Candy Dash - pattern available in Make Modern

Last year I was excited to learn that a group of enterprising Aussie crafters were launching their own online quilting magazine.  Make Modern includes patterns, articles, interviews and lots of interesting tidbits.  I don't buy a lot of quilting magazines, mainly because I think they aren't great value for money (so much advertising!), but Make Modern is really packed with content and well worth the very reasonable purchase price ($6.95).

I'm now very pleased to be able to let you know that I have a pattern in the newly released Issue Four of Make Modern.

 

I really love the classic churn dash block and a couple of years ago now, I sketched out an idea to make the churn dash shape look like it was floating on a multi-coloured background.

 

This mini quilt, called Candy Dash, is the realisation of that idea.  It's paper pieced for accuracy, and although I made the background to my version out of a rainbow of blenders, you could use any combination of fabrics that took your fancy.

You can preview Issue Four of Make Modern here, and if you like what you see, you can buy the issue (or a subscription) here.

P.S. A QuiltCon recap is coming soon!  

#igminiswap

I haven't been swapping much this year, but when I saw heaps of my online quilting buddies signing up to the #igminiswap being run on instagram, I couldn't resist.  It's being run by Sandy aka @curly_boy1, and the mailing deadline for international participants (i.e., me) is coming up soon.

This is the mini quilt I've made for my partner.  I wanted to use some of the very special handprinted fabrics I got from Karen Lewis Textiles (formerly Blueberry Park).

This log cabin variation, which uses wide logs and narrow logs (which are half the width of the wide logs), is something I've been wanting to play with as well.  I know my partner likes a low volume background, so it seemed like the perfect way to let the hand printed fabrics shine.

Hopefully this doesn't give the game away, but my swap partner has some mad machine quilting skills, so I decided to take the complete opposite approach and hand quilt this mini.  I've been enjoying hand quilting a larger quilt but it's taking FOREVER, so it was nice to have a quicker hand quilting project!  I used Aurifil 12 weight thread in white (2024) and I love the effect.  I actually bought a box of assorted 12 weight threads (this one) because I see more hand quilting in my future.

I bought a cute "made with love" stamp from Typo a couple of months ago, and I've been waiting for the chance to use it.  I used permanent fabric ink with the stamp and then added my own name and my partner's name (edited out in these photos) with a fabric marker.  The hand-worked blanket stitch is kind of my label signature now.

I had a few scraps left over from cutting the logs for my mini quilt, so I decided to use them to make a cute little pouch to go with the mini.

I'm not sending the threads but they just looked so pretty with the colours of the pouch!

 

My partner can use this pouch for whatever she likes.  But, it does fit lots of threads!

 

As usual, I used the open wide pouch tutorial, but made a fairly random size (basically the size my scrappy panels came out) and didn't box the corners.  I quilted the pieced exterior to a scrap of batting to give the pouch a bit of body without having to use interfacing (I hate interfacing so much!).

I'm really happy with how this mini turned out, and I enjoyed making it.  I really hope my partner likes it!

Have you been making things to swap lately?

Quilt Stats 

Pattern: I think this is a traditional block, but I did the quilt math myself

Finished Size: 18" by 18"  

Fabric: various low volume fabrics, Pretty Potent Co-ordinating Solids Fat Quarter bundle, printed by Karen Lewis Textiles

Backing: Ephemera

Binding: Print from Lotta Jansdotter's Sylvia line

Pieced and quilted by: me

Purple challenge

Aotearoa Quilters has been running a series of colour-themed 12" by 12" quilt challenges.  They've run a red version, and a blue version, and the most recent is a purple version.  I've finally gotten my act together and produced an entry!

This quilt was really made to allow me to continue my play with striped blocks, created by stitching 1" strips of fabric together, cutting them up, and sewing them back together again. I used a mix of prints and shot cottons in a variety of fairly intense purple shades for this quilt - I was feeling quite literal when I made my fabric selections!

