Eithne's Retro Flowers

Hi all! Long time no see, on here! I've been slow on the old sewing front for the last couple of months, and set myself one big finish for Christmas. I started this quilt in summer 2013 after learning to sew curves.

The fabric is all Anna Maria Horner's Field Study, in one of the colour ways. It was bought over two years ago now a brief google of my email tells me! The solids were from Simply Solids stash club that I took part in last year, and I think they just happened to be the colours that had been sent out at the time I started the quilt! I'm starting to reach now, but I think that the background is Kona Butter.

Yes, that is leopard print binding :p

The pattern is Retro Flowers by the Sometimes Crafter. I bought it as part of the Curves Class I did with Rachel over at Stitched in Color.I adapted the layout a bit, so as there is a sort of central medallion to make the best use of the fabric amounts I had to hand. I love the finished product and the shapes of those petals! However, I've discovered that I detest following quilt patterns. Clothing patterns I love, I feel like I'm learning something new with every step, same with bag patterns. But I railed against following a quilt pattern.

I guess I can't tell if this is innate to me or particular to this pattern as it's the only proper pattern I've ever followed. My guess is that it's innate to me, but also that after a good long break I'll probably attempt some other unlucky pattern just to make sure... ;)

This is the photo that shows the truest colours.

I didn't measure the finished size, but it was 61" square before I quilted, but I basted badly and had to trim after quilting. So my guess is that it's now 59"-ish square. And, OH, the quilting! I started with a double grid around the blocks which was so boring to do and I nearly gave up and unpicked it and tried to FMQ my first ever quilt. But it was less than a week to my flight home and that was too much insanity even for me. So I stuck to my original plan, but once I'd added on the planned diagonal lines they looked kind of skimpy, so I started adding more. I probably could have kept going except for deadlines and flights and the need for binding...

Hodge podge backing which I ended up loving!

This quilt is for my sister. It's always been for her, before I even started. So every pin that stuck me, every curve I sewed, then unpicked and sewed again, every instruction I followed badly, they were all done with her in mind. I'm glad I followed some random pieces of advice I got early on and cut all my blocks in one go, mammoth task that it was, but I would have given up if I had to cut in between blocks. Those curves nearly got me. But they taught me in the end, I learned that for me no pins are the curvy way to go!

Eithne loves it! Yay! So much it actually got stuffed into her tiny little suitcase and brought straight back home after Christmas - it's not every Christmas my presents can claim that joy! I managed to snap a few pictures of it in daylight the day before she left, though I was still working on the label so she'll have to brave sewing that on herself. I don't have a good or daylight picture of that yet, so next time or instagram! Promise!

Happy New Year!!!

BQF - Pigeon House

Pigeon House was inspired by a photograph I saw of dawn behind a Dublin landmark, the cooling towers at Poolbeg (locally referred to as Pigeon House). I lived in Dublin for 8 years before I moved to America and I always loved seeing the towers as part of the skyline there. If you want you can read my original post here.

Pigeon House

The MQG's Riley Blake Basics Challenge fabrics made me think of dawn/sunset colours and so I made this quilt at the start of this year, though I didn't finish on time for the challenge. I designed the top section in mostly 1" squares and HSTs, and the bottom is a self-drafted paper-pieced pattern. I took my sweet time with the quilting. I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve, but I had never deviated from quilting on either side of seams or some diagonal lines. So even though I kept to straight lines here, I changed it up in different sections to suit.

Yellow quilting around sun, black in buildings, and white on the strand!

Burying threads was definitely the most time consuming part. I'd never done it before, didn't really know how to do it, and trying to bury black threads on a black backing fabric is tedious to say the least! However, the effects are amazing and for the right project I would definitely do it again. The lovely people of instagram also informed me when I started complaining about batting fluff on my black backing that black batting exists - I have so many things left to learn in quilting!

Black Backing - thread burying headache

This quilt definitely pushed my boundaries, and even writing about it now has reminded me why I should do that more often. It was trying at times, I took a long time, but I really loved learning so much and now I get to see a little bit of home that I've made for myself every single day!

My new view!

I'm entering this into the mini quilt category at the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side! And then I'm going to spend most of the next week looking at all the entries in all the categories, I love this festival - so much to discover!!


Quilt Stats:
Fabrics: MQG Riley Blake Basics Challenge Fabrics
Size: 20" square
Pattern by: Me
Pieced & Quilted by: Me on my domestic Brother

I actually finished a project!

Like to the actual end. It's also my first Christmas present ready for this year (but that's not organisation, oh no! read on).

I was asked to make my almost 3 year old niece a nappy/diaper bag for her dolls back in the Spring. I said yes immediately, but it took me a couple of months to gather the right fabric and figure out what sort of pattern I'd use. I knew I wanted a messenger type bag with pockets she could use for doll paraphernalia! So I decide to take the only bag pattern I've ever made and scale it down by 2/3s. Don't do that, well do if you want to, but bag pattern makers know what they're at and I think that bag was at the right size for making it on a home machine with the recommended materials - I'm starting to think bag designing is voodoo and only something to be undertaken with proper instruction! Three dimensional objects be hard.

I made some early mistakes but it was super promising. Then it went horribly. The combination of Soft'n'Stable and denim made my machine super grumpy. On the final seam it ate two needles, and then I broke a handstitching needle, and I gave up. It went in the bin, which was sad because I'd grown attached to it as possible even a funky clutch!

It took till September before I tried again. A new pattern fortuitously surfaced on the internet right before me, the Malibu Satchel by Fabric Mutt! It's the perfect size for a small handbag or as a toddler's messenger bag! The body of the bag went together really quickly and easily, even with the dreaded denim. I added an extra elasticated pocket. Procrastination took me another month to gather the bits and bobs I needed for the straps and I finished it all off yesterday.

I'm really happy how it turned out. The strapping is polyester, and not the lovely cotton webbing that Heidi uses in the tutorial. I've seen people on other sites use other brightly coloured webbing too which looked lots of fun, but I quite like the bright white I've got even if it feels a bit naff. Plus, if my brother- and sister-in-law want to keep using the bag as Grace grows then they can easily switch out the strap as it's only attached with lobster clips. Just buy and cut a longer piece of strapping and you're away!

If I was going on a beach weekend, or to a laid back music festival I would make another one of these bags in a flash! I just need to broaden my hardware buying locales - my local Joann's and Hancock's are not fantastic in this department.