Hmm... what shall I make with these?

Don't you just love these? I do. This Julia Rothman's debut collection for Windham Fabric and its called Type.

I do love typewriters. When I was a kid I used to go to my mother's office and type on their typewriter. Just anything to hear the click of those keys. So I really love this fabric.

I'm think pouches, pencil cases, bags... what else?

Books and Letters

This gorgeous collection just came in to the store this month - Books and Letters by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics. I thought of my husband when I saw it and asked him if he'd like a bag made from it. He wanted a quilt and made me feel bad that he did not have a quilt yet.

So... I worked out a pattern and bought the fabric. Need to still buy another solid. 

After I worked it out I found the pattern on two blogs! 

Cara had worked it out for her turn on the Bar Hop Quilt Along. See it here: Cara Quilts.

Marj is working on a pattern she bought from Lunden Designs. 

Isn't it weird how you think of something and then you see it out there already! 

Nothing is new under the sun!

Applique!

This is the applique block we made for our Beginner Hand Quilting Class. With this all our blocks our done and we are on to sashing. I love the way the block turned out even though it was a pretty long process. But I am really excited that I now know how to applique and I can't wait to get started on more shapes!  

Dresdens and Tumbling Blocks!

I used to look at tutorials of Dresden Plates and think, "Some day I'm going to make one"... and I always put it off 'coz I thought it would be too difficult. But here we are! :)This Beginner Hand Quilting Class with Jeannie has really made a lot of things so much simpler. Right now I'm working on the applique block - again something I have not done before - but it's going great! I am very inspired. Yaay! :)

We used freezer paper to make the circle and I have to say that I was a little daunted by having to cut the back and take the freezer paper out and everything.... but it was a breeze. Another note to self - don't write off something before you've given it a shot and definately don't spend hours stressing about it either!

Dresden

Got my Tumbling Blocks all done and appliqued onto the background. Really like the way they turned out!

Linking up to:

Made some Progress

I just had to put my flying geese blocks together and see what they looked like. And I love it! 

I love how one pattern creates a whole new pattern. :)

I think I'm going to call this quilt Whirl. The pinwheel in gray in the center gives it a whirly feel don't you think?

Whirl

And a new project!

I am determined to make those sketches in my book come to life. So I started this easy peasy baby quilt with Kate Spain's Cuzco and a lot of Kona White!

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.

In the Pipeline

In the Pipeline Sketch

My aunt had a game on her phone. You had to form this pipeline from the water source to where you were supposed to get the water to go. There were different shapes of pipes that you could use to get the water flowing. This quilt... came from that game. :)

I drew up the pattern earlier this year when I was working out a quilt for my nephew. I loved the design but knew it was going to be a lot of work so I didn't make it for him.

I have tried to work the math on this one but it's scrambling my brains! I may just have to work with the fabric and see how it goes. 


I'm using a Charm Pack of Simply Modern by V and Co. Gosh I love this line. It is so gorgeous. So simple but so nicely done. Love the colours and the patterns.  And I'm using Kona Charcoal and Chartreuse.

Started piecing the blocks.

Then ran out of Chartreuse strips so gotta cut again!

 

Really looking forward to this quilt. Fingers crossed! 

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.

Improv Piecing Experiment 2

So I had a bunch of bright scraps from the Grandmother's Flower Garden Flowers I'm making for the store and I've been wanting to use them. This is what I did.

I took a piece of batting (left over from another quilt), cut some backing fabric for it, and a piece of Kona White. I just ironed them on to the batting. No pinning or basting.

Then I took scraps, used my walking foot and sewed them on. Placed the fabric right side down on the opposide side of how I wanted the fabric placed. Sewed a 1/4" seam (kid of approximately... I just used the edge of my walking foot). And then pressed the fabric to the right side. I made sure that I folded in a 1/4" seam if I knew I would be letting some of the white background show.

 

Added more strips and scraps as went along. 

 

And added some quilting stitches now and then when I felt like it. 

 

Squared it up when I was done. Just needs binding. 

 

I like doing these minis.... I feel like I'm getting some practice and my work can evolve. 

Giveaway Win from Incomparable Buttons

I won a giveaway sometime back from Incomparable Buttons! They make the most gorgeous hand made buttons and I was thrilled when I won!

Sorry it's taken me so long to put up the pictures but here they are. :)

 

I don't think I've ever got mail from South Africa before.

Flirting with Flirt

I bought two charm packs of Sandy Gervais' Flirt a few weeks ago. It's such a sweet line... very hard to resist.

Decided to go with Half Square Triangles for this one.  I seem to make a lot of HSTs it seems. They are such versatile blocks. I'm doing my best to try and make them just right.

I'm pressing seams open this time and squaring them up and hoping for good results. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

What is the best way to square the block up though? Should I be taking the angle into consideration... how do I do this the rigth way?

 I tried to get them to be 4 and three eighths...

 

And played with them a little bit to see what would look best...

I think I'm going to go for the scrappy chevron look.

Blogathon Canada!

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is sponsoring a Blogathon for Canadian Quilters! They have host bloggers who will post through the week of November 19 - 24. These bloggers will have also have a list of blogs from their province/territories. If you're a blogger in Canada and would like to be on that list write to: connect@sew-sisters.com.
And there are a lot of giveaways and you don't have to be Canadian to enter! So follow along. 
Go here: Sew Sisters for all the details!
This is going to be a lot of fun.

Look what Judy brought back for me from Market!!!

:) We all got presents today and this was mine. Love it. Thank You Judy! :)

Improv Piecing is great!

My first improv piece and quilt as you go project... and all done in an evening! So satisfying. :)

Has some batik strips. Used a backing and piece of batting... ironed out the strips and pieced away.

HST Quilt in Progress

I started working on this HST quilt a few months ago. I had some fabric left over from another project... 3.5" squares. So I made a bunch of HSTs. Been working with the fabric itself... and started in the centre... so this is taking some time... lots of time... anyway... will be good when its all done.

 

This was what I was planning when I first drew the design a couple of years ago! Needed to make a quick baby quilt for  a friend. I was going to use large blocks and make a little quilt. Never got done though. Now I'm making a large quilt with litte blocks. 

I am piecing by hand!!!

Taking the Beginner Hand Quilting with class with Jeannie at the store this season and here are the blocks we've learned. I never thought that I would piece by hand...ever! But its great fun and look at the blocks? Don't they look good? I am amazed at how simple the process is and Jeannie's so good with her instructions that it's really a breeze. I don't feel like I'm doing anything great... I just follow instructions!

Block 1 - 16 Patch

The first block is a good way to get started. We cut out our square template from a plastic template sheet. Then marked the squares on the fabrics using the templates and cut the squares out with scissors... yes... in the old fashioned way! I have to admit that I was so tempted to rotary cut... but then I told myself that this class was about learning the traditional way that I will. Jeannie does give us the option of rotary cutting though... so one of the ladies in the class is doing that. I have always believed that my scissor cutting skills sucked so I am proving myself wrong and working those shears! :)

Block 2 - Star

And we're on to triangles!

 

Block 3 - Tumbling Blocks

Tumbling Blocks have finally entered by repertoire! I have to piece them and applique them on to a background but I wanted to see what they would look like. Very happy with the effect.

Three blocks down and three to go. We have an applique block and a Dresden Plate in the mix which I am very happy about. I remember watching videos of how to make dresdens and thinking ... I don't know when I'm going to make those... the time has come!

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Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt

These are flowers so far for the Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Sample for the store. Been trying to work out a background colour... there are pictures on the store blog of different options. You can see them here: Sew Sisters Quilt Shop. I guess I'm leaning toward Kona Cotton - Coal... but for some reason I'm having a hard time choosing. My initial thought was to go with white but then... it's not transferring so well..

Speak to me Flower Garden Quilt!!!

Hand Quilting Class

I'm taking Jeannie's Beginner Quilt Making by Hand class. We started off last week. My hand sewing is not very good... well... I haven't done much of it so I guess I shouldn't keep saying that. I'm probably going back to the time I tried to piece by hand ... 4 years ago... with no templates and no instruction and ofcourse it was horrible. And I have been making the hexagons and they're not so bad so I really sould stop saying that! :)

Anyway... this the is fabric I'll be using. It's the Sonora Collection from Benartex. Love the colours. this neat package is from The Bargain Lover's Club. It's so neatly done that I didn't want to open it up! Great deal too.

We started off with a 16 patch. I made my first four blocks more as a trial. Will have to start working wiht the actual fabric now. I was always a little worried about scissor cutting but its not so bad once you make a template. I'm really glad I'm doing this class. It's a well designed class and by the end of it I would have worked on triangles, applique, tumbling blocks and a dresden plate! Yaay! :)

Flying Geese Quilt

So I started cutting for this quilt about a year and a half ago when I was back home in India. The pink and the orange fabric is from a fabric market I used to frequent in Bangalore. it's great fabric - lovely weave and about 60" wide. And if I think of what I paid for it... sigh.

Anyway... brought the pieces I cut and the fabric across the world with me last year and finally bought a nice Kona Coal to go with it. The pattern has been in my book for a while now.

 

 One of things I learned to do during my Machine Quilting class was squaring and trimming blocks. Now I don't make blocks without this step!

 Does'nt the block on top look way better than the block below? More work but better results.

Any tips on how to reduce bulk when doing flying geese/ HSTs? And how to improve accuracy?

Finished block. Squared to 12" square. 

Linking up:
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