Pick stitching those clams

Well I have been itching to get back to a bit of hand quilting for a while and this is the project that was tempting me...

This beauty is on my FAL list.  I started it in the summer last year after I got a sizzix clamshell die.   So much fun to stick a few charm squares in a machine, turn a handle and out comes some perfectly cut clamshells.

I was handpiecing them -  you can see how here.  I even took them to Spain and did some poolside stitching.

Anyway I pieced my backing fabric yesterday (only a gorgeous bit of AGF with a floral sprig) and basted it.  

Last night I started pick stitching as my lovely friend Mary Duggan calls it - big quilt stitching with cotton perle to me!  Mary often uses black to do her pick stitching and I love that look.  

I am using  a deep purple-grey sort of a colour!  Made by Finca no 12 weight, colour 229!  I stayed up too late stitching as I saw all my favourite fabrics in a very eclectic mix of clamshells and they were all calling out to be stitched!

I reckon that if I manage to quilt round 20 each day I should be finished by the end of April!  Wish me and my poor fingers good luck with that!

Hot Cross Buns on Scraptastic Tuesday!

Sorry we are on holiday here and I forgot it was Tuesday!  Oops!

I started quilting the red quilt yesterday!

 This was the plan of how it should look!

The little blocks are a design I found on Bonnie Hunter's blog Quiltville, called Hot Cross Bun.   I thought I could use up lots of scraps making a quilt full of these blocks - but I've actually split them up with some solids and am making three! 

This was how my first quilt top grew on my design wall!

I had been thinking how to quilt this one for a while and decided to go for a sort of organic straight line L shaped quilting!  

This was the one quarter I got done yesterday!

This is what I have backed it with....an organic zigzag from Birch Fabrics.

And Ta Da!  This is what it looks like now...bit blowy out there

Love how the quilting works with the design.


In fact it does look pretty much like my plan - who would have thought it!?

Just got a self coloured binding to add and this will be added to my pile for Siblings Together...we are looking for 100 quilts this year so if you have a few to spare just let me know!

Now back to Scraptastic matters I see that Leanne was playing with Heather Ross charm squares on Friday!  Wanna see?...Then follow the link

Hexy Big Balls is all finished!I

I started Big Hexy Balls in August 2013.  I was working on it again at the beginning of the month - unpicking some bad quilting and quilting it up differently. 

It went well and I thought I had finished it - or maybe not! 

I sat on it for a while and then I just decided it was finished and I should bind it after all.  

It was all going to be bound in Kona Ocean just like the background.   Then I decided to add a little detail where the hexies met the binding....

It was fiddly but I think it worked well enough.  It adds another bit of interest to a fairly minimalist quilt.

I was all set to finish off the binding by hand but I just thought how boring that would be.  So I finished it off by top stitching it on the machine.

And now it is all finished indeed...

Another UFO bites the dust!  This is one from my FAL 2015 list for Quarter One 

and I'm linking it up 

Marmalade Swirl and Raspberry Ripple

My scrappy spiral or greek key quilt is finished!  I'm calling it Marmalade Swirl.  It will be sent to the fabulous charity Siblings Together to give some child in the UK care system a hug!


Here it is!  

I found inspiration for this quilt from Karen Griska's quilt Yellow Brick Road.  Karen's quilt keeps on spiralling on - it is after all a road leading all the way to Oz!

With Marmalade Swirl I stopped my block at 20" square (finished size) after a comment from the lovely SewMeSarah!   She is ever so helpful.   I was wondering how I could continue anyway as my supply of that white fabric was running out so switching to a different background fabric seemed like the answer!  Ash was my second background choice.

I love the effect of this quilt and how much scrap I can bury in it - believe me they are not all beautiful fabrics!  Since completing it have been imagining other colourways!

Well it doesn't take much to make me misbehave so after a request for a tutorial on IG I succumbed into diving into my red stash and started Raspberry Ripple!

In Marmalade Swirl I carefully cut my oranges and yellows into 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" strips but that was tedious I have to say.   So this time I decided to add any size of scrap as long as they were 2 1/2" in one direction.  I stitched my scraps into long rolls, using them as leader enders while making bee blocks.  Then this morning I just got stuck in and stitched!

Here is the result!  A whole lot of Raspberry rippling over my cutting table.

It is probably easier to keep them pieced strips straight if you don't carry on too long.  Trim to 2 1/2 wide and cut into the following strip lengths:

2 1/2", 4 1/2", 6 1/2"....rising in 2" increments till you get to 18 1/2"

Repeat with the background fabric but also cut a strip 20 1/2" long.

Step 1:
Join the scrap 2 1/2" piece to the background 2 1/2" piece (Unit A). 

With the scrap 2 1/2" square at the top of Unit A join the background 4 1/2" piece to the left (Unit B) and add the scrap 4 1/2" piece to the right (Unit C).

Step 2:

 Now join the scrap 6 1/2" piece to the bottom of Unit B (Unit D) and the background 6 1/2" piece to the top for Unit E.  Join scrap  8 1/2" strip on the left of Unit E (sorry I seem to have turned Unit F around by 90 degrees)  

Continue to add the scrap and background pieces in increasing length following each spiral round the block.   

