Zoo Animals -A finish

Over the past months I have shown blocks for the Zoo Animals Block of the Month- a paper pieced project from Quiet Play

Finishing the quilt was one of my priorities for January, so I sewed up the last block- the lion, and put the top together.  I have made it up into a baby quilt, measuring 41 inches square.
Quilting is simple wavy lines, which seems to work fine.
My border plans had to change drastically, after the first choice just didn't work, and look terrible.
This simple frame works so much better.

 

I enjoyed making these blocks, and love the result. Thanks to Kristy of Quiet Play for sharing  and for the block of the month

This was my first finish for 2016.

Catching Up

I haven't written a blog entry since we went on a 7 week overseas holiday. I was planning to show some holiday photos, but I will go ahead and do a quilting catch up to move things along.

I finished 2 quick projects in the 2 weeks before we left. The first one was a gift for a friend for boarding and showing one of my dogs while we were away.  As the recipient was previously a teacher, and their house is decorated in neutral colours, I chose to use Elementary by Sweetwater. I used a Layer cake for the blocks. The pattern is Starstruck by Leila Boutique.
I named my version Latte on The Beach.

The second quick project was to be a gift for a member of our Facebook Quilting group, who Lives in Cornwall and I had arranged to visit. 

I wanted a New Zealand flavor to it so I foundation paper pieced a Kiwi using  a Tartankiwi pattern. I made the original 10 inch size. I surrounded the kiwi by pinwheels in Loretta's favourite colours. The backing and binding is the same Paua (abalone) fabric I used for the Kiwi. 

 

 

On arriving home it only took a couple of days to be back at the sewing machine. The first finish was  using a Daydream (Kate Spain) jelly Roll. Pattetn is Kaleidoscope,  again by Leila Boutique. This was a quick, fun project. A perfect project to get back into the swing of quilting.

 

 The second finish was a UFO from last year. I decided to finish it for one of our sons. He had admired it when it was a finished top on the wall. I had been calling it The Ugly Quilt. It needed a new name so it back me Chrysalis. The fabric is Fortiny by Tina Givens. The design is by Amy Gibson. 

Next was another UFO from last year. I had participated in my first Aussie Charm Swap. The charms were all from Amy Butler. I chose to assemble them in a simple on point setting. I backed it with a gorgeous Amy Butler print

Next is a Christmas Table runner which was for or quilting group swap. I chose to use a winter colour scheme- using Edyta Stars Snowbird fabric. I chose 3 star blocks from the Fat Quarter Shop 2014  mystery quilt, and added a couple of borders. 

 

I decided to add a second quick runner-a fun Father Christmas . Pattern by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts

 

 

I decided to do the Fat Quarter Shop Charity Quilt- Snapshots. I bought the kit which used Daysail fabric by Bonnie and Camille. 

I didn't actually start the quilt until late November, so it was done in a few days.  Once the last block was posted in December I could do a quick finish. This was my last quilt finish for 2015. Number 19. 

One last quick thing for the year. While going through the new blog entries just before Christmas I found a Poinsettia block. It is by Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation I immediately decided to make it up for a member of our quilting group, whose husband was undergoing health problems

That's it for 2015.

 

Helix quilt

My 3rd Aussie Charm Swap with MsMidge was for fabrics from the Cotton and Steel ranges.
I trawled Pinterest and finally found a photo which was rather different to anything I had made. The photo which was followed to a blog says it was made from HSTs, so it would work for  5 inch charm, squares. 

I sorted the HSTs into colours. There were 6 piles. and a column made with each pile.  For design purposes 5 columns was more pleasing, so the 5th green/ mustard column was made and saved for the back

I decided to graduate the colours, with some of the bottom being fairly pale.
Alternate columns were offset by 4 inches, just to add a different element. Ideally I would have liked to add a wide border top and bottom, but I ran out of background fabric, so had to make do with the 3 inch border which is the same as the sashing.   The background is a Cotton and Steel fabric from the Honeymoon range by Sarah Watts - Colibri in Neutral. It has cute little humming birds all over it

The quilting- the background is straight line quilted following the zig zag formed by stepping down alternate columns. Each column is  free motion quilted differently.

So here is the finished quilt- Helix.
Fabric- assorted Cotton & Steel 5 inch squares
Pattern - an un-named  photo on Pinterest.
Size - 62 1/2 inches high by 86 1/2 inches wide.

This will link with Ms Midge for her Parade of quilts

Quiet Play Monkey Number 2

I have a friend who makes gorgeous Sock Monkeys for childrens charities. After I had made my Monkey for my Quiet Play Zoo Animals Quilt, I  just had to make one for her. Her favourite colours are blue and yellow, so chosing fabrics was easy.
I have made it into a mini quilt using a very simple setting and quilting.

Swoon

I had a bit of a mental block recently, not being able to decide which quilt to make next. I had been wanting to make a  Swoon quilt for ages, but kept putting it off.  This was the opportunity to do it.
I have several half yard collections of Free Spirit fabric which I wanted to dig into, so chose Fox Fields by Tula Fox.   The blocks went together really well, but the colours were a challenge for  block No 9 when I was down to a narrow selection of remaining prints. This resulted in 2 blocks for the back.
Here is the quilt

 And the back...

 

The colours are terrible in the photos. They are so much prettier in real life. Hopefully new photos will replace them some time soon.

 

Swoon went  straight on to our bed. It is so cold right now, and this covers us well in our king sized bed. It is 88 inches square.

The Monkey- Quiet Play Zoo Animals BOM

This months Zoo Animal is the monkey. Kirsty of Quiet Play said the blocks would get harder over the 9 months. The monkey was very straight forward- until I came to the last pieces- the eyes. These eyes are tiny. The first one was tricky- in fact that one ended in the bin, and the eyes put away for another day.  Fore-warned, I then took it more seriously, and took it slowly.   The little guy goes together really well once those eyes are mastered. This monkey is definitely not going to Speak any Evil- I think I need to embroider some nostrils and a mouth.

The first photo is the eye. Pictured beside a pin to show it's size

 The monkey.
Here he is with his mouth. I did a machine straight stitch for the mouth, which worked out pretty well.

The 8 blocks so far. Just waiting for Cecil the Lion in September and these can be made up into a baby quilt.  This last photo is a truer depiction of the colour of the background.

Koala- Quiet Play Zoo Animal Block for July

July's months Zoo Animal  in Quiet Plays  paper pieced BOM. I did this one as soon as it was posted seeing I was late in June.  I have just looked at the other Koala's  to find that I did not blog about it so I could add it to Kristy's parade.
I loved this block- he was very straightforward to make and  he turned out so sweet.
We are nearing the end of the blocks with only the lion left to do. With lions being in the news this last week, it is probably a good thing that he was not this month's animal.