Pinwheel Quilt Update

I have made some progress with the pinwheel quilt and I am eager to share it with you.  Firstly I have finished all my main pinwheel blocks and I am so happy with the outcome.

I absolutely love them!  What do you think?

The next stage I have completed is the cornerstone blocks.  I have made them half the width of the finished sized blocks.  I wanted the sashing to be quite wide but it hasn't worked out as well as I wanted but I will discuss that in a minute.  So that meant making 25 pinwheel cornerstone blocks!  Lots more cutting and piecing.

Since I needed 25 cornerstone pinwheels I decided to choose five colours - blue, green, yellow, pink, purple - and made five from each colour group.  It made it easy that way.  I then selected five random background fabrics and made sure I had one of each background colour appeared in each colour group.

Rainbow :-)

The cornerstone blocks where so much fun to put together.  Of course, so where the main blocks in the quilt.  It's turning out to be a very fun and colourful quilt which I am loving.  How do they look together on the design wall?

Beautiful!  I was a little worried because it still looks a little small but it should be okay to lay over my bed.  So, you can see how wide the sashing is?  I cut out a few pieces of the sashing to put up on the design wall to see how it would look.  Seriously, I thought with all the pinwheels off-white plain sashing was a good idea but as I started to put a few samples pieces up I realised how empty the quilt would look.  Sorry, I didn't take a photo.  So it was back to the design board for a sashing design.  It was a toss up between two ideas.

I actually wanted to do the four patch but it looked block-y.  You felt that patches of colour were lumped together in an unpleasing way.  So I was left with the tiles.  Unfortunately this has turned out way to much!  I have a picture of one block surrounded to show.

This looks okay with one block but as I put up more it was way too busy I couldn't stand it!  

So, what am I left with?

I will have to make very thin sashing (in purple) that will run along the inside of the pieced sashing so my eyes don't feel like their looking at a magic eye book!

So after piecing all those pinwheels, then making pieced sashing, I will need to cut out more sashing before piecing the quilt together.  A lot more work has gone into this quilt then previously arranged. Oh well.  It's a scrappy and absolutely random sampler quilt.  I can't wait to have it finished.  Once I have the very narrow purple sashing cut out and on the design wall I will take a photo to show you.

Happy Sewing :-)

Exciting News

I am very excited to let you all know that I have been accepted to Griffith University to study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science!

Study starts the 22 of July so a few more weeks of quilting to finish projects and get some more underway before the start of the semester.  I don't think that the magnitude of this has hit me yet.  It will probably, when I start buying text books.  Today I am going to pick up student card and enroll in my classes which include - Statistics, Chemistry, Structural Biochemistry, and Functional Molecular Genetics.  How boring right?  Well, only the statistics.  I am currently going through a long recruitment process with Apple and if I successfully get a place on one of their teams I will drop a subject or two so I can work and study.  

The program is three years and while this may limit the amount of quilting I will be able to do I am so excited.  I cannot wait to start this course.  It's such an exciting program and I'm getting closer to my dream of studying medicine.  I can't wait to share this journey with you.  Remembering that quilting will keep me sane during what will be a very busy and challenging program.

Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Update

 

 

I have finally settled on a design for my pinwheel sampler quilt.  I'm very happy with the overall layout.  Nothing special but I love all the blocks I've chosen. The finish size of each block is 23 x 23 cm (It was suppose to be 24x24cm).  The sashing will be half that so I can have a decent sized pinwheel cornerstone block.  It may be a little smaller but I will decide that when I get to them.

Now, I also mentioned I purchased two fat quarter packs of the Rhapsodia range by Art Gallery Fabrics for this project.  I have actually changed my mind on this.  This quilt will be a scrap quilt.  Why?  Well, today I made up a test block with scrap fabrics to check the sizing and I fell in love with the block and have now made five pinwheel blocks so far.  

Block One

The test piece.  I was so pleased with it that i got all excited about experimenting with fabrics and seeing what else I could come up with.

Block Two

The orange and blue scraps were sitting on the cutting table and they reminded me of something, even though I can't exactly figure out what it is.  They looked striking together so, tadah!   Block two came to life.

Block Three

Was a little bit unsure about this block at first.  When I chose the aqua stripe fabric I had trouble deciding what other fabric to use.  I'm happy with the purple I chose.

Block Four

I love the citrus colours.  I accidentally sewed two of the outer green half triangles the wrong way but I didn't realise until I had assembled the entire block.

Block Five

I found just enough blue to assemble the pinwheel.  I love the fabric, its in the quilt that is on my bed at the moment.  It had the slightest hint of red in it so I decided on the red but also the darker brown with a cream background colour.  Different to the previous four blocks but I still love it.

I have two more blocks cut out ready to sew and will hopefully assemble a few more tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a fabulous week.  I've had a very exciting few days which I will tell you about tomorrow.

Happy Days :-)

Melbourne Update

Melbourne is very cold.  My week away is being spent inside, watching tv, on the recliner with a blanket and the fire on.  It is forecast to be a horrible day today with gale force winds by the afternoon and heavy rain so we're preparing for another day inside. 

I love the birds out here and I've been going bananas with my camera.  I also caught up with my baby cousin George who is just gorgeous.  Flying home on Wednesday.  I don't want to leave but I want to get back to my sewing maching.  I bought fat quarter pack from Intrepid Thread.  I now have the complete Rhapsodia fabric collection :-) As I mentioned they're for my pinwheel sampler quilt but I haven't worked on the layout yet.

I leave you with photos from my weekend.

Don't you love the Eeyore I gave him?  The moment he saw it he was ecstatic.

Cockatoo

King Parrot

Crimson Rosella