The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew Along

I've started a new quilt-along and it's the Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew Along hosted by Gnome Angel & The Fat Quarter Shop.  It's so exciting!  I've always wanted to do the Farmer's Wife quilt blocks but the last quilt-along was so far ahead when I found out about it.  Mum and I recently purchased the new Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt book by Laurie Aaron Hird from the quilt two weeks ago. I've always wanted the book but never seriously thought about buying it online.  I'm glad I didn't have to.  We didn't know the quilt-along was happening.  We only knew because the store we bought it off mentioned it.  Mum was suppose to give me the book for Christmas, but we were so excited about the quilt-along, we decided to be part of it.

When we got home all our quilt show goodies, we immediately started pulling out fabrics.  Mum chose her collection of Victoria and Albert prints from Art Gallery fabrics and I chose my Rhapsodia collection, also from Art Gallery Fabrics.  However, mum and I have decided to also do a scrappy each.  Yes, we will end up with four Farmer's Wife Quilts in the house.  I wanted to start scrappy because some of the pieces need to be foundation pieced, which I've never done before, and also because everything is in inches and I have definitely never made anything using inches.  So, I've currently only made my scrappy pieces, and will start with my Rhapsodia fabric later in the week once I've finished some uni work. I'm excited for this quilt along.  It will run for a year, two blocks per week, 99 blocks, plus putting everything together.  We're definitely in for the long haul.  I thought I would show you my blocks so far.

 I loved the first block, Aunt.  It was simple and I really liked the fabrics I chose for it.

 Such a pretty name for a block and she turned out to be quite difficult.  This was the last block we did and it was my first time foundation piecing.  It was all going OK until the end. You can see where one of my corner squares doesn't quite meet up with the diamond.  Oh well, you live & learn.

 This is the second block we made, Betty. I enjoyed making this one.  Just lots of hst which I love.  I've just never made them that small before.

 Bonnie. Very simple and I enjoyed making it.  I purposely chose Aboriginal colours and prints for this.

 Caroline was fun but I had to fiddle with it a bit.  So many points!

 

Carol was fun.  I'm not sure if I like my fabric choice yet.

 

And finally, Becky.   Really enjoyed making this block.  I like the browns.  When I'm down in the sewing room the block looks very dark but when I took it outside to photograph I fell in love with the colours again.

Above is a picture of the book and my Rhapsodia fabric.  I can't wait to begin making blocks out of them!

If you would like to know more about the quilt-along, you can visit the website below.

http://gnomeangel.com/farmers-wife-1930s-sampler-quilt-sew-along/

Another New Quilt

I shouldn't be starting a new quilt.  But, I am.  I am making a quilt for a very dear friend of mine, Kelly.  She is from Canada and we became good friends while I lived in Alice Springs.  Now that I live in Brisbane it is so hard being away from her.  I miss her so much! I'm considering this quilt to be my holiday quilt.  A project just for these holidays.  Here are some photos to give a sneak peak of what I am doing.

 

This quilt will only be a lap quilt measuring 144cm x 144cm.  The fabric is a combination of batiks, neutral cottons and some Hoffmans.  Of course there are half-square triangles, but most of the quilt will be squares.  I'm so excited about this quilt.  I really can't wait for her reaction when she receives it!  The backing has been ordered so this quilt will be finished before I start next semester at the end of the month.

Tomorrow I am going to post about two quilts I did finish over the summer.  At the moment, I don't have anywhere to hang them.  If I only I had more walls in my room!

Well... that was some break!

So, I have been away from this blog for quite some time.  Life got away with me.  As it does.  Since I've been gone I have successfully completed two years of uni and will be begin my third and final year in just under a month.  I bet you're wondering if I had done any quilting during this time.  The simple answer is no.  I have bought fabric, done a little bit of old projects, even completed two projects.  Nothing new though.  However for the last semester of uni I did make a roll-up pen case with matching pencil case.  So, I thought I would share some photos.

