Rounding up 2013

Well 2013 certainly flew by and it is collage time.....

The quilts: 13 quilts and three still live with me.

The cushions (including the brown monstrosity - which does not live with me!)

The bags and little makes:

2013 was the year of the coaster apparently!!

and the stuff that made it to Instagram (@Jeliquilts if you are on IG) but not to Blogger:

It was a good year of sewing, but not for blogging which fell to the wayside a little.  My New year resolution is to blog once a week, crappy pics or not!

2014 is also the year that I am determined to learn how to make clothes, I made a little start with these Geranium dresses for my nieces.....

yes it is on backwards but she likes it that way!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - I hope it's a good one!

Space dust - the finish!

This quilt has been a long time in the making, you can see the previous posts here, here, here and here.  My relationship with this quilt was hot and cold all the way through, with my biggest stall being how to quilt it.  So it stayed in the cupboard for 6 months before I finally made the decision to give it to Trudi to quilt.  Best Decision ever!!!

Trudi managed to nail the quilting with very little direction from me.  I knew what I wanted, be couldn't seem to explain it very well.  It was custom quilted with #Aurifil in grey, which has made those very flat solids pop out of the quilt.

Although tempted to use the Ikea numbers (I need a 12 step program!), I actually pieced a backing from stash using  Kona Ash and a print fabric that I got from Annie and have no clue what line it is from!!

For the binding I stuck with my seemingly never ending supply of Architextures Crosshatch in grey, so that it blended with the background fabric.

So I now have my very own Space dust quilt to cuddle under this winter, it has ousted all previously made quilts from my affections ;-)

Quilt stats:
Pattern - Space dust by Tula pink (templates size was reduced to 75%)
Fabrics - Mixture of Klona and Robert Kaufman Kona solids with Wordplay 13 for the background.
Binding - Architextures crosshatch in grey
Backing - Robert Kaufman Kona in Ash and text fabric (which I cannot remember the name of!)
Quilting -Custom Quilting by Trudi Wood with #Aurifil in grey
Size - Approx 60" square

How low can you go?

Well I used to be fairly flexible, but this is as low as I get these days...

Shocker - who knew I had a LV quilt in me! ;-)  This cute little lap quilt is another one for the new baby niece/phew, whose Mother (my SIL) likes all things bland neutral.  I used my 10" squares from the LV swap and mixed in some not quite low volume fabrics from stash.  I used #Aurifil  (2026) to piecing and quilting the wonky wavy lines.

I couldn't resist adding a little something bright on the back though..

Oh yes, business in the front and PARTY in the back!  Every baby needs a little Melody Miller glitter in their life, right?!

I finished it off with a little Architextures binding and this was one quilt made entirely of stash - result!

Quilt stats:
Fabrics - Various prints from LV swap and stash
Binding - Architextures crosshatch in grey
Backing - Rotary patchwork (Ruby Star Spring) Melody Miller
Quilting -Wonky wavy lines using #Aurifil 50wt in grey (2026)
Size - Approx 54" x 67"

Being 10!

My gorgeous niece just turned 10 which apparently means that she now only communicates in grunts, can barely lift her head from whatever gadget she happen to be playing on and walks at least 5 paces away from the adults at all times.

It also meant getting her own bedroom away from those pesky little sister's and needed a  new quilt for her new bed - this is where I came in!

I had a little rummage and came up with a non-rainbow theme ( which meant rainbow minus the red and orange) and made a(nother) plus quilt!

Wavy line quilting using #Aurifil (50 wt 2600 - light grey) for a bit of texture ...

 and backed with Robert Kaufman Spot on wide in Aqua (extra wide fabric - how I love thee!)

Look - no Ikea numbers fabric!!

Luckily she loved it when I handed it over on Saturday.  Who knew that the tweenager could actually smile! ;-)

Quilt stats:
Pattern - designed in EQ7 with 4" finished blocks (15*18 rows)
Fabrics - Various prints from stash
Binding - Architextures crosshatch in grey
Backing - Spot on wide in Aqua (Robert Kaufman)
Quilting -Wonky wavy lines using #Aurifil 50wt in grey (2600)
Size - Approx 60" x 72"

Blogger's quilt festival

Quilt market is in full swing and that means it's time for .....

My entry for the fall blogger's festival is my Rainbow queen 'strip and flip' quilt, which I am entering into the ROYGBIV (colour wheel) quilt category.

I used a Kona classics roll up and Architextures Crosshatch and was roughly (read badly) following the Cluck Cluck Sew strip and flip tute. 

 Sticking with the simple theme, I quilted wavy lines with #Aurifil in variegated greys (#4670) with my walking foot, which gives the quilt a really lovely texture.

 I admit to being a little addicted to the ubiquitous Ikea numbers print, but it suited this quilt so well, it was a must for the backing.

This quilt wasn't suppose to be for me, but I just couldn't give it up in the end.  I did promise my kidlet a superhero quilt instead though ;-)

Quilt stats:

 Pattern -Inspired by Cluck Cluck sew Strip and flip quilt tutorial.

