Catvent QAL - I Finished a Quilt!

In December last year Elizabeth Hartman released her Cat Quilt Pattern and in the lead up to Christmas hosted a Catvent Quilt Along. Each day she published a new cat block pattern and by Christmas those quilting along had 25 different cats ready to turn into a quilt.

I made my 25 cat blocks (not all of them before Christmas!) in a rainbow of colours, but once I put them together with sashing I wasn't really happy with the overall look of the quilt top. It seemed disjointed to me and I put it on the WIP pile until I could think of a way to tie it all together.

I can't remember what made me think of adding a scrappy rainbow border but it seems just right. It creates a sense of harmony which was lacking previously. Some black polka dots for backing and binding and a simple wave stitch for quilting and this little quilt was good to go. It makes a lovely sized floor mat for a baby and has already been gifted to some cat-loving friends who have just had their first child!

WIP Wednesday - A Quilt for Me!

Of all the quilts I've made, the only ones that live at my house are the two cot sized quilts I made for my son before he was born. I love them both but a grown woman trying to snuggle up and keep warm under a baby sized quilt is not working! It's time to make a quilt for me!

Here's my original fabric pull. The colour palette was inspired by a little zip pouch I made as a gift for a friend. Minty green is just about my favourite colour and paired with pale blues and a hint of grey it just sings! I also decided it was time to delve into my carefully horded stack of low volume black and white fabrics and I just love the resulting palette.

For the pattern I've chosen simple patchwork squares. I think the simplicity showcases the fabrics beautifully. 

In the end it took me two weeks to cut 543 3in squares from 105 different fabrics. I love super scrappy quilts so lots of different prints was a must!

I've decided to piece the squares into 16 patches before assembling these into the completed top. My fabric selection and placement for each block is largely random but I've chosen to alternate stronger prints with low volume prints to create a subtle checkerboard. So far I have pieced 10 of my blocks and I am enjoying this process much more than the cutting! It's quicker too!

It's a joy to see so many of my favourite prints coming together. I just know I will thoroughly enjoy snuggling under this quilt when it's done!

Happy to be linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Radiant Mini Medallion: Pantone Challenge 2014

I'm so excited to have finally finished my Radiant Mini Medallion quilt and to link up with the Pantone Challenge 2014. I'm also excited to finally share it as the rainy weekend kept me from taking photos as soon as it was done. Radiant Mini Medallion seems like an uninspired name but I'll blame that on disturbed sleep thanks to a certain teething baby. When asked, the hubs (who has asked to be known around here as Mr Berry) suggested "Purplexing" which is very clever but not quite what I was going for...

Please forgive me for a picture heavy post but I'm really quite excited by it. This is the smallest piecing I've done and at times it felt like a real labour of love but I like it so much now it's done! Also it's the first quilt I've designed and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I'll list the details for posterity:
Finished Size: 24 in x 24 in
Center star: 8 in x 8 in
First pieced boarder: 1 in wide
Second pieced boarder: 2 in wide
Third pieced boarder: 2 in wide

For the backing I used a nice chunk of this print from Joel Dewberry's line Bungalow

I quilted it by stitching in the ditch on most of the seams. This has the lovely benefit of showing the design of the quilt top on the back which I really like

This is my first medallion quilt and I have to say I don't think it will be my last. It's quite compelling adding borders and watching it grow. And there were so many borders I didn't get to try this time...

Radiant Orchid

I'm not much of a purple person. I don't dislike it. I don't love it. Usually it makes me think of my mum. She wears a lot of purple. And painted her living room lavender. Overall, I've been a little surprised by the strong dislike of purple from many corners of the quilt blogging community and so was amused when Pantone declared Radiant Orchid the colour of the year. I decided to join the ranks of those wrestling with this under appreciated colour to see if I could take purple from "meh" to "yum!". These posts by Adrianne from On the Windy Side and Anne from Play Crafts really helped open me up to purple's potential.

After much fabric auditioning I settled on these.

I started with this little star...

 ...and decided to combine a number of items on my quilty bucket list.

Medallion quilt - tick

Mini quilt - tick

Tiny piecing - tick (nothing smaller than a square inch finished - I'm not completely mad... yet...)

Accurate piecing - a little soon to tell but so far so good, it's really obvious when tiny blocks don't line up!

I have spent hours cutting tiny pieces, and of course just when I thought they were all done I changed my mind and needed more! But if I've counted correctly they're all done now and it's just a simple matter of putting them all together. 

Yep... Simple...

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Edited to add:

I'm excited to be linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday today! It's my first link up. A big hello to anyone visiting from there. It's so nice to have you visit :-)

because I felt like fussy cutting chickens...

Sometimes, an idea takes hold and refuses to budge until you act on it....

I've had this chicken fabric a long time. It's just scraps left over from a long ago project, but recently I was gripped by a strong desire to fussy cut chickens and make... something. I didn't get as far as deciding what the finished project would be before I dove in but a few chickens and some coordinating fabric turned out this little cutie.

I added a zip closure to the back. Previously I've done envelope closures but I always add a button (or three!) as I find they sometimes gape. But now, with a little Mr who loves putting things in his mouth I decided perhaps buttons were not the way to go.

It's a little more country than my usual palette (chickens'll do that...) but I really do like it! Fussy cutting urge satisfied!

Introducing...

Hi there!

I'm Bec, an Aussie girl born and bred. Right now I'm a full time mum to a nearly one year old munchkin. He takes up nearly all my time (really?) but whenever I successfully wrestle him down for a nap I go and hide in my crafty haven. My hubby calls it 'the study', but I'm slowly taking over...

I've always loved making things. My mum tells me that before I could read I would pull kiddy craft books off the bookshelf and make projects just from looking at the pictures. Mum fostered that love of making by having a big box of craft things in the cupboard; cardboard, kitchen roll tubes, scissors, glue, paint, it was all in there. Gradually I became interested in a variety of crafts and the collection in the cupboard grew until it took up a whole cupboard of it's own, and then a cupboard and a shelf and then a cupboard and three shelves... you get the picture.

I've done lots of crafts over the years, quilling, beading, card making, cross stitch, knitting, crochet, dressmaking but my current love is quilting. I think it's all the colours and the magic of putting tiny pieces of fabric next to each other to create something new and exciting! I love it!

So there you are! My creative history wrapped up in a nutshell. I'm keen to share projects past and present and hopefully convey some of the joy that making them brings me :-)