Fairies, Flowers and Butterflies Quilt for 2018

I am so late in wishing everyone a Happy New year. I hope I can still do so, I blame the horrid flu which struck me down just after Christmas and still lingered on with an incredible tiredness thing for many days. Now I am back in the sewing room, still with the need for the occasional afternoon snooze, but basically feeling a lot better. Note to self: have the flu jab earlier next winter!
Enough moaning, along with coughing and general snuffling.... here is the first quilt for 2018. It is a single bed size and the theme is Fairies, Flowers and Butterflies, and it is such a pretty quilt! The colours have been chosen by the new owner Elen who will be seven years old next week.

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

I started drawing my design with my usual big stars in each corner, then divided up the other blocks so each 6.5 or 12 inch square has it's own character.

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

 I use lots of different fabrics and lay the blocks out on the floor if it is a big quilt or on the design wall ( that's an flannel sheet hung up) if it is a smaller quilt.
     

 

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is so exciting as the quilt blocks are made and I can see how it is all working out...

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

The flower fairy fabric is by Malcom Miller from the original drawing by Cecelie Mary Barker. This fabric is so pretty and has gold glitter too!
Here is the finished quilt:

Fairies, flowers and butterflies quilt by Green Star Quilts

Next I am going to make my first Project Linus quilt for 2018. I am attempting to make one each month, partly as a scrap buster, my scraps are way out of control, but mostly because these quilts bring a tiny bit of joy to a family who have a poorly child and are so worried about the future. 
My other resolution is to blog regularly. Things have slipped, good intentions wobbled and a good friend even asked if I had given up writing. That's a shame as I really enjoy writing the blog and reading the words from you too. 
So I wish you all joy in 2018 and some very happy quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue 

A wedding memory quilt finish

Dear Readers,

My good intentions to show the finished quilt quickly slipped away due to a sprained ankle acquired on slippery leaves in the garden. Sewing became a bit difficult ( sleeping, reading and resting was much easier) so the quilt finish took longer. I never realised how painful a sprained ankle could be and how scary it is to be suddenly unable to walk.

  But in the end the binding was added, the names free stitch embroidered and the parcel posted...I was really pleased with the final result inspite of the fabrics being tricky to use and fraying dreadfully. 

Here is the quilt finished. Can you see the names and the wedding date stitched across the border?

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The colours very much remind me of my brave dahlias, still flowering into November, but not for much longer I fear before the frosts catch them....

I love the backing which has tiny orange circles like little wedding rings on it, it's quite a loose weave cotton and very soft.... 

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I free machined the blocks which worked well and straight stitched the calico borders.

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

Aurelia is such a gorgeous name! I practised my handwriting style  stitching several times before attempting it on the quilt....

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

This quilt is off to Kenya next year with it's new owners.

So I'm still hopping a bit but today I managed my first long walk on the common opposite our house and I am really pleased. Today has been a crisp,frosty, blue sky kind of day and so beautiful and it was such a relief to get out at last. I love setting out in woolly hat, scarf, gloves, padded jacket which feeels like wearing a duvet.....

And look, I found a woven fence to compliment my woven quilt pattern!

So now we have the days before Christmas, so busy for everyone and lots of expectation that it will all be perfect on the day. I am just dusting off my mince pie tins and trying to remember how to make pastry....

Please take care on slippery leaves everyone,

Kind regards,

Sue 

 

A Memory Wedding quilt (2)

Hello everyone, this is the wedding memory quilt so far, after we decided on the woven effect design. This is block one:

Green Star Quilts

Green Star Quilts

I have made nine blocks altogether and sashed them with cream quilters calico. Here is the finished top:

Green Star Quilts

The quilt sandwich has been made and the backing fabric is a cotton from Ikea with tiny dotted rings on it, well, it is a wedding quilt!

