Betsy Rose quilt on the design wall

Sometimes you just have to ditch your 20 other WIPs and start WIP 21!

and, I really needed a break from deeply saturated colours so this mix of dusky, pretty prints fits the bill.

I've been keen to start my Betsy Rose quilt, a recent PDF pattern from sewbehome. The quilt features a beautiful rose cross stitch element, but not something I'd enjoy doing. Instead, I thought I'd simply swop it out for part of a vintage tablecloth or embroidery piece.

But things didn't go smoothly at first (nothing pattern related I hasten to add) ... I didn't have a large enough piece of the *grey gingham for my background, so I joined two pieces. It'll be okay by the time things get quilted, I'm sure.
And then, I auditioned several large florals for my centerpiece, and guess what, I wasn't able to cut out the one nice large floral bouquet piece from the fabric I picked. So, I cut out my flowers from all the leftover bits, then machine raw edge appliqued them down into a pretty bunch, sticking extra little green leaves into any gaps! 
*In case you may think your eyes are playing up, that grey gingham is a delightful little piece called 'sorbet gingham' and it has a kind of mottled, shady cross-stitch effect.

My colour concept is simple - pink, blue, green, yellow in a mix of Liberty and assorted other itty-bitty prints, with solids, oh and don't forget the gingham! 

Loving this distinct vintage flare. And I'm hoping an all-vintage stash isn’t really needed though, as most of my blocks are going to be made with 'modern' fabrics, ones which I think lean towards that 'vintage vibe'. 

inspired

Taking time to be inspired by fabric

It all started with a luscious woven check, 

Windowbox in Sea gardenvarietyfabrics by annamariatextiles. 

Loving this little group of pretty

... uh oh, I've been here for over an hour, no sewing just having fun faffing around with fabric! 

borders backings and bindings oh my!

This week I've been busy planning borders, making up backings & deciding on possible binding fabrics. Here's a few pics & plans for a few of my quilt tops. 

My bohemian TATW quilt was started back in March 2025. It's a fun quilt, created by making 2 of the same block construction-wise but they vary in the colour mix. Block A is a playful scrappy 4 colour combo while Block B is a repeat of the same intense b&W stripe, pink & gold colours. And these two blocks flick back and forth across the design.

When I laid it out, I decided to add another border to bring it up to more of a cuddle quilt size. Actually, I hadn't really planned on making a "pink" quilt ... but the pinks kept popping up, like in those path-like squares around each block and then again when I added that 2nd border in a light pink floral! And as if it was meant to be, deep in my stash I found 2 metres of this Kaffe 'stone flower' in yellow with the pink floral motif - a random purchase years ago - too perfect not to use as a backing.

This pink quilt is growing on me! 

My cabin nights quilt is about as pastel as I can get! Love love loved making this one - with lots of teeny tiny 2" HSTs - and wanted to get it finished as soon as. Super happy with the contrast of a few bright florals with the muted greens & soft pinks & light backgrounds.
For a backing, I added a few borders to my scrappy light/dark HSTs diamond quilt to get it a little bigger than my quilt top.

You'll have recently seen progress pics of my iced vovo quilt here on the blog, another quilt I am keen to get finished. I included a healthy dose of pink florals, as a little nod to the original, along with the occasional darker print for contrast and added interest. My busy bright mix feels more like a gloriously messy tangled garden.

I chose a soft 'floating log cabins' quilt top in lots of lights with accents in plum as my backing. I did add wide borders to the backing, again to facilitate loading onto the long arm quilting machine.

Housetop 9block variation quilt top was made back in February 2024, time to turn it into a quilt. 

I went a bit loosey goosey here, making my own version of a 'house top' block, a favourite block obviously inspired by the Gees Bend quilters and their amazing quilts & a recent quilt from Windham Fabrics. 

Love a quilt that's made from 'leftover' pieces from past quilts, it's a real trip down memory lane. I recently read this ... This quilt is proof that scraps aren’t leftovers, they’re future quilts waiting to happen ... I guess it's true around here too!

My gentle soft 'green' log cabin quilt top was virtually the same size, so I'm using it as a backing. Yep, log cabins back & front! 

🧚

Fingers crossed the quilting fairy can work her magic soon

WiP #3: Linda's string it along quilt

This week I've also been tackling #3 on my list of WiPs.

 

This project stalled when I ran out of the peach fabric I was featuring across the center of each block. The new fabric did eventually arrive but by then I was onto something else! 

Here's a few progress pics of my bright & bold string quilt ...

I’m super happy with this peach centre strip 

– it’s giving the most delicious lattice effect and pulling the whole quilt together beautifully!

