Spring chicks and a hyacinth inspired quilt

Hello and thanks for dropping in to see what I have been making this week. So far I have finished the hen and chicks baby quilt and here it is, a crib size measuring 93 x 80 cm and 36 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches. Just right to tuck around a new baby in the buggy or car, or to use as a play mat. Some of my customers hang this size quilt on the wall too. 

Hen and Chicks quilt by Green Star Quilts

Just to finish last weeks tutorial, I have quilted around the shapes very close to the edges and then free motion quilted with a wandering stitch over the white areas of the quilt.

And just a few ta dah moments.....

detail from Hens and Chicks quilt by Green Star Quilts

I love the egg yolk yellow of the chicks against the blues of the other squares... 

backing fabric for Hens and Chicks quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is a turquoise blue with white polka dots. I use a lot of spotty fabrics as I like the retro look they give....

 Hens and Chicks quilt by Green Star Quilts

and it gave me a chance to look in our box of vintage Britton's farmyard animals to find the right livestock for the last photo...I do so love this bit, finding the right thing to add to the photo....

Hen and Chicks quilt with Britton's farmyard livestock

Does it make you think of Easter somehow? Hummmm chocolate eggs, now there's a welcome thought! 

Also this week my indoor hyacinths are in full flower. I would love to tell you that I am super organised, planted the bulbs before Christmas, kept them cool in the basement and brought them out when they started to flower.... I would love to, but being super unorganised ( and honest), I missed that bit out completely, went to the market, bought two pots, planted them into a bowl with extra compost and hid the plant labels! 

But the colour of hyacinth blue is so special and I have so many scraps in the sewing room, so I have started a hyacinth blues and greens quilt which will be a wall hanging for my kitchen. 

Here is the block... The white stars remind me of snowdrops with pointed petals...

Hyacinth quilt block by Green Star Quilts

This is the quilt so far... can you see that I have broken some random squares into smaller ones to add interest...

I'm not sure how big it will be in the end but I have enjoyed using 3 inch squares of my favourite scraps and the pile is getting smaller amazingly. It is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle on the back to get all those seams to butt up together without gaps... well there are a few I have found...

Hyacinth quilt top

Here are some of the fabrics used:

Hyacinth blues and greens in 3 inch squares

I wish I could say that no hyacinths have been harmed in the taking of this last photo, but yes, the right hand one did fall off and the stem broke, the other two flopped over in sympathy and look a bit sad.... oh well, off to the market again to buy the next two pots...

Hyacinth flowers and quilt top

It is freezing here in Lincoln today, no snow, but foggy and so very cold and I can't wait for the real spring to come. I will show you the (hopefully) finished quilt next week and also tell you about the monster king sized one which I am making over the next month. 

Happy sewing to you all this week,

Kind regards,

Sue

Bondaweb your chicken and quilt it

Here is the tuorial about how to use Bondaweb which is a fabric glue on a dissolvable web with a paper backing. There are other makes of a similar product, but this is the one I find easiest to use.

First draw your hen and chicks, just a simple shape is best to start with. Look in children's books, birthday cards, magazines for shapes and inspiration...

Pattern for hen and chicks by Green Star Quilts

Put your bondweb sheet over your pattern with it's paper backing uppermost. The glue side feels bumpy, the paper side feels smooth. Remember that your finished fabric shape will be the mirror image of your drawing, so turn it over if you want the hen facing the other way. Trace  round all the pieces of your pattern through the Bondaweb with a pencil.

Bondaweb tracing

Bondaweb shapes drawn out

Carefully cut around the shapes leaving a tiny margin at the edges. Handle the Bondaweb gently to stop the backing peeling off. Place your Bondaweb shapes bumpy (glue) side down on the back of your fabric. Iron carefully with a hot iron, no steam, and protect your iron by using baking parchment over the shapes just in case you have put one down glue side upwards, in which case it will stick to your iron.... trust me, I have done this loads of times!

Bondaweb shapes ironed onto fabric

Allow to cool down from the iron's heat, then cut your shapes out with sharp scissors on the pencil line.

Fabric shapes with Bondaweb backs

Peel the backing paper off the back of the shapes

paper backing is peeled off the shape

Now you are ready to place your shapes on the main fabric of the quilt, positioning them where you would like them to be on the finished quilt top.

