A Finished Quilt

The Bluebird Square quilt is done.

Complete with peg marks and fold lines.

It measures about 110cm x 110cm and started out as twenty-five 10" blocks. I am not sure what I will do with the remaining 17 squares from the layer cake. I left the green green (as opposed to teal green) and flowery fabrics out of this quilt as much as I could, so that it is gender neutral-ish.

Bluebird Square

I bought two layer cakes just before the September holidays in anticipation of making a couple of baby-sized quilts over the next few months. It feels like the first fabric I have bought online for ages. I was attracted by the colours, the rabbits, the hedgehogs and the birds in the branches. This fabric is called Bluebird Park.

I was keen to re-use the Leicester Square pattern that  I used for my summer quilt. But something went wrong because my centre pieces are rectangles and not squares. Oops. The quilt is square though - about 110cm x 110cm.

Here it is on the lounge floor testing out backing fabrics. The yellow was perfect until I found the flaw in it - a couple of small holes I didn't notice when I bought it ages ago at Spotlight.

I do love crosshatching, although I am not sure this would qualify as crosshatching because the diagonal lines are 6 inches apart. I also like the speed of machine quilting, but it's not as soft as hand quilting and I think too much dense machine quilting can make a quilt feel a bit stiff and not snuggly, so my 'crosshatching' remains at 6" intervals.

Since the yellow was not an option for the backing, I went online to see whether Spotlight was having a sale and yes, 40% off all quilting fabric. I bought teal spot for the backing and some Sarah Feilke teal fabric for the binding. They are perfect matches although the photo washes them out a bit.

Now to hand sewing the binding. One of my favourite parts of quilt making. I expect to have 'finished' pics to show before the weekend is over!

D.O.N.E. Done

Quilt Fabrics
Ava Rose by Tania Whelan

Border Fabric
Dilly Dally by Me and My Sister from Patchwork Passion

Backing Fabric
Ta Dot by Michael Miller from Grandmother's Garden

Pattern
Leicester Square by Just Patchwork.com.au

Measures
64 x 64 inches

Even Closer

Binding cut, binding sewn together, quilting finshed (despite Lucy the Cat trying to give the quilt a test sleep), binding sewn on.

This week - hand sewing the back of the binding to the quilt.

The End is in Sight

Not that I am all about getting it finished so I can start a new one. I just like seeing what they look like after months of work.

I bought the binding for the Leicester Square Quilt this morning at Patchwork Passion. I imagined I would buy green or even blue, but no, pink suited the best. I aim to have the quilting finished by the end of the weekend.

And then ... maybe the grey and green? Although I did get two packages from Fabricworm in the mail this morning. I just can't help myself.

Oh, and I have joined the Auckland Modern Quilt Guild. Not sure I know enough to be part of a guild. Oh well, soon see.

The Back

Just so you can see what's going on on the back side of the quilt.

Leicester Square Quilt Update

I have been in the quilting groove.

I had a marathon session in the weekend and watched 5 or 6 episodes of Offspring that I had My Sky-ed. I am loving it - well, them, Offspring and the size of the stitches in my two inch cross hatching. The blue pen marking my lines will disappear with a squirt of water. I have used masking tape before, but have found it does not stick well over long lines when you have to move your hoop three times to quilt the length of the line.

You can tell by the light in the photos that it's now autumn. Should be finished for next summer!

Slow Progress

"Why can't I just stay on holiday? I am good at that."

Yep, the summer hols are over and I have been back at work this week. It's been a week of reviewing 2010 results (our best ever), setting kids' goals for 2011 with them and their parents, welcoming 300+ new Yr 9s to our school in our biggest powhiri (welcome ceremony) ever, green leis, "find your line and sit down", "if you have got a gap in your timetable, you need to see me after this", "are you ___'s little brother/sister? nice", first day of school photos - they were actually second day of school photos because we ran out of time on the first day!

My 10 hour days mean that I have not picked up a needle since Monday. Oh well, all good things must come to an end. I did start the quilting of the Leicester Square Quilt last weekend. I am using a pink thread - handquilting takes forever, so I want to be able to see the results of my efforts!

Leicester Square - Top Done

The sky has cleared a bit this afternoon, after a lot of rain over the weekend, allowing me to take an outside pic of the Leicester Square quilt top. I plan to hand-quilt it using ginormous, maybe 2", cross-hatching. I have the masking tape ready. I might get it basted tomorrow.

Buttons, Blueberries and More Material

I diverted off State Highway 1 into Huntly this morning. I found some red buttons for the navy quilt at Allen Fabrics right in the main street.

Then it was on to Grandmother's Garden in Gordonton.

I bought backing fabric for the Leicester Square Quilt:

Some linen like Japanese cotton for who know what purpose:

Two fat quarters, again without purpose but I am a sucker for paisley, and five fat quaters and some hexagons as a birthday present for one of my cousins:

And finally, some wool batting.

Back on the road and I was still in search of some more red buttons. I bought four punnets of blueberries to make muffins for going-back-to-school morning teas. I called into the Bernina shop in Pukekohe. They have the best button selection I have seen in a long time. Old school style in the plastic tubes with one wired to the lid.

Then it was home via the library to pick up my reserved copies of Material Obsession 1 and 2.

Leicester Square Quilt - Row 1

It's quite a quick and easy quilt to cut and sew. I think it will look great on top of my summer bed - as opposed to my winter bed which has a different quilt already.

Meanwhile, Grandmother's Garden in Gordonton starts their stocktaking sale tomorrow and it runs until the end of Jan. I might find something for the binding and backing. It's only an hour and ten down the road. It's not a super 'pretty' shop like Patchwork Passion, but it has NZ's biggest selection.

Leicester Square Quilt

I have had this fabric for about 2 1/2 years after after buying it at the Craft Fair held annually in Hamilton. This afternoon I cut it into 10" squares ready to start work on the Leicester Square Quilt.