Soft colours first bed size quilt

I often feel I don't use many soft quiet colours in my quilt designs, so it has been a bit of a challenge to make a quilt with really gentle colours for a little girl. This quilt has been commissioned as a Christmas present and the request was for a shabby chic, washed and worn look. Some baby clothes were to to included too. 

These are the fabrics used so far, I bought them from a lovely French fabric stall at the Festival of Quilts this year and added other fat quarters from my stock.

Shabby Chic fabrics

The design is simply 3" squares but I have broken up some of the squares into tiny log cabins, quarter squares and little bow ties too. I hope this adds to the vintage style of the quilt.....

Inset squares by Green Star Quilts

The old gold fabric I chose to stop the quilt looking too pink and sugary.The family sent a tiny pair of scratch mittens with a Manchester United football club logo on them, which goes suprising well with the over all look! 

Detail of Vintage Look quilt by Green Star Quilts

The number of squares used added up to 143 using about 15 different fabric and lots of scraps from my very extensive stash.... hummm note to self....must make more scrap quilts.... I really enjoyed fiddling around making tiny log cabin blocks on a wet Sunday afternnon....

Detail of Vintage Look quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here is the top of the quilt finished and ready for quilting, there is a row missing from the bottom of the quilt which I added later to make the length right:

 Vintage Look quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The cream coloured American Quilter's calico has been used for the bottom strip and will have the baby's name appliqued on it after the quilting is finished. I love this calico which is so soft and lovely to handle. I buy it from The Fabric Guild, which is a wonderful company with a good mail order facility. I have added a link for you to visit them here.

Detail of Vintage Look quilt by Green Star Quilts

Now the quilt is all ready to quilt. The wadding is Super Soft Cotton by Sew Simple, also bought from The Fabric Guild and I am really pleased with the way it drapes, it is so very soft and stitches like a dream. The backing is simple, using the calico again.The quilt is nearly finished and I will show you it completed next week.

This week I have used a larger size for the photos, do you think it is better and easier to see the details? Do let me know! Taking photos at this time of the year in the UK is so difficult. There may good be natural light oportunities at about 10am until 12 noon and then it gets darker so quickly. If it is a rainy day things become even more difficult! The last photo was taken in electric light and the whites always look yellow! Does anyone else have this problem? How do you light your quilts for photos? 

I am going to try some natural daylight bulbs for the lighting next time and hope to have really good photos of the finished quilt for you soon,

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Sue

Winnie the Pooh first bed quilt

Half term is finished and we are back from helping to look after our little ones. I have had some many cuddles but it can never be enough! The Boy aged five months has grown a smile and a way of fluttering his long eyelashes which melts my heart every time. His big sister is learning to read and can write her name. She is smart and sassy and so sweet, I am her biggest fan and complete slave! Now I am back in the sewing room and have been finishing a quilt for Anne to give to her newest grandson Hugo, born this year. The nursery decor has a Winnie the Pooh theme and the main fabric comes from the Jane Churchill range.

Here is the first star:

Eight point Winnie the Pooh star by Green Star Quilts

and in the other colourway...

Eight point Winnie the Pooh star by Green Star Quilts

The fabric design is quiet and minmal in style so I have kept the quilt design that way too. I have added a border of soft blue fabric with polka dots....

Winnie the Pooh quilt top by Green Star Quilts

Here is the finished quilt which measures 46 x 60 inches:

Winnie the Pooh quilt top by Green Star Quilts

And some highlights.... simple swirls echo the ribbon on Piglet's balloon....

Winnie the Pooh quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is also the Winnie the Pooh and Friends fabric by Jane Churchill.The binding is a simple blue and white thin stripe which a style I love and use on lots of my quilts....

Winnie the Pooh quilt by Green Star Quilts

I loved Winnie the Pooh stories as a child and also reading them to my own daughters. The gentle humour and simple line drawings have become a part of our family life. We still mention going down the garden to look for Woozles and Heffalump traps are my piles of things on the stairs waiting to be taken up to bedrooms and bathrooms when the time can be found... just waiting to be tripped over by husband... its a bad habit of mine...

'I feel like a little something....'  goes with that empty tummy feeling around four o'clock when the biscuit jar beckons, with or without hunny for tea... 

So I hope you have a lovely week and if you are drawing at all, have a look at the labelling on your graphite pencils and remember that B is for bear, HB is for Helping Bear and BB is for Brave Bear....

Happy drawing and quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Freedom blocks quilt finished

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts 

It has taken rather longer than I expected to finish this quilt, life just keeps on getting in the way.... how do those quilters we all admire make a quilt every week? I wish I knew and I suspect they have very well trained and tidy families and are very, very organised! But at last here is the finished Freedom blocks quilt. I am so pleased with this quilt, it is soft to touch, drapes really well and the bright colours just pop out of the white sashings whilst the grey polka dot squares add another interest too.

