Monday 26 January 2015

Modern Block Monday - Leggings Block

The moment I saw Elizabeth Hartman's Knee Socks block, I was smitten. It's a block that finishes at 24" though, a little too large to be asking my OMQG Bee mates this month. I decided to do a cross between her Knee Socks block and the blocks I'll be making for this Fibonacci Flow design.

I give you...Leggings. ;)

It's a 12" finished block, fun for stash picking. I couldn't rightfully say stash busting because it just doesn't use all that many scraps, but it is fun.


Wanna make one yourself?

Cutting Directions:

Background fabric (charcoal grey in this case):
A - Four (4) - 1.5" x 6.5"
B - Six (6) - 2.5" x 6.5"
D - Two (2) - 2" x 6.5"

Scraps:

C - Ten (10) - 1" x 6.5"

Layout:

1) Sew the pieces together in each of the columns according to this layout diagram.


2) Sew the two columns together.

I'll be providing the charcoal grey for my bee mates and asking them to scrap bust the scraps so I can get a good variety of fabrics. I'll also be asking them to keep the columns separate so I can mix and match them with other blocks.

Here are a few designs I've been playing with for this block:

All About Those Leggings: 


I Just Need Some Space - Lap:


I Just Need Some Space - Twin:


Enjoy!

Thursday 22 January 2015

Night Flowers - Quilting Options

I'm playing with quilting designs for Night Flight. First, I picked out the threads. Mmm, yummy! Yep, I'm going to mix it up with different thread weights and brands. I'm such a badass.

Untitled

Next, I tried some different motifs with dry erase markers on my plexiglass trial quilting sheets.

First up, matchstick quilting with triangular spirals.


That's a lot of starts and stops.

Arrow spirals. I like that flow a lot better and somewhat fewer stops and starts. 


Maybe something different in the negative space though, like this maze.


Or maybe a smaller version.

And then I decided to play with the walking foot quilting style I learned from Heather Lair.


I'm definitely smitten with one of them. Can you guess which one?

Have an awesome day!

Sunday 18 January 2015

Light As A Feather

Last April, I showed you my test Feather block from Anna Maria Horner's Feather Bed Quilt, as well as some directions for doing this block as a bee block.

For this bee block, I provided the solid background (creams and beiges) and grey for the the feather spine. I asked my OMQG Bee mates to use medium value scraps for the feather edges.

I was tidying up my studio the other day and realized that I hadn't shared these beauties and that it was time to start working on this quilt again.


I am definitely "hearting" these blocks! Thanks bee mates!

I think I'll add more beiges to spread the feathers out and maybe make another block or two.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Finishing-Along for Q1

Happy Friday! I'm hoping to participate in the 2015 Finish-Along a bit more than I did in 2014. This year, Adrianne at On the Windy Side is leading the charge. 

For this quarter, I'm hoping to finish:






Project Prism:There's another project that I'll be doing this quarter, but I don't have the fabrics just yet. 

Linking up with the Q1 Finish-Along! How about you?

2015 FAL at On the Windy Side

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Night Flight - A Finished Top

Quick Fix > Quick Scraps > Quick Top! Well, I couldn't get that strip of HSTs out of my head so I ended up sticking with those Kona scraps from Quick Fix and pairing it with some Kona Charcoal. Very, very happy with the piecing -- most of the points actually meet! :D

Now I'm playing with the placement of the strip. 

Leaning (ha ha) towards asymmetry:


More negative space:


Centred:

Still more negative space:


Opinions always welcome! 

Linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday and Oh Scrap! Check them out for some scrappy goodness.

Monday 12 January 2015

Modern Block Monday - Scrappy Mountains

Shena from Apple Pie Patchwork in my Canadians Quilt Bee asked for Scrappy Mountains (tutorial here and here) in bright modern fabrics with low volume backgrounds. This is my block.


She asked that we keep the four quadrants separate because she hasn't decided what layout she'd like to do. So...I thought I'd play around with some different options to share with you.







Now that's a pretty versatile block! May have to do more of these...

Friday 9 January 2015

Quick Fix Scraps - A Work in Progress

Hi all, happy Friday! It's been a good, but long week. I thought I'd ring in the weekend by playing with the triangular scraps from Quick Fix. I made some HSTs.

HSTs from Quick Fix

Now I'm playing with them on the design wall. I'm really liking this effect, but I will keep playing with layout.


I'll probably share some of the layouts on Instagram 'cause I'm now on Instagram too! If you are on Instagram, you can find me there at quiltmatters.

Oh, and did you hear? Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is having a Free Shipping event until Sunday on all orders within Canada. Woo hoo! Enjoy!

FREE SHIPPING 700

Have a great weekend!

