zigzag finish

Way back in December last year I dipped into my 'outback wife' fabrics to make my 'zig zag' quilt. These lovely barkcloth florals are a really interesting fabric, with a unique texture and vintage vibe. I loved reading the design stories about these fabrics too, like this one here about Elaine - follow the link to check out more.

I'm a big fan of LeeAnn from niftyquilts work and my initial inspiration for the 'zig zag' quilt came from this photo here that I had saved ages ago.

I had my quilt custom quilted by Leeanne from 'quiltmekiwi'. I find it’s always a tricky thing, deciding on a machine quilting pattern that doesn’t compete with or overpower the actual piecing. Leeanne-my-quilter lives up north, so we chatted via email quite a bit, with lots of photos going back & forth, before I settled on a quilting pattern.

And when it’s being quilted ‘away from home’ I never know if I’ve made the right decision until the quilt comes back to me. However, if you look closely I'm sure you will agree, the quilting on this is amazing. 

- meet Johnny, my little helper today

A few quilt stats:
Pieced by sewing up HSTs
 - lots of 'zigzag' tutorials can be found online, like this one here
Fabrics included 'outback wife' and a selection of other scrappy bits from my stash
I used a Jen Kingwell stripe that had been sitting in my stash for sometime for the binding.
Cotton batting
Finished quilt measures 52" x 62"
Heaps of inspiration for a 'zigzag' quilt can be found here
I'm very excited to get this one finished.

Linking up with Myra for 'finished (or not) Friday' here at busyhandsquilts
with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework
and with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread Thursday'

spring is in the air

Recently I've seen tulips popping up everywhere, here, here and here and over here too. Well, a long long time ago, I began these scrappy, string pieced tulips. I used Gwen Marston's pattern, from her book Liberated String Quilts, and a selection of mainly Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

And today, as we free-fall into Spring here in NZ and with daylight saving coming up this weekend, I decided to dig them out to try and move this project forward, even if just a little bit.

Flashback Alert: My original plan, years ago, was to applique each tulip onto an assortment of scrappy neutral backgrounds, something like this . . .

Like many, my tastes have changed evolved over the years and the blocks don't look right to me now. The different backgrounds & sashing colour combo appears dated and it all seems to me to fight with the tulips. Luckily I had only stitched two tulips down, so it's an easy unpick.

I've decided to try out a few different options - like maybe a selection of reds {and, I won't have to go shopping which is always a plus}. My inspiration came from the cover quilt of Georgia Quilts by Anita Zeleski Weinraub.

or maybe even something a bit more like this . . .

I've had these tulip blocks floating around in my head all this week,
waiting til I had some time to play,
and I can't wait to see where this goes . . . watch this space!

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework
and over with Lorna too for 'let's bee social' here at sewfreshquilts

a new spin on tradition

Quilt stats:

'Star Crossed' quilt

pattern from the book "utility style quilts for everyday living" by Sharon Holland

I used a fabric stack of a recently released fabric collection as my starting point
- lovestoryfabrics by Maureen Cracknell
I then added in a DS plaid, a few quirky vintage prints and a couple of blending peachy solids

. . . the surprising colour and fabric combos put a new spin on this traditional block
 don't you think?

Beautifully custom quilted by Leeanne Hopper @ quiltmekiwi using cotton batting
Finished quilt measures 62" x 88" 

Linking up to the bloggers quilt festival here at amyscreativeside

its not a quilt until it's quilted #2

Another little finish this weekend - my 'landslide' quilt
This was a great low-stress project for me, simple in both design & stitching.
And the fabrics are just so calming with all those scrappy neutrals

I had it professionally quilted in an edge to edge freehand 'continous 8' pattern
by Leeanne from 'quiltmekiwi'.

I've finally started to enjoy this part of the 'quiltmaking process'
hand stitching the binding down is such a lovely way to appreciate all the fabrics, all over again

I also had time this weekend to stitch down the binding on my 'values' quilt
so I made the most of a lovely spring day and got a little snap happy

Two more scrappy patchwork throws to add to the collection
- just until they find new homes of course

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here
and with Michelle for a new linky party 'brag about your beauties' here at frombolttobeauty

it's not a quilt until it's quilted #1

I dedicated a bit of time recently to giving my WiPs some focused attention, mostly to try and finish up a few things. I made up some quilt backs, selected options for bindings, made a few straight line quilting decisions on a smaller quilt, and also sent a couple of quilts off to be professionally quilted.

First up, my 'values' quilt. This little scrappy HST block was the beginning of my 'values' quilt, inspired by Blair's quilt in Blairs 'wisecraft quilts' book. 
I have a bit of a love-hate reationship with HSTs, but the simple half square unit really is so versatile and can be made quickly and accurately using various methods.
I used some of my favourite scraps and I really loved playing with the colour values in this soft palette, it never gets boring.

I decided I'd get this sweet quilt quilted by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi . She lives up north in Whangarei, NZ where she has operated her home based machine quilting business for many years. We chose an edge to edge pattern called 'mesmerize'  and I am very happy with how it's turned out. 

- at the quilters

It feels really good to be making some progress on a few of my quilts finally
. . . and yes, it's not a quilt until it's quilted.
However, it's not actually finished until that last little bit of binding is all stitched down, 

and so, you guessed it, I'll be busy this weekend adding the binding. 

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

and with Myra for 'finished (or not) Friday' here at busyhandsquilts