#star block
Hand-stitched star: I have been cleaning up in my sewing room over the past few weeks and I found this star that I had hand-quilted a long time ago. I decided just to add some binding to finish it up into a small little quilt - it finishes up at 6.5″ square.
I put it in the kitchen as a pot holder! Always nice to add a bit of colour and have my handmade items around the house.
Post link
#oursongquilt:I made the star block, above (with improv curved piecing), to participate in a new project that Andrea from 3rd Story Workshop launched last week. Andrea collaborated with songwriter Meaghan Smith to create the Our Song, Your Reflection project, which celebrates community. See the last photo above for her beautiful lone star swan quilt!
She asked quilters to make a star block and to share a little about what the quilting community means to them. For me – I started making quilts in 2014, when I had moved far away from family and friends (from Toronto to Edmonton). Finding the quilting community - both online and in real life through guilds - has brought me many friends, inspiration and motivation. Especially during these years where I’ve had to move across the country (again), new city, new job, new everything - the community has been a constant network of support and encouragement, for sure!
You can pre-order Andrea’s quilt pattern, hear the song and share your story in the music video through this project! Check out 3rd Story Workshop or the Indiegogo campaign for all the details.
Post link
JOY Fabric project - Finished: Over the last few months, I have been lucky enough to work with Tamara Kate’s new collection for Michael Miller Fabrics - JOY. It’s a beautiful collection with fun, bright colours - a reminder that spring is coming soon! My husband and I went out this weekend to take some photos at a park nearby in snowy Ottawa, it was nice to get outside pics on a sunny day!
Quilty details:
- * 52″ square finished size
- * Fabric is almost all of Tamara Kate’s JOY collection, with a few Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solids mixed in; backing is the main “Grandiflora” print
- * Block loosely based on a traditional “chubby star” type block with a pinwheel centre; I drafted a basic pattern for myself to follow (after sketching out some ideas)
- *Free motion quilted by me on my domestic (a Janome 8200 QC) - using 5 thread colours to match (black, white, pink, yellow, teal), mostly Aurifil 40-wt and some Wonderful 50-wt – probably the most thread I’ve ever put into a small quilt!
I really enjoyed making this quilt from start to finish. I felt like it was the perfect project for me right now, with a slow pace and a little bit of experimentation with design and quilting.
This quilt is going to my mother-in-law: a part-birthday, part-Mother’s Day, and part-congratulations quilt - as she just became a grandmother for the first time this week (and I became an aunt, too!) I hope she is able to use and love it for years to come!
Linking up with Finish it up Friday!
* * *
If you would like to find some JOY fabric of your own - check out my Instagram for a fat quarter bundle giveaway, open from Friday 23 February to Sunday 25 February!
The fabric line is also available at the following online stores:
- www.thequilterstrunk.com
- www.kaysquiltshop.com
- www.hawthornethreads.com
- www.cottoncuts.com
- www.equilter.com
- www.cottonpickinstitchn.etsy.com
- www.fabric.com
And check out Tamara Kate’s website for more information on her designs!
Post link
