Symphony Quilt

Today I'm excited to share a quilt I put together last month - the latest free pattern release as part of AGF Stitched, a collaboration between Art Gallery Fabrics and Fat Quarter Shop.

This was a really fast and fun quilt top put together - the blocks are big so it grows super fast. Plus, there are very few seams to match, so it's a very low stress quilt to make. I'd actually intended on only making one block and making it into a cushion, but I enjoyed making the first one so much I decided to make the whole quilt. I think this one will actually be for me to snuggle under on the sofa. And winter has hit pretty hard the last couple of weeks, so it would be nice to finish quilting it sooner rather than later ;o).

Quite a few of the fabrics I used are from Nightfall by Maureen Cracknell, a gorgeous collection that features the owls I've fussy cut for the centre of the blocks. I also used the owl print on the back - so it's virtually a two-sided quilt. The low volume Pandalicious print I used for the background was so fun to use - I ended up deciding to cut the fabric so the print runs in the same direction across the whole quilt. It's only noticeable close up, but I think it would've irked me too much to not do it ;o).

I have started quilting this one (which is why the pictures all feature basting pins), and I'm having fun with it. So far I've only done a bit of the centre block, and I've been playing with a few different weights of Aurifil thread. The ochre/yellow section is quilted with 28wt Aurifil - and I absolutely love the texture these heavier weight threads give it. I'm really looking forward to finishing this one off once I've gotten a couple of deadlines sorted out!

I really wanted to mention an awesome giveaway Fat Quarter Shop is running at the moment - a chance to win a Hello Lovely” Cotton + Steel B350SE sewing machine to give away, MSRP $1,899. Head over to the Jolly Jabber for all the details on how to enter - and it is open internationally!

Have a great weekend, I'm hoping to be back soon with the beginnings of a couple of new quilts!

xx Jess

Binalong {An almost finished quilt!}

I'm excited to share a new (and almost finished!) quilt with you today - the next installment in AGF Stitched (a collaboration between Art Gallery Fabrics and the Fat Quarter Shop). I made two quilts for AGF Stitched last year (Fractal and Welded) and they were both such fun projects to make, I jumped at the chance to participate again this year. I'm a huge fan of Art Gallery Fabrics (they are divine to work with), and the simple, graphic nature of this quilt design really appealed to me. Blithe is a free quilt pattern, and there is even a YouTube video to teach you how to make the blocks!

 I'm pleased to introduce you to my version of the Blithe quilt - a quilt I'm naming Binalong. I'm pretty sure this is the first quilt I've made that is essentially different shades and tints of a single colour, but I think it works quite well. This quilt design instantly made me think of waves and water, so I chose Cozumel Blue (an amazing rich aqua/teal solid) for the background along with a whole host of aqua, teal and blue fabrics from various Art Gallery collections. I sorted them by value, and planned the placement to give the quilt a sense of moving up through the sea.

I'm making this quilt for my 8 year old son, who loves all things beachy. And the colours are definitely reminiscent of our yearly holiday destination - Binalong Bay on the east coast of Tasmania. My son already has several quilts, but he's a bit of a fan of building a quilt nest on his bed - and as the weather is descending into Autumn I figure another layer on his bed won't hurt ;o).

The quilt top came together ridiculously quickly (I didn't time it precisely, but it was around 8 hours of sewing to put it together). I used triangles on a roll for the first time to make the HSTs for this quilt, and they certainly make it quick to put HSTs together! The quilting has been really fast as well. I decided to continue the sea theme and combine organic straight lines following the angle of the HSTs with some improv free motion quilting. I'm using a variegated pale blue Aurifil thread (40wt) for all the quilting. I've kept the quilting wide-spaced, so the quilt is beautifully drapey and soft - and I'm looking forward to seeing what the texture is like once it's washed. 

If you'd like to make your own version of Blithe, the Fat Quarter Shop have put together a kit featuring Chalk and Paint by Sew Caroline. This quilt finishes up at about 54" x 72" so it's a great size for a lap quilt. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the quilting later this week, and get the binding sewn on soon - I have a very impatient child asking me when it will be finished!!

I'll be back very soon with a free block tutorial and to share some of my student's work :o)

xx Jess

Fractal Quilt {AGF Stitched}

I've been sewing up a storm over the last few weeks, working on several projects at the same time (my favorite way to work, flitting between different quilts). The quilt I'm sharing with you today is one of these projects - it came together incredibly fast and has been a really fun quilt to make. This is my Fractal Quilt, which I've made as part of AGF Stitched - a joint project between Art Gallery Fabrics and the Fat Quarter Shop.

