Two Finishes.

Here's the Teddy Bear & Hearts Incubator cover finished.  I did an all over Loop-D-Loop on this one, but the 'loops' are hearts.

The hospital ask that the backs be 'subdued' as they use them to shield the incubators from the bright lights and let the babies get some sleep.  I managed to use up a couple of pieces of dull brown on this one together with the teddy bear backs!

Here's the HeartStrings Block Party Incubator cover finished.  This has a pastel floral backing as I thought it would tone with the green of the binding.  I quilted this is Patsy Thompson's Loaves of  Bread pattern which gives a great texture :)

Thoughts on a Quilt Exhibition.

I have been making some quilty progress this week.  I've sewn together the HeartString blocks using the Barn Raising setting, as that layout won the vote!  I've also quilted and finished the Teddy Bears and Hearts incubator cover, but don't have a picture to show yet.

Yesterday I went to a quilt exhibition run by a local(ish) quilt group.  As with all these local group shows, some of the quilts were inspiring and some far less so.  I was sad to see how many quilts were let down by  poor technique - they were not flat, bound badly or just suffered from very poor cutting/sewing.  I'm hoping these were made by keen beginners who will get some help to improve their skills before they tackle larger, more complex patterns.  Or maybe I'm just being picky ...

I did find an interesting block I've not seen before in a sampler quilt - to me it looks like spanners!  I've not had a chance to look in the Barbara Brackman encyclopedia to see if it is a 'known' block, but I like it.

This was a quilt made by Canadian sewers for the British Red Cross duing the war ... boy did they know how to do 'scrappy' :)

Choosing a layout ...

I started playing with my HeartString blocks that are to become an incubator quilt.  There are so many possibilities for the layout, I need some help deciding which one to do.  Which do you like best?

This is the usual layout I go to for the HeartString blocks - Os?

or Xs?

or Barn Raising?

or all Straight?

or Zig-zag?

or Radiating out?

I think I just had too much time on my hands to play whilst waiting for some bread dough to rise, now I've totally confused myself :)




UPDATE - THE RESULTS ARE IN ....
Huge thanks to everyone who responded to me both via the comments section here and privately.  It was a close result.  Os and Xs scored strongly, but Barn Raising was the clear winner by 5 votes.  So, Barn Raising it is :)

HeartStrings Block Party!

The HeartStrings quilt project is having a Block Party through April & May.  Members are being encouraged to make yellow centred blocks with bright/kid friendly prints and randomly placed blue & yellow strings. (Full details are here.)

I started by cutting a large piece of muslin into 10" squares for the foundations - I had 32.  I made the kids blocks first, but didn't think I had enough suitable strings to make more than 10 blocks.  However, I managed 16 so I will keep hold of those and make an incubator cover for local donation.

I then made yellow/blue blocks until I ran out of suitable strings (9 made) and finished up with a few of the usual red centred ones until the foundation squares were gone.  I'll send these into the collection point where they are made up into sets for members to request or tops for members to quilt.

It was a lot of fun to do and I think I do actually see a small 'dent' in my string pile!!!

Blue Strings Finished.

Here it is finished and I really love how this has turned out.  These were 'quilt as you go' (QAYG) blocks that finished at 11", so the finished quilt measures 44" x 66". 

The sashing method I used is in Sharon Pederson's book "Reversible Quilts".  There are a couple of different tutorials online (I referenced one when I did the floral string quilt last month) but they seem to be different to the technique I use. However, I did find a YouTube video which shows how I do it - scroll about halfway through for the sashing technique.

Strings nearly there ...

I've been working hard and the string QAYG is nearly done.  All the blocks are joined together and the binding is ready to be attached.  Should be able to get it finished and photographed by midweek.  Doesn't the red sashing look smart against the blue blocks?!

String progress ...

Only a small amount of progress made on the quilty front this week.  The string blocks are now trimmed and arranged on my design wall.  I've cut the fabrics for the sashings and binding and I bought some matching thread so that the zig-zag stitching will blend nicely.  Should make more progress over the weekend :)

Stringing ...

I've spent much of the weekend working on string 'quilt as you go'  (QAYG) blocks.  I'm making large ones (12" starting size) in mainly blues with a touch of cream/neutral and I'm going to sash them in red.  I hope this can go to a wounded soldier via the local quilt shop.  Usually when I start on a particular colourway I think there aren't going to be enough strings, but they always stretch and I have some left.  This time I had to stop twice and add fabrics from my FQ bins and from my precut strip boxes to ensure I had enough.  Probably because I was being fussy about the fabrics - nothing too flowery, nothing with too much additional colour, no kids prints, etc.

Anyway, I've ended up with a nice fat pile of blocks (24) which are ready to be trimmed and assembled.  Not bad for a weekend's work :)

Teddy Bear progress ...

Remember the teddy bear panel?  Well, it has become a top suitable for an incubator cover for the local Special Care Baby Unit.  I added some of the Chinese Coin hearts and a band of stripes top and bottom to bring it up to the required size - 36" square.  (The backs of the bears will be pieced into the quilt backing.)

At the moment I'm thinking red for the binding as the teddy background has little red flowers on it and red would pull together some of the heart colours.  What do you think?

PS:  Dianne left a comment previously hoping for inspiration on what to do with a similar panel she has.  So here's what I did with a double panel of bears a couple of years ago - added some wonky stars.  (You should be able to click on the picture for a larger view.)

2010 - 1st Quarter Report.

I've had a very productive first quarter - 5 donation quilts and the Carolina Christmas quilt finished.  So on the stash used front I can report 30 metres used in finished projects.

However, I've been pretty naughty on the stash acquired side!!  I think it all started when I bought "Freddy's House" by Freddy Moran and saw her amazing colour-filled quilts which heavily feature black and white prints.  I didn't have any black/white prints, so I needed to get some!!

I've long had a 'thing' about spots and dots and have plans to make the Jazz Cats pattern by Janet Kime, so a few more of those made it into my stash!

Then there was an assortment of 'brights' on sale and who could resist those cavemen in the print top right even though they were full price?!  There were also a few neutrals and fabrics for backings that made it through my front door.  I'm even hiding the quantity (32 metres) from DH and he really doesn't mind how much fabric I buy as long as I'm using it!!!!

So, THE BUYING HAS GOT TO STOP.  In the second quarter I want to be able to report that I've used significant more stash than I bought ... and you can quote me on that :)