Cushion Cover Time

I have made cushion covers for gifts for  a couple of people lately, so I thought I would put them all in one post.
The first one is a Swoon one. I needed to make a Swoon 16
 block for a practice, to see how easily it went together.  I chose to make it in  the favourite colours of a lovely girl, so it could be make into a cushion cover for her. The block makes up perfectly into a nice sized cushion cover.

 

 

The second one is for a new New Zealander, so I chose to use a Kiwi  Paper pieced pattern by Juliet from The Tartan Kiwi  She makes beautiful native birds patterns and also other animals and birds. The Kiwi went together so easily, and he looks great. I chose to use blues and greens representing the sea and the mountains around where the recipient of the cushion lives.

 

 

 

The third cushion was made when I was in a hotel room, so with limited tools, stash fabrics etc.  I went to the library in the city we were visiting  and downloaded the pattern of A Circle of Geese. This is a great free paper pieced pattern by Piece By Number and is a perfect one for a person who is learning wants to practice Foundation paper piecing.

The recipients favourite colours are aqua and blue so I chose to have an aqua background and use several blues for the "geese"

Again the photo was at night and I hope I can change the photo later.

 

 

The last cushion is still in transit to it's new owner.  Cushion covers are so satisfying to make. A quick project which can be indivisualised so easily, and is always very well received .

 

A Scrappy Finish

I always like to have one scrappy project on the go. It is usually a Leader-Ender project, so it can grow slowly.
This one started as a monthly block, Key Lime Pie,   here on Patchwork Times  which Judy started to try to get her quilting mojo back.  The idea was to make blocks and then make it up near the end of the month regardless of how many blocks were made. We were to avoid creating UFOs
At the end of the month I had about sixteen  8 1/2 inch blocks made- not enough for anything really. I decided not to make it up but to continue making blocks until I had enough.
This became a UFO once the blocks were made. Eventually I added a scrappy neutral border and called it done.
This quilt was on the top of my "Finished top but unquilted  " pile for a year or so until it's turn came for quilting.

It was made in a planned scrappy way- alternating blue and red stars, and the centre of the star is a solid left over from a recent (then) project. 

I am happy with how it has turned out and am sure it will find a suitable new home. 

Hillside Houses Progress

We are up to blocks 8 and 9 of the Hillside Houses Quilt Along with Cristina of Pretty Little Quilts
My colours are not perfect, as I was limited by what was available in my Local Quilt Shop. I love  the colour and the effect of the houses though, and am so happy I decided to join in. There is just one row of 3 houses to go, so 2 more weeks of instructions.

Catching up

I have so much to share but haven't done a blog post in a while. It may all go in 2 posts.
The first is a quilt made in solids.
I belong to a small online quilting group. We had a Charm swap of solid fabric.
I mused for ages about what to do with them, but finally decided on the pattern Trellis Crossroads from the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner. I used all of my 100 + charms plus quite a lot of fabric from  my stash. The background was grey to tone down the explosion of colour a little.

There were no borders on the original quilt, but I added 3 as I love the framing a border gives. Also it meant that every scrap of my charms was used.

The label photo gives a better view of a block.
I quilted it with uneven vertical lines. This suited the modern look for the quilt really well, and I am very happy with how it looks.

While making this quilt I showed a friend the border by messaging. Her response was "Enough of the donkey"    To my donkey ???  she replied  Grey. She is not a grey fan.
This statement Enough of the Donkey stayed in mind overnight, so in the morning I did a Google search.  The result was Giddap the Democratic Donkey. The 1931 pattern from the Kansas Star newspaper was made with templates.  I used more modern techniques, but I decided to keep it using squares of fabric rather than larger blocks that we tend to now.  I chose to make it from 2 inch squares and to make it a mini wall quilt.  Of course he had to be grey, the same fabric she told me I had used enough already.

I forgot to take a photo of Giddap so this is one after he arrived this new home where he happily lives on the sewing room wall