Liberated four patch - pinwheel FINISH

A bit about the "process" with this quilt:

1. I started with liberty scraps. I didn't have much, so I had to stretch them as far as I could. I decided to make four patches using the liberty scraps and some solid pink. I had been reading Gwen Marston's book "Liberated Quiltmaking" and so I decided to try out that method.

2. After I had made the four patches, I decided to give them some space by placing them around a liberated pinwheel (in grey). I was inspired to use the grey because there was a lot of it around in blogland at the time and I already liked pink and grey as a colour combination. I used Kona Cotton Ash.

3. Then I had to find a way to make even sized blocks, and because the pinwheel - four patch blocks were all such different sizes, (because the four patches were all such different sizes, because the liberty scraps had all been such different sizes), I decided to put a grey "L-shape" around one half of the pinwheel blocks. Then I squared each block up to be the same size, about 10" square.

4. Next: sashing. All I did here was trial various fabrics I had in my stash. I NEVER would have thought to pair pink and grey with lime green and light blue (Amy Butler), but once I saw it, I loved it. I carried the pink through into the sashing to almost create a chain effect. As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of the Irish Chain pattern, and with hindsight, I can see that chain pattern coming through in this design.

 
5. Backing, batting and binding. Aaahhhh, the three Bs! Such joy! For the backing, I chose another Amy Butler fabric from the "Love" range, one of my all time favourite fabrics ever. I think it contrasts beautifully with the top of the quilt, and I love the way the quilting shows through, randomly meandering across the floral pattern. Batting is always 100% cotton. And for the binding, I chose the solid pink again. 

6.  Finally, the quilting.  I decided to try some outline quilting in the grey pinwheels and then a simple leaf pattern in the sashing.  No markings were used in the spirit of liberated quiltmaking.  I used the large "naive" style of quilting made famous by the girls at Material Obsession, and I think that style really suits the liberated quilts.  I still haven't quilted the four patches, and am yet to decide whether I will or not.  For now, they will remain unquilted.

A few thoughts about the finished product...

First off, I have to say I am pretty unhappy with the placement of the small four patch - pinwheel in the top right corner block. 

 It looks like the corner of the quilt has been cut off.  I should have been prepared to liberate a little more, in order to turn that block around so the colour was in the corner instead of the big grey "L".  I think that would have balanced the design.

The quilting is not good, but I am happy with it because since doing the quilting on this project, I have improved, and you have to be willing to do something badly to get good enough to do it well.  So, I'm ok with the dodgey quilting.

I wish I had had the courage to use a totally new fabric in the binding.  It looks too tidy with the solid pink.  Looking at the quilts in "The Quilts of Gees Bend" has really inspired me to get creative with binding.

Thanks for reading this far, dear reader!

Bits and Pieces

Well, it's been a while, I know, but I have been working on a few bits and pieces...

I am the Queen Bee this month for the online quilting bee, ANZAC Bee.

I have received a few blocks in the last couple of days and although I am yet to piece them together, this is the look I'm going for.  I think it's going to be a really beautiful quilt!

I'm also working on a good old fashioned 9-patch using fabrics from the American Jane "Breath of Avignon" range.  I love these colours with a navy background.  This will be a gift for the next baby boy that comes along (there are plenty of babies on the way!).

I have completed 30 hexagon flowers with Judie Rothermel civil war reproduction fabric, ostensibly for the Hexagon Charm Quilt piece-along that I am a member of, but it's not going to be a charm quilt, so now it's just a hexagon project I'm working on.  I was going to applique the flowers to a background fabric, with sashing in between each piece of appliqued fabric, but I didn't really enjoy the applique, so I'm thinking I may now need to make an awful lot of hexagons to go in between the flowers....  Not sure yet.

And because I am basically insane, I have started making another set of hexagons out of liberty prints.  Don't ask me why, because I don't know myself!

This is a sneak peak of yet another project I have on the go at the moment.  The technique is called "pojagi", which is Korean patchwork.  It is a double-sided piece of patchwork, with no batting in between, making it an excellent patchwork project for someone living in a warm climate.  I first learned of this at The Silly BooDilly's blog.  This woman's work is seriously beautiful!  Do yourself a favour and check out her blog.

