It's a Family Thing Part VII

Today an update on my Mother in Law's hand pieced hexagons.

And there has been much progress with the completion of over 180 hexagon units out of the required 240 hexagons.

I've picked out some of my favorite hexagons, however I must say that was not easy task; there were many favorites!  My Mother in Law is a precision hand piecer, the stitches are tiny and consistent.  Each unit is pieced and the seams are pressed to perfection.

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I think you will recognize quite a few of these fabrics as my MIL has free reign to my scrap bin.  I love the way the fabrics have been fussy cut to create new patterns, with surprising results.

As a machine piecer, all hand pieced patchwork is such an inspiration.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing this quilt finished.

Links to previous Hand Pieced Hexagon posts:
Progress Report 1
Progress Report 2

Sunday Stash #66

Robert Kaufman - Kona Cotton FQ bundle - Denim

More blues today - not a reflection of my mood.

Although I am comfortable using white/cream, grey and black  fabrics, I find it difficult to use some of these dark/navy blues in my work.  I hope that inspiration will strike soon to help me decide just what I will do with these fabrics.

As you can see the two Kona FQ Bundles - Denim and Poseidon - are very different in tone.   I tend to favor Poseidon over Demin and  I wonder which FQ bundle is your favorite?

Enjoy Sunday!

Just ONE Layer Cake ~ A Quilt Pattern

Some time ago I stashed my first layer cake, Dream On by Urban Chiks for Moda.  It has been quietly waiting for inspiration to strike and I have finally challenged myself to make a quilt with just ONE layer cake and a single solid fabric. 

Take 1 - A Layer Cake Quilt

Quilt measures 50.5 inches x 62.5 inches

I quickly learned that there wasn't much room for experimentation with my Layer Cake fabrics, and worked out really easy (and quick) cutting and sewing technique to ensure that no fabric was wasted.   When all was said and done, there were a handful of scraps leftover.

This quilt has been quilted with diagonal lines (again!) from edge to edge, a sharp and clean look that I am still loving.  Less is more.

I had so much fun working just how to get the most out of my Layer Cake that I have written a full pattern for this - the Take 1 ~ A Layer Cake Quilt.

You can find the Take 1 ~ A Layer Cake Quilt  Pattern in my Etsy Store
 

The pattern (a pdf file) fabric requirements can be substituted with any other Layer Cake or scrap fabric.   The pattern  includes detailed tutorials and step by step cutting and piecing photographs.

Patterns purchased from my Etsy Store are available for immediate download (upon payment being made).

All Red Pepper Quilts Patterns (pdf files) are now also available here:

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Stitching!

Rita
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A Sneak Peek

I thought I would give you a peek of what I have been working on this week.

Lots and lots of sewing, of course.

It is already a finished quilt and I am looking forward to showing you more.

Soon.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Kona Cotton Poseidon

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Robert Kaufman - Kona Cotton Solid - Posiedon Fat Quarter bundle

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The blues.

Katie Jumpe Rope Quilt ~ Bento Box Quilt

It's done!

The quilt measures 60 inches x 72 inches

Complete with a pieced backing and hours of quilting straight lines.  Most of the quilting lines were straight lines on either side of a seam line, or diagonal lines through the large blocks.  I also ended up doing some "in the ditch" quilting which still requires a high level of effort and concentration!

The binding fabric is a Katie Jump Rope stripe in Orange:

And there was lots of it (machine stitched, as usual):

I have thoroughly enjoyed piecing this quilt, choosing the fabrics, preparing the blocks, cutting and rearranging them until I was happy with the layout.  I can highly recommend this easy piecing design.

My Etsy Store has been updated and you can find the listing for this quilt here.  SOLD

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

Sunday Stash #65

More elephants - and they are so very cute!

Daiwabo House Designer - Tiny Tip Top  - Elephants

Enjoy Sunday!

KJR Quilt - A Block Jumble

My next quilt project is in response to Kate's Bee Imaginative block request as well as the arrival last week of Katie Jump Rope stash replenishment.

A quick Google image search of Bento Box style quilts revealed much inspiration, in particular this Flickr Image of a Bento Box quilt pieced entirely from Katie Jump Rope fabrics.  Although I don't have a pattern for this quilt design, it didn't take long to work out my own dimensions and technique.

