Vintage Ladies - a finished quilt

Finally a finished quilt! Who would have thought..... I spend quite a few evenings over the past ten days quilting on my Janome.... I quilted in one big zick-zack pattern with lines that are barely an inch apart. I think I used about 7 bobbin wheels for this quilt. And it was hot so not the most enjoyable task.But well worth it. I so love my homage to the Ruby Star collection !

But first things first.
A full length image of course:

If you are familiar with Melody Miller's Ruby Star design then you will know that each collection has a couple of panel prints that combine different designs on one panel (for example the bottom right corner panel). The panels and the distinct vintage designs were what drew me to Ruby Star in the first place. So I thought I make liberal use of them in this quilt. I added solids here and there to break the pattern somewhat.

The quilt back uses a precious print that I have had a long time in my stash. It is 'Coriander' from a 2007 Joe Dewberry fabric collection (so practically vintage too).

There are many favorite bits in this quilt but the undisputed best feature in my opinion is the half border of vintage ladies which has been and will always be one of my all time favorite prints.

 
The next best bit is the binding. When I finished the quilt I was a little lost for a day or two because I  could not think of what to choose for the binding. It's a busy quilt that has a lot of greens, turquoise, purples and pinks in it. First I was thinking of something that would tone the whole design down but then thought better of it. When my eye caught my 'Fleemarket Fancy' stash I immediately knew that the 'Eyelet' in pink would be the best choice. Complementary and contrasting at the same time.

The quilt is fairly large with 71" x 76" inches and is sort of a middle size between sofa and double bed. Just the way I like it. The fabric are the Kokka typical blends of cotton and linen varying from 55/45 cotton/linen mix to a more lightweight blend of 85/15. This makes the quilt a little heavier and overall more substantial than a quilt of 100 % quilting cotton. I like it and it will be very cuddly in the winter. It will also become very soft over time because linen is one of those fabric that softens with use and will overall get better the more it is used and loved.

A day at the Beach

.... or in praise of the humble square....

Remember my delight when finally the 'Going Coastal' line by 'Crazy Old Ladies' came out ?
That was back in September. One might think all the uhhing and aahhing about it would have led to quilt straight away but I couldn't make up my mind which pattern to use. Particularly problematic proofed the bottle tops as they are difficult to fussy cut owing to the lack of surrounding solid space. In addition I did not want to cut through them under any circumstances. So in the end I decided on the humble square.

I don't know about you but I do rack my brain to the point of overdrive to find the best pattern for the fabric and often think first of the humble square but then disregard it at the same moment because it is "to easy". And then after a while of trawling through flickr and all my books I find myself going back to it because it is the best choice for the fabric. And I think this is the case here again.
I actually think some of my best quilts are made of squares. While going back to look for them on my blog I found that I actually only made 4 quilts from squares and I always thought it was way more. My favourites are 'Sleeping beauty' and 'Hey Ho Sailor', which actually sailed as far as to New Zealand where it found a new home. What do you think about the humble square ?

Last Sunday after I finally warmed up a trifle I cut all the fabric and pieced the top for the most part (well that is another advantage of the humble square; it is fast and undemanding). I added a few solids because I can never not put a bit of solid fabric in a quilt. To jazz it up this baby here needs a lot of quilting, don't you think ?

Stash Note 43

Aren't they handsome.....
I mean who can say no to such gorgeous man folk ?

 

Any suggestions to what use I could put those ? 

I was thinking a pillow maybe to put my weary head on, or a cover for my quilt scrap book.

I bought those two pieces of lushness from Alexander Henry's collection  'Heavy Equipment' (aptly named don't you think) from Fabric Inspirations here in the UK. 

Go and check them out they have a great selection of fabric and good choice of Sevenberry dots and stripes.

Stash Note 42

There are a lot of fabric lines that catch my eye, some delight me but there are few that utterly thrill me. Malka Dubrawsky's new line 'A stich in colour' for Moda is just one of those. Of course the line isn't really new as Malka has been screen printing her fabric for quite a while now and in fact I bought a selection of her pints last year that you can see here. I am so pleased that Malka used her prodigious design skills to produce a fabric collection that mirrors her own screen printed fabrics. I love hand printed fabrics but they are expensive and by having Moda produce a collection all of us fabric addicts have a more affordable way to buy these wonderfully colourful designs.