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the back of my piece before it was quilted.  I think I'll definitely have to do a "wrong sided" quilt someday.

 

Here is is finished, and you can see that even the back is purple!  Don't worry, the quilt will be getting a label, I just hadn't stitched one on when I took photos.

You can see I quilted this little mini quite simply, with a grid of straight lines spaced 1/2" apart.  I think it works well for adding texture but not distracting too much from the piecing.  Unusually for me, I thought this quilt cried out for slightly shiny thread, so I used a 30 weight rayon thread that I would usually use for machine appliqué.  It was absolutely fine for quilting, but I did use a Superior Threads 90/14 Titanium top-stitching needle because this quilt is quite thick in places with all the little pieces.

A simple solid slightly brighter purple binding adds a definite frame to the quilt without detracting from its essential purple-ness!  All the entries in the 12" by 12" challenge are hung together, and it looks really effective - I can't wait to see how other people have interpreted the purple theme.  The quilts will be shown at Quilt Symposium in Palmerston North in January 2015.

Have you made a quilt especially for a challenge before?  I rather enjoyed this challenge, and the size means it's not too much of a commitment!

Autumn with a Twist Mini

Sometimes, when I'm making a quilt, it's easy to calculate and cut exactly the right number of pieces at the start. Usually I err on the side of caution and cut slightly more than I think I'll need, in case I lose a piece or mess something up and have to discard something. However, with equilateral triangle quilts, I often seem to end up cutting more than a few extra triangles.

I had a bunch of triangles left over from my Autumn with a Twist quilt, and used them to make this mini. I really started it so I would have something to demonstrate joining the rows of triangles with in my equilateral triangle quilt class. To mix things up a bit, instead of a random layout, I grouped the triangles by colour so they make hexagon shapes. That was fun but I think the hexagon shapes would be more obvious if it was a larger piece (or used smaller triangles).

My last class in this series of three covered quilting and binding, but I knew my students wouldn't get up to the stage of binding their own quilts by the end of the class. So I lightly quilted this mini to emphasise the hexagon shapes, and then used it to demonstrate how to bind a quilt. When I was learning, the trickiest part of binding for me was remembering how to make the mitred corners of binding (you know, when you hit the corner and fold the binding away from the quilt and then back over itself). Because of this I wanted people to be able to have a go at performing the folding action themselves so they would really understand how it was done (and hopefully remember, with the help of my written instructions, for when they were doing it at home).

I used a fun bright print for the back of this mini - I just had a fat quarter which happened to be the perfect size. I always enjoy hand stitching binding, but on something like this it's particularly satisfying because it's a pretty short job (and hour or so in front of the TV and you're done).

I could have made this mini into a cushion or a wall hanging, but I was feeling too lazy to put a back or a hanging sleeve on it so it's just a plain old mini quilt. It turns out it's just the right size for one cat to spread out on or two cats to snuggle up on.

There's nothing weird about making your cats a couch quilt that matches your couch quilt, right...?

I'll be linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - AMH All Day Mini

This mini quilt is my favourite thing I made for a swap I did last year with Kelsey from Everyday Fray, and definitely one of my favourite makes of 2013.

I took a photo of the back of the mini quilt once all the petals were stitched down and the piecing was done, because I thought it might be interesting to see what it looks like.

 

From the front, you can see that all the coloured petals are made from Anna Maria Horner fabrics.  100 different Anna Maria Horner fabrics to be exact.  These were all from my stash.  I didn't even have to hunt very hard for them, which means I have well over 100 different Anna Maria Horner fabrics in my stash.  You can probably tell, I love AMH!

I set the petals on a variety of crisp white low volume fabrics, and arranged them in a sort of rainbow order.  I think I had about 10 days to make this mini, so I was very fast at stitching down the petals by the time I was done!  Because there was so much happening already, I kept the quilting super simple, just stitching in the ditch with my trusty Aurifil 2021 in 50 weight.  The binding is an awesome black and white pin dot - I bought a bunch on sale a while ago and now I wish I had more because I want to bind everything with it!

