Current quilt project

Current quilt project - June 2013

I saw this quilt pattern in a magazine a few years ago and thought it was so gorgeous!  I have always loved pink and green together and when I saw this, I had to make it.  I downloaded the PDF file for the instructions from the Wilmington Prints website.  The fabric line is called " Illuminating Spring" and this pattern is called "Sketches of Spring". I had to have it!!  This is a great website by the way.  They have wonderful quilt pattern choices and a bit on the background of each fabric designer.   You could spend hours happily browsing on this website. (Www.wilmingtonprints.com)

After searching unsuccessfully high and low for the fabric, I decided to make it for my Mom using some of my stash and some new fabric, to try to duplicate it.

I tried to be true to the pattern and used blues, greens and pinks and used some colourful bird fabric as well as blue feather fabric.  I think it turned out well. I have since found a kit for this quilt and am now making it for myself with the original fabrics I fell in love with.  I started cutting out the pieces last summer and am now about to start sewing the strips together.  I will however, add more fabric to the borders, as I would like this to be bigger than lap size.  Here are some pictures of the quilt I made for my Mom using my own fabric choices, and also some pictures of the fabrics from the kit. Enjoy!

My version:

Notice the cute strawberry and the cute mushroom fabric?  I love those! I quilted this on my machine very simply in an X pattern, as it was too hard to push the quilt through my machine otherwise. ( I tried to machine quilt my son's quilt (My First Real Quilt) and needless to say, there was ALOT of swearing going on as I TRIED to do that.  I started trying hand quilting on his quilt, but gave up after a few simple patterns as it was too hard to turn on my lap.   I then tried machine quilting his quilt, but it was too big for my regular size machine and many foul words abounded there.... It took me hours to machine quilt 1-2 blocks!!! I have since then, happily converted to having someone else machine quilt my quilts and presto!!!... Life is so much easier!!

Here is the quilt kit in progress. I can hardly wait to see it finished!! I will keep everyone posted.

Happy sewing.

Rosie

Catching up

Hi all:

It has been several days since my last post and I have a lot to talk about.

First:  originally when I posted my son's quilt ( My First Real Quilt) I was quite horrified to see that it looked FILTHY in the pictures I posted.  I guess I was so excited to post them, I didn't really look at the quilt very closely.  Some of the blocks were very dirty, so I guess that serves me right for picking it off the floor of his room and trying to take pictures right away.  Suffice to say,  it has now been washed and is spotless, so now I can redeem myself!

Second:  I forgot to post pictures of the backing of my Summertime quilt, so here they are.  Of course, I used flannel and I also used 2 layers of batting as I find that one layer just isn't cosy enough.  I found a wonderful machine quilter (her name is Catherine) and she was the woman whose quilt shop I scurried to, when it was going out of business.  She is a wonderful quilter and has many great ideas to pass on.  I am so glad that I found her.

I also wanted to share some pictures of the next quilt that I made.  I have't named it yet, so perhaps some of you can post a comment with suggestions for names.

I found some of the fabric in the clearance section of my local fabric store.  Some of the fabric is from the line called "Chinese Takeout" and you will see why in the pictures below.  I loved the combination of dark teal, lime green, yellow and orange.  I also loved the koi/goldfish fabric, which you can see in miniature in some of the lanterns.  I wanted to see large splashes of colour, so I used simple 12 inch blocks.  I feel like diving into this quilt, or at the very least, dipping my toes into it.  It is like a cool drink of water on a hot day!! I don't think the colours are as vibrant in the pictures as in person, but I think you get the idea.  I again had Catherine quilt this quilt and she suggested the ripple/wave pattern of stitching, to mimic the waves in the water.  I think it turned out rather nicely.  I have't done the binding yet, but I will soon, I think; well, maybe after I finish this next quilt I am working on.  I include pictures of this cool, teal quilt below.  Enjoy!

Rosie

P.S.  Kirby seems to think he needs to inspect everything I do.  He is my self-appointed Project Manager!

Summertime

.I am going to call this quilt "Summertime" because it seems so fresh and alive, after those dreary, long winter and spring months.

It is raining today, so the pictures won't seem very vibrant but I hope you can see some of the soft pastel colours in it.

I wanted to make something in pastels and didn't want it to take a long time.  I can be a bit impatient so I wanted it to sew up really quickly.  

I happened upon a local quilt shop that was going out of business, so I raced over there and bought a jelly roll of pastels to match some of the "Canadian Cottage" fabric and charms squares that were left in the store.  You can see the words to our National Anthem, in some of the squares.  I loved the Canadian Cottage line and was sad that there was not a lot of it left.

I used strips of the jelly roll fabric and luckily the width matched the charm squares perfectly, so I did not have to do a lot of cutting.  My kind of quilt!!!!!

I alternated long strips and squares into some type of design and lo and behold...... It turned out rather nicely.

I seem to really like patchy quilts; you know, when it truly looks like you are using whatever leftover fabric you have "just lying around the house".  To me, that speaks "Quilt".

I also like to incorporate some type of "mistake" into each quilt.  I was taught that in the quilting class I took, but I can't remember why that is.  Is it for good luck?  Anyways, I seem to never have a problem adding in a mistake, since I seem to screw something up along the way anyways!  I should have tons of good luck coming my way very soon, if my quilts are any indication of that!! (Did you notice in my "Oh Canada, Eh?" Quilt, that one of the maple leaves is turned the other way and is made up of leftover scraps of the other fabrics? A mistake that works!!!!)

Enjoy these pictures.

Rose