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 ?

Just in time - one finshed Pirate themed quilt

This is definitional the last quilt I finish before Christmas but not the last one this year as I still have to make a small one for my new god-daughter Anya who I will be seeing just after Christmas.

For now I wish you all a very merry Christmas and say goodbye until next week with some images of my finished "Pirates, Doges and Bones"quilt that I made for the most important little man in my world; my nephew and godson Hauke.

Hauke

The front of the quilt is made of 192  5 inch squares measuring in total about 60 x 80 inches  (2 x 1.5 m). I used fabric from my stash including the specifically purchased pirate themed fabric by Emily Taylor Pirate and Alexander Henry 'Bizness Pirate. I also added quite a few Timeless Treasure 'Dogs' and replaced the amount of sculls with cute little dogs and bones thereby a bit. After all I don't want Hauke to have nightmares.

I also kept two of the prints that have such wonderful detail as plam trees, boats and maps on them as large pieces because fussy cutting wouldn't have worked here. I also hope it adds a kind of "I spy" effect to the quilt top.

 

The back is a print wiht lots of blue stars on a cream backround from the 'Amercian Banner Rose ' collection from Moda purchased at my local Tikki quilt store (and yes Corinne you were right with the choice of fabric for the back and also with the binding !)

  

I kept the quilting simple in straight lines along the seam lines which I must confess is one of my favourite straight line quilting "patterns" - simple yet so beautiful.

 

  

I used a lovely stripy number again for the binding to give the quilt a little bit of a kick. The stripes are from the Lecien basics collections and were also bought at  Tikki. I love the black and white contrast.

 

I really really love this quilt and hope my nephew will enjoy it for many years to come. 

I wish you all lots of food, lots of help with the washing up; hopefully some breathing space in between and as few quarrels as possible (let's face it x-mas never passes without them entirely) over the festive days.

See you all after Christmas !

Pirates, Dogs and Bones

Having finished 'Lotta fly away' last week I wasted no time moving on to a new quilt project. After some contemplation I decided I'll make a quilt for my little nephew for Christmas although I already bought a book for him. That will make it two presents from me which is not something we normally do but my excuse is that he is my godson and he will get a normal single bed soon, so he needs a new quilt.

I am using my Emily Taylor Pirate,  Timeless Treasure 'Dogs', Alexander Henry 'Bizness Pirate' for this plus others from my stash.

Have a lovely Sunday
Judith

Baby Blankets

A few weeks back I finally got a chance to do something with the yardage of Robert Kaufmann Flannels I bought back in Spring when I was holidaying in the US. I had these earmarked for Baby blankets but never really had the right cotton print to go with it (or thought I didn't). I bought flannels in solid colours and made a point of buying more neutrals and blues as I wanted to make baby blankets for boys and girls alike. I find it often more difficult to get colours for boys and it seams that the market is more geared towards baby girls.

Flannels or so soft and I think these blankets are great little gifts and so practical as they aren't bulky and are very light.

All of the blankets are about 34 x 34 inches apart from the chicken one that is a little bigger and I am listing them all in my Etsy Shop later today.

The first one here is called "Chicken" and is my favourite. It has a cream coloured flannel backing and a  chicken print on the front that I think is from Robert Kaufmann but I am not sure anymore. 

Aren't these chickens the best !

These really are very easy to make as you just take a yard of flannel and a yard of cotton, cut them exactly the same size, put right sights together and sew around leaving an opening to turn. Turn the blanket around and sew on the right sight around the edge one more time thereby also closing the opening, add a label if you want and you are done.

The second one is called "Alphabet" and has a soft green flannel backing with an alphabet print from the Punctuation collection from American Jane.

And the last one is  called "Rush hour" and has a deep blue flannel backing with an Alexander Henry print called "Rush hour".