Star Sampler Quilt - Finished!

I started this quilt back in 2013 and it is, at long last, FINISHED!

The journey began on this one because I had a lot of the blue scraps left over from another quilt I had made.  They are all from the same line - Chambray Rose by Shabby Chic. I didn't want another blue quilt so I searched around and found the red fabric, which seemed to match the shabbiness.  The red is Clermont Farm by Moda.  I kept the background nice and simple with Kona Snow.

It started of as a Combined BOM for 2013, using blocks from many different BOMs, but then I hit a stumbling block as there were some block designs that just didn't seem to fit, so as I found a block I liked, I included it in this quilt.  The early blocks all seemed to have a star-like theme so I continued to find other starry blocks. 

The quilt top was finished in June 2013 and I decided to quilt it by hand.  I found a cotton quilt cover in Ikea in a lovely Toile de Jouy print that made a lovely backing.  It was a fairly thin cotton with a not-too-tight weave, so ideal for hand stitching, and it only cost about £10, I think. I chose a luxury bamboo batting to see what it was like.  It's so soft and silky and quilted easily.  It's wonderfully warm, too.

  
I thought it would take me the winter to complete it.  How wrong was I!  It's easy to get bored with the same project, and I had other smaller projects that needed my time so it got put on the back burner for months at a time.  When the summer came it got put away completely.  It's no joke trying to sew in the heat with a quilt on your lap.

The quilting is fairly dense all over, and I realise now that it needn't have been.  Mostly it is straight lines following the patterns in  each block, but for the sashing I used a template.  For the border I went back to straight lines.

I didn't have enough of either the blue or the red fabric to do a binding, but then I came across this super easy flange binding.  Because the strips are cut narrower and then joined together I just had enough.  The joy of this binding is that it is all completely sewn on by machine.  Definitely will use this method again.

All of the pictures were taken in my daughter's gorgeous garden.

June Round-up

I always start my end of month round-up by making a collage of my finished projects.  This month that step hardly seems worth it as the finishes are very few and far between.  This is what I have achieved.

Two churn dash blocks sent of to Sarah for a Siblings Together quilt, and the last three blocks for my starry sampler quilt. I 've managed to sash and border it this week so it's now ready for quilting. I'm going to hand quilt this one so don't expect this to be finished any time soon.  Luckily Wimbledon is on at the moment so I can sit and watch tennis and stitch away to my heart's content.

Luckily, Molly is showing a keen interest in tennis, too.

And Finally, nos. 14,15 & 16.

I have made a big effort this week to get the last three blocks made for my Sampler quilt.  It started of as a Combined BOM for 2013, using blocks from many different BOMs, but then I hit a stumbling block as there were some block designs that just didn't seem to fit, so as I found a block I liked, I included it in this quilt.  The early blocks all seemed to have a star-like theme so I continued to find other starry blocks.  Now I have   sixteen I think that will be a nice size.

A very naughty puppy has managed to chew up my book that I draft out my blocks in, so I can't remember the names or sources of these last three blocks, so I've just given them numbers, not names.

#14

#15

#16

And finally here are all the completed blocks in one place.

Sorry about the quality of that photo.  I took it in the living room at the front of the house which doesn't get very good light owing to a huge tree opposite my house that blocks it out (it was a very small sapling when we moved here 30 years ago).

I'm going to add soft white sashings with red cornerstones now, and then think about border, backing and binding.  I'm going to hand quilt it, too.

Just to finish up, here's a photo of that naughty puppy, Molly, at 12 weeks, looking as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Road to Oklahoma

This is a traditional block, usually made in multiple amounts to make a large quilt, which I have altered in the way it is cut and put together to make a stand-alone 12" block.

The traditional block is only one quarter of this, so you would need to make four - 6" blocks to get a square this size.  I only wanted one 12" stand-alone block so I pieced it all-in-one to eliminate the centre seams.  The red pieces in the middle of each edge now become rectangles instead of 2 small squares, the star points become stitch and flip triangles on a large square instead of 2 squares and 2 half square triangles, and the centre becomes a single large square instead of 4 small squares.  I much prefer the look of it without the centre seams, and it lays flat nicely.  I think if I was making a large quilt I would make the blocks like this.

I love working from a picture, drafting it out on squared paper and working out the best way to cut the pieces.  So satisfying!

Abundance

I found this block, called Abundance, on Humble Quilts blog.  It is actually taken from a little pattern for a doll's quilt, but it is perfect at 12" as a block to go in my Combined 2013 BOM quilt.  There is a tutorial too, which is very easy to follow.

