and then there were four

block #2

block #3

block #4

and a little star cluster ...

I'm enjoying making these 6" blocks, they are part of the stitchalong I'm doing, hosted by Taryn at reproquiltlover. The antique utility crib quilt is made up of a mix of interesting scrappy ohio star blocks.

The original blocks look eclectic and really random, but if you look closely, there are a few things that make it cohesive. The quilter used a restricted colour palette, teamed up strong geometrics with her prints, and played with the values.

However, I'm not trying to reproduce a similar repro quilt - 'cos let's face it, not many antique/reproduction fabrics will be found in my stash! I'm thinking more that I will replicate the wild scrappiness and try to follow along playing with light stars on dark, dark stars on light or highlight specific parts of the block... and make my own version. 

Until next time,

Linda

scrappy star stitchalong

I felt like sewing something just a little different this weekend, so I joined in with the scrappy star stitchalong hosted by Taryn at reproquiltlover - no rules, no deadlines and a chance to use up those little scraps. 

The antique utility crib quilt is made up of Ohio Star 6" blocks and we are encouraged to replicate it or do whatever we want. 

I’m trying to match my values to the inspirational block but using vintage-y rather than antique prints. I started out with a bundle I recently purchased, beautiful vintage-inspired Ruby’s Coverlet fabrics by Kim Hurley, and I'm combining them with other fabrics from my stash. 

Block 1 has 16 different fabrics! 

 - wondering what happens when vintage Sanderson meets Kaffe?

Looking forward to the next blocks, Linda

Spring is in the air (hopefully)

We're almost at the end of winter here in NZ and I think we are well and truly ready for some sunshine! My latest quilt top is sweet & simple, in a gentle mix of lilac, caramel, peachy-pinks and blush with a scattering of rose.

So, here's to a new season with better weather 

🌻🌼🌻🌼🌻

Linda

some like it simple & sweet

Lilac and caramel, pinky peaches, blush and rose

... I'm using a mix of these sweet combos

"Shopping" my stash & scrap baskets has provided lots of treasures ...

Each time I start something simple like this sweet scrap quilt, it makes me smile 🥰

until next time, Linda

cross quilt pt 2

And it’s a finish

... well, except of course for {wink wink} the backing, the quilting, etc. 

I tend to conveniently forget the other steps!

❤️❤️❤️

There's so much I love about this quilt ...

the fun colour story

the contrast of the solids with the prints

the little bit of animal print

the way {almost} all of my seams nestled together nicely when I was joining things up

Working out my block maths, then playing with these colours to get a little bit of cohesion happening = one super challenge! Great inspiration quilt from the brilliant "Unconventional and Unexpected" book by @roderick752.

Linking up with Cynthia here for 'oh scrap'.

Until next time,

Linda

cross quilt

I started an improv quilt simply called 'cross' and the inspiration came from the brilliant "Unconventional and Unexpected" book by @roderick752. 

After a little research, I decided to approach this by using a log cabin style block that gets sliced up, it works better for my smaller scraps. I faffed around working out the maths and made up a trial block. Super pleased with how things were looking, so I ploughed ahead with making a few more blocks. 

I am going scrappy with these blocks, using just what I have on hand – a combination of random bits of stash, including some vintage fabrics. I've narrowed down my colour story though with the fabrics that I pulled out, working with a range of pinks-plum, teal, blues, sage, orange, and yellow-golds.

And right now, I'm really enjoying mixing it up with both prints and solids, there's lots of opportunities to put together fun fabric pairings.

Not all my seams are perfectly matched but considering the nature of the original design I'm happy going a bit rogue.

                                                                                                                                                

 

and on the design wall, in no particular order yet...

 

Anyone else had a go at this quilt? I see {now!} there's a tutorial here at film in the fridge for something similar. 

Until next time, Linda

a little sunshine to brighten your day

I’ve been sewing stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for the last couple of days, inspired by a mix and match pattern by
Christine Vlasic called 'bright star'. It's a great idea, using each fabric *3 times within the sawtooth star blocks. It creates combos I wouldn’t have thought to put together, but surprisingly they all seem to work together.   

*Full disclosure: as I was using scraps & stash plus a selection of FQs, I didn't have enough of some stash fabrics to repeat, but I improvised. 

I had started out with more of a muted colour palette in mind, but then all that lovely retro sunshiny yellow goodness snuck in. So, I went with it!

It was also a bit touch & go with the borders, I had to join smaller bits in a couple of places as I was running out of long-ish lengths. Et voilà, a border with AMH's bright yellow 'social climber' for the final touch ...

I love how all these vibrant colours mixed up together! Sure to bring the sun into any home… guess now I’ll have to get it quilted to say it’s finished, yes? 

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here
Until next time, Linda