanket is woven it moves more than the batting. So I ended up with a couple of small puckers.

I decided to go with black binding as I think it really frames the design. I was thinking of using the backing fabric was binding as well, but it just didn't work as well. In addition, the black was already made up! And I had just enough. You can see the left overs below. Not just to hand stitch the binding - my favourite part!!

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Field Greens Blocks Finished

I've finished all the blocks for the Field Greens quilt. Above is the layout the quilt uses. Only one block but it makes a great secondary pattern.

I've made enough blocks for the biggest version of the quilt, 72" x 72". But I haven't decided which size to make yet. It will be either medium or large. I plan on using an old blanket for the batting in this one, so I need to check what I have and that may determine what size I make.

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Blue & White and Yellow Split La Moyne Star Progress

I started this quilt many years ago, probably at least 15 years ago. All the blocks are hand sewn using the template and trace method. But I've put them together by machine.

So near and yet so far!! Here are the two sections ready to be joined but for the cat assistance.

Once I got them together I added the thin, dark blue border.

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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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Japanese X and + Progress

I finally bit the bullet and sewed these blocks together. Cause I'd run out of the background green, I only had enough fabric to put four blocks together. I have two others left over.

I have plenty of the Gatsby fabric left, so now I have to decide what colour to use for the background. I'm thinking a bone or taupe? Any comments? What about something completely left field? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

This is the construction. If you put a strip between each block, you then get a repeat of the overall pattern. Good bang for your buck!!

Each of the blocks had the same green background, then the cross done in various fabrics from the Gatsby range and the plus done in a dark brown (one of which was from Gatsby).

This one has be matching Gatsby brown.

This is Cleopatra making sure it's comfy!!

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WIP Wednesday - Shaded Ninepatch

On the weekend, I laid out the Yellow/Green panels of what I am calling my Shaded Ninepatch Quilt. Since I don't have a detailed plan for my quilt (I only knew I needed a WHOLE bunch of yellow, green and blue ninepatches), I need to layout and play with the blocks for each panel.

As a result of this process I needed to make some more green blocks. I had enough, but by the fourth panel, too many blocks with similar fabric were in evidence.So I've made more blocks and we re-layout the panels again to get a bit more random in! Here are the new blocks:

Here is the yellow  and green panel laid out. It isn't sewn up yet as I am still working on the placement.

An invaluable tool in this process was a $3 peep hole from the hardware shop. As I was working inside, I didn't really have the distance to see the full effect of the blocks together. As soon as I looked at the blocks with the peep hole, a couple of "dead zones" immediately jumped out.

This design also requires the use of alot of half blocks, essentially nine patches cut in half. I have alot of these left over. But the beauty of patchwork is that they won't go to waste. I plan on trimming them slightly and adding a triangle in a matching solid. I have so many of these there should be plenty for a decent sized project.

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