Green Star Quilts

I hope the quilt will be finished by Friday so I can show it off to you,

Kind regards,

Sue 

A Memory Wedding Quilt

This week I have a new commission from Louise. It is such a lovely thing to be asked to make ....  She has sent me the wedding wraps used at her brother's wedding and I am going to make them into  a happy memory quilt. The wraps are gorgeous colours, each one woven in two shades and they have the most marvellous tassles too. Really I am quite excited about the tassles! And strippy edges too!  I hope to be able to add the tassles to the ends of the quilt... Here are the wraps, which I think are cotton and ethnic in design:

Wraps for a quilt by Green Star Quilts

I am thinking about a design, Louise says their house is decorated in a modern style, so I am thinking about that and have been looking through my favourite modern quilting books....

Here is the first idea, a design from No scrap Left Behind by Amanda Jean Nyberg , I am a huge fan of Amanda Jean and this is her new book which I reccommend massively.... I have drawn out the design in the colours of the wraps:

Green Star Quilts drawing

The second idea would to weave the fabric colours in a similar way to this picture from 

Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman, another brilliant modern quilt maker who writes really good instructions too.

Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman,

The third inspiration comes from Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson

Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson

Big blocks of colour in randon sizes and colour combinations. I hope to use the patterned edges of the wraps too, amybe around the edges of the quilt.

Well, what do you think? The fabrics are quite loosely woven, so the design can't be complicated and I want it to look modern.... any ideas welcome from my lovely internet blog friends...

Have a good week quilting, maybe reading, or working, lots of gardening, looking after your families, cooking, thinking , oh not much time for thinking.... and I keep telling myself, try not to worry so much about things going on in the world,

Kindest regards,

Sue 

Back to work in the sewing room

Church at Tjeldsund, norway

I have had such a wonderful time this summer. Beautiful younger daughter got married in this church in the Lofoten Islands, Norway and now I have a new son-in-law who we all love very much. In fact I love having boys in the family all together and acquiring them via my daughters is a huge delight for me!

The sun shone and the dress was perfect.... we did the buttons up with a crochet hook..... 

wedding dress with green ribbon

In Norway there is a big tradition of a cake table at the reception. This is a brilliant idea and I intend to embrace it at every party we have! This is a camping scene cake:

Wedding cake with Playmobil

Now I am back to normal and thinking about the next quilts to make. I have found it hard to get started so I decided to make a few small quilts for Project Linus UK to get my quilting skills back up to scratch. These quilts give such comfort to children in need of an extra cuddle and are so worth making. Here is the first one:

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

And some close ups....

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love the backing fabric with princesses and unicorns, it is called Bloom by Clothworks...

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

This is the next one:

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is a woven style pattern which I have been wanting to try for ages....

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

It was a good one to try out free motion quilting too...

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

This the label which is sewn on all Project Linus UK quilts before they are given to the children.

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

This is the third quilt, I used the diggers material as a whole metre of fabric as the pictures were too good to cut up! I added two strips top and bottom to make the quilt a bit bigger, then quilted all over in grids and squiggles. The backing fabric is a recycled Ikea duvet cover.

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

The next one is a small cot size, using simple 2.5 inch squares of scrap fabrics:

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love the owls' expressions of slight surprise :

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

Last one, using a pattern from Sunday Morning Quilts  by Amanda Jean

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

Just some gentle hearts and curls on the quilting:

Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

While I am waiting for fabric to arrive, I am trying to tidy the sewing room and finish more half started projects, ahhhh the horrors I have under the sewing table in a big box..... all coming to light now!

 

Confetti, lavender and rose petals from our gardens

And the church again because it is so beautiful and we had such a happy time.....

Tjeldsund church, Lofoten Islands, Norway

I'm very glad to be back, sewing blogging and reading all your blogs too,

Happy autumn quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Trying to keep up

I just have to admit that I have no time for the blog at the moment. I love writing the blog, loading the photos, reading your comments, it is lovely to see the quilt progress here in the sewing room and post about it on line. But I have to take a break at the moment as there is so much to do. My gorgeous girl is getting married in nine days time. There will be a wedding in the country and a party in the garden here later. There will be homemade caterering and cake making, there will be heartfelt speeches and tears of happiness too. There will be a new and fine young man in our family and lots of things to look forward to.
 But now there are quilts to make, a bridesmaid dress to finish, ribbons to sew on a wedding dress and lots of lists to be ticked off. Oh so many lists.....
So here are pictures of the quilts I have made recently, please keep looking to see when I am back, some time in September I hope....

