Allsorts For A Good Sort

Does this 60" square quilt remind you of licorice allsorts? I must admit to having eaten a bag (or three) of allsorts while undertaking research (and just for the fact that staring at these colours while sewing them kept making me crave some!)

Allsorts and licorice are a favourite treat for my awesome workmate Jodie Whitson-Morris, 

who is leaving our school after 13 years; she has been a fantastic colleague 

and will be a lifelong friend I am sure. I gifted the quilt to her today at school.

The backing is made from leftover strips and yardage; I quilted with a large, all-over stipple using a variegated thread.

I used a pattern from Amanda Jean Nyberg's quilting book 'No Scrap Left Behind', 

called Scrap Happy Rails as a guideline, but did a few calculations to work out dimensions 

of the strips so I could get a pattern with the colours/black/white sections.

First I made strips which I then sliced and sewed into the blocks.

 It was so much fun to make and I have plenty of leftovers for which I have another plan or two!

Here is Jodie with her quilt - she loves it!

Merry Christmas to all my international visitors via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday -
I wish you all the best for Christmas and New Year!

Fun Pillows

I think this is my fave! It's 18" square.

It has a gorgeous blue backing made from a furnishing fabric.

With selling at a carboot sale or local garage sale on my plans, I made use of some fat quarter quilting 'sandwiches' that I've made in the past couple of years to practice FMQ designs before doing them on bigger quilts. They each have a zip opening (I use Lia's tutorial).

This is a 12" pillow that I quilted with straight lines (see original quilt here).

I also had some unicorn fat quarters that I thought might make cool pillows.

18" square

16" square

And I also used up some Cars movie furnishing-weight fabric that I'd found in a sale bin. These were one of my 2018 Finish Along fourth quarter goals.

These are each 16" square. Two have a black minky backing, one has a grey curtain fabric backing.

Cute Bunny Pillows

Found this panel of bunnies on the sale shelf at Spotlight a couple of months ago and thought I'd make some pillows...they've turned out even better than I imagined! These were one of my 2018 Finish Along fourth quarter goals.

Sold to Laura McV

Sold to Laura McV

Sold to Paula P

I machine embroidered around the main features of the designs, plus some French knots on the 'whiskers' and hand stitches on one bunny's accents.  I used FMQ for simple quilting as well (echo lines on the double bunny pillow, and a small stipple on the other three, with a stipple on the backing).

I think I almost love the carrots print on the backing more than I love the fronts LOL! 

It was also on the sale shelf too.

They are each about 13" square and have a zippered opening (I always refer to Lia's tutorial).

I intended to sell these at a school car-boot sale but ended up selling two to a workmate and one to a FB friend during the week - so rushed back into Spotlight on Friday to grab another panel (of which my FB friend has already put 'first dibs' on another one!) and spent Saturday afternoon getting them made. (And I didn't go to the carboot sale today after all as the weather was so grotty - have now booked a table at the local playgroup's annual garage sale next weekend, where I'll be inside no matter the weather).

Sharing on Myra's Finished or Not Friday and Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday -
as well as Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday - hello! 

Thanks for visiting!

Slices of Spring

This is a double-bed or queen-sized quilt that I have made from part of a layer cake of Sundrops by Corey Yoder for Moda, such a pretty range of colours and prints.

The quilt measures 72"square - at 180cm wide it was just a bit of a stretch for Kieran to hold the corners out flat (even though he is now six foot tall himself! Needed another adult but Brian is away today playing bowls for Southland...)

I used a pattern called 'Cake Slices' by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs - I had won two free patterns from joining in with an online linky party (I think that's what it was?) and have managed to make two quilts from the one layer cake (will share the second quilt when it is finished.)

The backing is made from two coral-based prints ( I especially love the glasses print) 

and the binding is a gorgeous lime green.

I had made the top in the school holidays in Sept-Oct but wasn't sure how to quilt it.

Then I saw this video by Christa Watson showing how to FMQ her 'cursive Ls' 

and knew they would be great for the sashing.

For the blocks I created a six/seven petalled flower that echoes out to the edge of each block.

This quilt is destined for the auction at the Southland Bowls Charity Tournament next weekend that Brian has been invited to take part in. This quilt was also one of my 2018 Finish Along fourth quarter goals.

Linking up with Myra's Finish or Not Friday linky party - and Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday linky party - kia ora to everyone!

Here are some southern spring shots to finish with...