... Over summer I find it's nice to have an easy project to work on, sometimes you just don’t want to think too hard. So, I've been taking a dive back into the vibrant world of these string quilt blocks. I managed to locate 20 9" blocks, and I've made some major progress this week, finishing at 36 blocks✅.

For those curious, here's a few details of my colour story ...

I went for a mixed palette in peach/caramel/purples/blue, repeating many fabrics.
I decided to use a peach print as my center strip in each block, it works well connecting everything up and gives the eye a place to rest on my busy blocks.
My strips were all inconsistent widths throughout, to give that organic look.
And I love how the soft mauves create a true wonky diamond shape where the blocks meet (luckily, I had put aside a little bundle of them, so I was able to continue with this idea).

I also added a few 'lighter' blocks into the mix, and it's all looking so good.

I cut into some larger coordinating fabric pieces from my stash as well as bits & pieces from my scrappy strips & strings basket. I wanted it to feel scrappy but to also have an obvious colour theme running through.  

Now it can join the other tops in the ever-growing pile…

Linda

WiP #2: baby checkered garden quilt

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working on a few WiPs.

🩷💙🩶💜🩷

Sometime back in November 2024, I fell down the #checkeredgardenquilt rabbit hole. Again! These 14" blocks began as a bit of a side project to use up my somewhat limited stash of solids, pop back here for more early details, checkered garden quilt. I know the pattern (from Ashley @ filminthefridge) so well now, it’s such a fun one to play with mixing and matching.

I went with a scrappy palette from my stash in pretty pinks, purple and blues, a few rogue oranges & yellow/golds, along with a mix of shadowy greys for those background corners. Super happy with the contrast of the pretty shades against the grey tones. Oh, and despite starting out thinking this would be an all-solids project, I ended up slipping in some prints along the way!

I couldn't remember my original plan for these blocks - like how many blocks? whether to add borders or not? etc - so today I simply joined them up, added a zappy pink border... et voila ... WiP #2 is now ready for some quilting. 

How are your WiPs shaping up this week? 

WiP #1: little miss sawtooth star

Like many, there's plenty of unfinished projects here chez Linda's.

This month, inspired by hydeeann, I'm revisiting a few projects that need finishing up. 

My 'little miss sawtooth star' sampler quilt is neither shy nor retiring, or finished ... one day soon it will be. These 12" sawtooth stars are a classic block made with a combo of fun centers and were 1st in my WiP queue. 

I had recently bought a length of Anna Maria’s Beata's Garden from her *Good Gracious collection and used that as my focus fabric. 

It was a quick sew to join up all my 'little miss sawtooth' blocks and then I added a little border which, unexpectedly, ended up as the perfect complement.

I'm super happy with the vibrant flowery vibe with this one, all the bright colours and bold patterns work so well together. 
 

*Oh, good gracious 

... I loved each block as I made it, 

but then when they were all stitched up together, I loved them even more!

Pop back soon to see what's next on my WiP list.

Linda

iced vovo in busy brights

Over the holidays the iced vovo quilt caught my eye, from @jenkingwell @amitietextiles_newhome from her new book, Gathered. I wanted my version to look quite scrappy and have enjoyed digging deep into my stash. I tried to include a healthy dose of pink, as a little nod to the original, along with the occasional darker print for contrast and added interest. 

Unlike the inspirational quilt* (which has lots of pastel small-scale pink fabrics) my busy bright mix feels more like a gloriously messy tangled garden. 

I've been slowly making the 8" blocks whenever I get back in the sewing room. I decided to stop at a 7 x 7 layout, as I'm not wanting to make really big quilts anymore. It seems like it took me forever to sew the blocks together because there were so many seams to match, but I got there, and now this quilt top is all in one piece! 

*iced vovo by Jen Kingwell was named after Australia’s pink & cream (and irresistibly tasty) biscuit.

And here's a few one-line synopses of my holiday reading ...

'Wild Dark Shore' by Charlotte McConaghy, my best read so far this year.

A novel of heart stopping twists, dizzying beauty and ferocious love, this is a story about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us is ending.

'Buckeye' by Patrick Ryan

Propelled by an irresistible cast of characters, Buckeye is a warm, funny and emotional novel about two families living in one small town, bound together by secrets that will not stay buried.

'Last One Out" by Jane Harper 

A rather different novel from Jane Harper, it's a location driven drama about a family grieving and a town dying, very much a slow burner.

"Mad Mabel" by Sally Hepworth

Again, not what I was expecting, but I did enjoy getting to know Mabel as we learnt about the secrets of her past, an entertaining quirky read.  

Until next time, Linda