Lizzy House's Sparkle Punch Quilt

Back in August I started the process of cutting up strips of carefully hoarded collected Lizzy House fabrics from her Castle Peeps, 1001 Peeps, Outfoxed and Hello Pilgrim collections to make a Wonky Stars/Sparkle Punch quilt, per Elizabeth Hartman's quilt-along tutorial. Between the 4 collections I had enough to have a whole star out of each fabric without duplicates, and only needed to omit maybe 2 or 3 fabrics.

I still flinch a little inwardly thinking about the fact that I had to cut 384 3.5" squares, and that was just the white background fabric. So many squares!

The squares ended up living in a box for a while due to our move, and then went neglected through the holidays. Here and there I'd pull them out and sew points or press, and sew more points, etc. Finally about a week and a half ago I started assembling all the parts, and now I can strike that top off the To Do list! This weekend's weather has been lovely (though Jeff's allergies aren't agreeing with that at all!) and so I took it outside with another finish to photograph. Sadly that one will need me to take it outside another day and redo the pictures because they all managed to be slightly out of focus.

Now I need to decide on what to back it with and how to bind it. I have some square components left and can make a number of scrappy stars. Beyond that, I'm not sure, maybe some Kona Ash or a slightly darker grey.

Olivia The Pig

I managed to snap some pictures of the finished Olivia quilt as the leaves were turning and Autumn was in its glory. As I type it's gotten pretty cold the past few days, the leaves are long gone and the outdoor icicle lights have just popped on, as the light already starts to fade at 4pm.

I do wish Fall lasted longer, the turning of the foliage is such a fast process. Over almost as soon as it's begun.


Pattern by Elizabeth Hartman



The back of the quilt is pieced. Two large dot fabrics that were 54" wide. The binding is Kona charcoal with some of the white-on-red polka dot fabric that was used in the quilt top. The background is Kona medium grey.



It presently lives on Miss Matilda's bed (it's not a bed-sized quilt though), where Lieam spends as much time sleeping on it as he possibly can!

WIP Wednesday

On Monday I picked up my Flipside quilt again, and took what I'd assembled apart again (2 rows of blocks and the sashing between them), and reassembled them with some tweaking so that the inaccuracies are either gone or much less noticeable (spray starch with the pressing was a lifesaver here, smaller pieces tend to be so much easier to get pulled out of shape, and this stops that quite a bit). I'm much happier with it, though there are still 2 other rows that need to be attached, and the sashing will need to be duly tweaked, because those inaccuracies from having pieced almost half of each block on a terrible and inaccurate sewing machine before I got the new one certainly took its toll. Ah well, onward and upwards!

Here's what I have so far (Lieam made himself at home almost immediately):



And yesterday I managed to get the Olivia the Pig quilt for Miss Matilda basted. Apparently I need to do this during the day and not in the evening. For a start, the kids are at school for large portions of the day (though yesterday they were with their dad), and the cats are asleep most of the day, which stops Miss Isobel from lying on it immediately, and Mr Lieam from tearing across it as though it's a playground, as he is wont to do when I make the bed as well. Both he and Shiloh L-O-V-E it when you make the bed or fluff the sheets and covers. I'm not sure why it tickles them so, but it does.



Now, this isn't a large quilt at all, but man do your knees hurt after sitting that way for a while basting the entire thing. I'm a bit iffy about the idea of spray basting, though I guess it washes out completely? The fact that my knees wouldn't feel like I'm 85 when I get up after half an hour on a wooden floor makes it appealing though. Ideas?

I hope to get the Olivia quilt quilted tonight, it'll be some simple quilting, probably wonky lines straight across. I haven't decided on grey thread or white or possibly to go for pink. I made the binding a few weeks ago, so I don't have to worry about that, and can sew that on pretty easily. The binding will be Kona Charcoal with bits of the red with white polka dots interspersed.

Oh, and I extended the dining table and put the leaf in. This gives me a bit more working space, and also enough space on the table that I can keep project stuff on one end, and have enough room for everyone to sit comfortably and eat at the table. I do so long for a separate work room! I have to say I was a little bit envious of seeing Julie Herman's lovely new work space on her blog yesterday. So much sun and light in there! A very happy place to work in.

For Avery

The other night I finally finished my baby quilt. I watched myself some of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (with Cate Blanchett ♥ and Russell Crowe), and hand-stitched the binding down on the back (I much prefer how this looks to machine sewing it down, even if it takes infinitely longer). I saw the movie in theaters last year, so I could work without watching the screen all the time.



The top was pieced in about an hour or two, months ago. It was a free tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman, on her site. It was the first quilt top I sewed. I kept putting off finishing it because the baby wasn't due until July (and the top was sewn in April) because the idea of free motion quilting it myself was pretty intimidating. I still find it intimidating, but I decided to give it a shot. I like how it came out, it looks whimsical, though maybe in future I'd go for an all over loopy stitch, not straight-ish loopy lines.



This baby quilt is for dear friends overseas. I feel a tiny bit ambivalent about it now, as the baby it was made for sadly died at birth. It makes it tinged with some sadness. The top sat around for a while, well before the birth, as I hadn't been in a rush to finish it before the baby was due. And then the news that Avery was born sleeping, which was so heartbreaking. The quilt top sat in its box for a few weeks longer, and I decided to pick it up again and finish it last week. I wanted some time to go by as well, before I asked his grieving mama what she would like me to do with it. It was made with love for her and her son and her family, but as people grieve so differently, I figured it was worth finding out what would be most appreciated... the receipt of the gift, not sending it, donating it somewhere.

The back is one of the Modern Workshop prints. I picked the brown print as a gender neutral print, and also a dark one in case the blanket would end up being used outside on grass, or on the floor, so that dust and things wouldn't show as much, or that grass wouldn't stain lighter prints. The binding is also a MW print, the green with white (and the occasional yellow one) dots.