I love the star within a star effect on this one.

Pathways

I made a version of this block for last year's BOM quilt and like it so much I've made another one for this year's quilt.  It is called Pathways, but I can't remember where I copied it from.

I'm really loving making these  12" blocks in this colourway, with the Chambray Rose collection by Shabby Chic, and the Clermont Farms red stuff.  I've found a load more patterns that I want to make, as well as the new blocks from the February BOMs, but haven't had much time to sew this past week.  Hope to put in a good bit of time over the weekend at the sewing machine.

January Round-up

So ends the first complete month of my blog, and I thought I would take a look at what I've achieved this month.  When I think about what I have done it doesn't seem very much.  I have spent a lot of time looking after my aged dad who hasn't been too well this month.  Taking him to hospital and doctor's appointments have eaten into my time, as well as the extra shopping trips for him, and let's not forget shovelling snow, and just keeping him company.  He's 88 and is generally quite active, and likes to get out and about, but his jaunts have been curtailed this month and it makes him grumpy.  Still, he seems to be on the mend now so should be a bit happier.

Let's see what I've done then.

1. Doves in the Window mini quilt (blogged here)
2. Little Red Schoolhouses mini quilt (blogged here)
3. 7 blocks for the 2012 Crafsty BOM (blogged here and here and here)
4. 14 Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks (blogged, here, here, here and below)
5. 5 blocks for the combined 2013 BOMs (blogged here, here, here, here and below)

In the last couple of days I've made a couple of Scrappy Trips, bringing my total up to 14, so only another 10 to go.  Here's what they look like so far.

I saw this block on Dizzy Quilts blog.  It's designed by Bonnie and Camille for the FQS Mystery BOM. and is called Lime Sherbert.  I copied it onto squared paper and made it in my combined BOM colours.

Here are the 5 blocks I've made for this quilt so far.  I'm rather liking how they look.  So glad I added the red to the Chambray Rose fabrics.

So, two completed mini quilts and 26 blocks for three different quilts.  Not so bad after all.

I haven't started any of the blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt so I hope to make a start on them in February.

Linking up with Lily's Quilts.

The Block With No Name

Whilst blog-hopping I came across this block called Jumping Jack Flash and thought it would be a good one to try and would fit in nicely with my varied BOM Sampler quilt.

I printed out the pdf instructions from the Aurifil site, had a good look at them and decided that I could make the sections using alternative methods.  There is a good method for making four flying geese blocks at once, with no waste, here, so I thought I would give it a try.  I also made use of this tutorial to make eight Half Square Triangles at once, too.  So far so good.  When I came to assemble my units I couldn't get my block to look like this.  I'd obviously done something wrong.

Of course, I'm using different fabrics and colours to the ones listed in the tutorial, and I got confused when I transposed my own fabrics and cut some pieces in the wrong fabric.  Instead of remaking the units I re-arranged my units in a way that would work, and I've come up with this.

Can you see where I went wrong?

Now I have a dilemma.  Is this already a known block, or have I designed a new one?  If you know the answer to this please let me know.

Grandmother's Favourite

This block is by Lynne Harris of The Little Red Hen for the Bee Block Blog Hop by Daisy Janie and is called Grandmother's Favourite.

I wasn't too sure if I wanted to make this block when I saw the instructions as it uses lots of triangles joined together.  I've made Half Square Triangles using the method whereby you sew two squares together 1/4" on either side of the diagonal and then cut it in half to make two HSTs, but not cutting separate triangles first and then joining them.  I've read that it is difficult this way because you are joining pieces on the bias and it is easy to stretch and distort them, but I've also read that using spray starch to stabilise the fabric first helps.  So I starched my fabrics back and front, several times, before cutting them and I'm pleased to say they behaved themselves perfectly.  No stretching of the bias and no distorting.  In fact, I think it is one of the best finishes of a pieced block I've done so far.  The seams nested perfectly, and I only nipped off one little tip of a triangle.  I paid special attention to how I pressed the seams and managed to get a really flat finish.

I fussy cut the centre square to get a whole rose in the middle.

This is the reverse, showing how I pressed the seams to get a good, flat  finish.  I know some of the seams are pressed towards the light fabric, but that is the way they wanted to go, so I went with that.

Fabric used is from the Chambray Rose collection by Shabby Chic, Clermont Farms by Moda, and Kona Snow.