I procured a fat eights set from a shop called countrystitches  via e-bay of all places and can't wait to get stuck into it.

Look at those colours, isn't it amazing.

The collection isn't as wildly available as other Moda collection but Marmelade fabric and Moona fabric also sell the collection. None so far in the UK though (as far as I know).

Ruby Star Spring framed in linen

What does one do when a quilt is finished ? Start a new one of course.........its that easy.


The inspiration for this new project comes from three sources. The first is the arrival of the new collection 'Ruby Star Shining' from Melody Miller that I featured in my last stash note. I can't really start working with this before I have done something with Melody's last collection, Ruby Star Spring. This is a lighter version of the Kokka typical cotton linen blend and thus has a wonderful drape. It doesn't really lent itself well to bag making but very good to attire and of course quilts, always quilts. This is the collection that features those wonderful pixelated large bees. 

The second source of  inspiration was the wonderful bag quilt that Siobhan made during the Auriful challenge and that I spotted on the Fat quarterly blog.

And the third source of inspiration came from a fantastic linen remnant find at the Cloth House in Soho for a bargain of GBP 8. It is the piece at the bottom of the pile in the picture below. It is so gorgeous and with 1.50 x 1.10 the perfect size for the back of a quick blanket/throw/bag quilt or whatever you want to call it.

So I added another half meter of lighter linen for some sashing and some silk remnants I found in another shop in Soho and started piecing. After a while I decided to leave some of the brighter silks out of the equation in favour of the natural linen with the exception of one stripe of dark aubergine coloured silk in the lower half of the piece

 

My original plan was to then just sew the front to the linen back in a bag style fashion (right sides together, sew all around, leave a whole to turn the hole thing, close hole, done) without any wadding or quilting. I just want a light blanket of this gorgeous cotton/linen/silk blend that I can use when it gets just that little bit cool in the evening during the summer months (damm.... I just thought I lived somewhere where there is actually a long hot sweaty summer....). But then the lovely Corinne from Tikki Ltd made a comment that one could embroider the bees and that caught my attention and the thought did not want to go away anymore.

So I found myself sitting on my sofa last Sunday evening with an array for No 8 Perle cotton, my embroidery hoop doing some long long forgotten cross stitching. And I found I really enjoy it..... so I guess this isn't the quick project I imagined it to be after all.

 I used the following Finca Perle Cotton for Cross Stitching: No 2711 (lilac), 1485 (pale orange), 3670 (petrol), 2615 (pale lilac), 1742 (Pink), 8080 (dark brown) and DMC Mouline stranded cotton in 902 (Aubergine).

Countdown to Christmas - part 3 -

42 trees and whole lot of sashing later and the top of my 'Countdown to Christmas' quilt is finished !
I can't get enough of this fabric as it is so darn cute !
The big question is now what to do with the back and how to quilt it. I am adamant to use the entire jelly role plus all the left overs from the background fabric on this quilt which proofs a bit of a challenge.

Originally I was thinking to quilt in the  same manner as the little mini quilts were done emphasising the trees but this will be to much work when it comes to burying the quilting threads. I don't think I can face hundreds upon hundreds of threads to bury. It did cross my mind to QAG this one but then again that would have presented a much bigger challenge as to the quilt back. I think for the method I am keen to try out the squares are to small.

So I am thinking something along the lines of crosses or stars which is sort of festive too isn't it ?
Any suggestion are more than welcome.

 

Previous post on this quilt can be found here and here.

Stash Note 34

The last time I had a manic glee on my face was when the Eternal Maker had the entire new Ruby Star Spring collection before anybody had it in the US. That was at the Quilt Festival in Birmingham. I was literally bouncing up and down with joy and glee.

