January Cushion of the Month for IPS

Our Cushion of the Month project is going strong, and it's so nice to see all the various interpretations of the previous patterns at our virtual meetings. I'm hoping to see some January cushions at this month's meeting, too.

For people leaving in more continental climate this interpretation of January might seem strange, but in Ireland, this is what January looks like: there may be half a snowflake, but spring flowers are certain to pop up here and there. I have a snowdrop bud in my garden at the moment, and Dublin botanic gardens posted their first snowdrops back in December.

As usual, I made the sample with Moda Grunge fabrics, using the basic machine appliqué technique and free motion quilting. The quilting echoes the flowers with drop shapes.

I took the photos in my daughter's room, as the cushion fits well in its colour scheme; and sure enough the cat had to take part.

Here are all the cushions up to date:

To finish, here is a photo from the botanic gardens a couple of years ago; unfortunately, we can't go there (or anywhere) at the moment, but looking forward to visiting again some day.

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creation by Nina Marie

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

Owl Be Watching You

 It took me the first week of January to finish my biggest "debt" from last year. I posted about work in progress on it back in July and finished the top speedily, but then it had to wait for its turn to be quilted.

I designed the pattern specifically to use a sunset-coloured fat quarter bundle and my vision was based on stained glass cathedral windows (as you can see from some of the shapes that make up the background). Every quilter is familiar with the stained glass effect you get if look at a top against light, and here it was especially pertinent.

The pattern is quite complex, with a lot of small bits, but comes together nicely. I was wondering if anybody would be interested to purchase the pattern? I'm planning to start adding patterns to my Etsy shop this year.

The whole quilt is curve pieced, this is a detail of the wrong side of the top in process:

And this is my little helper taking care of the cut pieces:

As usual, it took me a long time to decide how to quilt it; I went for some ornate pattens on the owl, especially the wing...

... mixed floral and geometric patterns on the moon...

... and parallel lines on the leaves and the sky.

This caused some problems with flattening the quilt, but I like the effect quilting gives it.

So, this is the owl finished, and I have a perfect place for it at the top of the stairs, where it is supposed to look like a window (I know you have to have a really vivid imagination to think it is a window) and the owl is watching you every time you climb the stairs.

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creation by Nina Marie

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

December Cushion of the Month for IPS

 The December instalment of our "Cushion of the Month" project just had to feature Christmas symbols, and although there are many, I picked holly and poinsettia as the whole thing was going in the botanical direction by now.

I plan to make all the samples with Moda Grunge fabrics, and as the holiday edition needed some shine and sparkle I used Moda Grunge metallics for the appliqué; red and green provide the perfect seasonal contrast.

I'm using stylised simplified shapes in Art Deco style, but the addition of berries makes this appliqué a bit more fiddly that the others. I still think they add a lot of interest, but I made a note in the instructions that buttons can be used to represent berries.

The quilting is in angular leaf-like shapes to work with the appliqué.

Previous instalments:

October cushion

November cushion

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

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

November Cushion of the Month for IPS

A quick post to catch up: I wrote before about the "Cushion of the month" project we are doing at Eastern branch of the Irish Patchwork society, and this was the November instalment.

November not having any holidays with recognisable symbols (I know Americans have their turkeys, but we are not in America) I found it hard to pick one seasonal thing. Finally, guided by the maxim "When in doubt do flowers", I opted for a chrysanthemum, one of the latest flowers you can see in November.

My sample cushion picks up the golden colour of the sofa, so it may become a permanent fixture in the living room, regardless the change of seasons.

The quilting is black on black (and so hard to photograph), in the shape of petals/leaves/feathers to support the shapes in appliqué itself.

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

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

The Moonflower Block

We had a great virtual AGMof the Irish Patchwork Society last Saturday, and as usual, one of the highlights was a quilt challenge, this year it was to make a 15'' flower block using one colour only (various tints and shades of it).

Mine was a simple stylised flower in a sort of pinkish-purple colour which I don't even know the name of. Would you call it magenta? fuchsia? orchid? My phalaenopsis is kind of similar.

I was lucky to have a matching variegated YLI thread to quilt the background, it gave the simple block a definite level up.