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here are some close ups:

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts

The bright colours blocks are quilted with a free motion spiral.

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts

The straight line quilting along the white sashing gives a slightly 3D  effect.

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is the same pale grey with a tiny white polka dot

Freedom blocks quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here are the measurements:

41 x 49 inches 

104 x 126 cm

This quilt would make a play mat, a bed cover for a first size bed for a toddler, a lap quilt or sofa throw and could also be used as a topper on a single bed. 

The quilt is for sale on my website, on the Buy now quilts page. Please contact me via the contact page if you would like more details.

Thanks for visiting, 

Kind regards,

Sue  

Scrap Freedom Blocks part 2

Oh the last two weeks have whizzed by with the sewing machine almost red hot with my attempts to keep up with the list of things to do. The Freedom Blocks are all complete and I have learned a thing or two about making them. Having sewn them together now I know that is is better to have a wide last round of logs so that there are fewer seams.... look at the purple square in the bottom lefthand corner....those blocks which had seams on the corners ( yellow square bottom righthand corner) were really tricky to get flat! Thank you to everyone who gave their suggestions about the sashing fabric colour. I settled on white in the end with pale grey white polka dot squares at the intersections.

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The quilt top has been layered with 80/20 wadding and the grey polka dot fabric as backing. Lots of pins and some temporary spray to hold it all in place, and now I am doing the quilting....

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The quilting is in the ditch to hold it all firmly, then three lines along the white sashings.

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

On the Freedom blocks I have decided on spirals. This is my favourite way of holding/squashing down lots of seams firmly.....

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

I love the way the quilting lines form a little grid in the small grey squares....

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The drape of this quilt seems beautifully soft, I soaked the wadding in fabric softener before using it, so it smells lovely too...

Freedom blocks quilt top by Green Star Quilts

The quilting is not quite finished yet and the edges are yet to be bound. I haven't decided on the binding fabric yet, maybe the grey fabric again or a white with bigger black spots, or a scrappy one ..... plenty to think about there...

Thanks again to everyone who commented on the design and colours, it is lovely to hear from you and I really appreciate your thoughts.

It has been really hot in the garden this week and I have been having lunch outside under the watchful gaze of this chap or lady chap, I'm not sure! 

Tawny Owl in the garden

He/She roosts all day in the tree above the picnic table and watches me calmly whilst warming feathers, thinking deep thoughts and occasionally hurling down pellets of unwanted fur and tiny mouse bones like a litter lout throwing take away wrappings out of a car window! He/She used to sit with his/her brother/sister all day but they seem to have chosen separate trees now. They keep in touch though, with a toot and a hoot throughout the day. It has been an enormous gift to be able to watch them most days thoughout the summer and I hope they will stay with us for the winter too.

I will show the finished quilt soon, thanks for the encouragement,

Kind regards,

Sue

 PS. I am linking with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Do have a look at her lovely photos, she is so clever at colour choices!  

Scrap fabric Feedom Blocks

This week I have been making Freedom Blocks from a favourite book by Sharon V. Rotz called Log Cabin Quilts with Attitude. Having just has another birthday last week, I feel I am definitely a lady with Attitude these days! As I get older I find myself less inclined to stand for any nonsense, on a daily basis! Husband says I have changed.... another of her books is called Serge and Merge so maybe he would be surprised again if I read that too....

Here is my first Freedom Block:

Freedom Block by Green Star Quilts

Really it is a version of log cabin with wonky logs. As I made more blocks it sometimes turned into wonky courthouse steps, but that doesn't seem to matter or show in the end...I sorted my scraps into colours, using one colour for each block. Here are more on a white fabric background.

 4 Freedom Blocks by Green Star Quilts

It got really quite addictive and I even did a teaching session for ladies at my quilt group. Sharon calls them Freedom Blocks because they look carefree and fun and there aren't many rules or log cabin police around.

 6 Freedom Blocks by Green Star Quilts

I have also tried them on a pale grey polka dot fabric which I love. 

 4 Freedom Blocks on grey polka dot fabric by Green Star Quilts

What do you think?  White or grey? Here are more blocks....

 4 Freedom Blocks on grey polka dot fabric by Green Star Quilts

I am going to carry on making more blocks this week and will show you how it's going next week. Hmmm I really like the grey but the white is crisp. Lots of chances for modern quilting with this design too.....

