quilt as you go
Showing posts with label quilt as you go. Show all posts
My Wonderwall
It should come as no surprise that I get very excited about fabric. I've been sharing what I buy, stitch and make here for over seven years. The colours, prints, the way it handles, the endless combinations... fabric brings me joy.
The opportunity to get to chose and work with fabric is truly something special. I SQUEALED a lot when these beauties I picked arrived from Freespirit. Vibrant, rich, bright, happy colours of Designer Essentials Solids:
top row: Cosmo, Melon, Pomegranate, Gold, Tropical
bottom row: Serpent, Clearwater, Julep, Citrine
handbags and gladrags ✂ appliqué projects ✂
Late last year I designed and made some projects that I can finally share because they are in this month's Love Patchwork & Quilting: Issue 46!
I made four appliqué projects, all with cuteness and handbags in mind! I always like to have little pouches to keep the contents of my bag organised, and this one is perfect for lip glosses and balms (hence the longer and shorter pockets) or pens, washi and sticky notes. The heart kam snap on the lips is a kitschy touch that works either way.
The cord keeper is great for stopping earphones, USB cords and chargers from getting tangled up. Easy to make, I think it would make a useful gift too!
Since I was feeling playful I also designed two makes that you could decorate your bag with or actually wear yourself. The lawn scarves are really whimsical and have a nice vintage feel with the angled edges, super cute and comfortable as a neck scarf but also sweet tied onto the handles of a bag.
And lastly, total whimsy. Some quilted hexie badges, fun for fussy cutting and playing with stitches. I used monofilament thread, along with some embroidery.
Love Patchwork & Quilting Issue 46 is out now in the UK and also as a digital download. For the of you in the US it should be out in 4-6 weeks.
It features lots of amazing makes. Those pencils are just so cute!! Designed by the talented Jo Carter. Also I spied the lovely Laura Cunningham's Glitter Pouch, which I was lucky enough to test! So many beautiful projects in this issue and I'm not sure I can resist the new BOM by Nicole 💓
linking up to finish it up friday with crazy mom quilts
name cushion and corners
A friend of mine recently commissioned an embroidered name cushion to give as a gift for a baby boy. I wanted to make something modern and not babyish - a cushion that can be used as he grows!
I ended up picking a lovely fabric stack with Architextures, Doe and Gramercy. It looked very beachy and calming to me.
I really enjoy embroidery and lettering is always fun. I ended up only using some of the prints I picked in the patchwork. The cushion inner was really puffy but it will flatten with a bit of use! I used Chris' brilliant tutorial for no more empty corners, it really did make a difference. I will be using it for all my cushions now!
Simple QAYG with a neutral variegated King Tut thread.
I also embroidered his middle name on the back of the cushion.
Thankfully mum was happy and my friend sent me a lovely picture of the baby next to his cushion, so cute!
This was not my usual choice of colours but I think this mix works so nicely. I love working on commissions because it makes me think differently and pick combinations I might not otherwise.
This is a check off my FAL Q1 list :)
This is a check off my FAL Q1 list :)
space ~ le challenge ~ Levi's 2.0
It's time for the le challenge link again and this month's theme was space.
I have to admit to just not being able to make any of the things I had thought about for this month. Winter illness has swept through the household and it's been exhausting.
There were things that needed to be made though and I have a stack of WIPs that I want to get to, so I decided to literally make space. Instead of starting something new I pulled a project from the pile that's amassed on my desk!
I made this cushion for my sister to give to my brother in law. She gave me his old Levi's t-shirt that had a great monochrome pattern on, which happened to match beautifully with Doe by Carolyn Friedlander (you can still find some here and here).
I cut out the panel from the front of the t-shirt (I use pinking shears) then ironed some fusible interfacing on the back.
I kept it really simple, just adding some pieces either side of the t-shirt and then strips above and below.
I used a piece of wadding and a plain piece of cotton for the backing then quilted the strips using quilt as you go so it came together really quickly. The fabric is fairly busy so I didn't want to add too much with the quilting. I sort of echoed the curved shape of the Levi's logo in the strip of fabric underneath the t-shirt panel and did the same on the top strip . I used grey/white variegated perle thread.
For the backing I used a grey/mustard Intersections, Doe print and made a covered zip closure.
I hope he likes it!
Now it's your turn to link up - head over to le challenge for a chance to win some fabulous prizes! The link is open until 8pm GMT on 16th December.
S is for Stitch quilt and an easy border tutorial
This is my first quilt finish of the year and I'm hoping to set a precedent of making quilts that I'm really proud of and love. I made this quilt for my dear friend's new baby boy.
It features cute embroidered panels from the book S is for Stitch, though the tree is from Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection and the jelly and pineapple were my own little doodles.
The embroidery was stitched on the absolutely gorgeous Lakehouse dots in white on white, such a great fabric to have in your stash. I made the embroidery into blocks using a Summer Kona Roll Up, I had enough from one roll to make all the blocks, borders and binding and I still have the yellows, oranges and pinks left over. That little roll goes a long way!