Well, I thought I would share the pattern for this block in case somebody would like to try it. You can make it into a cushion or use a block in your project, would be lovely to make a whole quilt of these in different colours. You can choose a more traditional colour scheme, though.

It's not that difficult if you are new to curve piecing, and it should be a breeze if you have done some drunkard's path or New York beauty blocks before. The process is described in tutorials for the butterfly block and the hydrangea flower block, it's the same - just remember the matching marks, take your time to pin everything and stitch slowly. You can choose a more traditional colour scheme.

It is assembled in three blocks, and the order of assembly is reflected in part numbering.

You can download the pattern at this link.

A technical note: The overall size of the pattern is 16'' squared, the dash line shows 15'' square,  the reason is this block was meant for a quilt-as-you-go project, so it was quilted and then trimmed to 15,5'', as there is some shrinkage during quilting, I prefer to start with 16''.

I'd be happy to see if you make this block, so please let me know by email or tag me on Instagram @lena.pugachova

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

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

UPD:

I have made the block into a little cushion for my daughter's room.

Green and Grunge

Initially, I planned a wallpapered focus wall for my new living room, then the plans changed. I decided to have a mural instead, but I kept it simple, a stylised line drawing forming a sort of a frame with an empty space in the middle of the wall. And that empty space was meant for... a quilt, of course.

So, here it is, all done, but it's not on the wall yet, so we'll have an interior design update later, and for today it's all about the quilt. 

It follows the bedroom quilt in being purely abstract, more or less Art Deco style art. This one is all about organic shapes and colours, hinting at some kind of plant life, but never totally clear - maybe it's not just plants, maybe it's Life itself? I wonder what you see in there.

For myself, I can say I totally enjoyed the process - from sketching to quilting and that I'm pleased with the result. I chose Moda Grunge fabrics to make it because they seem to fit the aesthetic of my living room and because I was hoping to finish it in time for the Moda Grunge Contest, which I didn't manage. 

It was fun to use so many different quilting motifs with my beloved YLI variegated threads, I had three different green mixes which worked brilliantly with the seven green fabrics, sometimes blending in, sometimes standing out. I even managed to quilt some decent feathers, which I normally find very hard, a confined shape probably made it easier.

One question still remains, though - what shall I call it? The working title is The Green Quilt, which doesn't quite do it justice. Any suggestions?

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

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

October Cushion of the Month for IPS

IPS Eastern Branch committee has come up with a brilliant idea to start a "Cushion of the Month" project for the members, in order to provide a sort of virtual connection while we cannot have our monthly meetings. I was asked to create the patterns and was really excited to do it, although I can feel the weight of responsibility, too. As curve piecing is not everybody's cup of tea, it was decided that the patterns should be appliqué featuring some seasonal highlights for every month. So, October = pumpkin, doesn't it?

I wanted to bring the same stylised Art Deco vibe into these patterns as in my recent quilts, and the colour contrast plays a big role in that - nothing like black background to make (almost) everything look classy. For my sample I used Moda Grunge Metallic, which has just the right combination of dress up and dress down.

I'm looking forward to seeing how other branch members interpret the pattern while I start working on the next month's sample. Speaking of which - choosing a symbol for November was not as straightforward, what would your choice be? I'll show mine when the November pattern is released.

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

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

The Bedroom Allegory Quilt

This one has been mentioned a couple to times, you can see it in progress here and here, but it has since been quilted, so here's a little update on that.

I wanted to go totally Art Deco with it, pure abstract, although I do regard it as an allegory, I'm just not saying what of, suffice it to say it was meant for the bedroom.

As the shapes are quite simple I wanted to add detail with quilting using a lot of variations on pebbles, spirals, arches and s-curves.

The quilt design is symmetrical, so the quilting had to be symmetrical, too, but I went by the eye, without any templates, so it has "natural imperfections".

I used six shades of Aurifil for the coloured parts, they blended in nicely. Most of the background was quilted in black, with a little bit of colour "spillover" on top.

I even had a little late-night photoshoot with it, to bring out even more drama. Look how a different light direction highlights the quilting texture.

Linking up to:

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie

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