origins quilt

- love how that blue solid strip on the backing really shows up the quilting pattern.

- binding close-ups

These days I try to make my quilts largely from my stash and supplement with a few new fabrics here and there. This pattern from @liftinglimitsquilting was a really fun one to play with, and perfect for using up some of my fat quarters that had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

Going rogue (again) with mixing colour & pattern and thinking of a summertime vibe! Lots of pastels in purple, some paler neutrals tossed in with the brighter pinks & green, and a little punch of dark blue. The fabrics are a mix of designers I had in my stash, a little AMH, some Kaffes, along few Jennifer Paganelli fabrics.  

I matched up a large bit of leftover wide AMH backing with a blending blue solid for my backing. I sent my quilt off for a spot of longarm quilting by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi, an E2E pattern called 'totally mod circles'. And after a bit of rummaging around, I found a multi-coloured Kaffe stripe that worked well with both back & front for the binding. Finished quilt measures 60" x 60".
Donated to Hospice.

1000 flowers

Hello hello. I've been busy today adding the binding onto "1000 flowers", my strippy triangles quilt. Super happy with this whispery palette, inspired by a vintage quilt. 

I may never be a true “modern” quilter or make a quilt from all solids, but you know right, it's all scrappy and all floral around here, and I'm okay with that. 

There really is a great mix of pastel florals in this quilt - Kaffe, Tilda, Outback Wife, a little AMH, and a couple of other nameless brighter bits & bobs from my stash - and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

This quilt earned a trip to the "quilt spa" for longarm quilting treatment by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi. I asked for edge-to-edge quilting in the Baptist Fan pattern, a real fav of mine and perfect as a wee nod to the original vintage inspiration quilt. For the backing I pieced together a few large strips of grey florals. 

I chose an {oldish} small floral print in plum for my binding, 1000 Henley Flowers from Makower. It seems to contain things nicely ... and draws out all the warm pink colours ... and I 💕the idea of lots & lots of floral fabrics front, back & sides, hence the quilt name!  

Finished quilt measures {approx.} 62" x 56".

Enjoy the photos ... 

- in the afternoon sunshine

- and one final close-up, loving the texture from Leeanne's quilting

Linking up with Cheryl for Favourite Finish in May here

and with Kelly over here for NTT

Until next time, Linda

scrappy trips on the design wall

This past year I’ve done very little fabric purchasing because, like many, I want to use up more of what I have here. And so for ages now, I've been putting all my random leftover strips into a basket, it's overflowing! And I've been waiting for inspiration to hit.

After a little research I found plenty of scrappy quilt ideas using strips (see here for ideas). I decided it was about time for (another) scrappy trip around the world - there are lots of different tutorials and tips for making this quilt, like here at quiltville.

I'm aiming for controlled scrappy... and it's been very interesting. 

My strips are 2 1/2" wide, so smallish really, meaning I have to consider carefully which fabrics I chose to mix up together.  I didn't want the fabrics to all be competing with each other, and I didn't want a lot of large-scale florals, so I've included quite a few quieter no-so-exciting prints. 

After a bit of faffing around, I made up a couple of test blocks using the strip method. However, as you can't really decide how you feel about it until you’re at least 4 blocks in - 'cos the magic happens only after they are put together - I actually swopped over and cut everything into squares and arranged them up on my design wall. 

I'm enjoying working with these softer colours, lots of muddy muted (well, muted for me I guess!) blues, green, greys, tans and neutrals, with little accents in pink & yellow - just channeling my inner @blue elephant stitches with this vintage vibe here!  

a little obsessed

I'm just a little obsessed with kaleidoscope blocks!

Once my whole design wall was covered with twenty blocks (mainly from my Anna Maria Horner stash) 

it was just a quick run up on the sewing machine, and I was done!

Linking up my quilt top finish with Kelly for NTT here

As I was getting this top ready for backing & batting, I decided to add a border, much happier with it now (plus it secures all those fragile edges!) 

And finally, here's a little collage of all my 'kaleidoscope' makes to date ...

Linda

plenty of pretty progress

Here's a few pics of my pretty progress!

- just checking I'm getting "the look" happening!

 

Super happy with this mishmash of colour and

... I love 💕 how this block creates those appearing & disappearing circles.

I've got sixteen pieced 12 1/2" blocks up on the design wall now and 

... I think I might just keep going.

Linda

sparking that joy!

Here’s my design wall today,

{wink wink} I have far too many WiPs!

But sometimes, as I'm sure many of you will agree, it is ok to leave things to brew for a bit. Even if it does mean there’s a bit of trial & error happening around here, it’s all fun!

Take my Kaleidoscope quilt for example. I've used a large selection of AMH florals in these blocks - using the good stuff first - along with a few other bits & pieces that helped to create some contrast. I was super keen to add in the rose solid, as it seemed to go so well with lots of the florals ...

... but after looking at it for a few weeks, it was beginning to feel like the focus had shifted from the florals to the solid.
Over the weekend I decided maybe it was time for a change in direction. Sparking that joy here now and going for the full colour burst! Not surprised, are you?

I’ve also been focusing on using my stash up lately. I always think a great way to create a unique vibrant top is to mix the older fabrics in with a favourite range of quilting fabric ... either coordinating or contrasting ... combos that spark joy!

Guess what happened to a bunch of leftover hand pieced 8-point stars that I had stashed away in one of my project baskets?

I pulled them out over the weekend too and popped them up on the design wall. I had used a mix of oldish but pretty vintage prints, and I had started adding in the neutral background segments, but again, it wasn't ticking the boxes for me. 
So, first up I started cutting out a few Tilda additions from my stash to mix in too...

And then, after a little bit a lot of unpicking, I also trialed a few solids, 

et voila ... 

- I love the play of colour in these blocks now ❤️

Sew interesting - I chuck the solids out of one project and add the solids in to the other 🤣🤣

Anyways, now I have new plans for moving both projects forward ...

Linda