2 String Quilt finishes!

 FirstlyI finished my RSC String Quilt using only blue, green, pink and yellow blocks.

It measures 42”square and is machine quilted. I picked out leftover bindings using the four  colours of the blocks. I pretty much matched the colour of the blocks to the same coloured bindings. I’m really pleased with this quilt. 

This finish made me feel like making more string blocks, this time a little smaller and using a central white strip in every block. Again I used telephone directory paper for the foundation of the blocks. I trimmed the blocks to 4.5” and arranged them in four making a white diamond in the middle of the group.

I think it it really effective.

I found a good length of solid pale blue binding in my bag of leftover bindings and found a remnant of that same fabric to make more to add to the leftover piece. I had a piece of blue and lemon flowered fabric in my stash which was just big enough when pieced to make the backing.

Machine quilted, the quilt finished at 25” square.

I so enjoyed making these two quilts that I decided to make another straight away. My basket of strings was very depleted so I spent sometime cutting strings from larger scraps. I have made progress in sewing the 36 string blocks I need for my next quilt. I should have enough of the solid pale blue binding to bind this third little quilt. 

Joining up with Angela’s So scrappy blog for RSC 2023.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Finished the cushion covers

 I finished making the 36 string blocks for my next baby quilt for the local maternity unit. A real mixture of fabrics. Sometimes there was only one bit of a string scrap for me to use. I’m surprised how well the middle white strings stand out in the blocks.

Here they all are pinned into rows ready to sew later. The fabric next to them is the backing fabric.

The photo isn’t terribly good as the light is fading and I took it in the electric light.

We took my friend Margaret to the local pantomime yesterday evening. It was excellent - Beauty and the Beast. The script was written by a local chap who provides scripts every year for our Amateur Talisman Theatre. There are always jokes included which relate to our town of Kenilworth. We are very fortunate to have two Amateur theatres, the other one being the Priory Theatre. Our family and another family we know came too and a good time was had by all. I gave Margaret the finished cushion covers, wrapped up  for her to open on Christmas Day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they fit the special cushion pads she has and that she likes my colour choices. I have to say they were a real fiddle to finish so I hope they work.

The pattern is called Hidden Rails which I found in a Pola Quilting youtube tutorial.

I wrote and posted the Christmas cards earlier in the week and this morning I wrote and sent a whole list of Jacquie Lawson cards. I’ve decided to cut down on cards this year so actually sent email cards to many of the people I have previously sent real cards to. However that wasn’t straightforward as I managed to loose my work halfway through and had to start all over again! So frustrating. Another thing I cut out this year was my Annual Round Robin, replacing it with a short message instead.

Hoping to fit in a little sewing this coming week as I would like to finish machine quilting and binding the RSC String Quilt and also complete the baby String quilt. 

Joining up with Angela’s RSC So Scrappy blog.

Gifting makes me happy!

 We have had a very busy week as we had a new central heating boiler and a new water tank fitted. It was a big two days job which was done very professionally. One gas engineer worked solidly both days, a second engineer came for part of the first day and an electrician too. However it was a pleasure to have them. Most of the work was done by the first guy. He told us he had two little sons, a baby 6 weeks old and a two and a half years old toddler. I was so impressed with the great job he did, clearing up and walking us through the new system that I decided to offer him two of my finished quilts( both of them in the pile of quilts for the Linus Project) for his little ones  and he was really delighted. That made my day.

These are the two quilts I gifted:

Like many other quilters I just love making these quilts but give them away and I get such a lot of pleasure when they are well received like these were.

I also managed to do a lot of sewing, shutting myself away in my sewing room well away from all the hustle of engineers. I have done almost all of the machine quilting on my RSC String blocks quilt and hope to finish this next week.

