Central Park 4 Patch - Finished!

I made this quilt top way back in May last year believe it or not,  I fell in love with the Central Park prints the moment I saw them and purchased a fat quarter bundle of the pink colourway. 

I wanted a quilt design that would showcase the larger prints and when I saw this tutorial over at Clover & Violet I knew it would be ideal.

 I started to run short and had to improvise a couple of scrappy squares...

I chose this beautiful floral print for the back and boy was it hard to find a big enough piece! In the end it was good old Etsy to the rescue and over the ocean it came.  It looks so beautiful I may even love it more than the front!

After an audition between blue or yellow binding I went with the yellow and it looks so pretty and spring-like with the flowers and bright colours.  I took an age to sew the binding on, I machine sew it, then hand stitch the other side, and my hand sewing skills are pretty poor hence the delay!

If I remember correctly the quilt measures 37.5x49 inches, which is just right for me to snuggle under in the armchair of an evening!

I have since purchased oodles more Central Park in the orange, blue and green colourways which you may have seen my sampler blocks being worked in. It's one of those fabric lines that I seem to never tire of, it's so pretty.

I was ashamed to keep listing this quilt as a WIP simply for the binding and linked up with Amy's One Thing One Week Challenge and voila! All done!
I'm so proud I may also try and link up with Richard Quilts Link a Finish Friday (even though it's Saturday!)

Happy Easter everyone! xx

A Happy Post Day

I had a naughty moment of spending the other day after seeing this block, so off to Etsy I went and the lovely shop of Emicraftinjapan came up trumps! I love it when envelopes are made to look pretty too, it had a very decorative tape and the cutest little fabric cup stuck on, which I have peeled off and saved.

And so the Kokka Milk Caps were mine, along with the cutest little bunnies hiding behind trees - well it is Easter after all! and a sample of a pink towny print - very sweet but doesn't go with anything else in my stash right now.

And from Prints to Polka Dots in the offcuts section, some Alexander Henry Home Sewing, a small square of Riley Blake Map - I have other prints from this collection but this one eluded me, a little bit is better than none, especially when it was only 34p!  And look... a little pack of 2.5" sqaure samples of  Riley Blake Sunny Skies thrown in, with a little note recommending coordinating Kona solids and threads!  What service!

Happy Happy :o)

Mario ? Block

A little bit of sewing whilst watching CSI last night got almost another block done for the Super Mario quilt, this time it's the ? block.

This block needs to be sashed in black which I'm running dangerously low on, so i may have to make some parts of other blocks while I await a fabric delivery.

I was browsing in good old Lidl yesterday and look what I found

A punch pliers set with 100 eyelets and 25 press studs for a bargain £3.99! Maybe now  I'll get to finish those change trays I started last year!

It's WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, there's a fabulous linky party there so why not have a look?

April Already?!? Q1 roundup

Oh my, it's April already, time just flies!  Lets recap, what did Q1 bring?

Bella's Christening Gift - Sherbet Pips Quillow

HST Diamonds Quilt - this will hopefully become a wall hanging.

Lots of these minky ribbon blankies

A couple of iphone pouches

Sampler Blocks

And blocks for the Super Mario Quilt

 This is the latest one, sewn on Saturday, the pirhana flower.

So I'm not noticing any quilt finishes...must rectify that!

I am sleep deprived and couldn't get the mosaic maker thingy to work, so I apologise for the long, photo heavy post! And this being the case I have stayed away from all needles, scissors and other sharp objects today!

I'm linking up with The Small Blog Meet over at Lily's Quilts, albeit a day late!, it'll be my last time as I have 50 followers now,  YAY! so next time you'll find me on the Fresh Sewing Day linky instead!
And also Sew Chatty - Made With Love Link Up

I've also pledged to finish the binding on my central park 4 patch quilt over at Amy's Creative Side - One Thing, One Week Challenge - I'm hoping to be shamed into finishing it as attaching the binding is my least favourite bit!

Super Mario Block

Wow this one came together quickly!  This random piecing malarkey is fabulous!  Here he is, Mr Super Mario himself, although sometimes I look at it and see him and other times I don't see him...

I hit the big 'five-oh' 50 followers yesterday! Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read my ramblings and comment on my creations, it's a milestone for me for sure!

The kids have broken up from school for the two week Easter holidays, and I'm hoping the weather will continue to be nice and they can be out in the garden playing while I construct some more of these Mario blocks...

Have a great weekend everyone, I'm off to start block No 3.

One Block Down

Today I managed just enough sewing time to finish the first block for the Super Mario quilt, the star.

