'Hey Ho Sailor' ready to sail

I love long bank holiday weekends. The weather wasn't great though. The sun came out a bit yesterday afternoon and is actually trying again this morning but on the plus side I was able to guilt free sew and sew and sew. If the sun is out then I need to be out, if the sun is "in" then I like to be in too.

I used the unsteady meteorological situation to finish my 'Hey Ho Sailor' quilt that I started a couple of weeks ago with the Westfalenfabric. It has turned out beautifully and I love everything about it but I think most of all the fantastic back.
The front is made of squares with a border of half square triangles to continue with the nautical theme.

For the back I chose a rather indulgent story line print by 'Fred and Poppy'. This is a 100 % cotton fabric that does look and feel like a soft linen and tells a wonderful seaside story on the selvedge and has lots of shells, kits, fish all manner of seaside "things" printed on the pastel blue . This fabric is printed in England and available at my local quilt shop Tikki. I chose pastel blue and cream to stay within my colour palette. The print is extra wide and happened to actually fit perfectly in the width. I just had to add a little bit of a cream border to fit the length but that is almost invisible as the cream matches perfectly. I am so glad I found the fabric.

I chose a binding from Moda's 'Rural Jardin' range that matches the seaside theme and colours and  has lovely stripes that frame the quilt. I wanted something with red in the binding so it would "pop" a bit. ( I do love binding that pops !).

I quilted just outside the stitch lines following the squares to keep it simple. The quilt isn't heavily quilted but I still used four and a bit bobbin wheels of Gueterman Sulky No 1071 thread.

And here the rundown on size and pattern:

• Quilt size 62.5 inches square (159 cm square)

• Squares for the inside are 5 inches (finished size 4.5). You need 122 squares
• Sashing around the squares is 2.5 inches (finished size 2 inches)
• 72 squares of 4.0 inches (finished size 3.0 inches)  for the HST (half square triangles); 36 each of patterned and solid fabric
• Outer sashing around the HST border is 1.5 inches (finished size 1 inch)

This is a fairly easy pattern but really effective through the HST border.

I am selling this quilt in my ETSY shop.  Sold

Links to previous posts regarding the quilt and fabric can be found here, here and here.

Nautical pin cushions

Wordless today....

Hey Ho Sailor !

Well, that is how I am going to call this new quilt. The Westfalen fabric I used for this quilt (and posted about here) reminds me of clothes that is or was worn by sailors and fisherman. I in fact in North Germany is where you see a lot of it worn by fishermen.

So I keeping singing to myself 'Hey Ho drunken sailor...' all the time but really don't think I can call the quilt something with 'drunken' in it. Mind you, Denyse Schmidt does it with one her patterns.... I'll have a think about it.

Anyway here are the pictures of the finished top. When I started laying it out on my floor this week I wasn't convinced at first as I thought it was to dark somehow but over the last days everyday time I walked past it, it grew on me. So much so that I was amazed when I took the picture earlier at how beautiful it is. Sometimes one needs a bit of disctance to appreciate ones handywork and that is best achieved with a  photo.

Quilting will commence imminently !

Stash Note No 14

Yes I know that this is the second Stash Note in a week but I am so so excited about this fabric that I cannot wait to show you any longer. Besides I have already cut into it so really need to show you before the quilt top is finished!


This fat quarter here of the most gorgeous blue and white fabric is from Westfalenstoffe.
Westfalenstoffe come from Germany actually but are sold all over. I bought this adorable bundle at the British Distributer of Westfalenstoffe and you can find the online shop here. 

Look at the detail of the pattern. My favourite are the chicken.

I am using this fabric in a new quilt together with other Westfalenfabric that I bought last year at my local shop Tikki Ltd. I already introduced this small fat quater bundle months ago but want to show it again as I  finally found a purpose for it. These  fabrics are actually woven fabrics and look just stunning.

If you are interested in Westfalenstoffe then you can check out there German web page here. Don't worry there is a language button at the top left corner so you can switch to English. I think the UK distributers can order the fabric for you but you can also check out Tikki Ltd.