Ginger Blossom Pinwheels

It was love at first sight! Browsing Flickr for quilting ideas I happened upon this quilt by Karen Moore. That was in September 2010. A fat quarter bundle of the same fabric, Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson, was quickly sourced on Etsy (the one and only fat quarter bundle I have ever bought).  

When the fabrics arrived they weren't quite as bright as they appeared on Flickr but they were still gorgeous. Miss O in particular liked the fabrics. I set to work making all the HSTs and sewed over half into pinwheels. And that's as far as I went. The pinwheels and remaining HSTs were neatly stacked away in a cake container and placed in the top of the cupboard. As this was before I began blogging, I have no record of exact times and details.

After completing Peaceful Night last week I immediately started thinking about my next project. Now seemed to be the perfect time to work on this WIP while I waited on creative inspiration for a new project. This was the first piecing I had done on my new machine and what a pleasure it has proved to be. Working a little here and there, all the pinwheels were complete, pressed and trimmed.

Thankfully Miss O still really likes this quilt and worked on the layout for the pinwheels which I have sewn together. The borders are yet to be cut, pieced and added but we both really like the pinwheel centre panel. I'm looking forward to seeing this one complete and in use on Miss O's bed .



Sharing at WIP Wednesday.

Quilting is for Fun!

Sliver Threads

A very warm welcome if you are visiting from the Blogger's Quilt Festival - and also to my wonderful regular readers.   

As with pretty much anything in life, quilting is what you make of it. My Royal Whispers quilt is filled with wild combinations of fabric types and colours, ribbons and trims, threads and stitches, techniques and ideas. In so many ways it is a 'break the rules' quilt - and I love it. 

Most of the fabrics used were left over from previous projects or already part of my collection. In the two months since completing Royal Whispers it has been well used - one of my daughters currently has it on her bed (although I intended it for myself).   :)

If you would like to know more about this quilt, particularly the threads used, you will find details and links in previous posts here and here.


Sharing at Blogger's Quilt Festival: Scrappy Quilt
You can also find details of my Peaceful Night quilt here, entered in the Small Quilt section.

Peaceful Night - Completed!

Peaceful Night is at last complete and it brings delight to my eyes and satisfaction to my soul. With a happy mix of bright stars and low volume diamonds, set amongst the twinkling nighttime greys the name suits well.

I'm thankful to have the details of each stage recorded on my blog. It was 16 months ago that I first put pencil to paper and pulled fabrics from my collection as I began this new English Paper Piecing (EPP) adventure. Many thanks to those who offered suggestions, answered my questions and encouraged me along this quilt journey.

I'll let the photos do the talking with links to relevant posts if you wish to find more details.

Designing my block and drawing to a suitable size. June 2013. At this stage I wasn't sure if I
 would stop at a one block pillow or stitch more to make a quilt.

Initial fabric selection - not all made it into the quilt.

I cut all the papers from copy paper, using an old rotary blade and quilting rulers.

After a false start stitch basting and topstitching with quilting thread (too stiff and thick), I put together this
kit to organise my matching polyester threads, fine needles, glue pen, papers and cut fabrics ready for stitching.

A little stitching here and there, my treasure trove of stars began to grow - July 2013.

My little stack of low volume background blocks was also pleasure to work on.

Trying to work out the best arrangement of blocks - lots of different ideas. Nov 2013

 Trying to find the perfect background fabric -
more than one fabric order from the US (2 weeks wait each time).

Decisions were made and progress was happening. Dec 2013

Arrangement of the blocks was decided upon and the star blocks
 stitched together into their rows.
The name Peaceful Night was chosen for the quilt.

This was end of piecing the blocks and more space and time would be needed
to proceed with sewing everything together.
Motivation, time and space had waned.

So Peaceful Night was neatly stacked away for a future time. This was early January 2014.

Other quilting projects (even another epp project) and life took over. I discovered Superior Threads Bottom Line thread which is favoured by many for fine epp stitching. Then I was unexpectedly introduced to the joys of Gutermann Extra Fine thread, a new thread on the market, which seems to be the perfect epp thread for me. Over this time I also refined my hand stitching technique, making smaller stitches, closer together.

End of August 2014 and the time was right to recommence work on Peaceful Night!
Thankfully I now had some Extra Fine thread to help make the finishing even neater.

Main blocks sewn together, edges yet to be finalised and binding fabric ordered.

Quilt top completed!  :)  Mid Sept.

A shimmering collection of silk threads awaiting the beginning of hand quilting. Delightful to the eye and the hand.

Hand quilting with silk was a delight - details shared here and here.

Matilda's Own polyester batting is wonderfully soft, but unfortunately is tending to pill :(

Sporting physio tape and new runners, Miss N played
quilt holder for me yesterday under the jacaranda trees!

Some of my faithful readers may be wondering how I resolved my problems with the binding last week - I secured the quilt top, batting and backing together with a wide, well space zigzag stitch. However once the binding was attached I unpicked the zigzag to give a soft puffy finish to the binding before hand stitching the binding down on the back. Once the binding was complete I adding the last of the hand quilting, parallel to the binding - and I did have enough black silk!  :)

Backed in Exotic Flora in Deep, Bazaar Style by Pat Bravo.

Like many quilts, Peaceful Night holds a story of exploration, progress, discovery, perseverance and delight. 

Thank you to all those who were also part of this journey with me. 

Quilt Stats: 42" x 48" (106cm x 123cm)

Own design, Cotton fabrics, Matilda's Own polyester batting, hand quilted with silk threads.

Sharing at Blogger's Quilt Festival: Small Quilt

Self-Sown

"I was just sittin' here enjoying' the company.

Plants got a lot to say,

 if you take the time to listen."

                                   Eeyore

Adjusted Plans

You know how sometimes you have a good idea but it doesn't quite work out as you had planned. Well, I thought I would square up and trim my Peaceful Night quilt before completing the hand quilting along the outside edges. That way I could make sure my quilting lines ran exactly parallel to the binding etc.

It was a good idea, but when I attempted to attach the binding I had troubles with the top starting to pucker against the batting and backing, even though I sewed slowly using a walking foot. After half a side was 'completed' it became obvious the finish wasn't pleasing. So I unpicked the binding and have been very carefully hand quilting the edges except for the very outermost parallel stitching lines. To prevent any of the now-cut EPP hand stitching from unravelling I have added a few little top stitches and some gentle basting stitches along the very edge to help stabilise the sections with a bias cut.

Somehow I had also underestimated the amount of hand quilting yet to do around the edges....
I am now hoping to be ready to attach the binding by the end of the coming weekend, after which the very last parallel-to-the-binding lines will be quilted. Let's hope things go to plan this time, with no puckers - and that I don't run out of black silk thread!


Sharing at WIP Wednesday.