Fabrics - Kona classic roll up and Architextures Crosshatch in black
Binding - Architextures crosshatch in black.
Backing - Ikea Britten Nummer
Quilting -Wonky wavy lines using Aurifil 50wt variegated in grey (4670)
Size - Approx 52" * 69" 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I am off to look at the other entries, which is my favourite part of the festival.

Eepp it's finished!

Okay, so this project took me a few months to finish and true to form I got a little bored half way through,  but it's finished now and I eeping love it!!

After all the great help I got, both on here and IG, I went with the contrasting Essex yarn dyed linen and left those little triangles out.

I straight line quilted diagonal lines in both directions with Aurifil thread (variegated greys - 4670) and with a bit of luck all that quilting will counteract my dodgy hand sewing! ;-)

For the cushion back I used some Echino Nico mixed with the Essex linen with a hidden zipper closing.

So what started as a 'me, me, me' project is going to out in the post this week to live with someone else.  I hope they love it as much as I do.

Project stats:

Pattern - Flower star EPP - Cushion inspiration came from here.

Fabrics -  Rainbow scraps, Architextures Crosshatch in grey; Essex yarn dyed linen in black.
Backing - Echino Nico planes and Essex yarn dyed linen in black
Quilting - Crosshatch straight line quilting using Aurifil 50 wt thread (4670)
Size -22" square

Star flower EPP - progress at last!

After my initial burst of enthusiasm with the star flowers, they kinda got shoved into a bag and ignored until this weekend.

 I have finally got to this stage after what felt like hours of hand stitching.

So now all I have to decide is what background to use...

Essex dyed linen in black (with triangles added in)

or...

 Architextitures crosshatch (and then I don't have to sew the triangles in!)

I am erring towards the Yarn dyed. Any opinions??

Enabled

Most of the time when I find a quilt/bag on Flickr that I love, my thought process generally goes like this... 'Oh I love that, want one' quickly followed by this 'ahh it involves hand sewing, pleats, 10 years of cutting out' and so I normally never bother.

Well, that was until I saw Liz's For Pleat sake Tote on Flickr this week and then did a Internet search and found Moira's beauty.  This time the only thought in my head was 'NEED ONE NOW!'...

Out came the Melody Miller arrows

For pleats sake tote - free pattern from U-Handbag

matched up with some Half moon modern for the lining....

 I bought the handles from this Ebay seller (free 1st class postage!!) and hand sewed them on using Perle thread, because that was what I had.

Apart from the embarrassingly long time it took me to get the pleats right on the first panel, this pattern was a breeze to make.  I can see more in my future ;-)

You can find me....

over on The Daily Stitch today, where I have posted a little quilt tutorial.  It won't come as a surprise that it involves a rainbow of fabrics! ;-)

Quilt stats:

Pattern - Plus quilt (tute here)
Fabrics -  Michael Miller Stitch floral circles and Kona Snow
Binding - Scrappy
Backing - Ikea Britten Nummer
Quilting - Circular quilting using Aurifil 50 wt thread (2310)
Size - Approx 45" x 54"

The good news and even better news - Summersville quilt

The good news is there is a baby on the way......

The even better news is that I don't have to give birth to the little love ;-).  This is my long awaited niece/nephew, brought to my SIL/BIL with a little help from Science.  The baby is due in February and I have started to stitch up a storm, finishing the baby's first quilt yesterday.

I finally busted out my Summersville stash and made a cute little baby quilt measuring 30" x 40".

Plus quilt pattern, how I love thee!

Ikea backing again - I have a job lot! ;-)

 For the quilting I used my walking foot to crosshatch and then stitched either side of the seam in both directions, Red Pepper Quilts style.

I used Kona Pepper to bind, to give the quilt a nice frame as the Summersville prints are fairly busy

So there we have the first of many baby quilts and then I get to go onto the accessories and clothes, oh happy days!!

Quilt stats:

Pattern - Plus quilt
Fabrics -  Summersville - Lu Summers
Binding - Kona Pepper
Backing - Ikea Britten Nummer
Quilting -Straight stitched using Aurifl 50 wt thread (2310)
Size - Approx 31" x 41"


Linked up to: Brit Sewing Thursday

The rainbow queen is back....

Having not blogged very much lately, I haven't really spoke about my Fat Quarterly retreat experience.  To sum if up quickly, I had the most fantastic time.  There was one class that I took that stood out for me as the most valuable, which was Judith's photography table top session. 

The one thing that resonated with me the most was that we spend so much time making beautiful quits etc and then take a crappy pic in bad lighting etc which does it no justice.  My pics of my latest quilt were taken with all of Judith's advice bouncing around my head and I think the difference shows...

A little fannying around in Photoshop Lightroom and hey presto!

I used a Kona classics roll up and was roughly (read badly) following the Cluck Cluck strip and flip tute

I quilted wavy lines with Aurifil variegated thread in 50wt (4670) and bound with the Architextures crosshatch and a little bit of Summersville.

Backed in Ikea - no surprises there then!

Quilt stats:

Pattern -Inspired by Cluck Cluck sew Strip and flip quilt tutorial.
Fabrics - Kona classic roll up and Architextures Crosshatch in black
Binding - Architextures crosshatch in black.
Backing - Ikea Britten Nummer
Quilting -Wonky wavy lines using Aurifil 50wt variegated in grey (4670)
Size - Approx 52" * 69"