Jingle pillows

Just a quick post to link up the final finish from my list of proposed finishes for quarter 4 of the 2018 finish-along. They're made using prints from Kate Spain's Jingle collection - one of my favourite festive collections.

 

These pillows were make from the leftover HSTs from the quilt I finished on boxing day last year.

 

Maybe next Christmas I'll make something with the leftover 4 patch units :)

Kat

Glisten quilt

Today's quilty finishes catch up post is about my recently finished Glisten quilt. I started it over 3 years ago during a quilt-along (the Glisten-along), but wasn't able to keep up and ran out of motivation once the quilt-along was over. It sat collecting dust in some kitchen serving trays for over two and a half years and so was one of the top projects on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

The quilt is made with prints from the Miss Kate collection by Bonnie and Camille, and while I love the collection, I didn't have very many of the prints and so struggled to get good contrast within the blocks and also felt that there wasn't enough variety in the quilt. The scale of the prints probably weren't a great match for the sizes of the pieces either. However, finished is better than perfect and I thought it would be better finished and donated to a charity than continue collecting dust. I put the blocks together (without the border) and finished it with a minimal amount of straight line quilting.

My finish happened to coincide with a trip to a winery for my Mum's birthday lunch so I was at least able to get some nice photos, even though it's not the nicest quilt.

I plan to donate it to the Very Snuggly Quilts program where it might find a loving home with a teenage girl. Mr 6 certainly doesn't mind it.

Kat

Checker block charity quilt

Another 2018 finish I haven't yet shared is a checker block quilt I made as part of one of my 2018 quilting bees.

Our bee was made of 8 quilters from Australia and New Zealand and at the start of the year I suggested that we use some of our spare months to make quilts for charity. For our September project, I asked the bee members to make checker blocks in blues, greens and low volumes, using prints that would be suitable for a teenage boy. These were the sample blocks I put together.

I received 16 fabulous blocks from my bee mates and had a great time playing around with the different layout options.

I finished the quilt using an allover boxy stipple and some classic black and white striped binding (my favourite kind of binding).

For the back I used the IKEA number print - another favourite of mine and great for a teenage boy.

We donated the quilt to the Very Snuggly Quilts program, who give quilts to long term patients at the Royal Children's Hospital. The VSQ program often struggle to find enough quilts for older boys , so one of my 2019 goals is to make and donate more quilts for this group.

I'm linking up with the Q4 finish-along, as this project was on my list for quarter 4.

Kat

Economy block Christmas pillows

Before Christmas I participated in the Saturday Night Craft Along swap and was completely spoiled by my partner Tracee, who made me this beautiful stitched cushion.

My oldest son loved it so much that the only way I could get him to hand it over was to promise to make him his own Christmas pillows. Given that there was only a few days left until Christmas, I pulled out a WIP from my Q4 finish-along list and turned it into a quick pair of pillows.

My economy blocks from a swap last year were perfect and are a good match for the C+S Christmas quilt I made a couple of years ago. My little was happy with his pillows and I was happy to have another finish under my belt. Win-win!

Kat

Triangle baby quilt

I've got a back log of finishes to share for the quarter 4 link up of the 2018 finish-along. The end of 2018 was quite productive in regards to sewing, but not so much for blogging :)

First on the list of finishes from my quarter 4 proposed list was a baby quilt for a colleagues little boy made from equilateral triangles in a scrappy palette of blues, greens and mustard.

I finished this one with some simple, straight line quilting either size of the seams and bound it with a bright green spot I've had in my stash for ages.

Perfect for a small boy (or a large dog).

I'm looking forward to trying this pattern again in some different colours. One of my 2019 goals is to be braver with mixing prints in different colours and patterns and by different designers etc.

Kat

I-spy quilt

Just a quick post to link up with the Elm Street Quilts December One Monthly Goal and share my most recent quilty finish. My goal for November  was to make an I-spy economy block quilt for the babies room at the childcare centre that my two youngest have attended this year. I manged to finish it up the day before the end of year celebration.