I also re-watched a few tutorials by Pola Quilting. More string blocks using a narrow white centre strip. I have used this idea a lot and as I have lots of white scraps and a basket of strings I decided to make enough for a quilt to donate to the local Maternity Unit. They have to be 24” square so 36 x 4.5” square should be perfect. I chain pieced them and trimmed them and laid them out. That was when I discovered I couldn’t count as I had only made 33 blocks. However tomorrow  I’ll make the extra three.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

 A busy sewing week:

Pleased with my sewing this week. Firstly I finished the Dinosaur Quilt. It measures 47” square and is all machine quilted. I bought a piece of wavy rainbow coloured striped fabric two or three years ago and used it to back and bind this quilt. I am delighted with the result. I am going to keep this in my cupboard until another baby arrives somewhere. I like to keep a small stash aside for such purposes.

Other photos:

I also sewed together the rows of my  RSC Strippy Quilt. It looks great and is now ready for a good press so it can be basted and machine quilted.

I started to make two cushion covers for a friend who now had special seat pads in the two armchairs in her lounge. Their plastic covering didn’t appeal to her so she asked if I could make some nicer covers.

I follow Pola’s Quilting Youtube and saw a great block pattern which I loved. Pola uses lots of scrap fabrics including recyled shirts so I used an old shirt of my husband’s and bright leftover Jelly Roll strips. 

One block made

And seven others being constructed.

Hoping to get these finished this week.

Joining with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

Layout for new RSC quilt

 I’ve had a busy week sewing, finishing one quilt, machine quilting another and then gathered together the RSC String blocks I have been making over the past couple of years.

I had a good number of String blocks in various colours but the majority were blue, green, pink and yellow so I decided to make a quilt from those four colours.

Here it is set out on my “design “ floor.

I make them using telephone directory pages as foundations so my next task is to remove all the papers from the blocks. An easy job to do whilst I watch TV.

Another evening I sewed on the binding to my Penguin Parade quilt. I am happy with the result.

It finished at 36” x 40”. Some close ups:

I basted and machine quilted this quilt - Field Day from the book Seamingly Scraps.

I sewed in all the ends from the quilted lines of machine stitching using a Self-threading needle. I recently heard these mentioned on a Youtube video. What an amazing invention! So easy to use- I wish I had heard of them years ago!

And now I can trim and bind it.

Joining up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

Another finished flimsy

 I did a lot of sewing this week but also a lot of unpicking due to not reading the pattern carefully.

A couple of years ago I saw  a lovely quilt on Sylvia’s Treadlestitches blog. It was from a book called Seamingly Scraps. I thought the pattern would be a great way to use some of my larger pieces of novelty fabrics and managed to get a cheap second hand copy online. I used a piece of little dinosaur fabric which has a lovely blue background and is a great focus print. On one level the pattern is very clear, how the multi coloured 2.5” scraps fit together to make the diagonal “pathway” which weaves through the quilt top. I had a super time chain piecing them but when I came to lay out the blocks I found that the little four patches didn’t work because the majority of my squares were cut from directional fabrics.I couldn’t abide all those elephants, cats etc going sideways or standing on their heads so practically took all the finished blocks to pieces and started again, matching each block to the pattern! What a waste of time and energy!

 Anyway, it’s now a top and this afternoon I basted it so next week I can machine quilt it. Not sure how I will do that yet.

Not good lighting because it was getting dark.

A close up showing the dinosaur fabric and the “pathways”.

I also machine quilted the Penguin Parade quilt and have started to echo quilt the stars on it.

Late this afternoon I decided to investigate my RSC String quilt blocks and see what I could make from them. I’ve laid them out and almost managed to make a quilt which should measure 40” square. Just need to make 4 more pink String Blocks. Another job next week when I hope to get this RSC project on the way to being finished. 

In the end, a productive week.

Joining in with Angela’s SoScrappy RSC blog.

Penguin Parade and a fnish

 I’ve been working on my Penguin Parade top this week and this is as far as I have got:

It measures 31.5” wide and 36” long. I’m going to add a narrow yellow border to each side and then another turquoise polka dot strip all around. That will finish at a reasonable size for a Project Linus quilt.

