Shirt Stripe Boxes - we have a finish!

Back in 2012 I started making blocks for Kaffe Fassett's Shirt Stripe Boxes quilt from his book Passionate Patchwork, using recycled shirt fabric. You can see the original blog post here

Gradually over the next few years a few more blocks were made here & there as the mood struck until eventually at last in 2014 all the blocks were finally done

Then they just sat there,with the backing fabric squares also cut out all ready waiting to be quilted.  I planned to construct this using the Quilt As You Go method with some plain royal blue sashing

Then last month they were pulled out again, simply quilted with straight lines on my trusty Singer treadle & all assembled into a completed & quilted top

This last weekend the binding was attached & I made the most of a beautiful day in the garden to finish hand stitching the binding down & ta dah......we have a completed quilt, finally!

So pleased to cross another WIP/UFO off the ever increasing list! 

A productive 2014

In no particular order, here's my 2014 round up -  this little quilt was commissioned for a baby due in December whose parents farmed & loved tractors......hence the choice of fabrics used.

Hand applique & hand quilted using perle cotton 8

Earlier in the year I was given this huge pile of fabric which had been used as wedding bunting & asked to make a memory quilt for the young couple

The fabrics were a varied mix of cottons & polycottons 

So this was what I created in order to try & use as many of the fabrics as possible

Thought it was best to keep the design simple & also constructed this one using the quilt as you go method with narrow sashing.

the back

Then in December, their first baby was born & this was made for the happy couple still using fabric from their wedding bunting.

I also finally finished the recycled shirt fabric sampler quilt for my son, so far this is one of my favourite quilts, it was just so much fun to make and put together like a puzzle. I blogged about the construction here.

Back showing the hand quilting

Other projects completed last year included these 3 tops:

EPP hexagons using Saltwater range fabric by Tula Pink

Japanese boxes using Kaffe Fassett scraps - EPP

(the triangle border on the right has now been removed)

Depression block - Scrappy half square triangles
 machine pieced

2 more quilts which I've blogged about in previous posts were also completed:  Easy street, a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt was hand quilted & bound. Then in October I  finished the modern Oakshott cotton quilt which I wrote about in my previous post here

All in all, a pretty busy year :)  More to come for 2015, I have so many projects on the go it may be time to seriously take stock & complete these before starting anything else.

What do you do to control the urge to keep trying new patterns, techniques etc? 

Scrappy Shirt Tails

I have a quilting angel......... a dear friend called Sandra who lives in Georgia & spoils me by sending me wonderful surprise  packages of recycled shirt fabric. 

Inspired by a quilt in one of Bonnie Hunter's books, I started making these star blocks, quilt as you go method. But........ you know me, after about 7 or 8 of them, I just got bored and  started playing with the fabric & making a mixture of different blocks, whatever took my fancy at the time.

Union Square

Sister's Choice

Ohio Star

Some are traditional & some just made up to fill the gaps where required. Not much maths has been involved in this process as I tend to get it wrong!

Beginnings of a layout

Planning another row to be added on the right

Of course, quality control has to be monitored at each and every stage!

Progress so far

For the "Quilt as You Go" sashing & backing, I'm recycling a cotton double size duvet cover that I picked up at a local charity shop for £2......good value or what?

The back

I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, but there are already and no doubt will be more missing points off stars, geese loosing the tips of their beaks etc, but I'm not too fussed about this as, after all, quilting is meant to be fun and not stressful. 

Whatever you're making, enjoy the process, 'till next time, happy stitching :)

PS. Apologies for the formatting on this post.....blogger's just not playing ball tonight!

219 blocks later......

We finally have a completed quilt! I had actually finished the construction 3 weeks ago but wasn't happy with the size.........

It was too long for the width and just looked unbalanced

So I took it apart to widen it. As this is constructed with the quilt as you go method on point, the only way to make it wider was to add rows to the middle 

and add a couple more blocks plus extend the sashing to the previous adjoining row

so an extra 40 more baskets were appliqued, sandwiched & outlined quilted by hand before I got back to this stage of joining the 2 halves together again

This quilt is quite heavy & bulky so I rolled it up and used the ironing board for extra support & just unrolled a little section at a time to feed through the machine

The binding is now on & I can finally say the basket quilt is complete

It's a biggie 90" high x 105" wide - great for a big bed

I've really enjoyed making this one but am now glad to see the back of it!

(This quilt is for sale - email me for details at gtjsy at hotmail dot com)

Boxes & Baskets

My friend Sandra was telling me all about a workshop she would be attending with Bonnie Hunter using old shirts last week which reminded me I had quite few striped ones I had been collecting ready to use for the shirt stripe boxes quilt by Kaffe Fassett from his Passionate Patchwork book.

This inspired me to sort out what I had with some hindrance help from Lucy (she was getting ready to pounce in this 2nd photo!)

After much cutting, which was really easy with the Companion angle triangle ruler, a lot of  chain piecing took place.

Eventually quite a few shirt box squares were ready for the fun part of laying them out to form 18" blocks

1st block done

.........and a 2nd one added. This is going to be my ongoing machine project when I need a break from hand stitching to give my poor fingers a rest when they get sore (I just can't use thimbles)

BASKET PROGRESS

These little baskets are still being appliqued and 'quilted as you go'

The next batch ready to have sashings attached and made into rows

2 more rows ready to join to the main piece

This quilt is growing to be a bit of a big one, over the half way mark now......yeah!

Till next time, thanks for stopping by :)

Anyone for Cupcakes or How about some Strawberries?

 

Sometimes you just need a break from making big quilts which can take forever to complete, so it can be quite satisfying to create something small in a day..........like a pincushion or two.

 

As you can tell, I got just a little carried away! 

I had seen various cupcake pincushion styles out there, but wasn't happy with the designs so decided to come up with my own. These are now selling in the gift shop at the Wildlife park where I work so it was worth the effort :)

  

In the meantime, progress is being made with the basket quilt, sashings are going on the ready quilted blocks.........

A quilt is gradually coming to life........ have I mentioned that I love this Quilt as you Go method?

May have to change that dark blue circle though

back view

'till next time, happy stitching :)