ALYOF May goal - Churn dash pillow completed

My goal for May was to finish my Churn dash pillow that I started recently. I don't have many pillows and I intend to make a few more.  It's a great feeling to finish up something so quickly, rather than making a big-ass quilt!!

I think I am smitten with this pillow.  I love the colours and I love how it has turned out.  The churn dash is such a simple block, but looks so effective.

For the back, I used a Lu Summers print that works really well with this pillow. It's simple and not too fussy and just complements the low volume on the front. And the binding is a Pearl Bracelet fabric.

And my fav block ...

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Blogger's Quilt Festival - Small Quilt

This is my second entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy.  I am entering this quilt into the small quilt category.  

I really like the Flea Market Fancy range by Denyse Schmidt and wanted to incorporate it into a quilt. I thought wonky stars would be a great way of showcasing them. However, I am way to much of an A-type personality to get too wonky, so that's as wonky as I get!  The low volume prints are from a  range of designers and collected over the last year.

For the back I made a giant wonky star and used some of my fav prints from the range at each end.  

I quilted it on my machine using a loopy spiral using white Auriful. I took the lazy option and did machine binding with another DS print from Spotlight.

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Bloggers Quilt Festival - Large Quilt

I always look forward to the twice yearly Blogger's Quilt Festival. I love seeing all the quilty amazingness in blogland in one place. So much talent and inspiration.

I am entering 2 quilts. This one, I think, is my absolute favourite of all the quilts I have made and I am entering it into the large quilt category.  It started as a quilt-along back in March 2013 and we made 3 blocks a week from Tula Pink's City Sampler book.

I have used a variety of fabrics, but mainly Tula Pink, a bit of Denyse Schmidt, and one or 2 prints from other designers that just went with my colour scheme. The solids are Kona, Cotton Couture and Art Gallery.

It is so hard to pick a fav block, but there are some I love a little more than others.  I think my number 1 fav has to be that adorable hedgehog, and of course purple is my fav colour as well.

For the back, I pieced together some of my larger cuts of Tula Pink along with a piece from Joel Dewberry as well. that just went so well with the colours I had already chosen. 

I didn't feel up to the challenge of quilting it on my home machine so took it to a long arm quilter and told her she could quilt it however she wanted!  I love what she did with it. Simple, but so effective... Alternating wavy lines in each block and a spiral in the sashing.

And a final photo...

Thanks so much to Amy for hosting another Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Please go and check out all the quilty awesomeness there...

A Lovely Year of Finishes - May goal

I don't think I ever blogged about what I received in the X Factor pillow swap. The theme was Log Cabin and one of my favs from this round was a lovely pillow by Sami. I just loved the colours and the text writing. It has some of my fav fabric ranges in it too. 

It's looking very lonely on my couch so I have decided to make a few more pillows.  I love the churn dash block and there are some gorgeous quilts popping up in blogland, on flickr and on Instagram. I took my inspiration from some of these and configured the block so my finished pillow would be 20 inches.

I am totally crushing on that raspberry colour at the moment.  I wanted a bit of interest in the centre of each churn dash, so I fussy cut some cute little squares.  I adore that little bee!  My goal for May is to finish this pillow.

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St Louis 16 patch finished

I love the vibrancy of this quilt. It's such a happy, warm looking quilt as we head into autumn here. The nights are getting chillier and the mornings cooler. I actually turned my electric blanket on the other night for the first time this year! 

I used the tutorial from Steffani. I just love her version of it.  In mine,  I have used mainly Chicopee with a little bit of Hope Valley and a couple of DS fabrics from Spotlight. The binding is a raspberry fabric from Spotlight.    I quilted it in a cross hatch pattern to go with the squares.

For the back I used a DS print from Spotlight with 4 of the blocks that didn't make the cut for the front. 

I think it even gets the seal of approval from the kitten!

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