Raspberry Kiss Pillow

Last year I joined the Aussie Handmade Birthday Club. I was assigned to a group of 12 ladies each with a designated month (that may or may not correspond with our birth month depending on availability!) and every month each member makes a gift for the birthday girl. I wanted to share what I made for our January birthday girl, Kelly.

Amongst other things, Kelly said she likes rainbows, Cotton and Steel basics and Carrie Bloomston. I pounced on these likes and used Kelly's gift as a chance to try out the raspberry kiss block designed by Rachel of Wooden Spoon Quilts. It's a gorgeous block and as long as you follow all Rachel's tips in the tutorial you'll have no trouble! I might have gotten carried away without reading the whole tutorial and spent some time with my stitch unpick...

Despite the time spent unpicking I really enjoyed making these blocks and finishing them into a pillow. To quilt I used my walking foot and straight lines but I turned the pillow front as I went along to make a pattern of diamonds between all the pluses. Complicated to explain but it turned out lovely. The picture below gives a closer view of the quilting.

For the back I used a Carrie Bloomston print from her line Collage. It's a nice bright, bold print and I like the way it tied in with some of the colours on the front

The best part is the birthday was thrilled with her gift. And I'll be revisiting this block soon as I may have cut out pieces for a second set of blocks at the same time as I cut the first.  Less time spent refolding fabric!

Bec's Little House in the City

I mentioned in my goals post that this year I'm planning to make the Metro Area quilt from Patchwork City. I've been so excited about this book since I first caught a glimpse of the cover and it has not disappointed. It's filled with 75 modern quilt blocks that go together to make a gorgeous sampler quilt. I've spent the last 12 months hoarding collecting Lizzy House fabrics and decided this would be the perfect project to delve into my collection and start chopping.

So far I've made two blocks. I've decided to work my way through the book from beginning to end making each block as I go so I don't leave all the harder ones until last. This block is called Forest Park.

And this one is Donut Shop.

I'm so excited with how they're looking so far! I've had this thing in my head for so long I was begining to doubt it would work, but these two have turned out better than I imagined and fuelled my enthusiasm no end. I'm aiming to finish a block or two a week and have at least a finished top by the end of the year. So far I'm on track... :-P

Edit: linking this up to WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced... you might see it there again sometime!

A Lovely Year of Finishes - January Goal

I'm keen to link up with A Lovely Year of Finishes this year to help me stay on track with projects and finish up some of those I've been procrastinating about. January's goal was an easy one to pick! There are few smaller projects that need finishing this month but the most urgent is my Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap mini quilt. The good news is I've already finished the quilt top!

 My partner had an orange peel quilt in her inspiration mosaic and said she liked colour and novelty prints. In my mind you cant go past Lizzy House for novelty prints so I dug into my stash and picked a rainbow of fussy cuts (largely Lizzy House prints) and colourful blenders for the orange peels.

I raw edge appliqued them onto low volume squares using the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. They went together so much more quickly than I thought they might! I arranged them in an almost rainbow gradient as I preferred that over a random layout. Now I'm just searching for the perfect backing and binding...

I'm ridiculously pleased with how it turned out. I kind of want to keep it for myself. That's a good sign, right? Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes

A Fresh Start!

I always like the start of a New Year! I like the chance to review what's been and make plans for what's to come. It's refreshing!

I have some exciting plans for this year and plenty of space left for new thoughts and projects as they arise. I wanted to thrash out a few of my ideas here. It will be fun at the end of the year to see where I've come from, what I've achieved and how I've grown... and how much my plans have changed along the way!

Patchwork City Quilt - I got Elizabeth Hartman's book Patchwork City for Christmas and I'm planning to delve into my Lizzy House stash to make this one. I've made one block so far and I am stoked with how it looks and how fun it was to make! Hoping to make at least a block a week - two if I can!

Big Boy Quilt - my son turns two this year and I really want to make him a twin sized quilt as he'll be in a big bed before I know it. I had chosen a design for this but have recently gotten distracted by a different pattern. Trying to decide which he'll like best...

Swaps - I'm currently signed up for four swaps all of which ship by early April so plenty of fun to be had on that front! As an aside, much as I love swaps I've told my hubby he mustn't let me sign up for any more until after April... I need to keep time aside for my selfish sewing!

The Bee Hive Quilting Bee - as the bee I'm currently in ends this month I thought it was safe to join another - which starts next month. Perfect! I loved my bee experience last year and am going to sorely miss it - Aussie Modern Instabee Hive 5 ladies are the best!!

Sydney Modern Quilt Group - I'm planning to join! I want real life quilt friends as well as online ones!

A Lovely Year of Finishes - planning to link up and be motivated to finish at least one something every month!

There are plenty more ideas bobbing around in my head but these are the ones most prominent right now. Here's hoping this is a year of inspiration, exploration and friendship... and regular blogging!

