One Block Wonder Revisited

I made a small table topper last month using the Upstairs Hobby Room X's and O's tutorial.It looks lovely on my table.   See it  here
When I saw the other blocks on the linky, I noticed they were mostly in pink or coral tones. Two days ago I rashly decided to do another project in a different colorway. Once I had decided to do a cot size, I did a little research in nursery trends.  Grey always seemed to feature-teamed with pink, blue, yellow or teal.I chose the teal with grey.  I realised later they are the Air NewZealand colours, and the colours of my High School uniform,  so are a not unfamiliar combination.     I chose to to use the same 4 fabrics to see how the blocks  play together when repeated.

I found that there were 2 options for the layout. One had the teal as the main colour

And the other the grey

I liked the more subtle grey best so went with that.
The next decision was borders. I knew I wanted borders but my preferred fabrics had insufficient left. I had to go with what I had.

I quilted this with organic irregular  straight lines, which I thought suited the modern look of the blocks.
Size- 46 inches square.

I am really happy with how this turned out, and am so pleased I had another go at this block.

I am linking to the Upstairs Hobby Room Linky party.

This is my 5th finished quilt for 2016.

Midnight Mystery Finish

I joined in the Mystery Quilt Along with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. She called it Midnight Mystery.
The monthly instructions were quick and easy and left me waiting for each months installment.
I chose a masculine colour scheme as I had none amongst my finished quilts. That

proved a good decision as our oldest son suddenly had a need for a new one this week.

I really struggled to decide on the quilting, and it sat basted for several weeks awaiting a decision.  When the recipient was decided, my plans for quilting became clear. He needed one which would withstand a lot of washing but was still soft and snuggly. A large stipple was therefore chosen, and quickly completed.
I hope the new owner like's it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Smalls

A quilty friend calls quick projects "Smalls" hence the title of this post.

I have done a few small projects lately- but that is probably an act of procrastination. I have  2 things to do- 1.  quilt a mystery quilt, and I have no idea how to do it, and 2 a complicated paper pieced project. I am not in a rush to get to either. Doing these smalls, means I still can sew and not get too distracted.

First was a table centre. I saw this months One Block Wonder on Upstairs Hobby Room and decided to have a play. I got out my Tula fabric and chose some pretty colours. I made the 4 blocks and made it up into a table centre. If I did it again I would change the values of some of the fabrics, but it is pretty

Second was a cushion. When we were in the UK I saw my first robin.My second name is Robyn, so I was thrilled to see them.  I talked to my friend, Loretta about Robins and she said she feeds them in her pretty garden.  She used a robin as her Christmas Facebook profile so when I saw the pattern in the Tartan Kiwi store  I knew I had to make something for her from it.  I decided to make a cushion cover as she has a summer house overlooking the garden, and the robin would be perfect for there.

The cushion cover is on it's way to the UK.

Third and Fourth.

On Thursday I had been reading blogs for the past couple of weeks, and Valentines Day had been a recurring topic. I normally have no trouble discounting them, but on this day I suddenly decided to make a sweet little heart from Canoe Ridge Creations



.....and I immediately started on another. This was from Cluck Cluck Sew- the I Heart You pattern. I made it into a table runner. I gave it to my son, so hope they use it.

Now to get back to what I should be doing.....

Linking up to Upstairs Hobby Room for the Link-up party

Allietare.

Allietare is the 2015 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. This was my fourth year of doing the  mystery, and it become part of my Christmas sewing.
This years quilt was inspired ny Bonnie's trip to Tuscany in the middle of the year. We had spent a wonderful week in Lucca wit day trips to Florence and Cinque Terre. Her yellow came from some of the bulidings in Tuscany. Our hotel  was the  same colour (Hotel Rex in Lucca), so I wanted to use the mustard yellow in my quilt.

I wanted mine to be a bit different to Bonnies, as I had previously kept to her colours.  I decided to go for the Tuscan skies idea, but I only had a decent amount of  Royal blue in my stash, so went with that.
Without further ado- here is Allietare, complete with scalloped borders.

Patchwork Swoon

The designer for the last  Aussie Charm Swap for 2015  was the amazing Tula Pink. The swaps are organised by the lovely Ms Midge
When it came time to make a quilt, it was a long time before I could decide what to do. As soon as I saw Camille Roskelley's Patchwork Swoon I immediately thought that Tula's wonderful fabrics might work.  The pattern called for cutting the charms into 2 1/2 inch squares. That took another couple of days of deliberating before I could make myself do that.

The pattern went together very easily once all of the 16 patches were made. Luckily I had some Fox Field scraps as I ran out with 2 of the 64 patches left to sew.   Some of the pieces cut off for the to Half Square Triangles  we also dismantled and used.
The centre star was using Bees Knees in Lapis from the Timeless Collection. The  star points are Hoppy Dot in Shade from Fox Field.
I was so happy with how the top turned out- a relief after cutting those charms into little bits.

Quilting - each element was quilted differently. The centre star was crosshatched, with the centre star in pebbles- well, stones and pebbles really. The outer star patchwork have straight lines on it with the narrow one having a little floral motif at the end of the centre one.  (I couldn't help myself)  For the star points I expanded on the little motif and made a little design with it. The background (which is Baby Geo in Shade from Fox Field) was stippled- a close dense stipple. It has given great texture to those areas. I kept it smallest around the Star, so the star really "pops" as a result.

For the label I made a Mini swoon block.  The backing is a Camo print from Moonshine.  The binding is Tent Stripes from Elizabeth.
 

 

I am thrilled with how this quilts have turned out. The Charm Swap has results on many gorgeous quilts. The fabrics have obviously been very inspiring.

 

I am linking up to Ms Midges Parade of Tula Charm Quilts

 

This is finish No 2 for 2016.

 

 

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.