The overall concept is really quite simple.  Piece two the same size blocks in the manner of a square in a square block layout.  Reverse the fabric/color combination in the second block. 

Carefully cut blocks into quarters and re-arrange.  Sew blocks back together again.

My center squares were cut as a 5 inch square, and all the border strips were cut 2.5 inches wide.  All seams were pressed away from the solid white fabric which makes piecing the blocks back together again a whole lot easier.  The finished block size is 12 inch square.

The quilt top measures 60 inches x 72 inches

For this quilt top I have made 15 sets of blocks - a total of 30 blocks - a lot of piecing, although all very straight forward.     My choice of fabrics for this quilt are a selection of Katie Jump Rope, Flea Market Fancy and some Kei Honeycomb Dots in brown, orange/red and yellow; a combination a little outside of my comfort zone.

 Basting is now in progress.  More soon.

Trimmings

Thank you!

Thank you for your positive response, and the overwhelming number of comments received for the Urban Circus Giveaway posted on Monday!  Entry will remain open until Friday 20 August, 2010 ~ 12 noon AEST; only one comment per person/email address will be eligible to enter the draw.  Click here for details.

In the mean time a new quilt project is well on the way.

Brown, yellow, red and orange and the customary Kona Cotton - white.

There has been a flurry of (extra careful  - thanks for the timely warning!) rotary cutting, machine piecing, and layout re-arranging.

More soon.

Urban Circus Giveaway!

I was thrilled to be asked, and more than happy to oblige, to make a quilt for Laurie Wisbrun (of the Scarlet Fig fame) from her second line of fabrics called Urban Circus by Robert Kaufman.

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The fabrics are bright and cheerful, and are printed on lovely quality cotton.  Suitable for fun clothing, pajamas, bags, bedding, pillows and of course quilts!

This is a really simple design, using large Half Square Triangles (9 inch blocks) so as to feature the prints in the range.  Some of the Half Square Triangles are pieced from smaller triangles to add detail to the overall design.

 I have used some of the left over fabrics to piece the backing.

Urban Circus by Laurie Wisbrun is hitting the shops right now!

I am also pleased to tell you that Laurie has asked me to give away, on her behalf, a Fat Quarter Bundle of Urban Circus fabrics to my readers.

So on offer for the giveaway today is a Fat Quarter bundle of the complete Urban Circus range to 3 lucky readers.
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To enter, no jumping through hoops required!  To be in the draw all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, with the only requirement being that you provide either in your profile, or in your comment, an email address so that I can contact the winner!  International visitors are very welcome to enter!  Only one comment per person/email address will be eligible to enter the draw.

The draw will take place at noon (AEST ) on Friday 20 August, at which time comments to this post will be closed. The winners will be announced here on my blog the same day, and are also contacted by email.  Good luck everyone!

 

ENTRY HAS NOW CLOSED AND WINNERS HAVE BEEN DRAWN.  

Sunday Stash #64

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Sunday Stash #64 - who would have thought? 

The weeks are just flying by; I can hardly believe that it is already August.

There is the occasional hint of Spring in the air, however not today.  It is cold and windy (stormy windy) and threatening to rain.

These pretty fabrics are this week's local  purchases.   Liberty of London - Tana Lawn - Lauren.

Enjoy Sunday!

More Katie?

My internal dialogue went something like this:

"Do you really need more Katie?"

"Uh yep!  I do!"

Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt - getting harder and harder to find!

The Fair and Square Quilt

It's done and dusted.  As usual, I have taken loads of photos, and as such here follows one of those picture posts.  Enjoy!
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Quilting the Fair and Square Quilt went remarkably well and dare I say I think I've got the whole cross-hatching thing down pat.

My sewing machine is in fine form, no skipped stitches and beautiful tension, and therefore really nice stitch definition.  It does help to have the sewing machine on your side!

Binding:

As usual machine stitched binding:

For the binding I just couldn't go past the white "honeycomb" spot on a black background.  It frames the quilt top and coordinates perfectly with the quilt backing.

The backing fabric also turned out to be a great choice.  The creamy background matches the solid fabric (Kona Cotton - Snow) used predominantly in the quilt top perfectly.  This large scale backing print is from the Soiree range by RJR Fabrics (2008).

The Fair and Square Quilt is now listed in my Etsy Store.

Etsy Store

Fair and Square Quilt - Listing on Etsy.  SOLD

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