If your next background piece is too long then you need to add a scrap one or vice versa!   Keep going till all the pieces are used up and add the final 20 1/2" background strip to square up your block.

My blocks all spiral round in a clockwise fashion from the centre.  I am left handed and you may find it easier to spiral anti-clockwise - just avoid doing both in the same block!  Also keep your blocks going the same way unless of course you want a mixture ......now there's an idea!

I am hoping to deplete my scrap boxes and add Blueberry Pie (blue/purple) , Mint Julep (green/aqua) and Plum Duff (purple/black) versions if I find the time and energy to do so.

Hope you have fun with this block and do let me know if you make blocks or a quilt as I'd love to see your variation! 



Edited to add background fabric requirements: For each block you will need three 2.5" strips WOF so 7.5".  For four blocks you will need 30" and for five 37.5" - both within a one metre length of fabric!  

Finished quilt top!

The last of the Hot Cross Bun quilt tops is finished!

Must say making those little blocks in a hurry is not so much fun!   Think I preferred as I started out, taking my time selecting the right scraps.  

They have been a fun way to try out different colour schemes; working out how to make some blocks pop and others recede.   Great learning tool if you like.

Then it was just a matter of trying not to have too many repeated fabrics close to each other - in fact if you do have repeats, spreading them around the quilt top does make your eye wander all the way around!   It's a bit like Where's Wally!


And here they are all three!

Which one do you like best!?


Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for the inspiration with this little block. You can see her quilt on the cover of Quiltmaker May/June 2015 or on her blog here.

Oh dear - she has another block I'd like to play with....oh well I have plenty of scraps!

Now I just need to get busy layering, basting, quilting and binding these three quilt tops!

Scraptastic Tuesday and I've been working hard!

I am planning new things .....(secretly I always am)!

But I have committed to finishing off old projects or UFOs first!

My rule is that anything from last year is a UFO and anything started this year is not!

So the Scraptastic Sampler is technically a UFO and I have been working to finish it because:

•  I wanted to see how it would fit together;
•  and also I wanted the wall space (to be honest).

So I have finished the blocks I planned.

Here was my plan

And here is a photo of the quilt top!

Some blocks got moved around and gaps were filled in with filler strips and such!  I have still got to write up those tutorials but have been concentrating on the stitching first!


Not sure if it is quite finished yet...?   What do you think?  It might need a border of sorts to help pull the chaos together....your comments are welcome!



Anyway I wanted the wall space so I could work on the third hot cross bun quilt that I am making for the fabulous charity #siblingstogether. 

I started on Sunday cutting out the background and filling in the central area...

Then on Monday I filled in the rest - staying up late to do so!

Then I spotted that I had added two extra rows so now I need 6 more blocks to finish it!  Six more after making 149 (in the three quilts).   Slightly less addicted to making them now I have to say but that is because it has become a bit of a mechanical process rather than the leisurely enjoyable one of choosing fabric  combinations that I love!  

I must say that scraps have helped me appreciate colour and value and their effects more.  Not that you seem to be able to make mistakes in a scrap quilt - it seems to me that anything goes!   

Love this one - I was thinking Black Forest gateau at the time!  Slightly wonky late night stitching then or maybe too much Kirsch?

  

Scraptastic Tuesday - March Winners

 

A week has shot past - just where did it go!?

I have been making more of my little stars and am getting closer to finishing that UFO project  - some are stitched down but there are lots more to fix on by hand...

And I have also made a bit of progress on my scraptastic sampler quilt.

The last thing I mentioned on that quilt was putting together a block called Lucky Clover - I hadn't quite got my block together.

Well I have now...

Here is the 12" version with y seams! 

And here is the 9" version without y seams!

I have photos of both methods to show you if you want to make some and will write up a little photo tutorial in due course.

I think you could have a lot of fun with this block and wouldn't a quilt of them look great!  

In blue and purple

In pink and green

In pink, green and orange

In rainbow..

I'm going to have to play with this block some more even if it is only on EQ!

But now to the important business.  

It's time to award the March link prizes. If you are a winner, watch for Leanne's email later today or feel free to contact her first.

Here is the list of winners:

• Sew me a Song - a $20 gift certificate - # 67, Laura, Sewing out of my Comfort Zone

• Massdrop - Andover Chambray fat quarter bundle - #18, Cynthia, Quilting is More Fun than Housework

• Mad About Patchwork - a $30 gift certificate, #4, Alycia, Alycia Quilts

• Oakshott Fabrics - Scandinavia Fat Eights bundle, #21, Teje, Nero's Post and Patch

• Sew Sisters Quilt Shop - $25 gift certificate, #38, Em, Em's Scrapbag

• Green Fairy Quilts - $20 gift certificate, #6, Carmen on Flickr

• Fat Quarter Shop - a $25 gift certificate, #69, Anita on Flickr

• Fluffy Sheep Quilting - 1/2 yard by weight of rainbow scraps, #55, Judith, Just Jude

A huge thank you to our generous sponsors for providing our wonderful prizes! Our next Scraptastic Tuesday link will the second Tuesday in April,  which is April 14, 2015 - please plan to link up with us again then.