 

You may be wondering also, why I decided to start blogging again. Well at the moment I feel a little unbalanced. I am quite sure, in a past post, I mentioned I was in a car accident.  Well, these memories have haunted me recently, and I found quilting really helped bring me back to earth before.  I suppose now, I have to make time to add quilting to my daily routine.  In saying this, I will leave you with a quote that perfectly sums up how I feel about quilting...

"Why did she make things? 

Well, she enjoyed it of course; but it also somehow helped to remember who she was 

and where she came from."

- Anonymous

Mac & iPad Cover

I'm am trying to decide which fabrics to use to make a sleeve for both my iPad and new Mac.  Originally I immediately though of all my Egyptian fabric.  Even though I love the fabric, for me its just not bright enough.  I want something bright and colourful.  I do have the following three fat eights I bought at Sewco.

 I absolutely love the three together.  However I thought maybe a little too bold?  I also have the following three fat eights that I bought at the Craft Fair earlier this year.

I do really love these three together.  I was thinking that they would be perfect for the iPad sleeve.  Our local quilt shop has a little basket/tray in their store which has a collection of fat eights in it that change every time we visit.  This basket is usually 5 for $10.  Mum and I usually pick some up for practice blocks or quilting practice.  Last time we visited I found 10 fat eights that I couldn't leave behind.  It's the first time I've found things in it that I liked.

I was thinking of using the bottom three pastel colours, or the purple/pinks fabrics together, or just the brights together.

I haven't made up my mind yet.  I'd like to so I can get started.  I suppose I just have too many choices.  I was initially thinking of choosing three fabrics to feature and sew them together very simple so that the fabric will do all the work.  However I do love pinwheels, and I do love chevrons.  I'm trying to think of how I can use either of the two in my design.  I originally wanted to buy half a meter of Chevrons fabric by Riley Blake Designs but I really want to design something myself and I have quite a lot of beautiful fabric here already.

I'll keep you posted about what I choose to use.

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 :-)

w00t

Exams finished  (Yah!) So back to sewing :-)  Also reading, writing, and other fun things.

Glad to be back and fully involved again.

Pinwheel Colour Scheme

Well, I have spent a few good hours searching through colour palettes on Design Seeds for my pinwheel quilt and I finally found one that made me say 'Oooo' out loud.

I absolutely love these colours!  Once I chose this palette I went to look at Kona Solids that match.  The following match very, very well; (in order L-R) Nightfall, Coral, Dresden Blue, Emerald, and Asparagus.  I also found that the following solids that match and will probably use for contrast; Poppy, Meringue, Petal and Lilac.  I don't want to use all solids.  This won't be a solids quilt (even though it would look nice)  Probably half solids, half prints.  Now I just have to find prints in the same colour scheme!  Just out of interest, do any come to mind when you look at the picture?

I am so excited.  Now I know the colours I want to use I can finally start playing with the design.  I already know what pinwheel blocks I want to use but I find with pinwheel blocks, the colour arrangement in each block can really influence how the block looks.  I feel ready to really start planning this quilt.  I'm still trying to decide whether to the quilt as a rotation with different pinwheel blocks and a variation of the 'road to California block'.  I think I like that best.  I can't bring myself to do a sampler quilt with simple sashing because I feel that everyone does it.  Sorry if you have, I do like it, but I wanted to do something a bit more with the quilt design.  We'll see.  I'll have to have a play on graph paper.

This is when I wish we still had EQ6.  The last computer we have with the program on it died and now everyone in the house has Macs and we have run out of licenses for the software!  If you have any other great tips for using, excel, photoshop essentials, or even paint, please let me know!

Happy Days :-)

New Quilt Project & Books I'm Loving

Since my blog is called pinwheels & things I think it's time for a pinwheel quilt. I love pinwheels  and any HST block, but I so have a great love for pinwheels (and chevrons). Since there are so many variations of the humble pinwheel block, I thought I would make a pinwheel sampler quilt. This idea has just ignited my imagination and I've spent the last week drawing blocks, after blocks. My biggest concern is the colour scheme because it will influence the layout I want. I just had a thought while writing this that I need to pop over to design-seeds to look at palettes. I have even thought of using one or two Kaffe Fassett fabric for sashing, borders etc an using solids for the blocks but I'm just not sure. I absolutely love the design stage of quilting and I won't be able to start this quilt until after I've finished my Maths B  and Chemistry course. It's only 4 weeks away so I am going to thoroughly enjoy playing with this design for a little while.

I regularly look at our council's library's website for quilt books and at the moment I have borrowed the following...

They're all quite lovely with great projects and my list of projects to try is growing very fast! If you haven't read any of the following, I highly recommend them.

I borrowed the Essential Sampler Quilt by Lynne Edwards to see different types of layouts for sampler quilts but unfortunately I've found most to be the same and very simple. I would love to try something different. However, the book has introduced me to a few new blocks I would love to try.

So at the moment it looks as thought I will definitely be spending the next few weeks playing with designs for my Pinwheel Sampler Quilt. I can't wait to start on it.

It's Finished!

I finished the binding today. I'm so happy. I absolutely love it! 

I still need a label but I couldn't wait to see it on my wall. It's above my desk and now I can look at it everyday :-). It will brighten my mood while I study.  Original post here.  I tried orange-peel for the first time for the quilting.  I few squares look a but wonky but I had so much fun quilting it.  I wanted to use green for the binding but it didn't look right.  I tried purple, and no luck.  I eventually chose pink and I'm so glad I did.

I've added this quilt to Megan's link-up at Canoe Ridge Creations for the Festival of Half Square Triangles.  You should check it out to see all the amazing designs.

Trudy's Quilt

Over the weekend I finished quilting two quilts :-)  I'm very happy but I really need quilting practice!  It's hard to get use to the Sweet Sixteen Handi Quilter.  But I suppose 'practice makes perfect'.

So what did I finish quilting?

My little charm square quilt!  I'm so happy with it (except for how the quilting looks on the back of the quilt).  Every time I come down the stairs and see it on the couch, waiting to be bound, I am blown away by the quilting pattern.  It's obviously not perfect because I'm still learning but I do love all the swirls, they're so pretty.  

So, who is Trudy and why is she getting a quilt?  Trudy is my boyfriends mum.  She was totally blown away by the Bali quilt I made for Chris and she keeps sneaking a peek at it so I decided to make one for her.  This quilt was already in the works but it needed a home.  So I asked Chris what colours she loved and he named a few but he did mention light blue pink and reds.  Instantly, I knew this quilt had found a home!  She's seen photos because Chris shows her them every time I give him an update.  She's very excited to get this quilt but unfortunately with exams over the next week and a half it might have to wait a little since my binding pile has reached four!  I'm so pleased.  It's really nice to be so close to finishing.

Also just wanted to share the backing fabric which I love.  I bought it from equilter.com

This quilt still needs a name.  I'm hoping it will come to me while I bind it.

Festival of Half Square Traingles

Who is following the Festival of Half Square Traingles?

I'm so excited about it! Including the HST BOM I am currently swimming in Half Square Triangles. But, I am loving it!

Today's post was by Amy at amyscreativeside.com featuring her beautiful Cosmic Burst Pillow. I'm so excited that she has shared how she made this little beauty. I can't wait to make one for myself!

So if you're not following the Festival of a half Square Traingles, I highly recommend you check it out. Pop over to Megan's website for all the details.

Happy Days!
Jeanne

Odd Quilting Habits

I have a habit of taking photos of all my trimmings.  I don't know why but when I see all the slithers of colours in a pile on the cutting mat, I must take a photo.  So below are some of my trimmings...

Do you have an odd habit when you're quilting?