A Quilt for Boy Two

  

A few months ago my boy number two learnt how to climb out of his cot.  This heralded 'The Big Upgrade'.  Boy number one would move from the bottom bunk to the vacant top bunk and boy number two would move from the cot to the bottom bunk.  Sorted.  All except that a cot quilt is like a postage stamp on a single duvet.  Boy two needed a new quilt to match the new bed.

I made boy number one a quilt when he upgraded from his cotbed to the bottom bunk. If you are interested, you can read about it here.  I wanted a quilt that would be different, but still 'go' with this one.  And, since I have had a bit of a thing recently with half square triangles (I've not even blogged my linen quilt yet, but Florence spoke about it here), I thought I would go with a chevron quilt. 

Mil's quilt was blue, so that had to feature, and some of the same fabrics too.  The greys were inspired by my recent grey buying spree, and well, grey + blue = yellow, does it not?  For fabric inspiration see the Gotham Bundle for greys, the Bitter Sweet Bundle, or the Caipiroska Bundle for blues, and the Butterfinger Bundle covers the yellow. 

The backing echos the front a bit with the yellow and blue which are Corn and Turquoise Klona.  My husband likened it to the Swedish flag, which in turn reminds me of my very good friend Sarah, unimaginatively nicknamed 'Swedish' by our gang, who has returned to her native country, and who I miss greatly (boo hoo, come back Sarah!).

Quilted in my current favourite method of circles... circles have been a revelation to me. They look lovely and neat, yet do not have that horrible habit of showing up your non-matching points and seams.  Straight quilting always seems to glare angrily at my haphazard piecing!

Oh, and bound in Simpatico Golden Straws because stripes on binding are ace.

Amen.

DSQ aka 'The Quilt of Fear'

I finished it! Okay, I actually finished it about a month ago, but it has taken me this long to get around to blogging it. 

It is my Dead Simple Quilt.  Lynne of Lily's Quilts suggested this quilt along back in August.  Yes, that is NINE months ago.  Nothing like 'quilting along' with everybody else is there?!  But hey, it is finished and I am very pleased with it.

I am most pleased with the back of the quilt.  This is the side we actually have showing on our bed.  I find the 'front' of the quilt a bit too garish for the bedroom.

The solids are Klona colours Ash, Purple, Blush, Jade, and Gold. 

DSQ: Shock and Fear

I finished the Dead Simple Quilt top.  It is HUGE.  I did my quilt maths, I knew it was going to be 70" x 90"... look, it says so on my scrappy notes* (do your quilt notes look like this too?!) but, do you know how big 70" x 90" actually is?  It is enormous. 

Here is a picture of said quilt top in the garden*.  My husband is holding it up.  It might be worth pointing out that my husband is 6'4" and is standing on a step... did I mention that this quilt is big?!

I have to admit to not being a particularly experienced quilter, and so the prospect of quilting this bad boy is fearsome.  Any tips for me?!!

*please excuse the poor quality of these images.  This post is not about beautiful lifestyle images but about the quantity of adrenalin coursing through my veins.

Dead Simple Quilt Along

This morning I finished cutting out my squares for the Dead Simple Quiltalong that Lynne from Lily's Quilts is leading.  Are any of you joining in?  This is the first quiltalong that I have taken part in, and I was really drawn to it, as I have been wanting to make a quilt based on the colours in the Hurricane Mute Bundle for a while.

This quiltalong focuses on palette, using squares lain out in a seemingly random fashion.  You pick your own palette of five colours, and your choice of quilt size (50" X 70" or 70" X 90"), and which size square to use (5" or 9").  I chose to make the larger quilt with the smaller square - I am clearly a sucker for punishment.

I chose to use a majority of solids for my quilt.  Quilts using solids have been really appealing to me of late, my quilts inspiration board in Pinterest has told me that. Isn't Pinterest great?!  I chose the five solids: Klona colours Ash, Purple, Blush, Jade, Gold, and then had a hunt through my end-of-line pile (there have to be some perks to running a fabric store!) and pulled out some matches.  It was a massive stroke of luck to discover that the two Anna Maria Horner Social Climber prints both matched my palette exactly.  These two prints make me mad and giddy, so I really hope the quilt is a success... there's no more left!  The only print there that I still have in stock is the Kaffe Fassett Purple Spots.  You can't go wrong with spots.

The total number of squares from each palette is the same, sixty in each, but the number of printed vs. solid is slightly different. I cut as much as I had of each print, and then cut the solids to make up the rest.  Who knows how it will turn out, but that's part of the fun.

Anyhow, all cut out now, so better get that sewing machine out.

Oh, Fransson!: Fifty Cent Weights

Check out this great tutorial from Oh, Fransson! for Fifty Cent Weights. A fun little project for fabric weights to use for keeping paper patterns weighed down whilst cutting out, or to stop pattern pieces wafting away in the wind! I am finding mine very useful for stopping fabric slipping off onto the floor when using my rotary cutter.

I used Woodcut - Passion from Anna Maria Horners Innocent Crush range for the top fabric, and Klona Cardinal for the bottom pieces. The only change I made to the pattern was to use 40 penny pieces instead of the recommended 50. I think British pennies are slightly bigger that US cents.

A highly recommended tutorial... I went a little crazy and made six... how many will you make?!

Related Products:
Woodcut - Passion
Klona Cardinal

The Hurricane - new and improved.

Not too long ago we added the 'Hurricane' to our selection of bundles.  This was nineteen fat quarters of each of the Klona Cottons that we had in stock.  Since then, we have expanded our range of Klona colours to twenty-nine and so a change of tactic was necessary with the Hurricane. 

Those of you who are not familiar with the Klona (not to be confused with Kona) Cotton.  This is a medium weight, wider width cotton which has a lovely quality of colour and weave.  We sell the Klona Cotton at £5.50 a metre.

Anyhow, we decided to split the Hurricane into 'Strong' and 'Soft' palettes.  The 'Strong' consists of fifteen fat quarters, and the 'Soft' of fourteen.  The bundles do not overlap in any way, so to order both gives you twenty-nine fat quarters - one of each colour in our plains range.

And, whilst we are on the subject of our Klonas, we have added a swatch card to the shop.  So now you can colour match before you buy.

Follow-the-Lines Baby Quilt

 

Looking for a good beginner hand-quilted quilt?  This Follow-the-Lines Baby Quilt from Joelle Hoverson's 'Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts' is a great place to start.

I used English Rose from Philip Jacobs, Kaffe Fassett Purple Spots and Purple Klona Cotton.

Read the full article here.

Related Products
Philip Jacobs English Rose - Blue
Kaffe Fassett Spots - Purple
Klona Cotton Purple

101 Great Ways to Sew a Metre - Prize Draw & Review

I have been lucky enough to review a copy of the book '101 Great Ways to Sew a Metre' published by David & Charles, and I am giving you the chance to win my copy.  It is a really great book.  A must for any sewing library.  You can read the full review in the articles section of the website.

From the book I tested the pattern for the Picnic-tastic Lunch Mats and had great fun making up the mats in Anna Maria Horners Fortune Chocolate and Erin McMorris' Brown Poppy Dot Floral, with coordinating Klona Cottons.  I altered the pattern slightly to use a combination of printed and plain fabric, and also added a ribbon tie.  These picnic mats have already been used on our first picnic of the summer with great success. 

How do I win a copy of the book?
In order to enter to win a copy of this book you need to follow Backstitch on Facebook, Twitter or on the Backstitch Blog and then let us know (as a comment on the blog or Facebook, or by tweeting with the @backstitchshop tag) which article on the Backstitch website you find most interesting/ useful.  You can enter up to three times into the draw.  One entry via each method.  Once the competition closes, at 12:00 BST on Mon 14 June 2010, we will pick one entry at random from all valid entries.

And, if you don't win a copy of this book you have the chance to purchase it at a greatly reduced price: David & Charles are offering Backstitch customers the chance to purchase the book at the reduced price of £7.99 (rrp £16.99) with free p&p (UK only), click here and quote code R11235 at the checkout.

Prize Draw Terms and Conditions
1. Entry to the competition is restricted to three entries per person please.
2. You must be a follower of the blog/ Twitter/ Facebook to enter via that medium.
3. Prizes can only be sent to a valid UK address.
4. Winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries.
5. Winners will be contacted via blog/ Twitter/ Facebook names displayed on our website.
6. The Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered in to.
7. The competition will run from 07 June 2010 12:00 BST until 14 June 2010 12:00 BST.
8. Backstitch is compliant with the data protection act. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.

Related Products
Anna Maria Horner Fortune Chocolate
Erin McMorris Poppy Dot Floral Brown
Klona Cotton Purple
Klona Cotton Pomegranate

Pencil rolls for all!

I made up three of these pencil rolls, two for gifts and one for my son. We often take pens out and about on trips to the cafe, doctors or when we go away. I wanted a permanent roll that could be slung in a bag at short notice. Now, I know these rolls are not a new thing, many versions can be found in blogland, but they are an essential piece of kit!

These were made up from a pattern in Joelle Hoverson’s ‘Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts’. I am making my way through this book and so far it seems really spot on. The pictures are glorious and the projects are varied and inspiring, and great for beginners. I found the instructions very clear and the whole thing was very easy to make, particularly if, like me, you skip the patchwork interior!

The light blue pencil roll uses Candy Blue Klona Cotton and Amy Butler’s Martini Spots Green, the red one uses Cardinal Klona Cotton and Valori Wells’ Monarch Cinnamon, and the yellow one uses Corn Yellow Klona Cotton and Anna Maria Horner’s Cathedral Royal.

I also personalised them for the boys by embroidering their first initial on the front of each roll using the free Alphabet Embroidery Transfer mentioned in the previous post.

Alphabet Embroidery Transfer

My favourite way to embellish my sewing right now is embroidery. It is so simple and pleasing. I can happily stitch away during the evenings and in snatched moments during the day.

I have found myself stitching letters a lot, and particularly like one alphabet for this purpose.  I have recently used it to make a wall hanging for the kids’ bedroom.  The yellow fabric used is Maize Klona Cotton.

I have pulled together a free download for you to use as a transfer. There are upper and lower case letters, and some common punctuation. There are normal copies and reverse copies depending on how you transfer your images onto your cloth.

You can find the pdf download within our Articles section on the website, or go directly to it here. 

Let me know if you use the transfer for anything. I would love to see your creations... Happy stitching!