I now only have small leftovers of batting in my stash so I will have to buy some new batting this week so I can baste it.

I also finished the star Maternity Unit quilt:

And used a piece of fabric I have had in my stash for several years:

My sister Pat bought me a couple of metres of this many years ago when we went to the huge Festival of Quilts together in Birmingham. Happy memories for me, Pat loved picking this out for me and I have enjoyed remembering the happy times we had together studying the quilts.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog. I think my Penguin Parade top qualifies as the Wonky Stars are part of my RSC blocks stash.

Works in progress

 I have continued with the leftover Star block baby quilt this week. It is now machine quilted and I did my usual echo quilting with Perl thread around the star itself. I have also made the binding so the quilt is ready to be trimmed and the binding sewn on. Perhaps tomorrow?

For many years I have had this funky piece of fabric in my stash.

It’s a Michael Miller fabric called Penguin Parade. I have no idea how I acquired it but during a recent tidy up it came to light so I decided to turn it into a small quilt for donation. I collected together Wonky star blocks, scraps and other fabrics and started to make two strips of 2” pairs of blue and yellow fabric to go above and underneath the penguins. How this strippy quilt grows is at present a mystery. Hope to have more to show next week. 

Work in progress and another finish

 When I was making my Piccadilly Quilt I found I had made 10 Star blocks instead of the 9 the pattern required. Whenever possible I am trying to use up scraps and leftovers as they occur so I decided to turn the extra block into the centre of a small Medallion Quilt for the local Maternity Unit. I also incorporated some of the leftover HSTs as a border. I have finished the machine quilting and made the binding but I want to echo quilt around the Star with Perle thread so I will work on this during the coming week.

I just managed to finish my third Dolly Quilt to post it to our little great niece Maggie in time for her 4th birthday last Friday.

And the reverse, a lemon coloured small gingham fabric. 

I was happy with how all three quilts turned out but this is definitely my favourite. Very fresh looking with the greens and yellows.

Second Dolly Quilt finish

 I have finished a second Dolly Quilt for our great niece Seren’s 3rd birthday. Same design as the first Dolly Quilt but in different colours and fabrics. 

The name Seren means Star in Welsh so I thought the pale pink shooting stars fabrics for sashing and borders was ideal. 

It’s a dull grey day here so the colours look drab in this photograph. 

I used the same dusky pink with tiny white stars fabric for both the backing and binding.

I have now got to work quickly to make another one for our other little great niece Maggie’s 4th birthday on 20th October. Maggie and Seren are cousins who live near each other so they will be able to compare Dolly Quilts.

I also finished another quilt which has taken me months to do, mainly because I haven’t been in the best of health for well over a year and haven’t had much sewing mojo.

It’s a Jo Kramer quilt, which she showed on her blog and also made some videos for Youtube. I used the same colour combination as Jo did, greens and blues. I didn’t add the extra border that Jo did as the quilt would then have been too large for me to baste. The pattern is called Piccadilly Circus.

It finished at 42” square, the baby quilt size I prefer.

A couple of close ups of some of the blocks:

By mistake I made an extra Star block which I’ve turned into a 24” square quilt for our local Maternity Unit. It’s basted but I have to quilt and bind it. Once Dolly Quilt 3 is done I’ll finish this Star Quilt.

So, a productive week for me. 

Dolly Quilt finsh

 My best friend’s granddaughter Grace will be 4 years old on Monday. I managed to finish a Dolly Quilt for her and put in in the post along with a book called Drama Llama. 

The little quilt measures 24” square. The appliqué motifs are hand blanket stitched and the quilt is machine quilted. I did hand quilt around each motif using off white Perle thread which makes the figures pop out from the background.

I understand from Grace’s Grandma that she loves wrapping up her dolls and soft toys so I hope she approves of this quilt.

I’m now busy making the blocks for two more Dolly quilts, both little girls’ birthdays coming up in the next two weeks!

