Murphy's quilt

I think I will name this quilt Murphy's quilt as in Murphy's Law - you know the one, everything that could go wrong will go wrong! This quilt has nearly been the death of me!

First the purples - most quilters will say if they are short on one colour it will be purple. I don't think that it is so much of a conscious choice rather than a lack of that shade available. It is so hard to get. If you go to the purples section on a fabric website it will show mostly that magenta pinky colour. I had really wanted a much darker truer purple. But in the end I settled for the mish mash of anything that remotely resembled purple. So I basically started a quilt, one of the few things I make to keep for myself, with a lot of fabrics I barely liked.

Then the pattern I chose way back when I first started quilting. I thought it looked so striking. However when I looked at the cutting, it was really wasteful if you weren't using a layer cake. So I reworked it so that I could cut with yardage. It still left a lot of crazy diagonal cuts and loads of half square triangles.

The sewing was basically 2 seams which I found it a bit boring and then there were no directions as to how to square up which meant if you didn't create your own system you could easily cut way off as each block is asymmetrical. So now I had a load of fabrics I didn't really like using a pattern that I didn't like making.

I got the quilt top finished and my husband thought I should really add an extra row to one side. But I had been sewing rows the other way and didn't really want to add it cross wise. So if you're keeping track we now have fabrics I don't like, a pattern not pleasant to sew and a quilt that is too small for the bed!

Next up comes the quilt sandwich. Easy, right? I had bought bamboo quilting especially for this project. But by the time I got round to this one I might have cut into it for something else. So I had all these large scraps and had to piece them together into a super king quilt! It took me about an hour to do the maths - and I am not kidding. Not that it really helped. I sewed bits to the wrong side and it was still just big enough...which wasn't enough when trying to square up the quilt sandwich. So some sides were over and some bits short.

It was even a nightmare to photograph with all the dark colours in it which is why it has taken me so long to blog about it.But at last it was done. Yay. We got it on our bed for a few weeks until the weather here got too cold and I begged for the duvet to go back on.

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Purples - discuss

Plum, violet, maroon, burgundy, lavander, lilac, amethyst, mauve, magenta and (my personal favourite) Cadbury. What do you think of as the colour purple?

But why are nice purple fabrics so hard to find? Any blog you read, even in the US, where quilters go through their stash the one colour they all are missing is purple in any significant quantity.

Unfortunately for me our bedroom is just such a colour so I need to do a super king size quilt with what I could scrape together to match. Do you think I've got it right?

The big flower in the upper left corner is the same as our painted walls. It's a hard colour to describe but is kind of a pinky white. I managed to get a solid the exact match in my local quilt shop! This is only amazing because they only stock about 20 solids. You can see it in the bottom of the picture.

This fabric is from the curtains and blinds. I had wanted to go with that really dark purple in it rather than the reddish pink

But since I had to buy off the internet, you can see the colours vary greatly. Purple seems to be very much a matter of opinion. I took out this Alexander Henry. It just kept sticking out. What do you think? Have I got it right? Any others you would take out?

I also bought a lot of fabric designs that are just so-so. Not my favourites which is a shame as it will be one of the few quilts I will keep.



So instead of showcasing the fabrics I thought I would choose a big impact design. This was one of the first quilt patterns that I saw and printed off when I started to quilt. Now I will actually get to use it. It's called Java Stars from the Moda Bake Shop website. I will just have to super size it up to super king and maybe leave off the boarder.

I hope it will all come together when all the purples are cut up and mixed together. So what do you think?

Blogger Quilt Festival

Almost a year in the making, but what better time to finish my sampler quilt than the week of Amy's great Blogger Quilt Festival . This time it feels like I really have something to show off!

This quilt is also special because it is the first one I get to keep!

I designed it to go in my living/dining room to match all the yellow and grey in there. But to make it a little more interesting, I decided to go with a sampler design. I thought this would be a good way to expand my knowledge base of quilting in a shortish timeframe.

I tried to go with the widest variety of types of block. So there is some paper piecing, hand stitching, applique, improv and of course standard piecing. I was fortunate and grateful to all the kind bloggers out there who generously post ideas, pictures and all important tutorials that I was able to use to pull together such a stunning variety of blocks. There are some old school blocks in there two like this 9 patch tutorial but with the simple colour scheme I think the overall look is modern.

Although I really enjoyed making this quilt, the time involved was way more than I had anticipated. Not just in sourcing all the different blocks but then working on each for the first time. But the thing I think held me back the most was the quilting. How was I going to pull all these different designs off?

I decided I didn't just want an overall design, so again much research was called on and finally I got this baby quilted! Once I had started doing the different designs to emphasise each block, I became more confident in the look I wanted to achieve. I reckoned as long as this was a sampler quilt, then I should sample as much different types of quilting designs as I could manage. 