Thursday 8 January 2015

TGIFF! - Quick Fix

Welcome to TGIFF! I'm celebrating my first finish of 2015. Woo hoo!

This jelly roll race quilt made with a Kona Dark jelly roll was a quick quilting fix for me so I'm going to stick with the name -- Quick Fix. :)

It's very much like my Mod 1600 so that we could have coordinating family room quilts for TV watching.


I straight-line quilted every 1/2" from the seams using Aurifil 1158 on the front and Coats & Clark white on the back. Unlike Mod 1600 though, I didn't do any diagonal quilting and I used Kona Charcoal for the binding.

It's backed with IKEA Numbers. Still have a lot left of that fabric on my bolt... :)


Finished size is 49" by 66".

Some interesting colour combinations caught my eye:






Simple and straightforward. A good way to start 2015.




Tuesday 6 January 2015

Oh Those Quilting Decisions

Carsick, my Scrappy Trip quilt, is basted and ready for quilting, but I'm not quite sure yet what to do about the quilting.

I pulled out my plexiglass trial quilting sheets and some dry erase markers so I could play around with some quilting ideas.

Option 1: Straight-line on the diagonal making a partial grid:


Option 2: Full grid: 


Option 3: Echo grid: 


Option 4: Orange peel rows:


Option 5: Partial orange peel grid:


Option 6: Full orange peel grid:


Option 7: Not sure what to call these - curved squares?: 


Option 8: Crossover swirls:


What do you think? So many choices!

Monday 5 January 2015

Modern Block Monday - Pinwheel Squared

Happy Monday, all! The December block for my OMQG bee is a fun and cheerful Pinwheel Squared block. Stephanie provided all of the fabric and the tutorial.

It's made with charm squares. I'm not sure the fabric line or designer, but the colour scheme is making me think of summer!



I like that the work for this one actually makes two blocks. Bonus points from me!

Saturday 3 January 2015

Quick Fix - A Finished Top

I sometimes have a hard time getting back into the studio after a break. Especially if it's nice and clean from having guests. LOL!

I wasn't ready to get back into a work in progress after this break so I decided to start fresh. I also wanted something fast. A quick fix, if you will. ;) 

Few quilts are faster than a Jelly Roll race. I've been wanting a coordinating quilt for Mod 1600 for a while. With the boys getting bigger, it's getting harder to share it when we watch a TV show with them. Another one is definitely in order.

Mod 1600
I pulled out a Kona dark jelly roll I'd been saving for this quilt and got to work. This time though, I decided to sew the strips together in the order that they came off the jelly roll and see what I get. 

Here's the finished quilt top. 


I like the chunks or stripes of colour for the most part, but the yellow is bothering me. Too much for the left? I think I may unstitch one of them and flip it. We'll see.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday 1 January 2015

Predictions for 2015

Happy New Year all! I wish you all a fantastic 2015! After spending the last few days chilled and feverish, I'm very happy to be starting 2015 on the mend. :)

I'm going to channel my inner psychic and make some bold predictions for 2015:
  • I will do some quilting. Okay, a lot of quilting.
  • I will do some blogging too. 
Phew, that was hard. I'm no Nostradamus, but I'm feeling pretty confident with these predictions. Now all we have to do is see if they come true. ;)

I'm not one to leave these things to chance though so I'm going to do my yearly goal setting. No BHAGs (Big, Hairy Audacious Goals) this year again -- there's just too much change going on in our household. That said, goals help give me some focus on those days when I don't really know what to work on. 

Goals for 2015


  1. A quilt for my youngest. He's not pushing for one or anything, but the kid is a hand-me-down king so it's time he gets something made just for him. He's only seen bits and pieces of the movies, but he loves Star Wars so maybe something along these lines for him. 
  2. Finish my patterns, dang it! Third time goal's the charm? 
  3. Tutorials - yes, I haven't done any tutorials in quite some time. I'm planning some basic how-I-do-things tutorials.
  4. Creativity challenge - Get scrappy. Projects, big and small, that use scraps. Yes! 
  5. Another creativity challenge - selvages. My fellow guild members have been gifting me their selvages for a couple of years now and I'm thinking that I need to start using them for more than pretty decoration, no? Maybe selvage bowls or baskets...hmm.


  1. UFOs/W.I.P.s/P.H.D.s - Complete 3. And keep a running list as a page on my blog because there's nothing like public accountability. 
  2. Have a quilt finished for whenever I host TGIFF! this year. This will definitely require better planning on my part since quilting time is now at a premium.
  3. Do more Quilt Design A Day challenges. Say 12 or about one a month. Doable, right?
  4. Have fun! Never really a problem when it comes to quilting, but good to be upfront about it. :)

I'll close with a peek at the finished top for Carsick. It's now basted... yay!


Bonne Année!
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