Big Bear, Little Bear Quilt: A quilt in progress

My last post was a Sunday Stash post in which I showed off some fabrics from the Lewis and Irene range Big Bear, Little Bear.  It didn't take me long to cut into these fabrics and I can now show off a pieced quilt.

I felt the prints needed to be seen and not cut up into too small pieces, as this would not do the print justice.  I decided to have some pieces cut into smaller squares and bordered by 2½" squares.  The larger squares are 8½" before piecing and I think this size works really well with these prints.

I have a lot of 2½" squares already pre-cut and stored in colour order.  It is so nice to have useful squares of fabric on hand when you want to make a quick quilt.  Many of these squares have also been donated by friends who know I find these squares so useful.  I did cut into some some new fabrics as well.

The browns, coffees and creams of the Bear fabrics are not my usual palette.  I felt that I needed to be brave and add some bright colours to this quilt to make it feel very autumnal and to make it slightly more boyish.  I love the blues, greens and additional browns I added.  I think it makes this quilt a more interesting quilt for a baby boy as it is less predictable than baby blue or cream.

This quilt is now ready to be quilted.  I have a light fabric for the backing and a nice brown for the binding.  Here's hoping I find time to finish it this week.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #8

This weekend I just had to add these six adorable fabrics to my stash.  I popped in to Craft Den, saw these beauties and quickly had them in my possession!  They are Big Bear, Little Bear by Lewis and Irene and it was hard to limit my selection to just these prints as there are many more in the collection and they are all so adorable!

I don't usually work with browns and beiges as I think these can be tricky colours and I think they can look dated, but these look really fresh and modern and I can never resist critters and cutesy!  A work colleague is having a baby boy in the next couple of months and she has painted the nursery in neutral colours.  I think these fabrics could well make it into a quilt for her baby shortly.  They'll be stashed close by as they are definitely coming out to play soon.

Happy Sunday!

Plenty of Work in Progress

It's been a while since I blogged.  I've been very busy sewing but my progress has felt slow and un-blog-worthy.  There are no finishes to show off but I can share three works in progress.  I'll introduce them chronologically.

First up is my Mariner's Compass block.  Once a month I attend a Block a Month group where we learn different techniques and get what we term "skilled up".  We started off making a sampler quilt but in recent months our focus has changed somewhat and we haven't worked on the blocks for a while.  I can illustrate how far we have deviated from our blocks by sharing with you that last month we worked on Nativity bunting.  That's right - Christmas preparation in February!

I've decided I want to get my sampler quilt finished this year and I am going to make the blocks up in my sampler fabrics.  I love the fabrics and colours I've used in this, though I did have to purchase the green dot outer fabric, but I bought very little and everything else is from stash.  I made good progress but I need to finish it off.  Hopefully I will be able to show it finished shortly.

I cannot get enough of heart cushions at the moment.  I loved going through my stash and putting these fabrics together.  I love the cat print by Cotton and Steel.  I think the cat resembles one of my puss cats, Jackson.  I am going to finish this soon and give it to my niece, Sienna.  She loves all things pink and handmade gifts.

Now I have to make a confession - I made a couple of fabric purchases this week.  Eek!  I know that goes against the Sew my Stash mantra but the fabric had a particular purpose and I was using the scraps.  There is a great British company making waves in the fabric world.  They are Lewis and Irene and their fabric is amazing!  The rainbow quilt I made in January is in their fabric and I am now a devotee.  I bought only two prints; Dancing Hares on Aqua from their Spring Hare collection and  Balloons on Blue from their April Showers range.  I think I did well only to buy two fabrics, though I would wish to buy it all.  (Speaking of wishes, look at their Make a Wish range, it's adorable!)  I am totally in love with their Coastal collection and I am sure I will end up buying plenty of it.  It's that good I am willing to break my fabric fast for it!

Last night these two fabrics were burning a hole on my sewing table (does that metaphor work?) and I just wanted to get using them.  I decided to turn them into a little cushion and I liked a mini quilt from this month's edition of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine, so that decision was easily made.

To make this a stash busting project I used scraps of pink and grey fabric from stash and I think they work a treat!  This will be pieced in no time and turned into a cushion soon after.

I may not have finished a project in a while but I am doing plenty of sewing and enjoying myself.  I hope you are all having an equally nice time with your fabrics!  

Mid week much to report

Only a few days have past since I last posted and already there are new skills to show off and new projects to share.  At the weekend I went on a "curves course" with Lynne at Craft Den with some of my sewing friends to learn how to sew Drunkard's Path and Apple Core blocks.  I'd had a bad experience with curves before but I have been determined to have another go and it's one of my resolutions to make a Drunkard's Path quilt this year.  I feel quite smug now,  Not only did I enjoy myself immensely, but I produced two acceptable blocks and I am sure I could incorporate these blocks into my quilting repertoire.

Lynne used a Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting machine to cut the individual pieces.  Guess what I now want to purchase?  It just removed all the stress and effort of cutting pieces and meant we could get on with the sewing.  I know I am coming to the party late as these gadgets have been around for ages, but it would make my Drunkard's Path quilt much more of possibility.

 I am meant to be sewing my stash this year, but spending a day in a craft shop meant I had to buy some fabric.  I fell in love with a Lewis and Irene Bumbleberries jelly roll and in no time at all I had sewn it together in a "loose" rainbow order.  This is without a doubt the softest quilting cotton I have come across.  It has an amazing texture to it.  From what I understand this is a relatively new company but their stuff is already making an impact and I love the fact that this is a British company.

This quilt is going to live in my craft room, where I am trying to have a rainbow theme.  My fabrics are organised into rainbow order and I've almost sourced all the right colour boxes to reflect this.  I like it when my husband comes and chats to me in the craft room, but he likes to lounge about and isn't a fan of sitting upright at the craft table.  At the weekend we bought a chair for him and this is going to live on top of that.  As it's for my fella I decided to buy some Lynette Anderson Pocketful of Daisies as he's a keen gardener.  I bought a lovely grey Lewis and Irene fabric for the binding.  I think these colours are so subtle as to keep the focus on the rainbow effect.

Just so I don't feel too guilty about all these fabric purchases I will show you that I am working through my stash and have been persevering with my scrappy blocks.  Last night I cut 125 2½" orange squares to make the last five orange blocks.  It's tedious at times but I am slowly getting there.

Thank you for visiting.