Magic Binding happened again

Mary, from our Sweet Pea group, has a growing clan of great grandchildren.

To try to keep ahead of the game she has decided to make some quilts to have on hand for impending births.

This quilt is a simple but effective design in the modern style.

Linda quilted it in modern style and you can see her blog entry here.

When the quilting was completed I felt that a magic binding would complement the quilt and so offered to do it for Mary.

Another pleasing completion.

Just in case you would like the how to for the magic binding you can find it here.

Birthday blocks

Today was another of our delightful Sweet Pea sewing group meetings.

Amongst the items I took for show and tell was my birthday blocks quilt top.

My birthday was in December and I did not get around to sharing the block I wanted constructed until our first meeting in February.

Our ladies were great at getting the blocks back to me in good time and so all that remained was for me to put the blocks together.

I would have liked to make more blocks for a bigger quilt but having run out of the gold fabric this was not possible.

In the end I was more than happy to be able to share the collective result of our efforts.

Ladies of the Orient completed

At last our Ladies of the Orient quilt is complete - well, the binding needs to be hand stitched down, a hanging sleeve and label are required, but virtually completed.

I gave Linda the freedom to experiment and she did not disappoint.  These blocks were given to us by a friend who had experimented with foundation piecing and decided they were not for her.  Their inclusion in this quilt top seem to provide balance to images of the ladies.

This is one of my favourites - I love the motion of the stitching within the image as well as the border.

So many different elements in this quilt.  A new curved design in the border, patchwork style fabric that lent itself to faux stitch in the ditch, outlining of the ladies in their activities, highlighting a four patch block and incorporation of the clam shell design into one of the image frames.

Using the cotton kimono fabric for the backing has given the quilt a very nice soft texture.  I was in a quandary as to what to use for the binding and in the end I decided to use the kimono fabric for that too.

This quilt is going to be a firm favourite hanging in our home.  Such a wonderful result from a bit of stash busting last winter.

Happy Blocks

One of the members of our group asked if we could make a quilt for a special young girl.

We each had to make four blocks and in no time at all we had collected enough blocks to make a quilt top.

Linda sourced a pattern called Happy Blocks from MaryQuilts.com and this is a great block for community quilts.

The blocks are very easy to put together and assembling them all to make the top went really well.

We bought some soft pink minky fabric for the back and together with some batting it has come together as a cuddly, soft and bright quilt.

I made some magic binding for it today and once that has been stitched on I should be able to come back with an update of the final result.

The stars have fallen into place

The star blocks I wrote about on the 3rd March have fallen into place on my quilt top.

After I placed the stars I pondered for a while about what to do next.

I added a narrow border but decided it was too dark.  I then found some pink in my stash that seemed to suit the project much better.

One more row and in the end I made four patches on point in the same fabric as the star blocks.

I find I derive a lot of pleasure from creating quilt tops in this way, starting at random with some orphan blocks and working out what to do as I go along.

In true cat style at our home the quilt top had to pass cat scanning.

Koko took her turn and from the second image I think she gave it her approval.

Have you been following?

Have you been following the progress of the quilting of this quilt top on Linda's blog?

Linda has been having a lot of fun as this quilt top has given her the opportunity to 'play' and be creative and the results are looking really good.

You can see one of my favourite blocks here.

On the other side, this quilt top has an interesting backing.

I was not sure what fabric to use for backing, but not to worry, Linda has a nice little stack of cotton kimonos. These treasures have been found in op shops (thrift stores) and quietly waiting another purpose in life.

Deconstructing this kimono was an interesting exercise as it revealed how the kimono had been made from long narrow strips of fabric. From just this one kimono there was more than enough for a generous backing for the quilt with more left over for another project.  The quality of the cotton is excellent and proved a great solution for the backing of the quilt.

Once the quilt is off the machine my next challenge will be what to do for the binding.

Oh those lovely stars

I am in between projects at the moment and so went looking through our collection of orphan blocks for inspiration.

I ended up with three different groups of blocks and in the end this large star block got my attention.

The smaller blocks surrounding the star were also orphans, or at least seven of them.  I made up the blue one on the right so that could complete the row.

That was all the orphan blocks in this group so now it is up to me to continue with something of my own.

I decided I would like more stars to reflect the star in the centre and this is what I have come up with so far.

I need to make up another six blocks to complete the round.

These blocks are only 6.5 inches square and so some of the individual pieces are only 2 inches square.  A bit fiddly but worth it for the result.

I am enjoying the process.

I think, by the time I add these to the quilt top it will be big enough to be considering a border row.