Round and Round the Garden

I finished another quilt! I made this based on a quilt I saw at a show earlier this year and looked up the Missouri Star Quilting Company tutorial on exploding blocks. I used a Moda charm pack called Mon Ami, the background fabric is a calico from Ikea! I made up a  scrappy binding from my stash.

Here's a full view of the front.

The back gives you a better view of the quilting. I stitched in the ditch round the printed fabric and quilted diamonds into the backing fabric. The backing is made of the same calico as the top, the two leftover squares from the charm pack and a cute Moda fabric I had in my stash.

Grunge quilt

The Grunge quilt is a fairly quick quilt I made using three Moda charm packs, Modern Background - Paper, Grunge and Nocturne.

It's backed using a bit of Ikea fabric and Translate Bike from AGF Studio.

Little Piggy

I made this little piggy for my boyfriend, because he likes pigs! The pattern is from Sew Fresh Quilts, and was quite easy to make.

An Improv-ish Quilt

This is my latest quilt. I call it an Improv-ish Quilt because I don't really know what else to call it. I don't think it's truly improv, but I took a lot of freedom in making it.

The smaller strips of fabric came from a scrap bag I bought at the Festival of Quilts, and I knew they had to go with the orange fabric which was a bargain from the Birmingham Markets.

The backing fabric came from Ikea and it was quilted using Cotty cotton thread in Pot Pourri.

Flower Garden Mini Quilt

This is a very small quilt I made to try out some free motion quilting. I had fun doing this and tried very hard to not be too worried about making mistakes.

Button Quilt

Here's a small quilt I made a little while ago. It's a very simple quilt made from one fat quarter bundle of spotty fabrics and a bit of left over pink from some cheap cotton I picked up at the market.

I decided to have a go at tying a quilt, and did this with some colourful buttons. I love the way it turned out and it was very quick to finish. It's only a small quilt, but it's perfect for over my lap when I'm watching TV.

Origami Bird

The pattern for this origami bird came from an issue of Quilt Now. I decided to make this as I was doing a Secret Santa swap with some friends, and the lady I was to be Santa for lives in Japan and loves birds. This was my first time doing foundation piecing and I was surprised by how easy it was.

(I got a new macro lens some months ago, this is why I am posting so many super close up photos!)

Quilted charm pack bag

I made this lovely bag using one of Moda's charm packs and some scrap fabric. I used this tutorial from Girls in the Garden, making some small changes on the way to fit with what I had to hand. It was quite a simple make and the first time I tried using the walking foot on my sewing machine.

Quick Quilted Cushion

This is a fairly simple cushion made from a bag of scraps I got at a local quilt shop. The scraps were all cut into strips of similar sizes, and I was inspired by scrappy quilt blocks made from selvage edges.

Kirby Quilt

Here's a quick look at the finished Kirby quilt. I'm really pleased I managed to finish him, though he's not quite as I imagined. I realised quite quickly that the straight line quilting I wanted to do was not going to look good, so I quilted around the edges of the colour blocks.

Collaborative quilt

Here's a little quilt my mum and I made together for our boss. She made the top and I put the whole thing together and quilted it. It was a very quick project as we got it all done in about a week.

It was quilted very simple, going just inside the edges of each three strip "square". I used four different colours for the quilting. Pink, orange and green for around the squares and blue for the border.

Kirby quilt top

I haven't finished my jelly roll quilt yet, but that hasn't stopped me from starting another. This time it's Kirby from the Nintendo series of games.

I used my Sizzix Big Shot and the 4.5" square die to cut each square. It's 20x20 squares big, which means it will be 80"x80" once it's quilted and bound.

Hand quilting sample

I mentioned in my previous post that I was considering hand quilting my new quilt top. I thought that I should probably have a go on something smaller before I tackle a whole quilt!

Perfect excuse, I thought, to make myself another mug rug. Yeah, it's not "traditional" hand quilting, but with threads that pretty, why would you want to hide them?

Jelly Roll quilt top

I am in the process of making another quilt. This one is made from one Moda jelly roll, namely Pedal Pushers.