This week I was doing cartwheels (in my mind only though) when I saw the the regular newsletter from the fabulous Seamstar here in the UK. They sort of casually mentioned that they had new fabric. I wasn't really expecting anybody in the UK to stock 'Echo' by Lotta Jansdotter. But low and behold Seamstar has the entire collection weeks before the US is to receive them where the on-line stores give arrival dates of November and December. Lotta lives in New York and is of Swedish heritage. Her design have unsurprisingly Scandinavian influence.
She's got a great website, on- line shop and has also published a book. Go and check her out.

I love this collection. It is fresh, different and light and is suitable for all sort of sewing. Quilts of course but I see also dresses and skirts.

Countdown to Christmas - part 2 -

Hello there, it is Wednesday and that means half way through the working week......what a relieve.
Sunday night I made quite a bit of progress on my 'Countdown to Christmas' quilt for which I use the equally named Christmas collection from Sweetwater.

I cut templates for these blocks and will scan them today and post a link to them over the weekend in case anybody would like to use this pattern too. This was inspired by one of the Sweetwater quilts for their current 'Hometown' collection.

 

All of the trees are cut and sewn (I used a Jelly role) and most of the background fabric is attached. But I ran out and ordered some more from Hulu Craft which hopefully arrives today.

 

 

Previous post on this can be found here
Ho ho

Sugar and Spice - a finished quilt -

Yesterday I finished my Sugar and Spice quilt and I couldn't wait to share the pictures with you but by the time I had the last threads tied and buried in the quilt it was to dark. Luckily I have another week holiday this week so I took some photos this morning.
Prepare yourselves for an flood of photos.

First the top and back. The front you have already seen when I was constructing it but to recap this is made of half square triangles from the Sugar and Spice fabric collection from the Quilted Fish. The white halfs of the triangles are made from Kona white.

The colours of the collection I particularly loved where the green, aqua and red. I wasn't that fond of the softer pink parts and kept these to a minimum in the quilt.

For the back I used Kona Ash for the first time and am rather pleased how it offsets the two pieced strips I incorprated in the back. I quilted in straight lines along the squares thereby emphasising the pattern. I love how this shows most visible on the back of the quilt.

I infact was so fond of the squeeky fresh green that I decided to make that a feature of the binding and luckily my local quilt shop Tiki had just what the doctor prescribed. Look at that wonderful stripy green. Doesn't it remind you granny apples ? (Mind, I am more a breaburn kind of apple girl than a granny one come to think of it....).

The binding offsets the front and back perfect in my opinion and works so well with the Kona Ash.
I also changed my binding technique a bit. If you are a regular reader you probably know that I mostly machine stitch my bindings rather than machine stitch the binding onto the front and than handstitch it onto the back. I do this for several reasons. It saves time, doesn't kill my wrist and I think it looks really good. Normally I sew the binding onto the front and then fold it over to the back and then stitch it onto the back ensuring that the stitch line on the front is close to the binding. Recently I saw on a blog (sorry can't remember who) that it was done the other way around. So I tried it and must say I rather like the look of it and I find it easier on the whole.

And one can't go without a couple of lovely rolls.....

 And here the stats for anybody who is interested:

Size: 61 x 61 inches (1.55 m x 1.55 m)
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom 100% cotton
Quilting thread: Gutermann Sulky 30 in offwhite colour no 1071
HST: cut 72, 6 inch squares of patterned fabric and the same number of contrasting solid fabric
Binding: Sis Boom basics by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit bought at Tikki Ltd. in Kew (but I bought it all ...sorry)

Previous listings can be found here, here, here and here.

The quilt can be found in my ETSY store. Sold

Stash Note 32

I am back from a wonderful week in Italy and I thought the best way to start up the blog again after this mini break is a stash note.

I am a big fan Marie's quilts who blogs at the Quilting Edge. She has a unique way with fabric and loves to use stripes. This quilt here is my favourite of hers. She also has a fantastic quilt-as-you-go technique that I am keen to try out. You can find a tutorial on her blog. Her quilts have inspired me to stock up on more stripy fabric and I bought a somewhat indulgent stash of Kaffe Fassett stripes from Glorious Colours. God, this stuff is marvellous and feels so so soft. I want to combine this with my already existing stripe stash from my Oakshotts into a quilt inspired by Marie's work.

