Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015 - Part 2

As part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015 all makers are allowed to submit two quilts. This is my second entry which i made as part of the Instagram Hand Pieced Mini Swap and probably my favourite make to date.

All the fabrics were fussy cut and i picked out some of my favourite prints and colours for this project. I love to fussy cut when using English Paper Piecing.

I started and stopped this project so many times as i had no clear plan of what to create. I cut up a few hexagons and started to make one triangle as a starting point. Once i had finished this i realised i could continue making these triangles and join them into one large hexagon. The whole hand pieced top was then machine appliqued onto a white background and after much deliberation i decided it looked better as a hexagon than it did on a square background and went for it.

I'm now trying to pluck up the courage to make another, just for me.........

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015

If you don't know about The Blogger's Quilt Festival then please go check out the blog of Amy Ellis to find out a bit more about it. Amy has set up this great forum for people to share their wonderful quilts and it also gives us the opportunity to enter our quilts in categories like a virtual quilt show and to see lots of wonderful creations from other international makers. I must admit i only heard about it very recently so feel a bit weird entering a couple of my own but nothing wrong with joining in the fun is there.

So, my first entry is in the Art Quilts Category. This particular quilt is one of my favourites probably because it was challenging, fun and rewarding.

I was commissioned by a friend's mum to make a small art quilt for her friend's retirement gift. I was pretty much given free reign to do what i liked but i did message ideas etc to get a better idea of the direction to head in. I started by cutting and piecing random low volume prints and greens to make up the background, i knew i wanted a fairly ombre look to the greens to show off the flowers i would put in front of it and i loved the effect it gave. I aimed for it to look like grasses blowing in the wind and think i pulled it off!

I continued by adding and layering the various reds for the flower petals and attached them to the background using raw edge applique by machine. I wanted to flowers to look fairly realistic but also to have a kind of illustrative quality to them. Once all the flowers were in place i basted up the layers and started quilting. The detail above shows how i tried to add to the idea of the long grass blowing by using some free motion sweeping lines. I also went over the flowers so that they were echoed on the back of the quilt. Finally I hand embroidered a quote by Charles Rennie Mackintosh on the back, the quote had been given as part of the inspiration for the quilt.

I hope you like it - remember to check out all the amazing quilts on Amy's Creative Side and vote for your favourites!

Paving Stone Block - Bee Europa

This month is is my turn to take over the Hive in my quilting Bee - "Bee Europa" and i'm pretty excited about it! It's a nice simple block made from HST's but one which i know i wouldn't have the patience to make several of so it seemed like the perfect choice to send out to all my lovely Bee Mates. I will post the tutorial below for you all (and for anyone else who may read this and like to try it out), and as always if you have any questions just get in touch.

I have sent everyone 8 coloured squares and 8 low volume white/cream coloured squares each measuring 5 inches. (The packages sent to each of you vary in colour, i apologise in advance if you end up with a colour you dislike).
Firstly, pair up each coloured block with a low volume one and place right sides together. Draw a diagonal line on the back of the low volume block and sew down each side of the line using 1/4 seam allowance.

Trim along the line in the centre and press open (I tend to press seams open when doing HST's but press open or to the side, whichever you prefer). At this point you can trim the blocks down to 4" squares (there should be plenty of fabric left over here for trimming down).

Arrange your blocks like the image below, the corner blocks being coloured and the centre square coloured (don't worry about directional prints facing the correct way, just place in the order you like the best).

Sew together in rows using the same 1/4" seam allowance and then join these up! The block should measure 14.5" when done (mine was 14.25", see i told you i'm not the most accurate sewer so please don't worry if it's slighty off haha). That's it, easy peasy. I think it's going to look fantastic when they are all together - i can't wait to see :)