I am thinking about having a go at hand quilting this one, as I got some lovely cottons in just the right shades of brown, green and turquoise from the Embroiderers' Guild sales table the other day!

Sizzix Big Shot

As I mentioned in my post about my quilt I went to the NEC a week or so ago. While there I got an early Christmas present from my mum, a Sizzix Big Shot.

The Sizzix Big Shot is a die cutting machine. You can buy dies for all sorts of things, such as dies for cutting and embossing paper, dies for cutting card for folding boxes, and, my favourite, dies for cutting fabric. There's loads of different dies to choose from, but I chose two to start off with. One is a clamshell shape and the other  a 2.5" square. I've started cutting some fabric, but haven't made anything yet, but I'm excited to have a go soon!

Colourful quilt finish

A little while ago I showed you my quilt top I'd been working on made with Moda charm packs. After vising the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC last weekend and a couple of hiccoughs I finally finished it.

The first problem I ran into was that I had thought I'd be able to get everything, including batting at the show. However, nobody was selling any full size cuts of batting. This was quickly resolved though, with a quick trip to the Cotton Patch.

The second problem I ran into was that after buying this sweet, yellow, umbrella fabric above, which was advertised as being 60", I came home to find it was only 54". The quilt top itself was 54.5" so I really needed the 60". Unfortunately, I don't know from which company I bought it from as I didn't think to check the stand name at the NEC and didn't get a receipt. Anyway, after a bit of a panic I found some plain yellow cotton, the same shade as the background, and I had just enough to make a strip down one side. You can see it in the top of the photo, but it looks like it was made to be.

The binding fabric is by Riley Blake Designs, and a lovely lady at the Pin it & Stitch stand at the NEC helped me pick it out. I quilted it just inside the squares and around the border fabric, I wanted to keep the quilting simple as the fabrics were already so busy. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, as this is my first proper quilt. I think I might be addicted now.

Colourful quilt top

You might remember that a month or two ago I went to the Festival of Quilts, and purchased a couple of layer cakes of beautiful Moda fabrics. I worked on making a quilt with them for a little while, then got scared of ruining it and put it away for a few weeks. Then I got Quilt Me! by Jane Brocket from the library and learned a few things that made me less scared (for example, you can stretch cotton a bit if your piecing isn't perfect and doesn't quite match up), and felt inspired to keep working on it.

Here is the top in all its (slighting over saturated) glory. I had a lot of help from the lovely lady in the local craft shop, Scissor Stitch, in picking out the border fabric. I chose a green because I wanted to keep it light an airy (a dark purple had been a close second choice) and because it was the least overpowering colour in the quilt, it also picks up all the other greens in the other coloured patches nicely. 

I already have some ideas for the backing and the binding, though nothing set in stone, and I am still at a loss as how to quilt it. I am really welcome to hear any thoughts you might have. 

Christmas Robin

Sometimes I get an idea stuck in my head and I have to make it. That's what happened with this robin, I had been messing around with little appliquéd birds and then I thought I could make a big version. He is machine appliquéd and quilted, measuring about 16.5"x16". Here's a close up of the quilting:

I think the photos don't quite do him justice, he looks much nicer in real life.

Mini Mosaic Finish

A little while ago I showed you the beginning of a mini mosaic quilt I did while at the Festival of Quilts. I finished it a month or so ago, but I forgot to blog about it, so here it is!

I sewed it all together, backed it with some plain calico and added some very simple (and a bit wonky!) quilting, and bound it with red cotton for use as a mug rug.

It was a pretty simple process and I love how sharp it made all the points turn out.

Festival of Quilts: Wandering Vines

The second workshop I attended was called Wandering Vines and was a machine embroidery workshop. The workshop was taught by Catherine Nicholls. This was about using the buttonhole stitch (or blanket stitch) to embellish applique and free motion embroidery to quilt and further decorate the piece.

I had a lot of fun and managed to "finish" the piece in the workshop. I think I will bind it and have it as a small wall hanging!

Previously:
Festival of Quilts: The Haul
Festival of Quilts: Mini Mosaic