Hope you all have a lovely weekend quilting and some sunshine too,

Kind regards,

Sue

Scraps and Squares Quilt

It started on a wet Sunday afternoon last winter. I tripped on a basket of scraps on the floor of the sewing room and thought 'I must do something with that now' and settled down to a happy afternoon, back against the radiator, basket emptying gradually as I sorted scraps in to piles by size. It then dawned on me that I have kept tiny scraps of much loved fabrics. There were bits with little ladybirds, bigger bits with sheep and here and there half a tractor.... So I started to cut them into 3 " squares and make tiny bits into quarters sewn together to make another 3" square. On the design wall I made groups of squares, keeping the colours balanced but not worrying about the odd legs and heads which appeared as the squares were sewn together.

It all got a bit addictive, I kept nipping in to add a few more squares when waiting for kettles to boil or washing to spin and the quilt top began to grow.... and grow..... and I added four stars at the corners.... Here is the finished small single bed size quilt:

Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

There are heads without bodies, legs without feet and wheels without cars. There are tiny ponies, half sheep, sunflowers, bugs and bears. It is really a bit of a riot and I am very pleased with it!

Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I took lots of photos on a rather gloomy day.....

A Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

This the backing fabric with a folk art birds design...

Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I made husband admire it, I took it round to show the neighbours , I hung it over the door for a photoshoot, I am so proud of it....

Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is quilted with double lines a quarter inch from each seam, a lot of stitches but such a lovely grid effect and a lovely drape to the quilt too...

Scrap Squares Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The stars are quilted with big swirls....

Scrap Squares by Quilt Green Star Quilts

Then down the garden to my rail made specially for throwing quilts over...

A Scrap Squares byQuilt Green Star Quilts

If you think you have seen enough then look for the stag and the bear....

Scrap Squares Quilt by  Green Star Quilts

And the gnomes loved it too!

Gnomes and quilt by Green Star Quilts

This is a quilt for our very gorgeous and  rather new boy who is growing so fast and has the best smile I could wish for. I really, really enjoyed making this quilt and can't wait to plan another one. I've got another basket of scraps with a seaside and sailing theme but I haven't fallen over it yet so it may have to wait for another rainy afternoon!

Have you got a favourite scrap pattern for using up the fabric you just can't throw away? I am working on wonky log cabins at the moment and will show you those soon,

Happy quilting this weekend,

Kind regards,

Sue

Bright Star cot quilts

Hello Everyone, 
I'm so sorry I haven't added a new blog post for a few weeks. Life has been very busy with rushing around and going to a wedding, where the bride and groom left the churchyard on a tandem bicycle....

just married and travelling on a tandem

with tin cans and streamers and the bride in a long length lace wedding dress which was quite a sight! Guests were asked to donate cakes for the reception.....

cakes for the wedding

The church at Great Grandsden in Bedfordshire, but near Cambridge, was simply decorated and the wooden angels in the roof timbers had such kind expressions and rather fetching frilly bonnets..... I wonder how many weddings they have looked down on throughout the centuries....

wooden angel, Gt Gransden church

Here is another angel who was above the door, also wooden and with beautiful wings and a finely plaited hairdo.....

wooden angel Gt Gransden church

There were lots of guests at the church and I noticed some extras who had to sit on the window sill, I have made this picture extra large so you can see them clearly, some of you may be keen on knitted beards.....

knitted folk at Gt Gransden church

I have also been sewing madly to finish these two quilts for Kerry. I am so pleased with the colours and the design and will certainly be making more of these this year:

Bright Star Quilt in blue by Green Star Quilts

The background is a simple log cabin block using 2.5 inch stripes and then the bright stars are appliqued on top...

Bright Star Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The binding is a soft blue and cream stripe, the backing is my favourite polka dot blue on white cotton...

Bright Star Quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here is the pink version for Kerrry's little girl....

Bright Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

The binding on this one is a bright pink tiny check cotton.

Bright Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing is white with pink polka dots....

Bright Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

Bright Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

Now it is the school holidays and we have a very much looked forward to visit from our little ones aged 4 years and also 3 months. There is so much fun to be had with baking, painting and chatting to a 4 year old, even hanging out the washing is an exciting thing to do and picking the rasberries down the garden was a huge event! The new baby is such a big cuddle and I feel so very blessed when I look at them both.

And at the bottom of the garden, the builders are celebrating as the summer house is FINISHED!!!

summer house builders celebrate

I can't believe how lucky I am to have this lovely house at the bottom of the garden!! 

summerhouse in the garden

And I now have a much longed for rail to show quilts off..... I have always admired those lucky Americans who have a veranda to show quilts on.... the little solar panel on the roof is for the fairy lights too!

summerhouse early morning

 Here you can see a Fair Trade cotton quilt made by Judy from fabrics donated to Project Linus UK by Ruth at Fairtrade Fabric over my new rail...

summer house and quilt

And  again so you can see the windmill pattern.....

summer house and quilt

Fairtrade cotton quilt

So that's all for now, and I hope you are having really lovely summer holidays, either on the beach or at home. Next week I am making a cars theme baby quilt and a single bed memory quilt too,

Happy quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue