Rising Sun Quilt

So a while a go I made this small quilt, then I machine quilted it, then I realised how many loose ends I had to tie off and I abandoned it.


Arrrghhhh, they are everywhere! Now I realise why people don't quilt like that. I mean for Pete's sake...


Well, Penelope loves her sofa blankets and is already almost too big for it now so I thought I'd better just get on with it whilst I am waiting to start the Farmer's Wife quilt a long. So I started binding it thinking I can then finish tying up the ends afterwards. I am on the last side now. One more episode of The Bake Off should finish it off.


The only thing is that I think I preferred the first two blocks I made to the others and that I like it less now it's all together. I think maybe there is just too much of the sunprint text fabric perhaps. I can't quite decide. I do like the small blocks I put in the border which I copied from Amanda's MapleO quilt. But it is very jolly and cuddly. I do love Quilter's dream puff wadding. It's like hugging a cloud.

Farmer's Wife1930's Quilt-a-long

So I have caved in. After flipping through the first Farmer's Wife book that mum gave me, I realised that owning the second book which the quilt a long is doing over at Very Kerry Berry's blog, would be no bad thing. I think the weekly Periscope video swayed me! I might fail. It's a big commitment, but I'll give it a go. So with the birthday money that my inlaws kindly gave me I ordered the new book. The only annoying part is the waiting!

The quilt a long started this Monday and I am itching to start the first block. I'm not going to make the full quilt though. It's just too big. Instead I thought I would make every other block, picking out my favourites.

As for fabric. My first thought was to just use my stash. Lord knows I need to. But it wasn't exciting enough. So i bought some fat quarters to spice it up a bit. 

Kerry who is organising it posted up some links to 1930's fabric. Of course I had already decided not to use repro fabrics what with doing the Jitterbug quilt so recently. So of course I went and bought these repro fabrics immediately from Sew and Quilt. I'd not seen this site before so it's great to have another UK source of fabric. Gracie's Schoolhouse Classic range is perfect. I only bought two with matching plains because really I should be using my stash.  

Then I got even more excited about making it a bit more modern and bought these three "Cats Ballet Floral fabrics" from Stephanie at Elephant in my Handbag. I love Heather Ross.

So now my fabric selection is a complete train crash. I have lost the plot. The only thing I do know is:

• Each block will have one plain in it always. 
• Colours should not be too safe. I would like to intermix pink and peach and try and create combinations which shouldn't really work but do. 
• Each block should use a scrap/stash fabric. 
• Each block should have some element of colour contrast if possible. 
• My backgrounds will all be greys, different ones as I am trying to use up scraps where possible. 

So my first block will use some grey offcuts from the donut quilt. A purple plain which sort of does not go and my new fat quarter in the centre. If it turns out gross then I might just make another. All I need is the book before I get too far behind!

Sorry if my pictures are a little rough and there are no links in my post but since embarking on my freelance career, my laptop now lives at work and so I haven't had evenings to edit photos and create blog posts. This is the best I can do until I settle into my new work groove.

Medallion Quilt

So I have been thinking the fabric to use for about my Medallion quilt from Liberty Love: 25 Projects to Quilt and Sew Featuring Liberty of London Fabrics. There is quite a lot so I ended up drawing out a diagram of the quilt and annotating what fabric I needed where. How organised! I often find the nicest part of the project is sifting through my stash and working it all out. I had some sick time on the sofa with Penelope so it was a nice slow thing to do in order to pass the time whilst the patient used me as a foot pillow. And now at least I have worked out exactly what I have and what I need.


I realised pretty quickly however, that I didn't have enough variety. I guess you are supposed to use scraps, but most of my scraps are either too small or the wrong colour. I wanted the whole thing to be pinks and purples and to match the other colours in the prints I had already chosen. I feared that is it was all too different that it would just look like a train crash. Plus the main borders use 1/2 yards of fabric and I really only ever buy fat quarters these days. So I ordered these from M is for Make.


