I Spy a Couple of Baby Quilts

I fell in love with the idea of "I-spy" (or "eye-spy"?) quilts several years ago, but my daughters were two big for this kind of games by the time, so I just admired the various interpretations on Pinterest. Now I have two little nieces (on different sides of the family), and I just had to make this play-quilts for both of them.

The problem was that I don't normally use novelty fabrics in my quilt art, but I needed quite a lot of them to make the idea work. So, I rounded up whatever remnants I had from previous kids' projects and then started to buy fat quaters of this or that until I had about 42 non-repeating things to name. There I had to stop collecting and start working before the girls grow too big - they are turning two, which is the perfect age to start naming pictures and looking for them.

My novelty fabrics were cut into 5'' squares (some of them came from a charm pack) and, obviously, I had to add something to bring the quilts to about lap size. I chose a Fossil Fern layer cake and some white to tie the whole riot of colours together. I chose two simple traditional patterns - square in a square and Irish chain, to make it quick, but not too repetitive.

The first one I had to finish very fast, because a friend was flying to Moscow and could take it with her (which is much safer than posting), so I don't even have good photos of it. I quilted it in loose zigzags on the diagonal, which worked great, as I was able to the quilting in less than a day.

The 60" backing was a godsend too, as I didn't need to piece anything, and it made a perfect binding, too.

I even inserted my new label (I know my niece couldn't care less, but it just fitted in ;)) I just realised haven't shown the labels here on the blog, so I'll make a little post about them.

With the second quilt I wasn't in that much hurry, as my second niece is just 15 minutes' walk away from me, and the quilt can wait till Christmas, but I still finished it while I was on the same wavelength. This one is Irish chain for my Irish niece.

I was able to use up the offcuts of the Fossil Fern fabrics for the squares and more white for the background, and I ended up with some extra blocks that I put together into a little cushion.

This one was quilted in "orange peel" grid, and this is the first time I ever quilted a pre-marked grid, as I normally do it freehand.

And I was also able to have proper photo session, with the cat helping along as best he could.

Same fun backing/binding fabric, and a label, too.

Linking up to Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina Marie

Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Lots Of Pockets

Another look back at the projects not featured on the blog yet - this was a first birthday present for my niece:

I rarely buy panels, but this one had bright colours, cute animals and lovely florals - everything I love, so I thought it would be great for one on my baby nieces. As they both had been supplied with baby quilts already, I decided to make a panel of pockets that can go on the side of the baby cot, rails at the the top of the stairs of on the wall somewhere.

I was sensible enough to buy a blender fabric from the same collection at once, so that was used for the sashing, and three baby fabrics from another collection went to the inside of the pockets, backing and binding. I used the quilt-as you-go method to put it all together, with the only difference that the pockets and pocket "lining" had to be quilted separately before stitched together at the edges. The pockets are slightly wider than the lining to allow for two little tucks that create the volume inside.

The quilting was very simple, just parallel lines in various directions, but it did take quite a lot of time. Putting the blocks together was easy, although handling the thing became more difficult when the rows were put together, because it's heavier and more unbending than a normal quilt with all the layers going on.

The corner triangles and loops at the back hold the poles, so that the whole thing keeps shape even if stuff is stuffed into the pockets, and the ribbons are there to tie it to the rail.

On the whole, it was quite a different project to what I usually do, requiring a lot of technical decisions rather than artistic ones, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Linking up to :
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

Little Sailor

While the Mad Tea Party is gathering momentum in the background, I'd like to share another quilt that was recently completed, but hasn't made an appearance on the blog yet.

I made it for my nephew's seventh birthday and it features a layer cake of the Lake Life collection by Anne Rowan for Wilmington Prints. It has fun boat- and fishing-themed prints, which I didn't want to cut much, so I went for very simple HST blocks, then cut about half of them horizontally and vertically to get smaller HST and solid blocks. I mixed up the blocks and arranged them around the centre to form a sort of "lake".

 As I only had 42 squares to play with, the layout is 6 by 7 blocks and the quilt was not that big, so I added a border in grey Moda Marbles to bring it more or less to single bed size.

The quilting is a simple walking foot spiral, quite hard at the beginning, but easy-peasy near the edges. I like the effect of circles in the water that it creates (don't look too close, though).

A fun fact about it all is that the previous quilt I made for my nephew was my first ever finished quilt - it was his first birthday and I was still doing my basic patchwork course, but we had just covered HSTs... So, that baby quilt was also made with HSTs and also featured boats! Here's an old photo:

I also had very few cotton fabrics to play with at the time, one of them was actually my grandmother's curtain, no longer in use, but folded away carefully (for a rainy day, presumably).

Linking up to:
 Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Floating Squares

It's been a long time since I updated the blog as I find Instagram more immediate and less time-consuming (if you are there, I'm @lena.pugachova, please have a look, say hi and follow to see what's going on). However, sometimes I feel the pics are not enough and I want to tell at least something of the story.

I rarely make large bed quilts and I always find the process daunting, especially quilting them on my little Janome. In this case I had the additional complication of very limited time. I had planned it for long time and chosen the fabric long time ago - it's Summer Flowers batiks layer cake by Robert Kaufman Fabrics and I added it to my wishlist at www.fatquartershop.com as soon as I saw it, because I know my sister-in-law loves sunflowers and I thought she would love the colours, too. The quilt was meant for her birthday.

