Friday 31 October 2014

Fairytale Hexagon quilt

Anyone that has been in a flickr swap or bee with me knows how much I love a good fussy cut. This quilt is what happens when I get a collection of fabrics in my stash that are great for fussy cutting and the time to sew up a meeeeelion Y seams.

The way I selected the prints reminds me very much of the Fairytale forest quilt I made a few years back, basically if I like it I'm going to use it! 
The layout gives a nod to the traditional quilt pattern that I always think of with hexagons, Grandma's flowers.


I put my focus hexagons on the wall and then looked to fill the gaps with complimentary coloured solids, I wanted the finished quilt to almost shimmer - super hard to explain, like a cut gem will reflect different colours back at you :)


I machine pieced the top, so much easier with bigger hexies and loved how the back looked so snapped a quick photo before pressing the seams. As a side note if you haven't pieced hexies on your machine and want to, let me know and I'll try and put together a little walk through. It is so satisfying to whip up a hexie quilt at top speed! 


I decided to go with an aqua and white polkadot for the binding, which is machine stitched too, to stay with the soft solid colours in the filler hexagons but still be just a touch different.
I didn't want to distract form the fun fabrics with the quilting so I went with a simple straight line quilting through the hexagons centres creating a diamond pattern, I think it looks clean and modern.


And here it is all finished, photographed in the back lane not the beach as normal as I seem to remember it was rather chilly and no one fancied the walk! 


and a little close up



The plan is to have this quilt listed in the shop by the weekend ready to head off to it's new home just in time for Christmas! 

Wednesday 29 October 2014

2 Big Anna Maria Horner quilt finishes

Both of the quilts in this post are Biggies, both finishing at  90" x 85" 

Firstly is my Anna Maria Horner Herringbone quilt. I used this Maureen Cracknell tutorial it was super easy to change the size of the panels. 
It all started with a few strings thrown up on the wall

Once I got going Issabella got interested and her usual brand of
quality control was in full force.


Those panels really did seem to go on for ever!



I am really pleased with how this turned out, and I'm sure Him in doors is happy he finally has a quilt that covers his feet.


The colours in Anna Maria Horner's fabrics really do pop in sunlight :)


This one has been on my bed since I finished the binding, claimed by Him in doors as his own.

The other big finish was a custom request through my Etsy shop, the client loved This quilt but the size just wasn't right for her.


So after some back and forth between us we settled upon "similar but different"
So using Pure Elements in Ocean Waves, Patina Green, Verve Violet, and Parisian Blue as a starting point I pulled coordinating Anna Maria Horner fabrics and started cutting.


In all fairness there was no way my design wall was going to manage a 90x86 inch quilt! Sections are the way forward when pushed for space.


The fabrics when all pooled together make me think of a calming spa, very restful and just what is needed in a quilt. 


The quilt is now residing happily at it's new home :)

It was so nice to actually cut into fabrics I have been saving for goodness knows what. I still have enough AMH fabrics to make another 2 king size quilts, and I'm not afraid to use them! 

Monday 27 October 2014

Overwhelmed and making the most of it!

Well that summer blogging break lasted a bit longer than planned! 
Over the last 2 months I have made a lot of stuff and photographed most of it with the intention of getting it on here with a well worded post...however its been the well worded part thats held me back! Sometimes I don't know what to say other than "hey look I made this!" or "Aren't these pretty fabrics" and that seems a bit show and tell, a touch shallow and a bit like I'm bragging.
But I do love my little blog and I enjoy sharing the things I make without the pressure I seem to be putting on myself to validate why I'm doing it. I also like showing off pretty things simply for the fact they are pretty to me and might be to you too, if you happen to get a new idea for a fabric combination or an idea for a quilt pattern or sewing inspiration all the better :) 
So moving forward I will remember that this little space is mine to do with as I like and you all wouldn't be popping back to say hi if you thought it wasn't a fun place to have a look around once in a while :D

So the last 6 weeks have been really crochet heavy! Noro silk garden and Republic Of Wool sock yarn have been in heavy rotation. The Noro is going to be a simple granny square blanket and is great for killing time on my commute! 


Mighty matter from Republic Of Wool is going to be my Haiku shawl I do think I would have better stitch definition with a solid yarn but I love the pattern and love this colour way so it is what it is :) 
The Smith and Wesson yarn is being held double to make a super sturdy cowl for him in doors Aaaand that last photo is a t shirt yarn that unfortunately I can't find a link for but is being hooked up on a size 10 hook and is aspiring to be a rug! 

In other news from August I went down to Peterborough to see a lovely lady Abbie Williams She created the perfect tattoo for me featuring Issabella! It has so much personal meaning to me with lots of little details that make me smile whenever I see them, if you look closely at the bottom it even has a Lone star quilt block just waiting to be coloured next time I see her :) I will share more photos once its finished! 


September was my birthday too so lots of celebrating was had, I even got a Dave the minion cake! 


And just so that this post has some actual quilting in it, I have been working sloooowly on my single girl quilt, hand quilting each block is enjoyable but not a fast way to work!


With just a few more blocks to make I've started auditioning backing fabrics.


So expect a few more "catch up" posts over the next few days and I hope you've enjoyed this look into the last few month at Chez Issabella!