The backing fabric is Taffy in Indigo, Prince Charming by Tula Pink and it ties in perfectly with the Kona shades.
All pieced with my trusty Aurifil and straight line machine quilted with Aurifil 50 wt 1128 - a perfect medium shade of blue. I also hand quilted each block in white perle thread:
I embroidered a label (the photo is cropped to protect the identity of the baby in case anyone wants to steal the quilt) and used a simple running stitch to attach it to the back:
This completes another project from my FAL list.
Here's a quick border tutorial...
Once I had the blocks arranged I realised I would need to make the quilt wider and the left over roll up strips were the perfect answer. I pieced them into long enough strips and was about to sew them to the quilt top when it occurred to me that it would be much quicker to 'quilt as you go'.
You need to baste the quilt with the backing and wadding wider than the quilt top, and also pin the area that doesn't have the top on it - basically just pin the backing to the wadding so it stays put when adding the borders. This picture was taken after I'd sewn the right hand border but you can see how I made extra space on the left:
 |
| these pictures were taken as I was sewing, please obviously make sure your quilt is nice and flat when basting! |
Then pin the first strip to the quilt top, right sides together:
and sew it using a 1/4" seam allowance:
Then flip the border over and press (I finger pressed but go ahead and use an iron if you want to). Pin the next strip to the first border strip, right sides together:
Sew it down, flip and press again and then repeat with the final strip:
And there you have it, a simple way to add a border. You can quilt on top of it if you chose to. I left it as it was but if the strips were wider than 2.5" (the width of roll ups and jelly rolls) then I would have quilted the border to give the fabric on top more stability.
The quilt measures approx 40" x 56" so there's plenty of growing room for the little one and hopefully as he gets bigger he will enjoy all the little pictures. Thankfully his mum and dad love it!
T.T.T. 22nd Sept - where is this month going??!!
I'm linking up to the Thursday Think Tank at makingrebeccalynne. A great way to share what things I've thought of doing and reminding myself how much stuff I want to make!
Last week there were a couple of things I wanted to do for the kids but haven't got round to it because of illness and desperately trying to get my quilt on.
I get so much inspiration from all the wonderful bloggers out there. This week I've seen a couple of blocks I would love to try:
What a cool block by Lynne at Lily's Quilts, she has a great tutorial as part of the Desperate Housewives Quiltalong. I'd love to do a whole rainbow of these!
I love everything about this block; the colours, the layout, the fabrics! It's by Angela at Cut to Pieces and she also has a great tutorial on her blog.
If you've managed to keep reading and not be too distracted by those fantastic blogs well done :)
I am hatching a plan in my little brain... I need to keep it a secret but I am going to try and create a quilt with some letters on it. I have no real idea how to piece but I'm going to give it a shot.
Sarah made a lovely quilt making free pieced letters. It was her first attempt and she did an amazing job - check out her wonderful work at Fairy Face Designs.
I imagine it will take a lot of trial and error and expletives but I have to make my secret quilt for a special person (and I'm so bursting to tell someone about it!!). Better leave it at that then for now.
I've got a couple of baby quilts to make and think I'm just going to do something simple, I have some small pieces of nice kiddie fabric and some nice patterns so they should come together fairly easily.
Next up is the DISASTER that is the table our TV stands on. It was super cheap from a charity shop and I'm not really bothered about it but the kids have completely ruined what was already a mess!
Thinking it HAS to be covered! I'm going to use some of this (it's showing up yellow but that fabric has a lovely lime green background):
Then follow these instructions to quilt as I go!
Last week there were a couple of things I wanted to do for the kids but haven't got round to it because of illness and desperately trying to get my quilt on.
I get so much inspiration from all the wonderful bloggers out there. This week I've seen a couple of blocks I would love to try:
What a cool block by Lynne at Lily's Quilts, she has a great tutorial as part of the Desperate Housewives Quiltalong. I'd love to do a whole rainbow of these!
I love everything about this block; the colours, the layout, the fabrics! It's by Angela at Cut to Pieces and she also has a great tutorial on her blog.
If you've managed to keep reading and not be too distracted by those fantastic blogs well done :)
I am hatching a plan in my little brain... I need to keep it a secret but I am going to try and create a quilt with some letters on it. I have no real idea how to piece but I'm going to give it a shot.
Sarah made a lovely quilt making free pieced letters. It was her first attempt and she did an amazing job - check out her wonderful work at Fairy Face Designs.
I imagine it will take a lot of trial and error and expletives but I have to make my secret quilt for a special person (and I'm so bursting to tell someone about it!!). Better leave it at that then for now.
I've got a couple of baby quilts to make and think I'm just going to do something simple, I have some small pieces of nice kiddie fabric and some nice patterns so they should come together fairly easily.
Next up is the DISASTER that is the table our TV stands on. It was super cheap from a charity shop and I'm not really bothered about it but the kids have completely ruined what was already a mess!
Thinking it HAS to be covered! I'm going to use some of this (it's showing up yellow but that fabric has a lovely lime green background):
Then follow these instructions to quilt as I go!
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