HSTs as far as the eyes can see

Here's a few pics of what I've been working on this week
- my 'triangle tiles' WiP

You know, I must have stared at the inspiration vintage quilt over & over so many times, trying to work out just what it was that appealed to me about this quilt, {see back here}.

For one thing, it's scrappy, and I like the make-do look about it with the occasional non-matching 'rogue' squares. And I do love the clever colour palette.
To me, it's essentially a pink & blue quilt, with the blues being in the majority. There's a few other pink/peach combos and a red or three thrown in, and some greys. There's also a couple of really random bright orange-y/gold fabrics in the original quilt.

It's such a wonderful quilt.

Question is,
can I shop my stash and make it work?

After making a few blocks I could see things needed editing even a little more. So today I've been trying to bridge the gap between the really saturated colours with a few more blending blocks so things merge a bit and, as Julie from quiltdivajulie recently commented, so it all looks more cohesive.

With this in mind, I prepared a selection of blocks. Lots of blues with a wide range of hues & a few pinks, all cut and ready to sew . . . scrap fabrics & a simple block . . . sewday . . . I checked the time and a couple of hours had gone.

Here's how the design wall is looking now . . .

HSTs as far as the eyes can see
- and more underway!

Linking up with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread Thursday'

weekend sewing

I love it when one thing leads onto another, don't you?

This was an unplanned project, inspired by a recent post by Julie from quiltdivajulie which then sent me searching for the vintage quilt in her story. I found it in the new separate pattern series from quiltfolk. When you download the pattern you get both the vintage 'source' pattern and a modern 'revival' pattern, in this case one made by Tula Pink. But I'm sticking to a version of the source quilt, "triangle tiles". 

{"triangle tiles" inspiration vintage quilt}

You know I have a bit of a love/hate thing with HSTs, but one thing I have learnt is to cut my squares larger than the finished half-square triangle size to give a little extra room to trim them square. Do you do this too?
I made up a few trial blocks, then narrowed things down just a little with my colour palette. And like the inspiration quilt, I still want it to be a confetti of scrappy colour, with two prints per block, and a few rogue blocks thrown in to add interest. There's heaps & heaps of HSTs, hopefully it'll make a dent in my blue stash.

Yep, I'm thinking I'll keep on making more of these. 

Great to have something simple to piece in those {precious} weekend sewing moments.

Pop on over here #quiltfolk to see more.

Linking up with with Sandra for dreami #19 

where you can see what other 'unplanned' projects people have been making this month.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, "Dreami" = DRop Everything And Make It"

J

whimsy quilt top {+ lots of pics}

Quilt Top Stats:

'Candied Flowers'

is my version of "Whimsy" a pattern from Judy Newman's book,
 'quilts made for life made with love' - see here for details
I started making this quilt in June 2017, slowly piecing a few blocks at a time

I decided it was an ideal way to showcase my large florals
Each centre flowery octagon was framed with a blending itty bitty print

and set on the same neutral background throughout

There are a couple of cheeky inset seams which proved challenging at the beginning 

but the hardest decision for me was choosing the stripe

Love the 2dary circular pattern that appears when viewed from a distance.

Machine pieced

Finished top measures 122.5 x 167.5 cm (49" x 67")

Linking up with Sarah for 'can I get a whoop whoop' here at confessionsofafabricaddict
and with Caroline here at sewcanshe
and also with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework

whimsy quilt {update}

You saw what was currently up on my design wall last week, including those five 'whimsy' blocks, yes? They had been up there for quite some time, so I decided I would update you all on my progress as I've been working on this WiP lately.

It always seems to take me a while to get back into the swing of making these blocks. 

Note to self: needle down, scant 1/4 " seams, breathe . . . 

. . .  but by the time I'd pieced these four more, I was pretty much on a roll

Judy Newman's pattern calls for 35 pieced blocks, each measuring 22.5cms (9") square. For earlier details about my quilt progress pop back here. I thought I should do a bit of a head count too, I figured I must be nearly there by now, fingers crossed.

And a lovely surprise, I had finished 30 blocks, only five more to go! Not a hard ask after making all the others, so last thing today I began stash diving for a few more florals to finish the last five blocks. Linking up with Kelly for 'needle and thread Thursday' here and with Myra for 'finished {or not} Friday' over here

And my minature daffys have started popping out
Spring must be just around the corner . . .

'oh scrap' and whatever happens to our 'old' quilts?

So lovely to go visiting today and see one of my older quilts
still being loved
and still being used

This was a quilt I made way back in 2009. I used a pattern from one of Kathy & Sarah's earlier books, 'material obsession'. It was called 'retro starburst' by Kathy Doughty, and she used big graphics, big flowers & bold spots.
I went for big-ish flowers and a scrappy selection of pink to red strips, with a bit of 'bold' blue, brown & gold thrown in too. I remember having fun with the placement of light & darks between the blocks, giving an improv feel to the quilt. I still love that brown/blue Kaffe spot I used for the side borders & the binding. I had it professionally quilted in an all-over 'retro flower' pattern. And then I gave it away, as you do.

 

Do you see any of your 'old' quilts now & then too, after gifting?

 Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework

wordless Wednesday {the 'what's on my design wall' edition}

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It's looking a bit crowded

Linking up to 'design wall Monday' over here

brimfield blocks

I thought I'd share my latest project obsession, 
I've started making the brimfieldblockstar quilt, aka " Linda meets brimfield with love"

All was quite around here today so I spent some time doing a spot of slow stitching. As I've just discovered, this quilt is full of creative opportunites to fussy cut and use -ve space. I started out with a couple of fabrics I had recently purchased from the new lovedtopieces collection and a scrappy assortment of other AGF fabrics. It'll be interesting to see how it all comes together as I'm using my usual approach and just planning each block individually.

It's been awhile since I did any EPP, so nice to slow down & simply stitch. I'm using a 'whip' stitch to join things. Those melon shaped curves were a tad challenging, but I got the hang of it by the time I was onto adding no.5!

True to form, I'm having a bit of a battle over my background fabric choice. My initial pick was AGF pure elements in grapefruit, but I'm still tossing up about that. So I'll hold fire and not actually stitch this first block down until I've made a few more up & see how they all look together.

Only eleven more blocks to go, very do-able I think.

Linking up tomorrow with Kathy from kathysquilts for 'slow sunday stitching'
and with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' over here

Here's the links for a few EPP tips & tricks that I came across -
a beautiful post by Florence from flossieteacakes here
and another informative one here 'EPP101' by Jodi from talesofcloth
oh, and check out this link here to see Jen Kingwell chatting about EPP