And a photo of the backing:

Done a little sewing

 I haven’t sewed much all summer, too many medical appointments and days when I didn’t feel very well.

I have finally finished the baby quilt called Piccadilly Circus, Jo Kramer’s design. I just need to finish hand sewing the binding and hope to show that soon. I made an extra Star block by mistake so I turned that into a 24” square quilt for the hospital Maternity Unit. That’s waiting to be quilted so I hope to show that as a finish soon.

Our granddaughter’s Dancing teacher was celebrating the 30th anniversary of her Dancing School and my daughter asked if I could make a cushion. She gifted it yesterday.

It is 16” square. I chose the royal blue for the hearts because the students wear leotards and skirts in that shade of blue. Miss Alison loved it, thank goodness! 

I am now making two doll’s quilts for little girls with birthdays in October. Grace, my best friend’s granddaughter who will be 4 and our sweet little Great niece Seren, who will be 3. Busy making some appliquéd teddy bears for those quilts. I’ve got out lots of piles of small blocks, wonky stars, Ticky Tacky houses, some Overall Bill and Sunbonnet Sue blocks and will see what I can create with them.

 Well I’m back to write the first post for ages. Haven’t been well, lots of appointments, a pacemaker fitted etc.

That hasn’t stopped me from following other blogs, seeing some lovely work and great ideas. Watching various quilting related YouTube videos.

I finally finished my yellow Strippy quilt which I’m so pleased with. I’ve used lots of Wonky Stars, some Four patches turned into Economy blocks, little scraps to make the Chinese Coin style strips, and a pretty yard of yellow with sprigs of flowers fabric. All from my stash, also the lemon solid fabric I used for the border and binding. The backing was the last of the gorgeous flower power fabric with a strip of yellow with white spots fabric. Sad to see the end of the flower power fabric, I’ve used it for backings in a couple of other quilts. I’ve kept the selvedge  so I can see if I can find some on EBay or Google.

It measures 43” square and is machine quilted with echo quilting around the stars using Perle Cottons.

A close up of some Wonky Stars. The yellow one in particular shows the hand quilting.

Wonky Stars and the Four patches turned into Economy blocks.

More stars because I love them!

I have watched Jo Kramer’s 3 YouTube videos , tutorials showing how to make her Piccadilly Circus baby quilt. I decided to make this for a baby due at the beginning of September. I’m using the same colours as Jo, blues and greens for the stars. Coincidentally this ties in with the RSC colours for this month. I’ve made one star so far and I like it. I don’t have the rage of scraps Jo does so I’m afraid mine will be a bit more “samey “. 

Off to make another star. All the Crumb squares for the middle of the stars are done so I’m making the star points this afternoon.

Happy sewing.

Linking with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

RSC Strippy Flimsy

 Having sorted through some of my stash fabrics I found a pretty lemon background fabric with flower 💐 sprigs. I wanted to combine it with yet more RSC Wonky Stars blocks and the economy blocks I had in my stash. Initially I had thought I would make a Coin style top but when I started to try that out I didn’t like it so I decided to cut the flower sprigs fabric into WOF strips.

Then I made strips from the Wonky Stars and one strip from the economy blocks. I also made some piano key style strips by adding them to telephone directory strips for foundation. Then I had fun arranging the strips, adding two deep yellow ones with small white dots strips at the top and bottom to make the top longer.

However, I didn’t think it looked finished and it still needed more length so I used a new piece of lemon solid fabric just added to my stash to make a border, narrower at the sides and wider at the top and bottom.

This looks much better and is a better size, measuring 44” wide and 45” long.

Hoping to make a backing and getting the top machine quilted tomorrow. I’ll do my usual Perle hand quilting round the Wonky Stars. 

Linking up with Angela’s RSC So Scrappy blog.

Inspiration from Cathy K for my latest RSC finished quilt

 Thanks to Cathy K (Crazy by Design blog) for her Creatures from the Deep Orphan block quilts. They all intrigue me and I look at them all intently, trying to pick up tips and ideas.