For this quilt I made 6" economy blocks using a foundation paper pieced template. The centers of the blocks are different fussy cut animal prints, many of which were donated by my quilts friends. The outer prints are bright blenders and low volume prints from my stash.

I finished the quilt using a double layer of batting and a heavy linen for the backing. I thought that the extra weight would help the playmat lie nice and plat on the floor and the double batting would make it softer for the babies to lie on.

I'm still working on one for my kiddos, but I plan to take my time with it and perhaps finish it for their birthday in May (or more likely, next Christmas).

I'm also linking up with the 2018 quarter 4 finish-along, as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

Kat

A birthday quilt for Rupert

My little man turned 6 last weekend. As has been the tradition for the past few years, I spent the eve of his birthday finishing a handmade gift while my husband baked the cake (we are total last minute crafters).

 

Rupert is a big fan of all things space at the moment, so this year I made him a small version of the Milky Way sampler. I used prints from the Cloud 9 We Are All Stars collection for the front and a cool solar system print for the back.

We play to hang it on the wall in his bedroom above the bookshelf where he keeps his telescope and space books.

I'm linking up with the Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal finishes and the 2018 Quarter 4 finish-along, as this project was my goal for October and on my proposed list of finishes for this quarter.

Kat

2018 finish-along: Quarter 4 proposed finishes

I can't believe we're in quarter 4 already! 2018 has gone by at lightning speed.

At the start of the year my WIP list was over 50 projects long so I set myself a goal of only working on my WIPs (no new projects) in order to try and get that number down to less than 10. While I've been good on the 'no new projects' front, I haven't been able to keep up with my target of 14 finishes per quarter and still have over 30 projects on my list.

So this quarter I am going to try and blitz my WIPs to see if I can at least get my WIP list to under 25 (half it's original size). I've picked 21 of my closest to completion projects, including a selection of Christmassy ones. I've deliberately left out all of my hand-piecing and longer term projects (such as a big selvage quilt).

Here are my first 13 'regular' quilty projects in the works:

And here are the Christmassy projects:

All the details are in my embarrassingly-long WIP spreadsheet. Here's an extract describing each of the pics in the collages.

Here's hoping for a new personal best in productivity!

Kat

Scrappy trip around the world quilt

I finally managed to get some better pictures of the trip around the world quilt I finished in July.
I started this one as part of a quilt-along last year (the #summertripwithme2017) and finished it as part of a similar quilt-along held this year (the #scrappytrip2018).

For my version I made slightly larger blocks, using 8 strips to make 16" finished blocks. I found making bigger blocks was a more efficient use of the strips (almost no wastage), and faster overall, because I didn't need to make so many blocks.

I finished it with a simple diagonal crosshatch in a soft pink thread using my walking foot and hand-sewed the binding. It's already been put into use several times as a backyard picnic rug for my little ones. You can find a few more photos on my original post.

I'm linking up with the third quarter finishes party for the 2018 Finish-along, as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

Kat

Homeward Bound quilt

Today I'm linking up with the quarter 3 finishes linky party for the third quarter of the 2018 Finish-along and sharing my biggest finish for this quarter: my homeward bound quilt made using prints from the Botanique collection by Joel Dewberry.

I started this quilt several years ago when testing the pattern for Keera, but stopped about half-way when I realised that there was no way that I was going to be able to finish a 96" quilt on my tiny domestic machine. However, I'd been wanting to make a quilt for my sister and brother-in-law, and they have a super king sized bed, so I added this WIP to my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

I've been sewing away in secret (my sister follows me on instagram, but hopefully doesn't read my blog :)) and finally finished it last week. I've now got a slightly bigger sewing machine and managed to FMQ it myself.

I can't wait to surprise them with it when they come to visit next month. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better pictures too (they are experienced quilt holders :)).

Kat

Numbers baby quilt

Last week my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Jackson. Before his arrival, my eldest son and I worked hard to make him a couple of baby quilts. One of the quilts we finished was a number quilt, made using the Spell it with Fabric pattern (from the Moda website) and some leftover jelly roll strips from a cute kid's collection.