Strawberry Block - A Tutorial

After the joy of participating in my first swap I couldn't help joining in when The Strawberry Swap opened up on Instagram. I mean, strawberries! What's not to love! As part of my gift for this swap I drafted a large scrappy strawberry block (shown below) to use on a cushion and I thought it would be fun to share how I made it.

The best part about this block is it uses scraps! The pinks (or reds) can be cut from any number of different fabrics (I used 5). For the calyx (green bit) I used three different green fabrics (A, B, and C) to create the definition of the different leaves and stem. The block finishes at 7.5 in by 10.5 in.

Cutting:

PINK	GREEN	WHITE
17 x 2in squares 3 x 2.5in squares	2 x 2.5in squares from print A 2 x 2.5in squares from print B 2 x 2in squares from print C	4 x 2in squares 5 x 2.5in squares

Assembly:
Our first job is to turn the 2.5 in squares into half square triangles (HST). Take the 5 white 2.5 in squares and one of the Green Print A 2.5 in squares and draw a diagonal line across each square from one corner to the opposite one.

Pair the marked squares with the unmarked ones. NOTE: the marked Green Print A square should be paired with a Green Print B square.

Sew the squares together a scant quarter inch from your guide line. When you reach the end turn the square around and sew a scant quarter inch from the guideline on the other side.

You should have two seam lines each a scant quarter inch from the guide line.

Cut along the guide line, dividing your square into two triangles each with a seam.

Press. I like to press my seams open as it keeps everything lying flat and keeps the seams from getting too bulky.

It's likely that your HST will be a little large so trim them down to 2 in square. Line up the 45 degree line on your ruler with the diagonal line of the HST and trim two of the edges.

Rotate the HST 180 degrees making sure to line up the already trimmed edges with the 2 inch line on the ruler. Trim the remaining two edges.

You should end up with 12 HST.

Arrange all 2 in squares and HST as shown in the picture below.

Assemble the block using a quarter inch seam. First sew the squares into rows and press the seams.

Then sew the rows together matching the seams in each row to create the final block. Press seams.

And you're done! If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments and I will answer there. If you do make a strawberry I'd love to see it. Leave a link to your finished block in the comments or if you post to Instagram tag me @skyberries. Enjoy!

Ombre Geese Cushions

Earlier this month a dear friend had a birthday. I'm always horrible at remembering to post a pressie (or even a card!) before the day comes and goes, so this year I was determined to get in early. I'm having a bit of a love affair with flying geese at the moment so I used four blue prints and a white solid to make a couple of ombre geese cushions. As it was I ran out of zips and so the night before they needed posting I was up late sewing... so much for planning ahead! There was no time for a lovely photo shoot so these quickly snapped phone photos will have to do.

The first is a simple row of geese fading from dark to light and back again. This I quilted with closely spaced straight lines. 

The second is a kind of off-centre plus with the geese all pointing out. This one fades from dark in the centre to light at the edges. I quilted it with a diagonal grid following the edges of the flying geese. I'm not 100% sold on how the quilting turned out, but that's okay.

For the backs of the cushions I used cheerful blue prints and finished each one with a hidden zip closure. And I'm happy to say they reached their destination BEFORE my friends birthday! Hurrah!

Single Fold Binding - a mini tutorial

I mentioned yesterday that I finished my Sea Breeze Mini Quilt with a single fold binding which creates a finer edge than a double fold binding. I took some pictures as I went and thought they might be helpful if you'd like to create a single fold binding on your own mini (or quilt of any size!). Please note this is not a comprehensive binding tutorial and assumes you know the basics of making a double fold binding.

For this binding you will cut your strips 1.25in wide. This is a bonus if you only have a little bit of your chosen binding fabric as it uses much less fabric than a double fold binding does. For the Sea Breeze Mini I found that three strips the width of my fabric was more than enough. I joined those three strips into one long strip by placing them at right angles right sides together and stitching diagonally across the corner (not pictured) I then sewed it to the front of my quilt sandwich using a quarter inch seam mitring the corners as I normally would and joining my ends at the start/finish.

I then pressed the binding away from the quilt (shown below from the back of the quilt) all the way along the edges but not at the corners. 

Working from the back of the quilt I folded the binding down so that the raw edge of the binding nearly reached the raw edge of the quilt sandwich.

I then folded it down again, pulling it snugly down against the edge of the quilt and hiding the raw edges of both the quilt and the binding inside.

I used Clover clips to hold my binding in place, but you could also use pins or bull dog clips.  The corners are a little fiddly as you have to make sure to tuck all the raw edges in as you fold the binding down. I didn't think to take a photo of it, but principle is the same as for the edges.

Finally I finished attaching the binding by hand. This method creates a lovely finish on smaller quilts and is always my favourite way to bind a mini. I hope you found these pictures helpful. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I will reply in the comments section of this post.