Sweet Darling baby quilt

I am making a baby quilt. A very gender specific baby quilt, covered in lovely pinks- and I love it!I will call it 'Sweet Darling'. The fabrics are so lovely, and if you throw in a little baby girl too-not literally throwing the baby in of course-it makes a sweet darling.
I already finished piecing the top but I can't exactly show it to you yet. I am putting a few sneak peak photos for the moment. I am hoping to finish this by the end of next week. (Fingers crossed.)

And it left some decent size HSTs behind-bonus for a scrap project.

So, this is my WIP and I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Modern Christmas trees table topper

I started my Christmas themed table topper last Monday and shared a photo with you. I want to tell you a little more about it.
I had a rough design idea about this table topper; triangles forming a modern version of Christmas trees. Just  when I was about to cut the fabric, I remembered that I enrolled in Jacquie Gering's Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design class at Craftsy a few weeks ago. (I must say that I love it; it is one of the classes I watch regularly, over and over again.) One of the lessons in her class is teaching you how to make her "To the Point" quilt (it is the cover image for her class). In this class, Jacquie is teaching how to cut big isosceles triangles and insert them into a background fabric. She is also using her crazy piecing technique to make one of the triangles. I really wanted to give this technique a go. Over all, this lesson was perfect for my project.
I quickly cut my triangles; just changed the size of them, sewed the sashing, placed them on my design wall to play around with the placement. Here are a few versions:

 V1: Two up, two down

 V2: One down, one up, two down

 V3: One down, one up

 V4: One down, one up-First solid triangle is placed slightly lower than in the V3

I really want to finish this before Christmas but just can't decide which version to choose-can you help me? Also, this will be quite a large table topper: 30"x35" like a mini quilt.

Love this scrappy triangle!

So, this is my WIP for this week.

Also, in case you missed it, Molli Sparkles is collecting hashtag quilt blocks to make quilts to the families of those who lost their lives in the recent Sydney siege. 

It was such a tragic, heartbreaking event. I have family members who live in Sydney and they could have easily been in that cafe on that morning. As Molli says "it will never be enough but it will be something" and I am joining in too to support. I have made two blocks today and cut some more fabric for another four.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Love,

Nurdan

QDAD and more FMQ

A few months ago, I joined the Quilt Design A Day aka QDAD Facebook group after reading about it at PlayCrafts. QDAD is encouraging you to spend at least 15-20 minutes everyday, creating a quilt design by getting inspired by that particular day's image and colour palette. Even though I am not the best contributor, I have designed a few quilts since I joined the group and whenever I get a chance I try to design at least a quilt block. If you are a member of MQG, I highly suggest that you listen to the webinar Quilt Design a Day: Discovering Your Creative Process presented by Anne Sullivan. It really opened my eyes and changed my view about myself and my creative side. (You can even see one of my designs in one of the slides. I squealed and did the happy dance when I saw it because it was totally unexpected!)

This is one of my QDAD designs. I was at work, looking at the inspiration image and trying to come up with a design. Instead, I got inspired by the paper plane sitting on my desk, quickly designed this block and named it the paper planes. I still ignore my husband's comment saying "this is Maltese Cross!" LOL. Anyways...Later, I decided to turn this design into a paper pieced block. Knowing nothing about paper piecing, I wasted so much some fabric but managed to make something nice.

I didn't have any solids so I used the fabric which had the most vibrant colours and a pink similar to the one in the design above. The finished size of the each square is 6" and the whole block is 12.5". As I didn't want to waste this block, I added borders and made it to 18" which is a nice pillow size.

And started quilting it.

I tried to reflect the swirls and the leafy shapes in the fabric. When you don't think about what your next move and shape are going to be, it goes very easily and smoothly and is so much fun.

This is the first time I did such a fancy quilting and am surprised how nice the result is. I am also secretly proud of myself that I developed my FMQ skills very quickly in just a few days.
I will be offering this paper piece pattern on my blog in the following days. I am just fine tuning it at the moment.
Happy quilting!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

I finally dread quilting (thinking about quilting) my New Wave quilt!!!!

I basted it yesterday afternoon. My plan was to buy a darker colour backing; maybe a purple or green like in the quilt and piece it together with the left over fabrics from the quilt. Unfortunately, I am so broke these days so I used the last piece of the Ikea numbers.

I asked a fellow quilter from my local MQG whose work I love a lot:
- How do you think I should quilt this quilt? Maybe straight lines on the area in between the white sashing and something fancy (you guys know what I mean by fancy LOL) on the purple and yellow bits?
She gave me the answer I needed(!):
- I would quilt the daylights outta that baby!
And sent me the link to Christa Wither's blog (which has a similar quilt, same pattern with different colours, which was quilted so beautifully with various FMQ patterns. If you haven't already visited the link, please do so!)
I totally freaked out. (Again, visit the link, you will understand what I am saying!)
I have waited for so long to start quilting this quilt just because I am so scared of ruining it. I love it like this. Do I have to quilt it? Yes, I have done free motion quilting before; meander and pointy meander. That's it. I said to my friend "Are you gonna kill me?"

Well, after some thinking, I decided to go for it. It will definitely make me step out of my comfort zone but I will do it. Now, I am auditioning some of the designs on Christa's blog on a piece of paper. Hopefully, I will start quilting it at the end of this week. Wish me good luck!!

What is the one thing in quilting that made you step out of your comfort zone? Would love to hear your stories.

Thank you for dropping by,
Nurdan

(Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday)

A finished quilt top

No, not a new quilt top, the "damn triangles" quilt top it is.

As you might remember, I had put the whole thing away because of the mismatching triangle points. And as you know, mismatching seams bother me a LOT!!
After a long break, I decided to fix it and pulled it out again. I don't like UFOs either. Much to my surprise, it didn't require much fixing.
Here it is.