When I say this came together fast, I mean really fast. I started cutting this last Sunday night, and by Wednesday I'd finished piecing the quilt top. I think that's a record for me - it took around 12 hours to cut and piece, and that's even taking into account the fact that it uses y-seams to make the blocks. I've not done many y-seams in the past, and I was pleasantly surprised with how simple they were to do. This quilt uses the kite template by Creative Grids, which makes cutting really straight forward. I've used Creative Grids rulers for a few projects now, and I'm a big fan - they are non-slip rulers so even when you're cutting complex shapes like these kites they stay put on your fabric and make it easy to cut accurately. The template also has holes that enable you to mark the pivot point for sewing the y-seams, a large part of why I found them so easy to sew, I think! I really struggled to photograph this quilt as the weather has conspired against me, but this is the quilt top, stuck to our kitchen wall over the top of my kids' art work ;o) I'm actually thinking I'll keep it this shape rather than square off the edges...

I chose to use a mix of various Art Gallery collections for this quilt - but my fabric choices were very much driven by the colours in Frances Newcombe's Utopia collection, several of which I chose to use in this quilt. The neutrals are all from other Art Gallery collections, but apart from the aqua fabric all the coloured prints are from Utopia. The print I chose for the backing is one of my current favorites, Dreamlandia Illuminated (you can see a peek of it at the bottom of the photo below). 

I'm making this quilt for my new(ish) niece, and I think the colours I've used are great for a baby girl - plus it's sophisticated enough that hopefully she will love it as she gets older. It's pretty big for a baby quilt (around 56" x 60"), so I'm hoping it will get used for years to come. As you know, one of my favorite parts of making quilts is the quilting, and I'm really happy with how the quilting is going so far on this one. I started quilting the low volume sections last night using Aurifil 40wt (#2021), adding lots and lots of texture with dense straight line FMQ. I didn't have much of a plan when I started, but there are so many interesting angles in the design that I think I'll keep it pretty simple and use the angles in the blocks to mostly do straight line FMQ over the rest of the quilt. I'll smash down some areas with dense straight lines, and let some of the other areas pop with less dense quilting. Not the greatest photos I'm afraid (one of the perils of last minute night time quilting!!), but I'm delighted with the texture :o)

I started a bit of the coloured areas tonight - and I think this is what I'll do across the rest of the quilt top - I adore the texture of organic straight line FMQ and I think it will create some interesting effects over the quilt top. This picture is horribly over-exposed - but it gives you an idea of the texture so far! 

Fractal is a free pattern, and there is even a video tutorial available to help you with the cutting and y-seams. You can also find kits for this quilt at the Fat Quarter Shop. There are lots of great bloggers who are participating in this blog hop, I'm looking forward to seeing their versions of the Fractal pattern :o)

Katarina Roccella

Christina Lane of Sometimes Crafter

Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting

Riane Menardi of Vessel Quilts

Afton Warrick of Quilting Mod

M-R Charbonneau of Quilt Matters

Caroline Hulse of Sew Caroline

Rachel McKeeman of The Floral Suitcase

I'll be back later this week to introduce my Checker block (that I designed for Alyce's Bee Hive series) - the tutorial is up on Alyce's blog if you'd like to go take a look. I've been busy making blocks and I'm hoping to share my progress in the next few days :o)

xx Jess

Sashiko Cushion {Finish}

This one finally made it's way across the sea to the UK today, so I can show you the cushion I made for Nat in our little swap. After a few stumbles (and abandoning my original idea completely), I decided to use the sashiko panel I made for my tutorial in the Something New blog hop and make it into a cushion.

I cut a piece of batting the same size as the cushion insert (14" x 21") and used simple QAYG to add off-centered borders around the panel. The teal fabric is an Art Gallery solid - I've never used these solids before, but I definitely will again. They are just gorgeous - they have a really soft hand and remind me more of a voile than a quilting cotton. The texture once it's quilted is just to die for.

For the back, I used some Melody Miller typewriter fabric - which coordinates so perfectly with the solid on the front (and works really nicely with the thread colours I used in the sashiko).

Thankfully Nat likes it - but still, I'm pretty sure I got the sweet end of the deal with this swap :o)

The kids are on Easter break until next Wednesday, so I doubt much sewing will get done in the next week or so. I hope all of you who celebrate Easter have a great holiday!

xx Jess