I had in mind that this would be on the wall, so I included a hanging sleeve (photo taken before it was stitched down).

I'm entering this quilt in the Mini Quilts category of the Bloggers Quilt Festiva. Make sure you head over and check out all the quilts that have been entered - there's a heap of inspiration out there!.

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 20" by 20"

Fabric: 100 different Anna Maria Horner prints, 8 different low volume prints

Backing: Tipu in Orange from Lotta Jansdotter's Bella collection

Binding: black and white pin dot from Pam Kitty Love

Pieced and quilted by: me

Orange peels mini quilt

This mini quilt is quite a long term WIP.  I've instagrammed it quite a bit, but I don't think I've ever blogged about it before.  I had a print t-shirt from Karen Walker which I really loved, but which really never fitted me well, and I've been planning to use it in a quilt somehow for a while.  The need to make something for my blanket stitch appliqué class at Nancy's Embroidery gave me the perfect opportunity.

 

This was quite a good way to use a cotton knit fabric in a quilt.  The fusible webbing stabilised the t-shirt fabric quite well, and the fact that it's not part of piecing meant that the stretch didn't really matter.  I don't know that I'd recommend using something highly stretchy for this technique, but this 100% cotton not very stretchy fabric was totally fine.

Overall, I'm happy with this mini, although it is really far from perfect.  When I made my AHM All Day Mini Quilt, I stitched the orange peels in a more traditional fashion, with the points in the centre and the corners.  If you press two diagonal lines across your fabric, you can line the petals up really neatly, so that when you stitch the different squares together, all the points meet nicely.  For this version, I stitched the petals in ring shapes, and I tried to get the positioning right by pressing my background squares into quarters.  However, things didn't line up as nicely and not all my points meet where they should - oops!  That's what happens when you experiment sometimes, and I'm happy to show my students what not to do!

I was thinking about quilting this to make the petals really pop out, but I ran out of time (and patience) in the end and simply quilted in the ditch.  I had some difficulty picking a binding for this mini, but in the end went for a white linen fabric with a subtle silver print which matched the white thread I used for the appliqué nicely.

Have you tried experimenting with your quilting lately?  How did it work out for you?

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 16" by 16"

Fabric: Essex Linen in Natural, Karen Walker t-shirt

Backing: Essex Linen in Natural

Binding: unknown white linen with silver print

Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.

AMH All Day Mini Quilt

I've been meaning to share details about the handmade items I made for Kelsey from Everyday Fray as part of our skills swap.  This mini quilt is my favourite thing I made for the swap, and definitely one of my favourite makes of 2013.

I took a photo of the back of the mini quilt once all the petals were stitched down and the piecing was done, because I thought it might be interesting to see what it looks like.

 

From the front, you can see that all the coloured petals are made from Anna Maria Horner fabrics.  100 different Anna Maria Horner fabrics to be exact.  These were all from my stash.  I didn't even have to hunt very hard for them, which means I have well over 100 different Anna Maria Horner fabrics in my stash.  You can probably tell, I love AMH!

I set the petals on a variety of crisp white low volume fabrics, and arranged them in a sort of rainbow order.  I think I had about 10 days to make this mini, so I was very fast at stitching down the petals by the time I was done!  Because there was so much happening already, I kept the quilting super simple, just stitching in the ditch with my trusty Aurifil 2021 in 50 weight.  The binding is an awesome black and white pin dot - I bought a bunch on sale a while ago and now I wish I had more because I want to bind everything with it!

I had in mind that this would be on the wall, so I included a hanging sleeve (photo taken before it was stitched down).

So,  I'm sure I don't have the largest collection of AMH fabrics out there.  Anyone willing to 'fess up to having a larger stash?  Or maybe there's another designer you love - I'd love to hear about them.

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 20" by 20"

Fabric: 100 different Anna Maria Horner prints, 8 different low volume prints

Backing: Tipu in Orange from Lotta Jansdotter's Bella collection

Binding: black and white pin dot from Pam Kitty Love

Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.

By the way, my local friends Anne and Lyndy are going to the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2014 (and yes, I am consumed with envy!) in a week and a half, and would love to know if anyone else from the modern quilting blogging universe is planning to attend, and if anyone has any tips for first time attendees (and first time visitors to Japan).

Skills Swap - what I sent

Several months ago I said I would be interested in a skills swap.  I was keen for a pair of hand knitted socks, but lacking the skills to actually knit them myself, I offered up a quilted item made by me in exchange for the socks.  The lovely Kelsey of Everyday Fray put her hand up and so we have swapped!  Now that my items have arrived with Kelsey, I'm very excited to share them with you.

The thing that Kelsey actually asked for was a sewing machine cover.  She left it to me to choose the design, but we did discuss cute animals, including foxes.  I'll share more details of these items in a later post, but the sewing machine cover is a modified version of this pattern, and the little fox is made using this pattern.  I also made Kelsey a matching pouch using my favourite open wide zipper pouch tutorial from noodlehead.

Since it's so close to Christmas, I thought it might be fun to include something Christmassy as well.  I made this stocking, and a matching one for Kelsey's husband, using my own pattern.  It was really fun and I think I will have to do a whole set for my family one of these days.

The final handmade item that I included is this mini quilt.  All the coloured petals are Anna Maria Horner fabrics - 100 different ones in total.  Yes, I had all of these (and more) in my stash already.  I went for a kind of rainbow effect on a crisp white low volume background.  I'm very happy with how this mini turned out, and I think I will have to make another one for myself.  Good thing I love that hand done blanket stitch appliqué so much!

Kelsey and I also agreed to include some swag in our parcels.  This locally produced knitsch sock yarn is particularly lovely (it's actually what my mum is using to knit me another pair of socks) and with a name like "Mad Blood Stirreth", how could anyone resist?

At the same time I was buying the sock yarn, this Artisan Lace yarn kit caught my eye.  It has two skeins of yarn, three different lace scarf patterns and the right size knitting needles as well.  I have no idea if Kelsey likes knitting lace, but the scarves looked so pretty knitted up in the shop.

There are more photos and details to come on my handmade items, but I have to say that doing a direct swap like this was a lot of fun.  I found it more satisfying than making something for a relatively anonymous partner and I would definitely do something like this again.  Although Kelsey and I sent our parcels on the same day, NZ Post seems to be taking its own sweet time with delivering Kelsey's parcel to me, but I am very excited to receive it and hope to share the contents with you shortly!

Linking up with:

    

and with Finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

A foxy mini quilt

Do you remember this little fox?  He was created when I decided to try something totally new for me - appliqué using a hand sewn blanket stitch.  He's been sitting on my dining sewing table for the last few weeks, waiting for me to figure out what to do with him.  I finally realised that I just wanted to do something very simple, so I free-motion quilted around the fox and added a crisp white binding.

My choice of binding fabric might have been influenced by this cold wintery morning - somehow this has ended up looking like a very wintery mini quilt.  This little fox is from Kajsa Wikman's book, Scandinavian Stitches.

This was a totally new FMQ design for me, so my free motion quilting lines aren't perfect, but I'm ok with that.

Have I ever explained my philosophy on seam ripping and unpicking?  Basically, unless something is really terrible, I don't unpick.  I like to think of my quilts recording my level of skill now, at this moment in time.  I'm hoping that in years to come I will be able to look back and see an evolution of my skills.  This philosophy also gives me permission not to be perfect, which is quite helpful for someone with perfectionist tendencies.  Of course, I do go back and fix things which are really a mistake!

This little guy is about 9 1/2" by 8 1/2" and will live on my wall somewhere - probably held up by this same washi tape.

I'm linking up with the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge at Ellison Lane Quilts.  There are some amazing mini quilts linked up already - go check them out!  I'm also linking up to Finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts.