Sherbet Stripes

Finally "Sherbet Stripes" has been gifted so it can be shared!

 This is another string quilt, which I really enjoy making.  They are a surprise which comes together at the end and are the perfect mix of traditional and modern.  Plus they use lots of little bits of material - perfect for scraps, jelly rolls or making the most of whole lines of fabric.  What more could you want?  This baby quilt was another commission and it needed to suit either a boy or girl...

 I had a jelly roll of "Sherbet Pips" by Aneela Hoey who does the cutest little whimsical retro patterns and figures.  Her designs and colours are very distinctive.  This particular line includes children skating in the Wintertime, scarves, little squares (which makes a nice variant on the polka dots you often see and which I also love) and cutest of all, little dogs!  This was the selling point for my client, the recipient has a doggy not dissimilar to the curious little dog on the fabric.

I tried something a bit different with strips and the white trellis effect this time.  As the quilt was small scale I made the strips and the white sashing a bit narrower so there was more variety and colour.  I also kept the strips the same width rather than having a random effect as in previous string quilts I have made.  I also experimented with the white centre squares which worked relatively well and echoed the little squares in the fabrics.

To finish it off I used a grey and white dot fabric, punctuated by a strip of playful puppies on red from the "Sherbet Pips" line.  The quilt is self bound using the backing and the little highlights of the red come through in that too.

Baby Elephant Walk

 This is Baby Elephant Walk - another quilt using the "Fresh Beginnings" pattern, with slight adaptions.  It is amazing how the same pattern can look so different in alternative colour lines!  This was the same pattern as I used in Pink! for example...
The brief was "novelty animal/jungle prints in blues and browns".  My client chose a few of the jungle prints to start with including the cute little elephants and I took it from there.  To save it from becoming too brown or dark I added the lime inner border.

Here is a detail showing my favourite addition - the Aboriginal walkabout footprints and the inspiration for the quilt's name.  It ended up a bit "Australia meets Africa", what with the Aboriginal print, the dogs in utes, the elephants, tigers and lions.  Somehow it works though.
As much as I liked the brown/blue combination, I was a bit over it by the time I made the backing and so I took my lead from the lime green and made it blue and green instead.

 This was a really fun quilt to make.  I hope the baby who belongs to it has sweet and exotic dreams on or under it. :)

Baby Seuss!

Not the most original of names for this cute baby quilt but it seems to suit it. :)  Made from the "Celebrate Seuss" by Michael Kaufman line - I chose a panel for the blocks and the adorable dotted material for the backing and binding.  I then discovered, having found that it needed something bold for the sashing, that some turquoise from my stash was the perfect addition.
It is simply machine quilted in the sashing with straight lines and is self bound using the backing - a style I am really loving to use when the backing is just right.
It is now with a current Dr Seuss fan, awaiting the arrival of a new Dr Seuss fanlet.  I am guessing there will be much snuggling underneath it reading the Dr Seuss classics...

Giving Hands

I am a member of Giving Hands, a charity quilting group who meet once a month to hone skills, learn new ones, have a cuppa and a chat all while producing beautiful quilts for charity made from donated and upcycled materials.  How good is that?
I have loved our first year together, the wisdom and friendships I have found in these women is incomparable.  As I am often encumbered (in the sweetest possible way) by my wee man, who likes to sort out bottle tops, check out the garden and chat with the chooks while we are there, I sometimes don't get as much done as I would like.  I have therefore only managed to fully complete one quilt this year.  As a group we have made about 20, which is a wonderful effort.  You can read more about it all here.
This one is my quilt:

As you can see if you follow the link, they are all based on the red family colour group and use this same "Fresh Beginnings" pattern by Jan Mullen but it is amazing to see how diverse the results are.  Next year we are making a foray into juvenile fabrics and a different pattern.  Can't wait for those! 

Watercolour Rainbow table runner/wall hanging

I made this little table runner/wall hanging from the leftover material from making this wedding quilt.  The batiks were too beautiful to ignore or separate so I played around with them and came up with this simple stacked design which studies their colour graduation.  I think it's like a muted rainbow, washed away by the rain. :)
The border is the same chatreuse I used to bind the wedding quilt too - it's a bit brighter than it looks here and I love the acidity against the pastels.  The backing was some pink batik I had in my stash.  You can see the simple quilting I used best on the back and the little hanging pockets I included on each corner so the recipient can hang it using some doweling if they want.
Overall, I was very happy with the result of this little piece and think it is apt that, like its big sister quilt, it has been gifted as a wedding present.

Hot Pink and more Pink!

Yes, it's very pink...with just a touch of butter yellow on the back.
This is my latest baby quilt to go to its new owner born just a few weeks ago and the request from the donor was that it be pink, pink and more pink.
By happy coincidence I have been working on largely monochromatic designs in my charity quilting group "Giving Hands" where we have been concentrating on using light and dark values within a colour family to create contrast.   This is where the pattern (called Fresh Beginnings) came from too although I altered the borders a little.
The border fabric (and the strip on the back) is a gorgeous little alphabet number from the "Love U" by Deb Strain for Moda, just perfect for the job.  The spotted backing material also comes from this range.
The little squares are scrappy from my stash - some cute hearts, some Jan Mullen fabric, some textured solids...and a few fussy cut donkeys for whimsy.
I really love the pop of yellow on the back and I adore the scooters!  Maybe a Vespa is something this little girl will aspire to one day. :)

Quilt and craft fair debrief

Had a great time as always but didn't buy as much.  The fabrics were lovely as usual and if I had seen a bali pop I liked then I might have been tempted but fat quarters are so expensive here compared to US prices so I much prefer to internet shop.
However I did support local a bit - I bought some lovely varigated threads in cute lolly like mixed packs of mini spools for accent hand quilting around applique etc.  I also bought a triangular ruler and a drunkards path template.
I attended two workshops which were interesting.  One on how to use jelly rolls, which gave me some good ideas about sewing strips together for a string quilt type finish and also about separating strips into light, medium and dark, both of which I knew in theory but it was a good refresher.  The second one was on quilt as you go techniques which I would like to try at some stage but think it may need practice!
The quilt exhibition as always was lovely, my favourite probably being a 1930s repro quilt with a gorgeously sunny yellow background.  Not the most technical but it made me happy just looking at it.
So inspired to start cutting again - have had a bit of a break but have some plans now and some definite projects other than my hand quilted hexagons...