I started this project a while ago, intending it to be a matching wall hanging to the alphabet quilt I made my son for his birthday a few years ago. However, I thought it would be much better used as a baby quilt (and also a quicker finish than starting a new project), so I added it to my list of proposed finishes for quarter 3 of the 2018 finish-along.

Rupert insisted that we make the numbers 1 through to 10, so I had to play around with different sashing widths to end up with a square quilt.

I used a print from an older Cloud 9 fabrics for the backing (I was pretty pleased with how well the colours matched) an quilted it a free-motion loopy design.

As with the other quilt for Jackson, we also made a matching mini for big sister's dolly.

My attempts at getting my boys to hold the quilts for a photo were a complete disaster, but a lot of fun.

We managed to the quilts washed, dried, bundled up, and in the post a few days before he was born.

I can't wait to be spammed with photos of Jackson on his quilts.

Kat

Fabric storage trays

I finally got around to finishing up a project that has been on my 'to-do' list for a long time; some fabric trays for store my smaller pieces of fabric (fat eighths etc.)

I'd been on the hunt for a while for pre-made trays that would fit nicely on the shelves where I store my fabric. When I wasn't able to find anything suitable, I decided to make my own, using a great tutorial for making custom-sized sturdy fabric baskets by Lillyella Stitchery. I made a prototype in late 2017, but then the project sat on the backburner for a long time.

Over the past month or so I've been making some QAYG panels for the remaining trays and finally finished them up over the weekend. I'm too embarrassed to admit exactly how badly I fluffed these up. Let's just say that I wasn't supposed to quilt my fabric directly onto the interfacing. But it was a good exercise in creative problem solving and another reminder why it's not a good idea to start a project and then leave it a year before picking it back up again.

They are a bit dodgy in places, but I'm a big believer in 'finished is better than perfect' and think they don't look too bad sitting on the shelf (there's raw edges hiding underneath).

They also do the job they were designed for, which is organise my bits of fabric so I can easily pull out a colour when I'm hunting for prints for a bee block etc.

I'm linking up with the Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal September link-up and the quarter 3 finishes linky party for the 2018 Finish-along, as this project was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter was was my specific goal for September. Now I need to decide which of my long-term projects I'll tackle next month.

Kat

Blue and white baby quilt

My sister is expecting a baby in less than a week and I promised I'd make the baby a few quilts. In my usual fashion I left it way too late to begin (#lastminutecrafter), and so I'm been picking some current works in progress that could be quickly finished up. My sister suggested that navy would be a good colour (her husband is a Geelong supporter), so I pulled out my Sewcial Bee Sampler blocks from last year and have been busy turning them into a baby quilt.

I made a couple of extra blocks to balance out the layout (the blocks have different sized frames) and added some navy blue sashing and borders. Here it is expertly held up by my 5 year old, who is super excited about getting a new cousin.

I quilted it with a serpentine stitch using my walking foot and used a nice blue cross-hatch for the binding.

When I asked my sister if I could make anything for the baby's big sister, she suggested making a matching smaller quilt for her dolly. I chose my favourite block, added a navy blue frame and finished it exactly the same as the larger version.

I tried to get my younger son to hold up the mini quilt for me, but he wasn't having a bar of it.

He did test out the baby quilt for me though.

The quilts have now been through the wash and are currently drying outside. I'm hoping to get them in the post tonight. Luckily we have some good drying weather today.

I'm linking up with the quarter 3 finishes party of the 2018 Finish-along, as this project was one of my proposed finishes for this quarter.

Kat

Quarter 3 finish-a-long goals

Just a quick post tonight (as we move house tomorrow!) to link up my proposed finishes for quarter 3 of the 2018 finish-a-long.

Here's the extract from my WIP spreadsheet (the pics start in the centre, then go clockwise starting from the top left.

Last quarter I only managed to finish four quilts, and all of them were small ones, so this quarter I a hoping to finish a few bigger projects. On the top of my list is m scrappy trip around the world quilt that I am working on at the moment.

As always, I'm listing quite a few to keep my options open - I really don't expect I'll finish a project a week :)

Kat