Ripple (Finished and Featured!)

A few weeks ago, I promised to show you a couple of quilts that have recently appeared in magazines. The quilt I'm sharing today can be found in the Spring issue of Modern Patchwork (that came out in, ahem, April. That's recent, right?) This is Ripple - she's a 96" square beast and was a wee bit tricky to get a full photograph of. 

 
I would have really loved to free motion quilt this quilt, but I decided to save my shoulders and use my walking foot because of the massive size. It was a sensible decision - this is the biggest quilt I've made, and even walking foot quilting it was pretty tricky with the 7.5" throat space in my machine. I ended up quilting a rectangular crosshatch across the diamond design, but only extended the lines out in one direction into the background rather than cross hatching across the whole quilt. I really like the effect, and the texture is lovely. I used wool batting, so it has a little bit of puff and is incredibly warm and snuggly.

This quilt has quickly become our favorite bed quilt. I think I'll be making another version of this quilt from my scrap basket later this year. I'm in desperate need of using some of my scraps, and I'm thinking a rainbow version would be pretty cool (and I'm pretty sure miss 4 would agree)!

I'm hoping I'll be back later this week to share some of what I've been working on lately, and some quilts that my students have been making in the classes I've been teaching so far this year :o)

xx Jess

Starburst Quilt (Finished and Featured)

I am so excited to finally be able to share this quilt with you - I made it midway through last  year, and it's one of my all-time favorite finishes, so I've been very impatiently waiting for it to be published so I can share it! It appears in Quilters Companion No. 71, which came out yesterday.

Ever since making this quilt, I'd been wanting to make another quilt using the same block design, but using colours that are more 'me'. It's essentially made using the traditional Dutch Rose block (or Carpenters Star), but I've added an extra star in the centre, to give the block a bit more interest.

I don't think it's any great secret that I'm a massive fan of Tula Pink's designs, and this quilt is sort of an ode to Tula - all the print fabrics are from her collections (mostly from a fat eighth bundle of Fox Fields, but with a few pieces from Nightshade, The Birds and the Bees and Neptune thrown in) and I love how they work so beautifully together. It was such a fun quilt to put together, and I'm planning on making another (bigger version) using this pattern - I just need to decide what fabric to use :o)

I quilted it using Aurifil 50 wt in various colours - threads from Tula Pink's Aurifil collection for the coloured fabrics, and soft white (2021) in all the background. I quilted fairly large, loose designs on this quilt, so it is beautifully drapey but still has lots of texture. I wanted to accentuate the sense of the stars exploding outward with straight line quilting within the stars, and then contrast that with the curvy designs in the rest of the background. I really like this combination of quilting, and I'm finding I'm using it more and more on my quilts.

This quilt finishes at 64" square, so it's the perfect size for snuggling under on the couch (and despite it being summer here, there have been many snuggling opportunities in the last few months!)

The back is one of my favorite Tula prints, with some coordinating prints down each side to bring it up to size. I love the back almost as much as the front :o)

I am looking for testers for this pattern if anyone is interested - it will be available in two sizes (lap and queen), so if you'd like to test for me please let me know :o) I'll be teaching this block as a class at Frangipani Fabrics later this year, too.

xx Jess

Cover Girl!!!

A few months ago, I noticed an ad in a magazine for the 2015 Quilters Companion diary with my Giant Chevron quilt on the cover. I didn't have any idea if it would be the actual cover or not - but then on Wednesday one of my co-workers at Frangipani Fabrics sent me a photo of the diary she'd found at a newsagency. AND IT HAS MY QUILT ON THE COVER!!!!

I'm obviously a wee bit thrilled about this - but as Cath said, wait there's more!!

My Roundabout quilt is Miss April.

Giant Chevron is Miss May.

And Breaking Storm is there - right on the same page as my birthday :oD!! Total random luck, but cool nevertheless ;o)

Forgive me for plastering this all over the interwebs today, but even the newsagent was excited for me - he commented that I was getting in early buying a diary for next year, so I had to explain why ;o) A couple of my Aussie quilty friends have quilts in there as well (Kristy and Jess) which is even better!!

Oh and just a quick note from one of my sponsors - Sew Me a Song is having a sale to celebrate national sewing month. You can take $10 off your purchase of $50 or more by entering the coupon code SEWSEPT at checkout. The coupon is good through until 8th September. 

Have a fabulous weekend!
xx Jess

Breaking the silence

The tumbleweeds haven't quite managed to roll across my blog thanks to all the fantastic guest posts for the Colour Theory Series, but still it's been a while since I posted anything much sewing related. I've kind of been hibernating from the interwebs actually - I have a scary number of unread blog posts (think four digits) and a similar number of emails I need to answer (apologies for my tardiness - I will get there soon!). Life manages to get in the way of blogging sometimes :o)

We're in Melbourne this week - school holidays are in full swing, and we are having a brilliant time doing 'big city' things with the kids. Tasmania (where we live) has a pretty small population - we don't have a local zoo or aquarium or anything like that, so the little ones are having a ball exploring everything. And I'm extremely excited about the prospect of visiting Amitie on Thursday for some much anticipated fabric therapy. Expect a drool-worthy post later in the week ;o) 

I do have some quilting related news as well. One day way back in February, I emailed the editor of Australian quilting magazine Quilters Companion proposing a submission for their magazine. I honestly didn't think I'd even get a response - but to my surprise and utter delight Clare emailed me back later that day to let me know they'd like me to be a contributor to their magazine. Cue extreme happy dancing, and complete shock. 

The sense of unreality didn't really wear off until this week when Issue 62 of Quilters Companion was published. I am extremely excited to say this quilt is in there :o)

It also explains why I've been such a quiet blogger of late - I've been working on two more quilts for the magazine. One is finished and sent off (the one I gave you sneaky peeks of), the other is partially made and will be finished off in a panic when we get back home. I'm really happy with both of them, and really can't wait to show you them! 

This also means that I will be looking at releasing a few patterns later in the year. If anyone is interested in pattern testing for me later in the year, please let me know. The first one is beginner friendly, the second two are more advanced beginner/intermediate patterns, so I'd be looking for a range of different experience levels. Shoot me an email or leave a comment if you're keen :o)   

I hope you're all having a great week - and for those of you going to FQR I hope you have an amazing time. Not jealous. At all ;o)

xx Jess

Reflected Textures Cushion {finish}

Back in March (I think?) I showed you a sneak peek of what was to become my Reflected Textures cushion. Well it was finished and you can now find it and the full pattern in Issue 13 of Fat Quarterly :o)

Issue 13 is all about using traditional blocks in modern quilts - perfect for me, as I think that's definitely becoming my 'thing'. As much as I love, love looking at improv and minimalist quilts I enjoy working with traditional blocks more than anything. There are some amazing projects in this issue - 8 quilts, six pillow/cushions and more!

I think it's my favorite cushion so far.

xx Jess