You can just see Carolyn Friedlander's Plank in white for the low volume. I actually use low volumes a lot so I also realised that my stash of scraps might not be quite enough. Then we have Remember Me by Atelier Brunette which could be a border. The middle fabric is another border: Optical Origami Moon. I really like it. It's quite dark for me but I think it will work. Then the far bottom right is Triangle Tokens voile which is lovely and soft and might be a thin border. The two starry fabrics are Morn's Rays Silver and Ecru and will be small pieces to make up all the greys I need.

I thought that would be enough but in the end I bought quite a few bits for it from Birmingham. It was quite nice to know I needed some specific fabric but not very much of it so it wasn't going to break the bank. I just needed three fat quarters really:

A low volume
A grey
A bluey green

So off I went in search...


I ended up a big faves; Alison Glass' Sunprint – I've never seen this white on white version before but it's perfect.


Just one more grey to shake things up a bit. This is new from Cotton and Steel and it's lovely. I bought it from The Village Haberdashery.

Then all I needed was a bluey green to go with it all. That was more difficult as it is not a colour I use much and I couldn't really work it out amongst all the bad lighting. It needed to be just right. In the end I bought a few as I just couldn't make my mind up. I am sure they will get used in other projects.



We have the three bluey greens on the left. I think the middle one is the most daring. I think the top one is too green. The middle purples were extras. I just love the Monaluna Haiku range and was really looking forwards to seeing it in person so check it out. The stripes in the middle are a basic I was replacing. The grey stripes on the top right are also a stash basic which I love and probably won't need for this project, but the clouds go perfectly so they'll be in it and the mini peal bracelets are just another option on yellow which I already have. Good to have a backup.

That's it. I have more than I need and won't run out so I can get going choosing elements for the first central block.


I have decided to foundation piece is just because I hate sewing on the diagonal. I have not had great luck with it – all too stretchy. So I found this great tutorial from Penny Poppleton for creating a foundation block from the templates. Lor! opening up those huge sheets of delicate pattern paper with the two year old in the house was no joke. It was armageddon. At one point she was running round the house with a whole sheet wrapped round her.


But they are all done and ready to go. I have done them all on tracing paper and drawn each one purely because I have no access to a printer at the moment and it was easy enough to do on the sofa. So we'll see how I get on. Now I just need to choose my first fabrics.

Donut Quilt!

For a long time I have been thinking about making one of these. I just think they look enjoyably easy and I have seen some lovely results on Pinterest. So I decided to get it all together even though my sewing time has all but dried up and I have the huge medallion quilt to start. But you know, you need at least three projects on the go at any one time so you can abandon them in favour of the other at any given time.

So I ordered the pattern all the way from Canada. It's annoying that there is no PDF download anywhere but that's life I guess. It is nice to have a real printed pattern especially as I no longer have access to a printer or scanner. I decided this would be my birthday present to myself.

I think what got me going this time was the Atelier Brunette Remember Me fabric that I bought for the medallion quilt. It was so soft and lovely. I just wanted a project where I could use a big chunk of it. The Donut Quilt came straight to mind so I quickly ordered 2 metres from M is for Make before I could change my mind. It's cotton cambric fabric (similar to voile) so it's quite fine and soft. I shall have to prewash for once I think as it stands to just be very different from the donut fabrics.

It's been nice to think about what fabrics to use for the donuts. I thought about peaches and perhaps a green.


Then I thought about bright pinks and turquoises. But upon reflection I think that it might be more a combination of hot pink and the peachy colours so all of the above without the greens and turquoises.


I am quite excited about the easiness of it. Cutting all the fabric was really easy and there seems to be little waste which is perfect for a scrooge like me. I managed to get it all cut out in a morning whilst Penelope played.


Today I started sewing the donuts together which was also pretty quick work. Every fabric in this quilt is treasured so I am pretty confident that it's going to be lovely. I didn't prewash in the end so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.