A Quilt for a Rainy Day

I made this quilt for my Mum and Dad for Christmas and gave it to them on the weekend, our first chance to get together for Christmas lunch.

 I finished the top on Thursday at the shop, stood at my counter for half of Friday staring at fabric for the back (oh how I love making quilts that fit inside a normal width of fabric!). I ended up discarding most of these because a lovely lady came in, loved the look of those prints together and order a quilt for her baby due next month!



I broke quilt making rules and sewed on the binding before quilting it (and measured the binding 2 inches too short! Argh!). I finished the binding 5 minutes after our little arcade closed with the security guard waiting for me to lock up the building. 

Then Saturday, the kids and I caught the train to Sydney and I stitched and stitched. And then when I arrived, I stitched, and after dinner and then next day during breakfast and opening gifts and after lunch during Gran's visit, I stitched, all the while aware of the constant rain outside, wondering if I would get a chance to take photos in Mum's garden before we lost what little light we had.

We took these photos in the rain, quickly, mum worried about the quilt and me worried about the camera. Thankfully they worked. I just love this leafy spot for photos. I'll have to bring some more of my quilts down here!

 This was such an easy pattern to follow for such an effective result. You can find the pattern here.   Also, these process photos were taken on Instagram, my new favourite social media tool. You can follow me here to see what colour we're making day to day. :)

Bricks for Boys

Another quilt finished! These days, with my three days in the shop, I've been aiming to get a quilt pieced and basted ready to take home to quilt. Then I hand-quilt it in the evenings and rest times, hopefully done by the time I'm back at the shop the next Thursday for binding. Holding this quilt for me is the ever so lovely Janet from Cashmere and Silk, the shop next door to me. Janet has taught Fashion Design and Small Business Management at TAFE (College), and is so generous with her knowledge and experience. I feel like I have struck upon a gold mine! And, she's happy to hold quilts for me to!

This quilt actually started its life as a postage stamp quilt. I wasn't intending for the linen or brick pattern, but as usually happens with my quilts, as I was piecing the little squares together, I realised it was going to be a little small. You see, I never use maths before a quilt. Ever. And I could say it gets me every time, but I like to think that the changes I have to make as I go are all part of my creative process, and if I stopped to count or measure, I might never start cutting! I'm sure I'll regret it someday, but at the moment I'm having fun!

I used a collection of basic prints, gingham, stripes, plaid, dots and then added this Essex Linen in Flax around each rectangle (the size block I was up to when I decided it would be too small!) I backed the quilt with the same prints and added these anchors from Out to Sea.

I then hand-quilted around the bricks in green and teal. I really love the way the linen softens the quilt, but still makes it playful. After I finished, I loved it so much, I almost wished I'd made it single bed size for Tully. In the end, I decided to put it in my shop window, and in my Etsy store. Tully has a quilt that he loves and Evie is such a pink-frills-girly-girl (she didn't get that from me!) that she would snub her nose at it! She'd like the one I'm working on now. I'll show you photos of that when the weather clears up.
xx

Little Boys Chevron Quilt.

I'm loving the time being in my shop is giving me to make quilts! Especially now that the Christmas rush has died down. Here's one I actually finished a while ago, but today all the planets have aligned and I had the right computer cords and gadgets to connect to the internet and blog while in here!

I made this quilt from a mix of greys, yellow, oranges and greens. I used a mix of novelty prints, all subtle and sweet. I sewed strips together in groups of four, then cut these shapes using the 60 deg line on my ruler. (Cutting the opposite direction for half of them!)

Then I sewed them together, one above the other into long, parallel lines, and sewed these ones together.

The result, I think, is a subtle, yet warm and fun baby quilt.

I backed it with these beautiful prints from Saffron Craig and Aneela Hooey and hand quilted every other row of zigzag. Come visit me in Hunter St to wrap it around you, or it's also available here.
Hope you're well! xx

P.S. What do you think of my new blog look? 

Beautiful Cushions

A cushion for Christmas is a lovely thing, don't you agree? Especially one to grace such a beautiful chaise lounge. For me, the perfect gift is an unnecessary one, a decorative one. I like beauty for Christmas.

I made these cushions and little fabric art for Tim's mum for our family Secret Santa. (She chose the recipients, do you think it was rigged? ;)) They were made to match the wall art above, a gift a few Christmases ago. I used a mix of scraps from my stash and leftovers from the wall hanging.

Ooh! Looking at these photos again makes me want to pull my scraps out! I've really appreciated everyone's encouragement with my {new} fabric fast this year. I'm up to day 5 (only 360 to go!) and have only had about 10 or 12 major doubting episodes! I feel like a scared caterpillar ready to leave the cocoon. Too daggy a metaphor? I hope not! It's helping me to embrace the challenge and anticipate the outcome.
A Colourful New Year to you!
Jodi. xx