As I mentioned in my last post, I drew out some pixelated images from Super Mario and then just set about randomly piecing the block together.  Some pieces are a finished 1" square and other pieces are 10" long strips.  It's very liberating to piece in this manner, picking and choosing what goes where.

The block is about 17", it needs squaring off and sashing.

I think I'm going to tackle the big man himself next, MARIO...  in his own words 'here we go!'.

WIP Wednesday #15

Wednesday again?!?!

Having got my sewing machine back on Friday I was able to spend some time on Saturday on my Central Park Sampler Blocks

Here is the Star of Virginia block, others can be seen here.

I've started a new quilt today.... Super Mario Brothers for my boys.

I've sketched out some pixelated images which should make 18" blocks (very approximately!). I'm really excited about this one, I think it could be an amazing quilt.  The piecing is tricky, you can already see where it's not quite lining up, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it, the fun is in the making right?

Stats:
No progress this week on the;
Solids HST Diamond Quilt - needs re-basting as I've changed my mind about the backing fabric!
Central Park 4 Patch - binding in progress
Black and White King Size Bed Quilt - completed quilt top, partial quilt back
Dresden Plate - partial quilt top
Kaleidoscope - one block made, lots of cut pieces in a drawer!
Central Park Sampler Quilt - 7 blocks made.
Kids T-shirt Memory Quilt - some t shirts cut....

Finishes this week: 0
New Projects this week: 1
In Progress: 8

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for todays post.

Sampler Blocks

My machine is back! Yay! All serviced and repaired, so on Saturday I cracked on with some more sampler blocks.  I started the Skills Builder Sampler last year but when they moved on to applique and curved blocks I wasn't feeling the love, so now I'm pulling blocks from the Summer Sampler Series.
This Greek Cross block is probably my favourite so far, it's so pretty in the flesh.

 Mosaic Block

 Pinwheel Parade.

 Bow Ties

 Star of Virginia. This block is really growing me, I'm not usually a fan of green...

I'm really pleased with how these blocks are coming along, especially seeing as oranges, pinks and greens are out of my comfort zone!

I'm trawling all the linky parties looking for more block designs and tutorials, there's some amazing quilts out there right now, why not hop over and have a look?

Sew Happy Geek Manic Monday Linky Party
Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations
Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday

Beauty or Beast...

My sewing machine was collected yesterday (Monday) for it's service/repair. It may take a week or so... I thought I'd be fine with my Central Park 4 patch binding to get on with but no, I am now craving piecing!

My mum very kindly lent me her machine, an old Frister & Rossmann, which must be a 1960's relic, but I thought how hard could it be, surely I could at least do some piecing on it?

 Alas this was the pathetic amount I achieved before deciding that enough was enough!

The needle seems permanently stuck in a left hand sided position, not central to the foot which was making it tricky to line up a 1/4 inch seam, the foot pedal needed a very firm foot indeed, the machine wasn't picking up the first 2 or 3 stitches with each start, and to top it all it then decided to start somehow pulling threads on the fabrics, luckily only on the white and not my precious Central Park, so I have left it at that....

Beast it is then! I may have to go and ask my neighbour if I can borrow her machine tomorrow!

And it was all going so well...

I was hoping to post a finish today, my HST diamonds quilt was going great guns and then my machine stopped feeding the fabric through....

I got the manual out, cleaned a fair amout of lint out, oiled it and put it back together again - this is as far as my techinical expertise goes! Did a test and

It's still not feeding properly, making the stitches really small and close together and so damn hard to unpick!  So back up on the wall she goes whilst I go in search of a local sewing machine service type person.

I should really finishing the binding on my Central Park 4 Patch quilt anyway - so perhaps this is the ideal opportunity.

I saw a kaleidoruler online the other day and wondered if anyone has experience of using one? My kaleidoscope blocks went horribly wrong when the templates printed incorrectly and I really don't have the know how or experience to correct it myself, then I wondered if this might be a canny little cheat I could use... Please let me know what you think.

Stats:
No progress this week on the;
Central Park 4 Patch - binding
Black and White King Size Bed Quilt
Dresden Plate
Kaleidoscope
Skills Builder Sampler
Memory Quilt

Finishes this week: 0
New Projects this week: 0
In Progress: 7

As it's Wednesday again already (!!!) I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for todays post.

and also Sew Happy Geek & Quilt Story - who's buttons I can't get to publish for some reason...

Rainbow Diamond Flimsy

I finally got a little sewing time today after a busy weekend out with the girls and then family.  My HST diamond quilt is now a beautiful finished flimsy!