Twenty first  birthday quilt

A twenty first birthday quilt made for a special celebration day, the colours are pale lilacs and creams and the design shows the things that she loves the most...

a quilt for Liz

This quilt was made for Liz, who needed to be wrapped up in it so much.

 Here is a detail of the front :

A quilt for Liz

And the back:

backing fabric

This is a quilt which will be a present for a new baby, we are just waiting to know the name which will be added to the bottom of the quilt:

And finally here is the wedding present quilt for Lena who has done so much cooking for the wedding ....

Lena's quilt

Here is a close up:

Lena's quilt by Green Star Quilts

and the whole quilt.....

Lena's quilt by Green Star Quilts

I will be back in September and I hope you all have a lovely summer. Thank you for reading my blog,

Very best wishes,

Sue 

Catching up

Well, since my last post I realised that it isn't spring yet! It is freezing here in Lincolnshire, thermal vests, woolly hats and scarves have all been pulled on again and the plants in the garden are looking very cold and sad. Those in the greenhouse are still hopeful, but rather long and leggy. I have had a month of finishing quilts and seem to have got very far behind with photographing and showing you everything. So this week I am hoping to catch up, so here goes.....

This is the finished Woodland cot quilt started in the last blog post:

Woodland quilt by Green Star Quilts

Oh I do love this quilt and it was hard to let it go to the soon to be born new owner. I have had this owl fabric for a while and it turned out to be just perfect for this quilt.

Woodland quilt by Green Star Quilts

I think I could improve on the badger next time, but the other woodland animals went together very well.

Woodland quilt by Green Star Quilts

and the backing is woodlandy too.....

Woodland quilt by Green Star Quilts

I have finally mastered the machined binding, following Alison's excellent tutorial on her blog

  Cluck Cluck Sew It gives a really great finish once you get good at making the corners fold accurately.

The next quilt finished is a memory quilt for Catherine made from striped t shirts, which was in the blog before last.... yes, I really wasn't joking about getting behind with the photos and blog:

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

This is a single bed size and also looks lovely on our sofa.... it's a good thing I had to give it to the real owner soon after it are finished.... The washed t shirts were so soft too:

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The design was inspired by the African fabric hanging behind the sofa....

Memory Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The next quilt is one I made towards the end of the month at top speed for a first birthday present for Linsey to give her nephew:

First Bed quilt by Green Star Quilts

It features lots of things from Jude's first year of life including Hampton Court Maze, a London bus and taxi, a stay in a caravan and the Peter Rabbit story.

First Bed Size Quilt by Green Star Quilts

His superman vest was included too and I had to look up which way the S went, easy to get it upside down!

First Bed size Quilt by Green Star Quilts

Last of all I have just finished a small cot quilt for James to give his new nephew, which has just been posted off today:

small cot size quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing is the same white with a blue spot fabric which I love for baby quilts:

small cot size quilt by Green Star Quilts

So that's it, all up to date, parcels posted in time for the May Bank Holiday and now all I have to do is tidy the sewing room and then and only then will I show you that too! 

In the meantime I am helping with the confetti plans for daughter's wedding in August, cones made from paper doiles and filled with dried lavender.... Has anyone done this?? Do you know how the doiles are folded? It looks simple on the internet but I have yet to try it! 

I hope I will be more organised next month and not have to bombard you with photos and a really long blog post too, sometimes the quilting life just runs away with me!

I hope you are having a super organised week and your sewing areas are incredibly tidy, your ironing piles tiny and dinner is cooked for you every evening,

Very best wishes and kind regards,

Sue

PS. Thank you to Amanda Jean for her weekly link up at Crazy Mom Quilts. She is so inspirational and generous with her ideas.