There were some blocks where I was just totally winging it. Some I liked better than others. But overall I am proud that I gave each technique a go and I think I got the mix right between simple outline quilting and some heavier free motion quilting.

My first ever feather attempt

Trying out all the different stitches on my machine

For the nerds among you here are it's vital stats:
Block size: Aimed for 12" (probably trimmed a bit smaller, all due to my error!)
Overall Size: 56" x 72" (or as I like to say big enough to snuggle under in front of TV - and maybe even room for two!
Filling: Bamboo wadding

The back - almost as pretty as the front

Very Autumnal

The one with the "fleg"

I am so happy for my cousin's wife that she has achieved British citizenship by a test so vigorous that I am not sure all who reside here naturally would actually pass. Especially considering English is not her first language.

So as usual to celebrate any occasion, I made something!

This quilt is to celebrate her dual citizenship and to keep her Thai toes warm on Irish winter nights!

The pattern is adapted from Lily Quilts on Moda Bake Shop. The secret pillow pattern is one of the first that my mother-in-law learnt and I love the one she made for me.

I have to confess it wasn't all plain sailing with this one though. Because the two patterns were different sizes I had to wing it a bit but as usual got it wrong. The pillow was meant to be 18.5" which making a slightly smaller quilt I did not think I would need. So I made it 12" sq to fit in with the blue stripe on the back. You, of course will have spotted that there is no way a quilt will fold up into a 12" sq and you would be right!
So I had to add a few boarders and eventually ended up with something more like 14.5" sq.

Anyway the most important thing is that she loved her present which also doubled as a 30th birthday present.

Jungle path

The blog may have been quiet for a while but the sewing machine definitely hasn't been. First to show you was a baby quilt done in double quick time (I always forget my deadlines until they are upon me).

I used the Jungle Path pattern by Jessica Kelly from ModaBakeShop.

It wasn't until I was finished that I realised that I hadn't actually followed the instructions correctly! Not that it matters. I still have a gorgeous quilt finish. I think it is one I am most pleased with in terms of technical ability.

All the practice done on different quilts seems to be coming together to give a really good finish. I used Elizabeth's technique of kind of robot quilting (much more suitable for a boy's quilt than standard meandering). I am proud of how this looks, as sometimes I think my quilting really spoils the quilt top because it is so bad. But with this I think I nailed it!

Not that there aren't' any oops bits...

 What nearly broke my heart though was the thread. I bought two 100m rolls thinking that would be plenty for a cot size quilt... where does it all go? With a deadline looming, I had to just work on and try and use some extra thread which was a bit greeny but hopefully the recipient won't mind.

I have had to remove my Goodnight Pooh Bear quilt from Etsy as it has also gone to a good home. But don't forget you can order one just like it in a pink/grey colourway, (or in a completely different pattern to it!) by contacting me.


Price £50.

Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs

I can finally reveal the dinosaur quilt in all its glory.

It is for my nephew's top bunk bed so it is really long and skinny. It measures 39" by 72".

I tried to quilt big dinosaur feet on it, which if you stare closely you may be able to see in the close up shot. I was a bit disappointed with the overall effect. I think I should have done it in a contrasting colour to stand out on the back.

However I was much more pleased with the pocket up top. I used "The Bag Making Bible" by Lisa Lam which I received in December for my birthday from my sister (hint hint). Okay - I did ask for it but it is even better than I thought it would be. It has all different sections for each part of a bag. So I took this from the pockets chapter. It is designed to be a more 3D pouch so that you can fit bulkier things in. A good first attempt I think.

It is of course for a torch - because what do 4 year old boys really rather have - a hand made quilted in love or a piece of plastic that lights up!?

If you want to see more of Lisa's ideas check out her amazing blog here.

One final picture of the quilt as it has gone home to England already ( I apologise for the quality of the pictures, I waited all week to take them but it is so dark and wet and windy that in the end I had to just take them indoors.)

My first post

First time blogging. This is not about my life, my opinions or my hopes and dreams. I am not intending to achieve world peace. It's just a sewing blog. When I started quilting earlier this year my biggest help was pictures of what others had made. So now I will post what I have made. Hopefully these photos will inspire you in your crafty endeavours. I thought I would start my showing you a photo of some really cute fabric bought from my local shop - who doesn't like looking at all that lovely material?! And best yet - they were all half price. I don't know what I will make yet or what else to add to this bundle but am open to suggestions.

Work in progress

I took some pictures of my latest WIP. This baby quilt may be going to a friend - depends whether she has a boy or girl!

This was my first attempt to stipple a whole quilt. It is still a bit jaggedy but overall looks ok. Now that's done i've come to a bit of an impasse with which colour to bind this with. As always, open to suggestions.

One last thing apt to the title of this post. My whole blog design is a WIP. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will get to grips with how to use blogger and produce something much more pleasant to view.