  Then I found this lovely blog, which gives EXCELLENT instructions on how to make pojagi patchwork.  This blog is written by a Japanese lady in English, which is her second language, but her instructioins are nonetheless really clear.  She has used pojagi to make a furoshiki, which is a Japanese wrapping cloth.  Her furoshiki is divine.

So, as usual, I have an enormous number of projects on the go, with many more UFOs waiting for some much needed attention piling up in the corner of the dining room!  Oh well, I don't fight it anymore.  This is how I work.  Now I just go with it.

Thanks for dropping by, and if you are reading this now, thanks for reading all the text as well!

Cheers!

Hexagon charm quilt update

I've appliqued the first of 30 hexagon flowers to the background fabric... I like it!  This was originally going to be a charm quilt, but I have changed my mind.  I want to make individual blocks with a hexagon flower appliqued to each block, and then I want to have sashing between all the blocks. 

This will be something a bit different from the last hexagon quilt I made, which was just all hexagons pieced together.  I still haven't decided whether I'm going to hand quilt it, or have it machine quilted by Barb on her long arm quilter.  Decisions, decisions!

And now, on to other matters...

I've been doing some more hand quilting with the Perle cotton #8 from Threadart.  I'm enjoying it so much more than I thought I would.

Any ideas on how to quilt the liberty / pink four patches?  Just outline quilting like the pinwheels?  Or little flowers perhaps?  Or a cross through the fourpatch?

Liberty Prints and Liberated Quiltmaking

I finished hand-binding the Liberty scrap quilt for our unborn baby's bassinet this morning.

And the backing...

I have started ANOTHER project!  Unlike all the good bloggers finishing their UFOs, I seem to be accruing MORE UFOs.  Anyway, I couldn't stop myself.  A a new aquaintance lent me some quilting books, one of which was Gwen Marston's "Liberated Quiltmaking".  I immediately became obsessed, pouring over illustrations of Gwen's work in the book.  I had to start something immediately!

Here is one of 9 blocks I have made using the "free piecing" method described in Gwen's book:

I have used only fabrics from my little stash so far.  You may recognize the liberty prints - offcuts from the liberty scrap quilt pictured above.  It was so much fun to make up the block as I went along, with no plan, no measurements, no idea what was going to happen next.  It really was liberating!

Exciting new developments

First of all, look at the beautiful Liberty Print fabric that arrived in the post yesterday from Patchwork on Central Park!  Soooooo gorgeous.  Possibly my favourite fabric of all time...so far!  This fabric is for the backing and binding of the liberty print scrap crib quilt featured in a recent post below.

I  have decided what I would like to do for my first ever hand-pieced work...

The block is called Mill Wheel and it's like the old "hearts and gizzards" block, but without the curves.  I found this in my old pile of Down Under Quilts (Issue 69 2003).

The first block....

And look at the beautiful seams on the back!

I think the French General Rouenneries fabrics will look beautiful in this quilt.

Christmas Goodies

For Christmas, my husband agreed to buy me some fabric online (he thought it might be a bit boring for me to know what I was getting, but I managed to convince him that getting fabric was anything but boring for me!).  We ordered it from Hancock's of Paduca and it was incredibly cheap.  Now, I don't advocate purchasing fabric online as a rule, because I think it's really important to support the local shops who do a lot to keep the local quilting community alive, but I saved OVER 50% on the cost of this fabric, so I just couldn't resist.  I got 36 x fat quarters for just over AU $100.

I'm thinking of making an applique quilt, my first, with this fabric.

While I was in Melbourne for Christmas, I picked up some Liberty of London prints at Patchwork on Central Park.  I bought 8 x 16ths of blue fabrics and 8 x 16ths of pink fabrics.

I couldn't resist them!  I have already pieced a cot quilt top for my unborn baby out of it today.  I decided to make a scrap quilt because I only had small amounts of lots of different fabrics.

I hope she likes it!