I bought the fabric in Black Friday sales, but I only started making the quilt in February, what with moving house and setting up a new sewing spot, which is now in the bedroom, in a sunny recess under a big south-facing window (the master bedroom, btw, is in the converted attic, don't ask me why, that's what "house type E" is laid out like). I have here a large IKEA table with plenty of drawers for all the bits and pieces.

So, because I had limited time and also because I didn't want to cut the fabric too much as it has some lovely large-scale patterns, I chose a simple pattern, one of those Gaye Grant demonstrated at the IPS Eastern Branch some time ago. Making the blocks was a breeze and even putting them together with the sashing wasn't too bad, it's the quilting that I was dreading as I had the whole thing laid out on the living room floor (with very little space left to walk around :))

Top tip: two layer cakes plus two yards of sashing fabric make a quilt big enough for a double bed; here it is on my bed for scale:

I decided to quilt it with the walking foot in flowy curvy lines to balance out the straight lines and squares. It was still hard and it isn't perfect, but I like the effect.

Another shortcut I took was machine-stitching the back of the binding. Usually, I hand-stitch it, but given the "mileage" here, I decided to go with the machine.

All in all, I managed to finish it in time, and even had a day to take some photos and wash it. After washing, the quilting texture became more pronounced and the whole thing looks scrunchy-er and fluffier.

Some more photos if you haven't had enough (I couldn't get a full straight-on photo as I couldn't possibly hang it straight anywhere):

Linking up to Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Rose QAL - Finish

This week is the final link-up for the finished Rainbow Rose quilts at Modern Quilters Ireland.  I finished mine yesterday and took it out for a quick little shoot today, as it's been drizzling off and on.

I know it's supposed to be a Rainbow Rose, but for me it's more of a Colorwheel Star))

After a lot of deliberation I decided to quilt it in echo shapes in the variegated thread I have left from my Bubbles quilt. The thread is not a full rainbow, it doesn't have blue and yellow in it, but it's still very fun and bright (incidentally, the binding fabric has no blue either)))

I rather like how it fills the (still dreaded) negative space.

I marked the quilting lines this time, so they are more or less straight and I think I can consider my July monthly goal of walking foot quilting achieved with this and the rehearsal on the Candy quilt. I still have a couple of quilt tops which can also be walking-foot quilted till the end of the month.

I was deliberating the binding for a long time as well and finally decided on that not quite rainbow but definitely multicolored stripe I've had for several years (brought it from a trip to Moscow). I think it plays rather well with the quilting thread. To add some interest I cut the bias stripes in different directions to echo the star rays.

I couldn't find any appropriately rainbow fabric for the back, so I used the light grey piece which I was considering as an alternative to the white background in this quilt. So from the back it looks like a super minimalist whole cloth quilt ))).

Note how the binding has a different look from the back, with the stripes converging, not diverging as in front. Anyway, I suppose it will be more of a wall quilt, so the back won't get seen a lot, instead it will get a hanging sleeve.

If I ever have a sewing room, I think this would be a good thing to have on the wall there, for reference as a color wheel))

Linking up to Rainbow Rose QAL at Modern Quilters Ireland

Fabric, Thread and Yarn at France Nadeau

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie 

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Who Took the Candy?

If you remember I wrote some time ago about the lovely fat quarter bundle from Love Fabric shop that I won in the Rainbow Rose QAL link-up. It was very nice but different in style from most fabric in my stash, so I challenged myself to make something using just that bundle. Well, between this and that, I did it:

The fabrics are by Dashwood Studio and the collection is called "Cotton Candy", which prompted the direction of my thinking))) The geometric patterns in the fabrics called for simple shapes. I quickly sketched two basic candy shapes, but then had to spend a lot of time doing and redoing the maths to make sure I had enough fabric. Initially, the candies were spaced out more, but that called for more background fabrics. In the bundle I had three "accent color" FQs, three "background" FQs and one "binding" FQ, so that's what I had to play with. Finally, the maths worked out and I had enough fabric and very few scraps left.

It's called "Who Took the Candy?" and it looks suspiciously like a baby quilt. As I can't see any babies coming on the horizon it's been folded up and put away for the time being)))

I think the pattern and the idea would be clearer on a solid background, but this busy one has some kind of charm to me. kids + candies = mess)))

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was tired of FMQ and decided to try out walking foot quilting (which is my July OMG). So, after long deliberation I decided to quilt it in a spiral centered on the "missing" candy. I only marked the beginning, so it gets wonky as it unwinds, but I really didn't care much - I just wanted to relax and stitch on)) The thread is light turquoise, the softest of my accent colors.

The quilting lines are 1'' apart, so it's very soft and cuddly with 80/20 cotton/poly batting. I did all the quilting in one sitting, which is something unheard of for me)) And generally, this came together so fast, compared to my recent art projects! Can I be officially called a modern quilter now? ...please?)))

Oh, and note the funny flamingo fabric that I found for the back! Didn't take a separate picture of it, but you can get the idea))

Linking up to Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, Main Crush Monday at Cooking up Quilts and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River