meadowland quilt {update}

Here's a few progress photos . . .

- I spy four more blocks ready to go

- love a bit of navy blue

As you can see, I've used quite a quirky selection of fabrics, lots of soft greys, Liberty, Tilda, C&S, and favourite ginghams, along with my hoarded - very few - vintage fabrics and a couple of doilies.

I chose to work block by block for my *scrappy version, so I had to spend a bit of time the other day trying to get a nice balance of colour and contrast happening. I wanted a soft vintage-y looking quilt, nothing too bold. And so a little unpicking was needed, because when I thought I was nearly done, I realised that one block was way way too dark, so that had to be altered.

After some reshuffling up on the design wall, I left it all up there for a day or so before I stitched it together.

- it's a lovely Autumn day here

and the bright sun seems to have washed out the colours a bit

I did enjoy following the quiltalong, seeing how others interpreted Meghan's pattern was interesting. Here's a few links for you to check out too - Petra on ig  Abby on ig (love the florals with gingham!) Laura on ig and Anne on ig

* I think if you use the 'meadowland' quilt pattern as it's written for fat quarters, after cutting each of your 12 (16) (20) FQ into the required pieces, you then mix and match the combinations. I'm guessing that if you only use those selected FQ - instead of going all-out scrappy like I did -  it leads to some sort of nice balance happening quite naturally - whether you go bright or soft & pretty, or use all-solids or a curated fabric bundle.

I'm tempted to give this another go sometime, using a FQ bundle too
I loved making these blocks ❤
Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' over here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework

until next time

Linda

vintage vibes

I missed joining in with the recent 'meadowlandqal' but thought now I have some spare moments I'd have a go at making the quilt anyway. I'm using Then Came June’s popular Meadowland pattern.
Like the pattern, I'm planning on playing a little with the values in each block however, unlike the pattern, I'm using a scrappy selection of prints instead of going for the all-solid look.

I started out with a vintage inspired colour story in my mind - of soft greys, pink, teal, blues, green of course and just a little chartreuse, oh and maybe purple. Having a neutral background in assorted light greys & other low volumes helps the blocks to 'pop' and I'm hoping using a few hoarded vintage fabrics and doilies for my centre squares will make this a bit special. Will it work?

Once a few fun fabric decisions were made, the blocks went together very easily

Here's some progress photos . . .

Linking up with Wendy for this weeks 'peacock party' over here

Until next time
Linda

overlapping octagons

- planning & reshuffling things on the 'design floor'

- just captured the late afternoon sun

This week I've spent a bit of time working on my 'overlapping octagons' quilt {you may remember this WiP from back here}. I used mainly Amy Butler prints for the strip piecing and the corner squares, and I teamed them up with about six different neutrals.

But things have changed since I first began piecing this. And I ended up unpicking quite a bit to get the 'look' I wanted. The all-solid reds looked way too overpowering to me, so I added in different reds, including a red & white gingham - love the way the vintagey checks add so much extra appeal. And I also liked the way the reds and the blues played together, so I made sure there was quite a good scrappy selection of blue prints scattered throughout the quilt.
Some octagons are more obvious than others, loving this perfectly imperfect look. My finished quilt top measures approx 125cms x 175cms.

And on the +side, it fits the brief for both the uanduqal and the recent adhoc: improvquilts challenge too. Also linking up with Em for 'moving it forward' here at emsscrapbag and with Kelly for 'needle and thread Thursday' over here at myquiltinfatuation

it's binding time again

Two of my recent quilt makes have come back home

and I will be busy adding the bindings sometime over the Easter weekend.

My 'camomile' quilt was custom quilted and looks wonderful

Floral binding? yes please!

- backing closeup pic

And my 'moda love' quilt is quilted in an edge to edge lacy pattern called phoebe . . .

stripey binding? yes please!
- but which one?

My choices are a toss up between an Amy Butler stripey lookalike or a pretty Tilda cream stripe

- backing closeup pic

I ended up using this wonderful Tula stripe in pink & gold, perfect! 

The magic of Leeanne's quilting has just made the whole quiltmaking process so much quicker!
And she's getting to know my quilting preferences really well. 

She has lots more pics of my latest two quilts over here on her ig feed

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

Happy Easter everyone

little miss sawtooth quilt top

Here's a few progress photos from over the past week . . .

- on the design floor

 #5 Olivia

#1 Millie

#6 Ava

#2 Josephine

Quilt Stats: 'little miss sawtooth star' quilt top

I found that this quilt was a great way to use up some of my stash. I'm usually all about colour, lots of colour, but I must say I've so enjoyed this softer look featuring low volume fabrics. I used loads of low volumes, and you may notice that I've weaved just a little bit of more colour into my selections. 

And, I also tried to get a good scrappy assortment of medium prints, with the occasional darker/brighter one to help the colours 'pop' just a little more.

The Sawtooth Star (which goes way back to the 1860’s apparently) is a very versatile star, it can be made different just by simply changing up the centre. I've used 6 different sawtooth star blocks, and repeated a few favourites. These have been alternated with the background filler squares to give a total of 30 blocks, free pattern here by Melanie from southerncharmquilts.

My version is slightly different to the pattern - I made all my star points scrappy. In the pattern, the 8 points in each block are from the same fabric.

Finished top measures 60" × 72″  It feels so good to have made this quilt top all from my stash. 

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' over here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework, and with Kelly for 'needle and thread Thursday' here. And with Myra here at busyhandsquilts for 'finished {or not} friday'.

- until next time
Linda

EDIT: there seems to be a wee problem with gmail just now, 
and some of my replies aren't going through.
Thanks so much for all your interest & lovely comments.