Low volume plus quilt WIP

I'm linking back up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and sharing my progress on my low volume plus block WIP. My goal for this month was to finish at least 20 blocks and I managed to make it just in time.

I'm really enjoying this project, though I still feel a bit uncertain about some of the more darkly coloured background fabrics. My plan is to wait until I've made all of the blocks and see if any prints are still bothering me before I rip them out.

I'm aiming for a 5 x 7 layout so I still need another 15 blocks. Perhaps that will be my goal for April!

Kat

March One Monthly Goal

I'm linking up with Elm Steet Quilts One Monthly Goal and sharing my goal for March. This month I hope to make some serious progress on my low volume plus quilt WIP - I'm aiming for at least 20 blocks by the end of the month

One of my quilting goals for 2019 is to be braver with colour so I'm using a bit of colour in my low volume background (I usually stick to neutrals). I'm still not completely comfortable with some of these prints (especially the bigger motifs), but I am planning on making all of the blocks and seeing how to all look together at the end. Hopefully it will be as pretty as this:

I've been building up my collection of colourful low volumes for a while so I am quite excited to be finally using them. The next step involves an epic cutting session.

Kat

Quilting in the grid

This year my quilting goals involve trying lots of new things. I dedicated 2018 to finishing off lots of WIPs, so this year I'm allowing myself to experiment with new things, such as FMQ designs and sewing with solids.

At the start of the year I signed up for an annual subscription to bluprint because I quite like learning through online classes. The first class I watched was Christina Camelli's grid quilting class. It was awesome and inspired me to try some new FMQ designs.

At first I wasn't sure what to do with the quilted practice panels, but I had a light-bulb moment while looking at furnishings in IKEA and thought I'd turn then into decorative pillows.

The third panel was a bit too small for a pillow so I used it to make a banner to hold my sewing pins. The diamond grid was perfect for creating the shape at the bottom of the banner.

I'm linking up with Q1 of the 2019 Finish-along, as making something with these panels was one of my proposed finishes for this quarter. I look forward to trying some more designs next time I feel inspired to practice my FMQ.

Kat

Wild Goose Chase quilt

I've got another recently quilt finish that I've realised I forgot to share here: my Wild Goose Chase quilt.

I started this quilt almost three years ago, when Keera of Live Love Sew put a call out for pattern testers for her new quilt pattern. I used a F8 bundle of Kate Spain’s Paradiso collection to make some test blocks.

I ended up making about half the blocks I needed for the quilt but ran out of time to make the rest before heading on a long overseas holiday. Instead, I used a few of the blocks to make a baby quilt.

The rest of the blocks have sat in my WIP pile since then, and the project has been regularly featured on my finish-along lists. I am so glad I actually got it done this time.

I was extremely fortunate to be the lucky winner of some long-arm quilting during a quilt along last year and sent the finished top off to Jane of Sew Inn to work her magic. It’s the first quilt that I’ve had professionally quilted and I have to say that I am in love with how smooth and consistent the stitching is. It certainly puts my FMQ to shame.

I think it looks especially pretty on the guest bed. The cushions are another recent finish, but I'll share more about them in the next post.

I'll be linking this one up with the quarter 1 finish-along when the linky opens, as this quilt was on my list of finishes for this quarter.

Kat

Mandolin quilt

I finished my Mandolin quilt!!! I am so excited, as this is my first ever hand-pieced quilt.

This quilt is my little scrapbook of the first two years of Cotton + Steel, with each block being made using prints from one of the first 20 collections. Each column represents the first four releases of the division (starting with Spring 2014), and each row captures the first four collections by each of the five original designers.

These first collections were released shortly after I started quilting, and are a large part of the reason why I became so hooked on this hobby. I mean, how awesome is this little sloth?

The top is hand-pieced using the awesome pattern designed by Jodi of Tales of Cloth. You can find the free tutorial here.

I quilted it by machine, using some free-motion organic wavy lines, and bound it with one of my favourite C+S basics.

It has been such a pleasure to work with some of my all-time favourite fabrics over the past year, and I can’t wait to see what these amazing women will release as part of their new venture as Ruby Star Society.

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and the Q1 finish-along, as finishing this quilt was my goal for February and one of my proposed finishes for quarter 1.

Kat

February One Monthly Goal

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and sharing my goal for February. This month I hope to finish my Mandolin quilt. I started it very late 2017 and it was my major hand-sewing project for 2018. I managed to finish assembling the top on NYE.

After a month of procrastibating (it's summer here in Australia and we've had a very hot January), I finally got the quilt top pressed and basted.

I've started the quilting but it is going very slowly. I initially started with matchstick lines but found I was getting lots of puckering (probably due to the hundreds of bias seams), so I had to rip it out and start again. I'm having better luck with 'organic' free-motion lines but still keep running into trouble, such as rogue bits of paper, my gloves (I've quilted the tip of the finger to the quilt twice already), and holes in my piecing (like the big one below).

I've still got a heap of quilting to go, but I'm in love with the texture.

I'm hoping to have it finished and bound by the end of the month so I can start to use and enjoy my first ever hand pieced quilt.

Kat

A birthday quilt for Andrew

Last week my biggest little brother celebrated his birthday. It had been a few years since I had made him a quilt (and his previous one was a bit too small), so I thought I'd make him a new one.

I was more organised this time around, and worked out what I wanted to make for him ahead of time. I chose the Spinwheel block in blues and greys as my bee block for my turn as queen bee in November last year. I received 14 beautiful blocks from my bee members and made the remaining blocks earlier this month. I made it nice and big (54" x 78"), since my brother is a tall man.

I love the variety of different prints used for the blocks and how well they work together. I didn't have time for a glamorous Quilts in the Wild pic (this was taken outside the local Police Station), but it did arrive in time for his birthday today. I hope this quilt will see lots of use as a couch blanket, picnic rug, something to keep my brother warm during his fishing adventures, or even just a big quilty hug when he is feeling lonely.

I ended up making a few too many extra blocks so I used four blocks to make a neonatal quilt for the Very Snuggly Quilts program. My cute little nephew, Jackson, offered to test it out for me and seemed to approve :)

I'm linking up with the Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal, and the 2019 Q1 finish-along as finishing this quilt was my goal for this month, and one of my proposed finishes for quarter 1.

Kat