Category Archives: quilting

April Charms – A Quilted Clutch

I can’t say no to Ms Midges charm swaps and last month was all about Bonnie & Camille’s divine fabric collections.  I made a quilt top with the Kate Spain charms and this time around I decided to stick to a clutch, a quilted clutch!

Yes I think I was crazy one night when I started cutting my April Showers charm squares up into teeny tiny 1.5inch squares.  After piecing them back together in not the quickest fashion (I really need to find some more tutorials on chain piecing), I wasn’t really sure how to quilt her given the squares are only 1inch.  A friend suggested cross hatching every other square which was one of the ways I was thinking (I’m all for lines, no fmq yet).

I love, love, love how the front piece turned out!  I then added my new favourite way to use denim inside out, for the back and lined it with a grey cotton.  She’s a little bit taller than my usual clutch so worked perfectly with a chunky frame.  I also added these cute little box corners, thanks to Michelle Patterns for introducing me to them.

I’m calling her April and I think I’m going to keep her.  Now to decide what to use her for, any suggestions?

Linking up with the Bonnie & Camille charm along.

A Charming Kate Spain Quilt Top

I’m not sure I can quite express how much I love this quilt top.  The first reason is because of all the beautiful Kate Spain charms, the second reason is that this one’s for me.  That’s right it’s all mine.

It is very simple but I think it lets the beautiful fabric speak for itself (and it is only the third quilt I’ve made).  Its not perfect as some of the points don’t line up but then there are some that look like this.  Happy dance.

I have some Fandango in the cupboard that will make up the backing but I am not sure what colour to bind it with.  Would love any suggestions?

I have seen some beautiful quilts made during this charm along and maybe if time permits while running after the two little ones, I really want to try this design with the next charm swap.  I hope I’m not being too adventurous.

A big thank you to Melissa aka Ms Midge for organising the whole thing.  Here’s a peekat the next one coming soon.  So much prettiness.

Kate Spain Quilt -WIP

I missed Wednesday Wip (I’m only a day late) but I just had to share as I am sooooo excited about the quilt I am working on and this one’s for ME!

This will be the third quilt I’ve made and I’m kinda enjoying this whole quilting thing.  I still have so much to learn and there are some amazing designs out there I would love to try.

This is the quilt I made for  Oscar and it took me over a year so I decided to keep it fairly simple this time around.  I am hoping to finish it as part of the Kate Spain charm alongthat Ms Midge has organised and I’ve got just over a week to do so.

Here’s a peek

An Elephant Quilt

One day many, many months ago (over a year as it turns out) I decided to make a quilt for Oscar and I have finally finished it.

An Elephant Quilt

An Elephant Quilt

How hard could it be?!  My friend had made one for her son and I loved the pattern so I thought I’d give it a go.  This is the pattern I used by Kate at One Flew Over.    I found some gorgeous elephant fabric at spotlight and picked out the elephant splash for the backing (you can see this in the photo further down).  Well it wasn’t too difficult, it just took a while to finish it.

Working out fabric placement

Working out fabric placement

This was my first attempt at log cabins and my blocks did not come together perfectly.  Lucky for me they were then cut into quarters and pieced back together and the seams didn’t always match up so it didn’t matter that they were a bit uneven.  I was able to square them off a bit in this step.

My uneven blocks waiting to be cut in quarters

My uneven blocks waiting to be cut in quarters

In Kate’s pattern she top stitches in straight lines from side to side.  I decided to make a square block in the middle then straight lines through the outer blocks.  The finished quilt is a 42″ square and I am so happy with how it turned out.

The finished elephant quilt

The finished elephant quilt

Now that I’ve finally finished Oscar’s quilt,  I’m excited to get back to working on more purses and bags.

Sew Delicious Quilted Mat Sew Along Part 2 & 3

I’ve been so busy with orders I forgot to blog about the completion of my mat so here’s part 2 & 3 together. You can follow along the tutorial here & here.

I cheated a bit and used some double sided iron on fusible fleece which of course made it a lot easier to keep in place and I didn’t need any pins. I then wanted to practice quilting uneven lines which I will using on a couple of quilts soon. I think it turned out really well.

Then for the binding. I had never done this before so it was all new. I had to make my own from quilting cotton so I googled a few tutorials on youtube and found this onehelpful.  And yes I decided to hand stitch it to the back for some practice.

This is my completed mat. Thanks Ros from Sew Delicious for such a great sew along. I look forward to the next one!

Happy sewing,