Fabric shapes ironed onto quilt top

Iron them down carefully, using the baking parchment between your iron and the fabric. This helps to stop the pieces moving and protects your iron. Add the hen and chicks wings by repeating the ironing method.
Now your pieces are ready to be stitched down. I use free motion stitching but if you are not confident you can use a straight stitch slowly on these simple shapes.
When your hen and chicks are stitched down, you need to add some legs...

Chick with legs by Green Star Quilts

Now you are ready to layer up the quilt top with the wadding and backing fabric and quilt the whole top. 

I will show you the finished quilt in the next post. Have you been able to follow this tutorial ? I don't write many and hope I haven't missed out anything! If you are still bemused by Bondaweb and your pieces are stuck to the iron, do leave a comment and I will answer on the comments page...

I hope this is all helpful, I love this method and use it on most of my quilts,

Happy stitching this week,

Kind regards,

Sue 

A Noah's Ark quilt for Phoebe

The New Year is well underway and I am only just back in the sewing room. Bed has been the best place for me, with a horrid cough, and a desperate need for a new nose which doesn't sneeze all the time..... so this is a very late greeting of Happy New Year to everyone who reads my blog. 

Bridget commissioned a first bed size quilt for Phoebe and I have just sent it off to her in time for the Christening. This is the first Noah's Ark quilt design I have drawn and made and I am really pleased with it. It brings together my farmyard animals with their wilder cousins, with the ark in the middle. 

Noah's Ark quilt detail by Green Star Quilts

I decided to have one of most of the animals so there could be most species as the quilt is smallish. Choosing the fabrics and colours for the animals is always fun. I try to get the colour roughly right but don't worry too much about horses being flowery or cows being starry, although it is important to make the zebra strippy. 

Noah's Ark quilt detail by Green Star Quilts

When everyone is in place, I stitch round each animal and add some detail about feathers or muscles. The eyes for everyone are added last. When all the stitching is complete, then the top is layered with the wadding and backing fabric.

Noah's Ark quilt detail by Green Star Quilts

I love doing the free motion quilting which makes the animals stand out more. Here is the finished quilt which is already sold. The binding is a scrappy one made of two different fabrics, pink with spots and pink with white stripes:

Binding detail from Noah's Ark quilt by Green Star Quilts

 Phoebe's name is on the bottom:

Noah's Ark quilt by Green Star Quilts

Sheri asked me how I applique shapes onto the quilts and I wondered if you would like a blog about it? Just leave a comment and I will take photos for a blog post  as I make the next quilt which has chickens on it. Then we can do it together.

Urrrrgg, sniff, cough, I hope none of you have this cold too, but if so those tissues with Aloe Vera in them are wonderful!

Happy quilting in 2015 to everyone,

Kind regards,

Sue

Happy Christmas and a year of quilts

As I panic about the size of the turkey ( too big for the oven...) and the lack of presents

 ( still to be bought by a frantic  shopper...) the dust in the house ( will it be noticed by visitors...) and the need for decorations in all areas... I decided to count the quilts. All the quilts, cushions and one notice board made this year for commissions and for my family and here they are, after a struggle to master Picmonkey editing,  so that I could make this collage....

Quilts made in 2014 by Green Star Quilts

There is one final quilt to show you this year. It has been made because of the kindness of Nancy and Sally at Fabric Rehab who sent me a free gift in a parcel of fabric I ordered from them. You can visit them here  they have some lovely fabrics....

Christmas fabric from Fabric Rehab

I added some green Enchanted Forest fabric:

Christmas fabrics

I made simple log cabin blocks with random width strips, using up some scraps too and lots of odd bits of wadding which I glued down firmly before quilting it all over with a squiggle design...

here you can see the odd bits of wadding 

Here is the layered quilt:

log cabin blocks

Now for the arty photos I thought...I hung the finished quilt on our evergreen hedge but the background was too dark....

Christmas quilt by Green Star Quilts

It was freezing outside so I beat a hasty retreat inside to take better photos...

Christmas quilt hanging on the bathroom door

and then the close up ones....

scrap pieces binding

This one is my favourite although it shows up my variable stitch length!

Add caption

At last I got to the sofa where it and I intend to stay over Christmas... with my scrap velvet cushions too.

