A Baby Quilt

During the Auckland-only Covid Level 3 lockdown in August last year, I pulled my Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt top apart. It was too big to ever be useful, and I didn't love it. I made it into 10 little NICU quilts and three baby-sized quilts. During the process, I remembered how nice the bigger blocks are and what good one block quilts they make. So when the opportunity arose to make a boy baby quilt for gifting, I re-used the pattern for Block One. I wish it had a cooler name!

Loving the tan spot. The navy solid is Mediterranean kona. It is lovely. It is also a lint collector!

Thinking a baby quilt will need more washing than a adult quilt, I went for cotton batting and machine quilting. My straight lines could be straighter! I was hesitant to use grey thread over the navy fabric but wanted the grey to blend in with the rest, so it is what it is.

It is backed with a grey and white spot and bound with a navy and white stripe - both off the shelf. The lovely navy and white has 2017 on the selvedge. I knew it would come in handy one day.

Green Baby Quilts

These were also part of the original Modern Building Blocks quilt. Two measure about 1 metre x 1 metre and the smaller third quilt about 70 cm x 70 cm. The selve on the Denyse Schmidt says 2013 - from the days when Spotlight had less dirty and dull looking quilt fabrics!

I have put these ones away in the cupboard for gifting.

Yes my garden shed needs a clean and re-paint. Maybe the Sept school hols we'll be able to use hoses again. Auckland has been in water shortages and restrictions for months now. It also needs new steps. So much dirt was removed during the house fix last year, it's a massive step up into the shed now. I have to stand on an upturned bucket to reach the top lock (-:

I Finished the Blue Rings Quilt

So here are some clothesline photos taken on a cloudy and very humid Auckland morning -

I Finished the Blue Rings Quilt Top

Original name, I know.

My compulsory job yesterday was pressure cleaning the deck and today's job was to get the back of the house's outside windows washed. When my compulsory jobs are done, the rest of the day is mine. I find it helps me get the sucky jobs done and it also makes sure I don't entirely fritter away my holidays. I just finished the blue rings baby quilt top.

I am pleased with how well it all came together. Initially I thought it would be so much easier to machine the curves, but I don't mind hand sewing. And it kind of slows things down. In a good way.

 

It measures about 97cm x 97cm. I have great plans to hand quilt it .... with perle thread.

I can see myself using this pattern again. Now to put all the blues and greens back on the shelf.

I Started a New Quilt

This one will be small. Just four 18 inch blocks. A baby quilt for a colleague. I hope it's not too serious for a baby quilt.

So far I have made three blocks -

As you can see, some sections of the rings line up better than others!

The pattern is called Ring Around and is in Kathy Doughty's Mixing Quilt Elements: A Modern Look at Colour, Style and Design. It is made using a wedge ruler and the sections of the rings are appliqued onto the backgrounds.

I was stumped for something original. Instagram is full of 'pretty' in style and colour quilts full of squares and triangles, or EPP. I guess one of the downsides of social media is the jumping on the bandwagon and FOMO which means people follow the trends to be one of the cool kids.

So far all of the fabric has come off the shelf, but I am out of 'dirty' blues for the backgrounds, so will add that to my shopping list when I go looking for a good quality and nice feeling blue solid. Maybe I will do that tomorrow. The joy of being on holiday.

Oh Deer! It's Finished

And ready for gifting. I like this one lots. Luckily I have a second one ready for quilting that I might just keep for myself!

Oh Deer! More Wedges

This fabric has been sitting on the shelf since 2012. Not sure what I was saving it for, but thought I had better use it before I decided I didn't like it any more.

Pulled out my massive 10 degree wedge ruler that I bought for myself last Christmas and made two half modern wedges aka dresden plates.

I have set them onto Spotlight shot cotton in 'pepper'. I bought the last of what was on the bolt at Mt Wellington - none at Manukau. I am really liking brown at the moment.

Now to find backing fabric.

Windmills Quilt

This is the second quilt I have made from Sujata Shah's book, Cultural Fusion. I don't think I have ever made more than one quilt from any other book I own. In fact, I doubt I have made anything from most of the quilt books I own! (Kind of  Just like most of my recipe books.) So Cultural Connections is a winner in my opinion.

I started this one a while ago - just after I finished my favourite pink toran (which has been gifted to baby Lily). I decided on Saturday I wanted to have a productive day so I made four simple school skirts and got the top of the 'windmills' quilt finished.

And then on Sunday, I got lots of quilting done. I used perle thread. Possibly I should have used a slightly thicker thread. I also experimented using a chenille needle, but found that hard going as the needles are quite thick and not very sharp.

I plan to channel my inner Red Pepper and bind in a black and white stripe.

Speaking of black and white, this is one of the skirts I made. I wore it to school today.

As per usual, bargain fabric from Designer Textile Outlet in Otara. Bought a while ago.

A Work in Progress: Pink Toran

My copy of Cultural Fusion Quilts by Sujata Shah arrived recently. I love ordering books online. Sometimes I forget I have ordered them, so when they arrive, it's kind of exciting! I don't know how I discovered Sujata's blog earlier this year, but was taken by her photos from India.

I decided I would make my own version of her Toran quilt -

I was keen for a pink and red combination and did my best not to use green and blue fabric ... because I am always drawn to those colours so always use them.

All of the fabrics came off the shelf including the linen-ish 'solid'. If I did this one again, I would cut my strips fatter because I often ended up with a skinny strip right at the bottom when I trimmed the blocks back to 8.5",

I also felt like hand quilting. I am trying to use bigger stitches and to get them even. I think I will stitch in between these lines with some pink perle thread. And I 've seen a Jen Kingwell video online where she demonstrates hand quilting little x stitches, so I might add some of those too.

I like this little quilt lots.

In the April hols, I went to Singapore, primarily for the World Education Leadership Summit, but managed some holidaying before and after the conference. I hadn't been to Singapore before. It was an interesting place to visit. I particularly enjoyed the smaller communities outside of Orchard Road. I loved the side-of-the-road sewing service. There were Juki machines everywhere in Little India.

A Small Finish

I got the red and blue baby quilt finished last weekend and gifted it today.

I do like it but it was an easy one to gift. Lately, I have found I make quilts and then like them too much to give away so have to make another one to actually gift.