Stash Note 31

I could title this Pirates and Fruit really.
The first set of fabric is a fat quarter bundle of 'Pirates' by Emily Taylor for Riley Blake Designs. I love this collection as it is not shy with bold colours.

This fabric will be combined with other Pirate related fabric I already bought and made into a quilt for my nephew.

 There is even a good amount of black in there and look at these sculls, aren't they fantastic?

This Stash was bought at Fabricworm


And this little fruity number here is 'Fruit Punch' by Timeless Treasure and for ones I didn't buy it but won it in a giveaway over at Jennifer Ellison's. I won this exactly at the same time when I was hosting my last giveaway which I guess means that there is some sort of correlation between me winning and hosting give-aways.........

Stash Note 30

Not just a Stash Note today but already a work in progress.
I came across DelRay fabrics a few weeks ago thanks to the suggestion of  Fiona. They had free shipping for a while which of course is a massive bonus when one orders from the US. Browsing around I found that they stocked a jelly role and yardage of the new x-mas collection "Countdown to Christmas"  from the fantastic people of Sweetwater. I do love their collections and used the Pure collection recently to make my 'Laugh and Happiness.

So I bought my first ever Jelly role (they are messy things I can already say that much)

and some wonderful yardage.

I think this is one of the cutest Christmas fabric collections around at the moment and I immediatly resovled to use it for a quilt with Christmas trees. I did a few test blocks to find the best size and came up with these two. They were all slightly to small (truth be told I messed up the mesurements of boths) so I made them into mini-mini quilts. The instpiration came actually from a Sweetwater quilt for their new collection 'Hometown'  which is meant to inspire a nautical theme but I kind of thought immideatly of Christmas trees.

 Isn't the background fabric the cutest ever ?

Backside of the mini-mini quilts.

I have already cut all the pieces for the tree and started on the background fabric. The measurements are now for a 8 1/2 inch finished block to which I will add sashing in the red fabric.   If anyone is intersted then I will post a pattern link for this block  I am also almost tempted to propose an x-mas quilt along if people were interested but I am a little bit reluctant as there are so many quilt alongs around anyway and I have very little time at the moment. I would have time in the second half of October though.

One buttery soft quilt is finished

My latest quilt is finished.

I started it right after I finished the 'Very Berry' quilt as I was longing for something light to glide through my fingers after the mountains of fabric I had handled for some time. 'Deep Blue Sea' (I think this name is a bit more suitable than notions of butter) is entirely made of cotton voile which has the most incredibly soft feel to it.
The design was led by the colours I had in my stash. I wanted to stay in the turquoise/ blue range of the wonderful lines of Anna Maria Horner's 'Lou Lou Thi' and Tula Pink's 'Prince Charming'. I also added a bit of  the 'Little Folks' line from Anna Maria Horner.

I cut strips of about 38 inches in different width for this quilt and simply build up until I reached a pleasant layout. In the end the length came to about 46 inches. 

The back of the quilt is kept somewhat indulgently in Anna Maria Horner's 'Clipping Forest' also from the 'Lou Lou Thi' range.

The binding is from Tula Pink's 'Prince Charming' quilt.

I machine quilted straight lines in Guerterman Sulky 30 in colour 1328 which is silvery grey, almost ice grey actually and very shiny. This colours has fast become one of my favourite quilting colours as it works well with almost anything. I also added a few hand quilted lines in various colours with Perle thread no 8 which adds a lovely contrast.

The softness of cotton voile makes it a little bit tricky to sew and baste as it tends to slip and slide easily. The  strips were nonetheless easy to sew together but it would be a bit more tricky if I had chosen smaller pieces are a more complex design. Basting this quilt was also a little bit challenging as the voile did not stick to any tape I had in the house. Again the small size was advantageous and I managed to get the back smooth in the end but I can see that one would be better of basting with two people if the quilt was bigger.

I literally can't stop myself stroking this quilt and I am sure there will be many more coming in this range.

The quilt can be found in my Etsy Shop for purchase. Sold