I loved this mini quilt the first time I saw it, I'm a sucker for a rainbow of colour, and Lindsay created this quilt with springtime in mind, liking the idea of bits of color peeking through the gray, much like her Indiana weather! I may not be in Indiana but the same certainly applies for lil' old Hampshire here in the UK!

I'm trying to persuade hubby that the dining room - my sewing space - needs redecorating... It can be quite dark in there on a grey day so I'm hoping to have the wallpaper taken off and some lovely fresh white walls in it's place.  I'm keen to use this quilt as my first wall hanging and would like it all to myself in my sewing space, is that too selfish? 

The quilt measures 41" x 33".  If I pull my finger out tomorrow and choose a backing I may have a finish to post on Wednesday...

Lindsay's tutorial for this mini quilt can be found here.

I'm linking up with Sew Chatty's Made With Love Linky today.

WIP Wednesday - Leap Day Edition!

Happy Leap Day everyone, I'm pleased to annouce a finish this week in the form of my Sherbet Pips Quillow.

I really love it and can't wait to make another! The tutorial I followed can be found at A Cuppa and a Catch Up if you'd also like to give it a try. I've started cutting the boys old t shirts for their memory quilt (which I'm thinking of making into a quillow also!)

I've been making some of these for orders this week - this funds my fabric habit!

No progress this week on the;
Solids Diamond Quilt
Central Park 4 Patch - binding
Black and White King Size Bed Quilt
Dresden Plate
Kaleidoscope
Skills Builder Sampler

Finishes this week: 1
New Projects this week: 1
In Progress: 7

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for todays post.
 

Name Change???

So I was thinking... I can't really call myself a novice quilter forever, perhaps i should change the blog name. I was going to keep the Ramblings... and add 'Mostly Quilty' But my facebook page is called Quilty Creations - perhaps I should rename the blog the same to tie everything together? Perhaps the change is a good idea while I don't have too many followers... I'm obviously optimisitic of raising the number in the future! ha ha Comments and thoughts welcome. xx

Sherbet Pips Quillow

It's official, I'm in love with Bella's finished Christening Gift Quillow! I now see absolutely no reason why all quilts should not have the hidden cushion pocket and fold away so fabulously!

I followed the tutorial over at A Cuppa and a Catch Up, so if i refer to particular 'steps' you may get clarification from there!

Here is the back of the cushion panel (I'll be refering back to this block later!)

And this is the front, which gets quilted in step 2.

It was a gloriously sunny day today, to such an extent that the pictures even have glare! My photographic skills really are terrible - sorry!

I devised my own block design so that Bella would be able to appreciate the fun prints, each block was 16" square.

Please excuse my barren wasteland of a garden!

And for the back I have repurposed a pretty Debenhams duvet cover.

The quilting is a bit neanderthol with a wonky squares design, because...

The construction of the quillow in this instance is such that you baste your quilt top and batting together and cut to size. You then cut your backing fabric to the same size, pin right sides together with your quilt top, sew around the edge leaving a turning hole, turn it through and then stitch round the edge again, closing the turning hole as you go.

Now this threw up an issue for me, even though I went back over my pin basting to attach the backing fabric before quilting the three layers together I found that my backing was still baggy in places. I was going to straight line quilt along the white sashing lengths and widths of the blocks but ended up with fabric excesses, so had to tear it out and go with a 'less is more' kind of approach, hence the wonky squares, which has allowed me to fix all the layers in place without it being glaringly obvious that there is too much fabric in a couple of places!

Also, if you are using a block design that requires the correct orientation - I wouldn't want my little scooting children upside down now would I ?!? - make sure that your 'top middle' quilt top block is attached to the 'front cushion panel block' as shown below. I did it this way by shere fluke, then considered it might be wrong, read and re-read all the instructions, had a fiddle with the blocks and realised i had it right! Phew!

Lastly, I am left with 2 blocks that have no quilting. The one pictured above which is attached to the cushion front block, and also the cushion back block which was my very first picture above. Because these three blocks are sandwiched and stitched together during the construction of the quilt top, by the time the quilting process begins you cannot machine quilt them. My hand sewing is atrocious and I haven't attempted hand quilting yet, so for this quillow they will remain as they are but I am plannng on making another quillow with my Tufted Tweets that will be mine - ALL MINE! - so perhaps I'll experiment how to get around this issue then.

If any of you have made quillows in a different way please let me know, i'd be really interested to hear about it.

P.S. I'm linking up with Making Monday Marvelous for this post...