Another good example of perfect photography: setting the scene. Your quilt top must be hung while the clothes are hung too. Not my fault. I don't have fancy places to take my quilts to take their photos. Ok, maybe there are some nice places but it means taking a break from what you are doing and driving some distance. Call it lazy maybe? 

I even went ahead and basted it and started quilting it.

 Perfectly matching seams, hmmmm, nice.

I am straight line quilting it and thinking about doing something fancy in the big purple triangle.

My backing is the famous Ikea numbers (Britten Nummer) fabric. I didn't prewash it so I wonder how much it is going to shrink after washing the quilt.

I am glad that this is no longer a UFO and I am looking forward to finishing it!
Linking up with Lee @Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

What is the one UFO that you have finished/gotten one step closer to finishing recently?

Finished New Wave quilt top

I finished the New Wave quilt top a few days ago. The weather is always rainy and windy here so I had to take yet another photo indoors; the quilt top hung up on my design wall.

I was going to baste it today with this famous Ikea numbers fabric and start quilting it. 

But it has to wait till tonight because I have a very upset poppet at home with me. Not only is he sick but also he fell and bumped his forehead to the tile floor.

 Ouchhh!!!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Back to sewing: New Wave

It's been almost a month since my last blog post; think it is time to write a new one ;-)

I had a very close friend from Turkey who stayed with us, so I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. My friends don't visit me often so this time was well spent with her.
I have also been quite busy with preparing for opening a small business. Getting an ABN, opening up bank accounts, developing a business plan, logo design and lots of other things take a lot of time. I will be writing more about my business in the following weeks once my stock arrives- it is a jewellery business ;-)
Among all these busy days, I managed to do some sewing.
I made this cute purse for my Turkish friend as a farewell gift.

The pattern owner is a fellow quilter from my MQG. I made a couple of mistakes on the way so my purse turned out a little smaller than how it should have been; yet it is still very cute and definitely usable. You can buy the "Girlfriend's Wallet" at https://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleMushroomCap or http://www.craftsy.com/user/1487215/pattern-store.
I also started a new quilt last weekend. I had these beautiful fabrics which I bought months ago without a project in mind. I had been looking for a pattern which would show the beauty of the fabrics. Elizabeth Hartman's "New Wave" is perfect for this purpose so I went ahead with it.

You will remember my archenemy triangles which stretched and caused me too much pain. This time I starched the hell out of these fabrics before I cut the tumblers; there is no stretching or whatsoever!  I finished sewing the sashing last night and laid my pieces on my design wall. I am very happy with how it looks so far. The colours are so bright and modern.

You can find the free tutorial for Elizabeth Hartman's "New Wave" here.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced  for the WIP Wednesday.

What have you been working on lately? Have you been sewing or working on other things like me?
Till next time,
Nurdan

Bits and pieces

My last post was about the naughty triangles quilts. The points weren't matching and I was so put off finishing it. I was given a few good suggestions to overcome the not matching points. What have I done? Nothing! I sewed a few lines, did my best to tackle the problem. The bloody thing is still up on my design wall and looks like it will be a permanent display item there. I hate this side of me but I just can't help it. When I get disheartened, especially when something doesn't go as I planned it, I tend to leave it alone for a while. I think and think and when I am ready to deal with it again, I go for it. I think I still need some more time to go back to this quilt. I am a one-thing-at-a-time person; should learn how to have a few projects going on at the same time LOL.
Well, at least I caught up with my do.Good Stitches Cherish Bee blocks.

Made a very cute pincushion for a friend with some scraps.

Since I was desperate to make something else-other than the damn T quilt-I cut up some fabric last night to make a tote bag for myself. I have had some lovely Michael Miller fabric which I bought just for this purpose. The big, lovely prints have given me a chance to practice my free motion quilting.

I quilted some of the prints more densely. 

 And kept some of them quite simple.

I had four hours-four free hours!-to quilt today. I started quilting the second panel for the tote bag. I am not sure what has changed over the night but my sewing machine didn't cooperate with me. There was something wrong with the top thread tension which I couldn't fix even after spending four precious hours. I ended up wasting lots of thread- I mean lots!

Is there a "forever going" project that you can't seem to finish for some reason? What makes it "forever"?
Till next time,
Happy quilting!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

(Trouble) shooting triangles

I bought some lovely fat quarters late last year when Craftsy was offering some great discount. Ten or so days ago, I chose twelve of them and cut them into triangles to make-this time for myself-a nice lap size quilt.

According to my quilty math, which I did for the first time!, these 230 triangles were going to make a 60"x72" quilt. But,,,my perfect quilty math didn't calculate the shrinkage once they were sewn!! Arrrghh, so annoyed!!

I had to turn it into-sort of-a square to be able to make a sensible size because it was going to be a long and very skinny quilt if I went ahead with a rectangular layout.

It shrinks a lot once they are sewn!

Anyways, I started sewing them. The pointy ends in the first three rows matched beautifully but- don't know what I did differently-the following two rows just don't match and it is driving me insane!

No stretching, they were all cut the same size, same seam allowance...Why oh why don't you guys just behave???
These not matching points and the size-44"x58"-really put me off finishing this quilt.

What should I do guys? Should I sew all the triangles into rows, then undo the ones that don't play nicely and adjust the seam allowances? Even the idea of undoing the stitches has gotten me tired!
Hit me with your best suggestions!

Before I forget, I want to thank you all who stopped by to leave a comment to my blog hop post. I also want to welcome all my new followers. Your support encourages me to continue harassing my husband to let me buy more fabric. Love you all!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced: