This is my first attempt at making hexagons. I just picked fabrics that I like and went for it, with no real goal or recipient in mind. I really like the way it came together, but may make some modifications for the next project.
xo
Saree
My good friends K&M are having their first child, and I am so excited for them. They know it’s going to be a girl and I already got the nursery colour details from K (pale purple, pink, green, and yellow), so I got started on their quilt.
For the quilt top, I found a great FQ pack from Fabricworm by Jessica Swift, called Preeti in pink. I also purchased the custom bundle Boardwalk, and used Robert Kaufman Kona cotton jelly roll in white. Jessica Swift’s Peacock Feathers in Taupe is the backing (K loves peacock feathers), and Michael Miller Dumb Dot in Charcoal is the binding.
The pattern comes from the Quilting Quickly II class on Craftsy. It recommends using all jelly rolls and then you can get 6 small squares from each 6 strips, but because I had FQ, I could only get 2 small squares from the shorter 6 strips I cut. It made it a bit more tedious, but I really liked the fabric I used.
This is probably the most complicated quilt I’ve done so far, since there were many seams to match up, but I think it turned out great. I can’t wait to meet K&M’s little one and see her with this quilt.
I’ll be sharing another project I did for K&M later.
xo
Saree
It was almost two years in the making, but the circle quilt is finally complete. Back in April of 2010, Julie of Jaybird Quilts blogged about her Circle Along quilt making the cover of “Quilts and more” magazine. She offered kits in her shop and I took the opportunity to buy one. Finally, this week, I set to work on this quilt. What took me so long? Well, I was busy doing other things, it was a pretty large project, and circles were new to me. Sometimes new skills can seem daunting. After signing up for some Craftsy classes (Quilting Quickly II, in particular), and building my confidence with other projects, I felt ready.
The quilt measures 70″x90″. It uses all Freebird fabrics from Moda and is quilted with simple diagonal lines. It’s a great pattern and fairly quick, since it uses layer cakes.
I have more projects coming up, including another baby quilt and some onesies.
xo Saree
I finally made a new quilt! Another friend is having a baby and the sex is going to be a surprise, so I wanted a fun, unisex quilt. I found the plus quilt from here and knew it would be a quick project and something I hadn’t tried before. I used various fabrics from my stash and found it to be pretty easy, although it was tricky making sure everything lined up. On this note, I’m thinking about taking some online courses from Craftsy so that I can improve technically. Pretty much all I do is self taught, since I learned some basics from a friend, so I’m thinking I would benefit from more instruction on the ‘proper’ way to do things.
Anyway, back to the quilt. The backing fabric is Modern Whimsy Sheep Park and it is perfect for M. M and I were lab mates doing ruminant research together, so the sheep fit with our scene. I quilted it using a wavy line and bound it with Dumb Dot in charcoal. This is my first official binding since my first quilt (which was supervised). Normally, I just fold the backing fabric around to the front, but I wanted to do the charcoal dots on this one, so I machined the binding onto the front and hand sewed it onto the back (trying to machine sew it onto the back was a disaster). This was also my first time hand sewing and I found this video really helpful. The hand sewing was my favourite part, believe it or not! It was so relaxing and fun. I may need to do more binding this way.
So, there is my latest quilt. It was full of firsts and I feel like I learned a lot. I hope M and his wife really like it!
xo Saree
I realize it’s been awhile. I’ve handed in my thesis for review, so I have a bit more time now. After I took a couple days to recover from the stress of writing, I got back to work on the L quilt. Pattern for the zig zag quilt is here. Friday evening I finished sewing the strips together and then completed the quilt top.
On Saturday, I basted the quilt using a medium loft batting and some minky fabric as the backing. I will fully admit that although I love the feel and look of minky fabric, I despise working with it. I had a terrible time trying to secure it while basting and it is so slinky, it’s really hard to position. Also, when you cut it, there is a mess of fluff all over. I’m torn about whether to use it again. I quilted simple horizontal lines beneath each strip and then wrapped the minky around for the binding. I’m quite happy with how it turned out. More pictures can be found here.
I then went to work this morning completing a crocheted baby hat to match. The pattern can be found here. Login is required to view the pattern. I tried to match the yarn with the quilt and added a cute little square of grey to the top.
xo Saree
I’ve had this book, ‘Handmade Beginnings’ by Anna Maria Horner, on my wish list forever. I love all the projects on Anna Maria’s site, so I went for it and bought the book this past weekend. I know exactly what I want to make too. Remember those new fabrics I was showing off from Innocent Crush, Habitat, and Heath? I want to make something along the lines of this quilt:
It won’t be for awhile since I’m still working on the zig zag quilt for L and time seems to be slipping away lately, but I am looking forward to working on it.
I also wanted to mention the other book I bought. It’s called ‘A Red Herring Without Mustard’ by Alan Bradley. This is the third book in a series about a young girl, named Flavia de Luce, who loves chemistry and uses her knowledge to solve murders. The first two books are ‘The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie’ and ‘The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag’. These are pretty easy reads, but they aren’t predictable. Flavia is a likable character and even A likes these books too, so it isn’t just for a female audience.
Those are the latest additions to my library. If you haven’t heard about ‘Handmade Beginnings’, I suggest giving it a look. I also recommend Alan Bradley’s Flavia series, and for more books I’ve read/I’m reading/I want to read, have a look at my Goodreads profile on the sidebar.
xo Saree
This weekend I was able to iron my half square blocks and I laid all the blocks out to get an idea of how the quilt top will look.
With the zig zag pattern, I actually found it tricky at times to get all the blocks in the right orientation. A was sitting in the same room, watching TV, and he would say “rotate it”. It was always at the end of a row and I have no idea why I found it so tricky, but thankfully he was keeping an eye on me :). I like the way the zig zags look.
I stacked my blocks once I got the right orientation, and started sewing my rows together. I have six rows done, so I’m half way there.
Although I’m finding this project a bit tedious at times, I like the fact that it is easily broken into pieces to do a little at a time.
xo Saree
I got my order from Fabricworm today and I’m so happy with the fabrics I selected. I got Habitat, Innocent Crush, and Heath. The colours look great together. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to making this quilt, but I love looking at the fabric!
xo Saree
I have finished sewing all my half square blocks together. Hooray!
Next, I need to iron the seams, place my blocks, and start sewing strips together. I’m looking forward to seeing the quilt top come together.
xo Saree
I have now started putting my blocks together for the L quilt. I divided my fabric into pairs (5 pairs per pile) and I started sewing my pairs, as shown here, which I cut in half to make two half square triangle blocks. This is not a quick step though. After sewing 10 pairs, I’m done for now. Hopefully I’ll get more done next time.
xo Saree
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