Berry Checkerboard Quilt - A finished project

Today I'm sharing a quilt that I finished about 6 weeks ago, I'm calling it my 'Berry Checkerboard Quilt' for obvious reasons

Finished Berry Checkerboard Quilt

I have tried making a variety of things since I have found quilting in the last couple of years and I just love the simplicity of these quilts.

I'm the sort of person that 'wings' it - I have an idea of what I want and I just start which usually means that I don't cut enough pieces, or I change the colour scheme half way through.  It may be a crazy method, but I feel that it has worked here!

I started by pulling  fabrics which read purple or purple-ish and starting cutting!  Of course this started to include pinks too, but I feel that it works.

Each of the checkerboard squares finished at approximately 2 inches and each of the purple/pink squares has been placed alternatively with a white square.

I found this gorgeous small floral fabric for the backing which is just gorgeous and seems to go perfectly with the quilt top, I really wish I'd bought more of it at the time as a second visit to the shop showed that they had sold it all!  The top and backing have been sandwiched with 100% bamboo batting.

I started the quilting by just outlining the seam lines, but it just wasn't working for me so I ripped that out and went with straight line quilting approximately half inch apart down the length of the quilt and I am loving it!  

No marking, I just went for it!!

The quilt is bound with a gorgeous solid plum which just finishes it off perfectly - if I do say so myself.

So this little beauty is now sat rolled up in my cupboard waiting for a forever home.

Thank you for popping by,

Vicki

Work In Progress Wednesday

Welcome,

This week I have a couple of unfinished projects that I'd really like to get finished - that doesn't mean that there aren't more, but maybe I'll share the others with you another time!

EPP Cusion - An Unfinished Project

The first is an English Paper Pieced (EPP) cushion, I've even quilted it and have the backing fabric ready.  The problem is that it's been sat here in that state for more than a few weeks!

Diamond Patchwork Quilt - An Unfinished Project

The second is a quilt, again all quilted and just needs a trim and the binding to be added, which is already cut and just sat patiently waiting.
I love these colours - they actually match a quilted pillow I have on my bed!

All in all these should be 2 finishes in the very near future ... we can but live in hope!  However, now that I have shared them with you in Blogland I have someone to answer to if they don't get finished!

Thank you for popping by,
Vicki

Quilted Pillow Cases - A Finished Project

Hello everyone,

I will be linking this post to a few 'linky parties' so if you have found me through one of them Welcome.  This Blog is only a little over a week old so any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.  I hope you all enjoy seeing what I have made.

This weekend I finished some pillow cases:

They all have quilted fronts with a plain backing.  Two of them also have patchwork fronts - orange seemed to be the colour of the week on that front!

If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen a few sneak peeks of these over the last week - you can follow me here.

Personally, I like plain bedlinen, preferably white - it's easier to keep clean when you have a hubby that likes to get dirty (always tinkering with an engine or something!).

Therefore I like a nice bright pillowcase to brighten it all up.  These all have a quilted front which gives the 'pretty factor' and a plain back which can be more comfortable to sleep on.

Navy Floral Sprial Wholecloth Pillowcase 

The first two are wholecloth quilted  pillows.  This one with a gorgeous flower print was quilted with a spiral which can bee seen better here:

and backed with a linen cotton and finished with a contrasting navy 'flap' to hold it on the pillow.

Fresh Pillowcase

I love the colour of this fabric, so simple and fresh, the quilting is an uneven crosshatch.  I didn't mark this, instead followed the pattern of the fabric

To keep the fresh feeling this pillow was finished with a simple white back and flap.

The second two are patchwork and seem to follow an orange theme - not sure how that happened as it's not really one of my colours!

Citrus with a Twist Pillowcase

My first time using triangles for patchwork - I certainly underestimated the number needed and had to stop and cut more a couple of times.
I went overboard with the quilting - there are 5 lines of quilting along each of the seam lines, which can be seen better here:

This was finished with an orange large spot 'flap' and a grey backing fabric - love this one!!

Finally (I can hear you cheering!) another orange patchwork:

Orange Patchwork Pillowcase

This has simple quilting following the seam lines as seen here:

And finished with a linen backing and a flap that matches the end fabric of the patchwork front.

For those that are interested in the details.  

• All fabrics are 100% cotton
• All thread used is 100% cotton
• Batting is 100% bamboo
• The patchwork fronts have been backed with Muslin

Thankyou for making it this far - I've did try to break it up so that it's not too wordy.

Vicki

Edit:
I've linked with the following linky parties, please click on the below links and check out the wonderful work completed by others:
                           
                            

Wordless Work In Progress Wednesday

Pillow Cases

My first ever quilt - a finished project

I am proud to share my first ever quilt with you.  I actually completed this about 18 months ago for my husband.  Since then I have made a number of quilts and quilted items which I'd also like to share with you, but you'll have to wait as I have decided to start at the beginning of the journey!

Hubby wears jeans for work and we have lots of pairs that are worn out so I decided to cut some up and sew them back together to make something useful.  As you can see I patched the jeans first before sewing them back together.  

These really couldn't have been re-used or sent to a second hand shop - they would have ended up in landfill ... I much prefer this use :)

I learnt A LOT during this process, one thing is that just opening up the legs of the jeans and sewing them back together does not make for a totally flat surface!  Also sewing through all these layers where the tops of the jeans are sewn together is HARD work for me and the machine - I have to confess that many needles were broken in the process of making this quilt!  

Useful information that certainly helped with my second denim quilt!

You can just see the quilting in the above picture - dual lines along the seams and another 3 sets up each side of the 'leg'.

I backed and bound this quilt with a microfibre sheet - this is a lovely soft backing and of course a little 'Handmade just for you' label.

I used a 100% bamboo batting - together the batting and denim top make for a very warm and heavy quilt.  

I am glad to announce that hubby loves it and uses it in winter.

I hope you will pop back and see some more of my sewing exploits in the near future.

Vicki