Christmas quilt on the sofa

So now I just want to say Happy Christmas to everyone who visits my website and blog. You come from all over the world, some of you are friends, maybe others will become so. It is also just fine to enjoy a visit, stay a little while and feel connected to another quilter for a few minutes in a busy day. Thank you too for all your comments and kind wishes over the year. 

Next year I wish for a more peaceful world and the safe arrival of another little one in our family. I hope you have a lovely break too,

Very best wishes,

Sue   

Christmas quilts, happiness and families

I am beginning to feel the need for a little more organisation in the Christmas department here... well that's another way of saying I have a slight feeling of panic! It is not long before guests will be arriving, presents ( not bought yet) must be wrapped, a turkey the size of a large child will be collected and my Christmas culinary skills will be put to extreme tests... it is the time of the year where I need two cookers, a staff of six and a magical fairy with a very powerful wand to help out....

 But it is also a time for Christmas quilts and I have no shame in showing you quilts you may have seen before. Like the quilts themselves, I get these photos out at Christmas to enjoy the quilts all over again....

Polar Express Christmas quilt by Green Star Quilts

 Last year I made this Polar Express quilt for Christmas. I used an Advent calendar panel to get the train with pockets on the carriages and it worked really well.

The figures underneath were appliqued on with Bondaweb with the little boy holding the golden ticket out to the station master. I used the same style for another single bed quilt....

Christmas quilt by Green Star Quilts

The windows on the house opened to show the people inside waiting for Christmas Day

Little mouse in bed in the house

The flaps were fastened with velcro. Both of these quilts were made for a family with twins and I love to think about them snuggling up under them on Christmas Eve, full of excitement and the quilts adding a little bit more magic to the moment...

This year I have made a Christmas quilt for Alex who is still very little. Reindeer race across the sky and snowmen wait in the snow....

I know you have seen it before, but here it is again anyway, just to make you feel more Christmassy too....

Now I must get back to the 'to do' list.... beds to make up, cooking for the freezer, cards to write and so, so much more.... and it helps to know that all over the world you are doing the same things too, making a special time for families, welcoming home our grown up children who just need a rest and some help with childcare... and perhaps adding a guest family to the Christmas dinner...we are inviting Japanese friends who are far from home.... it is important to me to count our blessings and not forget the happiness of Christmas rather than the consumerism and shopping...

And of course there are still the quilts which are not finished yet..... still in the sewing room, along with my own personal snowman, the huge roll of wadding in the corner....

I hope it helps to feel solidarity across the world with present wrapping and the last few days of frantic shopping....

So in this oh so busy time,'Go steady', as my friend Jo says to me, and which I find so comforting, 

Kind regards,

Sue

Bright stars cot quilt

This week I have been making a cot quilt with bright stars on a white background. The weather has been so dull and dreary, no sun, lots of fog and cold, so cold. But in the sewing room the stars are bright on the design wall and the colours have made me smile. Here is the block....

Born under a wandering star block

It comes from this book which is my go to book for star blocks as Judy gives such clear instructions and the pieces always fit together. 

My copy is very battered now as it has been rained on during a leaky roof episode and has been used for years too. Here are all the blocks layered with the wadding and backing fabric, all ready for quilting...

I loved choosing the colours for the stars, all bright contrasts, but it would look lovely in paler colours too....

I have quilted it with swirls and squiggles, swirls in the star centres and squiggles in the larger white spaces. I use a basic Bernina sewing machine with dropped feed dogs, zero stitch length and a darning foot. Each star is stitched with a matching thread, which took quite a time with all the different thread colours to thread through the machine!

I am just showing you lots of stars as I love the colours. 

The white fabric areas are made up of several different fabrics to add interest to the pale spaces...

Here you can see the backing fabric which is white with pale lemon polka dots...

Here is the finished quilt. At the top and bottom of the quilt there are strips of the backing fabric which have been free machine quilted with stippling stitch. A name can be added at the bottom with letters bonded on over the quilting and stitched down. The edges are bound with the same fabric as the back to keep the rest of the quilt calm beside the bright stars.

Bright stars cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

Thanks for stopping to read my blog, writing it helps me to understand where all my time in the week goes. It also keeps me focused on finishing projects so I have something to talk about! I really enjoy reading other blogs too and 'meeting' people from all over the world. If you leave a comment or ask a question I will reply if you leave your e mail address,

Happy quilting this weekend,

Kind regards,

Sue