I had intended to make a green one from some RSC leftover blocks but it all looked rather dull and I didn’t have a lot of green scraps either so decided to inject a bit more colour by using some yellow blocks too.

I love the finished quilt, measuring 42” square.

I always admire pieced backings, a great way to use those larger scraps and avoid adding to the scrap bag.

However, I got too carried away, using far too many leftover blocks and ending up with a backing too similar to the front of the quilt. So much so I confused myself big time. I loaded the quilt “sandwich” onto my ironing board and started smoothing and pinning only to find the backing was far too short all the way round. What???? After a few rude words, which brought my husband into the Utility Room to see what was going on, I discovered I had confused myself and had muddled the front and the backing. 

Eventually sorted out and I’m pleased with the result. No more complicated over-clever backings for me!

This is the backing

I’ve also done a little trimming of RSC Wonky Stars and using some HSTs to make economy blocks for another variation of a Green and Yellow RSC Finish. So, a good week’s sewing. 

Linking with Angela’s RSC So Scrappy blog. 

Improv Green scraps RSC now a flimsy!

 Last week I made the centre panel for my Improv Green Scraps flimsy.

I had decided I needed to make each of the three panels symmetrical- that’s me, can’t seem to be free and easy like Cathy K!

Anyway I made lots of 9 Patches from 2” green strips of fabric, adding a little yellow to some of them to connect with the yellow sashing round the centre of the elephants/ string blocks. Have a few left over which I’ve got an idea for. Oh dear, squirrel alert!

As I thought, last week I made two mirror image panels for the top and bottom panels,  using up some scraps completely which is great.

It’s now a flimsy and I’m pleased with it. Just enough pops of yellow to lift the green.

My intention is to make a pieced backing, using up more bits and pieces. That’s for next week.

The story of the little Pink RSC scraps quilt continues!

I loved this little Pink quilt, happy to use up some scraps, already made Wonky stars, borders added from the few pink pieces I had and even using the trimmings from basting the quilt to use for the binding.

Having offered it to my neighbour for any baby girl she knew of (No) I kept it. Earlier this week I had a visit from my Pastoral Care lady from church. She updated me on her family - her daughter who lives in Australia, her wedding which they attended and her granddaughter Florence now 3 months old. And their daughter’s family’s trip back to the UK for Easter. After she left I thought of that little Pink Quilt. I made an embroidered label “ Welcome to the World, Florence” and will gift it tomorrow at church, Easter Sunday. I’m thrilled  - something told me to keep it and here’s the reason.

Happy journey back to Australia, little quilt.

Another follow up to last week’s post was Helen’s visit with Etta on Monday.

I gifted the Twinkler Star quilt to Etta and her reaction when she took it out of the gift bag and spread it out on the carpet was simply amazing! She shrieked, lay full length on it, exclaimed at different squares in the blocks, found some scraps of fabrics in her baby quilt and got us all playing I Spy! As my husband said after they left “You couldn’t have wished for a better reaction “. True. John took a couple of super photos of Etta lying on the quilt with a grin from ear to ear. I’m not putting one here because I’m not happy to put photos of children into my blog.

Then upstairs for Helen to choose a Playmat quilt for her friend’s one year old son. I had two piles of quilts for her to choose from: definite ideas for Playmats (including the one I made especially last week) and others I felt were girly or Project Linus quilts. Helen dithered between the new Playmat - although she didn’t know I had made it especially- and another with lots of green fabrics because her friend likes green. Etta chose for her - the new Novelty fabrics Playmat.

Here are the quilts ready for Project Linus donations:

And in a pile:

So, I feel this has been a successful week for sewing and gifting. I’ve finished lots of scraps, used some of my blocks from RSC blocks stashes and felt happy about the destination of three of my quilts. Nice feeling. Onwards and upwards - my school house motto!

Joining with Angela’s RSC So scrappy blog.