show & tell

Time for a little show & tell. 

Late last year I had two quilts back from Annette-the-quilter and I have been busy stitching down the bindings these past few evenings.
My vintage 'Blanket Bay' quilt is all finished now. It has the look of improv about it but I did use an actual pattern, see here. This quilt was inspired by beach holiday homes of the past, where furnishings were often an eclectic mix of mismatched florals, just like we had at our beach house. {see this post here for more about my quilt}.
It's quite a big quilt, measuring 165cms x 180cms. Annette quilted an all-over clamshell pattern, which I thought blended in nicely with the mix & don't match beachy look. I backed it with an old vintage sheet from our beach house and the binding is a blue & white narrow stripe.

Very happy to start the year off with "a finish" from the ever growing WiP pile!

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

barijquiltalong {more pics}

Loving the gentle pace of this quiltalong.
It’s such a lovely way to interact with other quilter’s and share a few ideas
- like adding a little 'coral stitch' to the leaves on my 'ivy vine' block

Lots more photos of other's progress too over here on IG @ barijquiltalong

Looking forward to the next pattern release,
I think there are quite a few Dresden Plates coming up soon

strings on a Sunday

The house situation is slowly falling into place, it's taken a bit of time & juggling but settlement dates are all lined up nicely now. As I've got a little bit of spare time, I have been sewing. I want to get this old top off the WiP pile. this year. for. sure!

Another stash quilt, one I've had on the go -slowly- for a couple of years now. I had cut out a pile of 1 1/2 " strings and made up a couple of the sections, and then I stopped.
It's an easy quilt to make with lots of repetitive stitching, just what I feel like at the moment. It does take a bit of time to join all the strings out to the points of the triangles though, and the joining seams tend to get bulky, I guess that's why it's taking me so long to get this top together!

One complete star block

I'm using Kathy's pattern 'Pop Stars' from one of her earlier books with Sarah Fielke Material Obsession Two. Unlike Kathy's vibrant version, I'm embracing the all-over scrappy pastel look. I'm keeping similar blue strips for the outside circle (on most sections) to help make the spiderweb work. And I'm trying to get a good mix of light & medium fabrics, recycling some old favourites and alternating the warm & cool fabrics. The star blocks each work out at 21 1/2", it's going to end up quite a big quilt I think.

I've been adding the sections up on the design wall as I go, it's fun watching it all grow.

Four big star blocks done, 8 more to go, and then there are 8 half star blocks
But I can't make up any more yet as I'm waiting for more of the Kaffe spot to arrive.
Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here  
and with Em for 'moving it forward' over here      

And here's a photo of 'the chair'

It was my mum's chair for many years, she had it in her bedroom. 

The original fabric was very faded

so the other day I decided to have a bit of a go at diy cushion covers.

I used a lovely piece of outbackwife fabric and I'm very pleased with the result.

the Evie Quilt

The time is fast approaching when even my sewing room will be all boxed up :(  So I'm making the most of these last few days getting some hand stitching projects all sorted and making a couple of quick quilts.

Sometimes we just need some fast project ideas, for a gift maybe, a deadline coming up real quick like our settlement date, or just to get back into sewing mode after a break. Little quilts are my favourite fast finish, a great way to try out ideas, fabrics, color combinations, and of course, just perfect for teaching purposes!

One quilt I revisit often is the bricks path quilt, a real 'utility' type of quilt. I'm finding more & more this simple rectangular shape can turn out to be a real delight, depending on your fabric choices.
I've been working on this little quilt using fabrics from my stash basket, like many I'm serious about sewing from my stash this year.

- close up of the binding

the Evie Quilt
A new quilt for Evie,
I'm sure a few sleepovers in Granny's new house will be in my future
- especially as we will be living so much closer!

So many of my favourite fabrics in this
My colour combo here was pink, taupe & blues with accents in plum & gold.
I'm thinking a vintage floral sheet backing
& the dusky pink binding will really finish this off nicely - in a girly sort of way.
Quilt top measures 150cms x 110cms, with each rectangle cut 3 1/2" x 7 1/2"

We all love a quick project once in a while

- I'd love to hear about your favourite.

Linking up this week with Beth from 'cooking up quilts' for 'main crush Monday' here

and with Esther for 'WOW: WiPs on Wednesdays' here

a pretty stack

On my worktable this afternoon . . .

Boxes everywhere here, but taking a break from packing the house up today
Mixing up the old with the new,
something simple
& back in my happy scrappy comfort zone 

J

low volume love

I have been keeping up with my blocks for the barijquiltalong  over the summer hols and I thought I'd check today to see just how they were all looking together so far.

I'm really enjoying seeing how this restful pale palette develops
- I'm usually all bright & bold with my colour selection so this is quite a change for me

Loving putting these low volumes and pretty florals together

Linking up with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' here at busyhandsquilts

and with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework
- pop on over to see what others are busy making

barijquiltalong

Happy New Year everyone! Here we are, right at the start of a whole new year. For me, this is always a good time to try & get more organized, and prioritise my WiPs. I'm keeping up with each new pattern for the boho patchwork quiltalong as they come out, have a little peep . . .

Ten little sweet 'mod tulip' blocks . . .

and some super simple 'filler' blocks . . .

Anthologie Quilt is a sampler quiltalong that I joined in with late last year. Pop on over here at barijquiltalong and here at SouthernCharmQuilts with Melanie to catch up.
Next time it's lots of Dresden plates, the biggest part of the quilt. Looking forward to adding lots of lovely extra touches to the centres, like collage, crochet lace and sashiko to give it all a little extra boho flair.

So yep, I've been looking at my WiP list and working out what's next. I'm making steady progress on my 'whimsy' blocks blocks from last year and as I come across any stripey blue fabrics I've been making up a few more 'handkerchief corner' blocks too.
And then I may have just got a little bit sidetracked {again} over the summer hols with a new project, but more about that next time.