I have made a lot of appliqued quilts over the last year and they have gradually become more and more elaborate without me really noticing. It is always difficult to assess how much time is spent making them and working out how to price them too. Argggg, if only pricing was easy, it is a question I have been asked about so many times! It isn't always a matter of time spent or fabrics used, charging for postage or that extra trip to the quilt shop to buy thread, but a magic combination of all of this plus a sprinkle of some fairy dust which results in the answer that suits everyone. And, of course everyone has an opinion too!

My grandmother's vintage Jones sewing machine form 1920's

 Now I have decided to make some smaller quilts and use my time differently. They will be simpler, using fabrics from my cupboards and traditional blocks. There will be appliques but these will be features rather than telling the whole story on each quilt. Sometimes it is the right moment to simplify life in the sewing room. Golly that does sound profound and wise!

My vintage cotton box

Well really the reason is that I have a new grandson with whom I am totally in love and I want to spend lots of time cuddling him along with his big sister too! 

This is the dress I made her recently featuring fabric with the Frozen movie characters, we have watched the film so many times.... The pattern is See & Sew B5442 and it is really easy to make, no zip!

'Frozen' dress for a four year old

But last month I started blue and cream cot quilt and now it is finished and I am really pleased with it. It started like this.... 

block from Judy Martin's Star Block book

and finished like this....

Blue Star Quilt

The measurements are 37.5 x 43 inches or 95 x 110cm. ( Nine blocks).The blues are all from my 'blue box', I bet you have one too, and the cream fabric is American Quilters Calico. I love this fabric, it is so soft and lovely to use. 

I took lots of photos too....

Blue Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

The blues look perfect against my blue painted chair...

Blue Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

Here it is on our old Irish clothes horse....

Blue Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

Last one....

Blue Star quilt by Green Star Quilts

Now I am thinking it would be lovely in pinks too, so maybe that will be my next quilt! In the meantime we have had new windows fitted at the front of the house and that means lots of painting to be done this week too...

It is so lovely to feel that summer is just around the corner, sitting outside for meals in the sun is such a treat. Our whole garden is a mass of Forget-me-nots and Bluebells, so pretty too. And, best of all, Husband is building me a summer house at the bottom of the garden, so I will need lots of bunting soon!

I hope you have sunshine this week and a chance to eat outside too,

Kind regards,

Sue 

   

Sealife and Dinosaurs Quilt

It has been a bit of a race between finishing this quilt and our new baby being born in the family, but the quilt has won and I posted it off to the new owner a few days ago. Now we are just waiting for the baby! The quilt has been made for Ashley, the little brother of Rowan who I made the dinosaur quilt for in the last blog. The second quilt also features a printed panel which I cut up to fit in the space available in the middle. I must admit it was quite a fiddle to make it fit with borders matching around the edge. Another time I think I will cut off the printed border all round and add my own with contrasting fabric. Here are my signature big stars which go in the corners of most of my quilts:

Big stars with fish appliques by Green Star Quilts

 Next I made the log cabin blocks to go down the sides of the quilt....

Corner log cabin block by Green Star Quilts

Here is the crocodile, one of the animals in the side blocks.......

Crocodile by Green Star Quilts

The printed animals in the centre panel were quilted around, more of a sea life theme to this quilt:

Octopus

And then a few dinosaurs with happy smiles from the first quilt and the pattern reversed on this quilt to make them face the other way:

Dinosaurs quilt by Green Star Quilts

This time I have added rabbits and taken away the fox:

Woodland animals by Green Star Quilts

Here is the finished quilt. There are more log cabin blocks on this quilt but the layout is the same as Rowan's quilt and they will look great on single beds in the same room.

Sea life and dinosaurs quilt by Green Star Quilts

The two quilts together look like this:

Sea Life quilt

Dinosaur Quilt

These quilts are the last commissions in April.  Now they are finished I have been enjoying sitting in the garden sunshine, catching up with friends and looking in a few cupboards with rather tepid enthusiasm for spring cleaning! There will not be a blog post next week as I will be cuddling the new baby, oh I can't wait! But soon I will be back in the sewing room and making a blue stars quilt for a new baby in Fiona's family.

I hope the weather is warm with you, our spring flowers are gorgeous here, the birds are nesting frantically with a lot of arguments about nest boxes going on...The tulips are nearly in flower and my bicycle has been out for a few sunny day rides. Everything feels very optimistic and happiness levels have definitely risen with more daylight!
I hope everything goes well for you all this week,

Kind regards

Sue 

PS. This is the dress I have made for the 3 year old sister of the new baby, she is a big and I mean really big fan of the Frozen movie! The matching coat hanger was covered using the scraps from the dress. 

Dinosaur single bed patchwork quilt finished

It has been a really busy week, but now the dinosaur quilt is finished. I'm not sure how you would describe it geologically!  Dinosaurs roam with happy smiles, dolphins splash in the sea, woodland and jungle animals trot through the spaces left....Historians and geologists would struggle to make sense of the time lines, but all I can say is that I design quilts to make children smile and feel happy when they snuggle down under them....so here it is....

Dinosaurs and other animals single bed Patchwork quilt by Green Star Quilts

It is always nice to see quilts close up,so here are some detail photos:

Dinosaurs by Green Star Quilts

 I wanted to make the quilting in the sky area look like the wind... and dolphins to swim in waves....

Woodland animals by Green Star Quilts

The woodland animals tiptoe through grassy quilting in a varigated thread....

Patchwork Owl by Green Star Quilts

The owl flies silently past the moon and in our garden they really do party at night, with lots of squeaks and squawks and hooting!

Dinosaur quilt centre by Green Star Quilts

The printed panel in the centre worked really well. This is the first time I have used a panel and I think the effect is great. I could never have stitched such a perfect circle and wobbly lines would have looked awful!

Monkey by Green Star Quilts

Next week I am making another quilt with a panel, this time with a fish theme, but added dinosaurs and animals will creep in and maybe a whale or two.....

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you all have lovely celebrations,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. Thank you to everyone visiting and leaving such encouraging messages. I am amazed at the interest in the quilts I make and feel I am making friends all over the world. I will try to visit your blogs too and reply to comments as well.

Today I am linking up with Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts

A Dinosaur Quilt

This week I am making a dinosaur quilt for Rowan. His mum has commissioned it and he has sent a list of his favourite dinosaurs to be included. I looked them all up to draw the patterns and my knowledge of dino shapes has been very much expanded! The design will also include lots of jungle animals and some woodland ones too. The central panel print is by Michael Miller. This is in the same design run as the fabric in the centre of the big stars. Below you can see my human quilt stand holding up the quilt top in the garden, well actually you can only see his fingers.... 

Dinosaur quilt top by Green Star Quilts

Here are some close up photos of the quilt top. I am waiting for the backing fabric to arrive at the moment.

Dino quilt detail

T Rex meets a camel and dolphins, pterosaur flies over the top of the quilt,

Dinosaur quilt detail

I love the magic of folkart quilts where houses can be the size of horses and anyway who knows what colour dinosaurs really were?

Dinosaur panel by Michael Miller

The surrounding fabric for the central panel is called Jolly Jungle by Makeower....

Woodland animals on Dinosaur quilt

I can't wait to quilt this top, The colours are so bright and cheerful...

Owl and big star

I hope to be able to show you the finished quilt next week if the backing fabric arrives in the post.

That's all I have time for this week, now I have a birthday cake to bake for daughter, bulbs to plant, seedlings to water and so many other things to do too.... all before baby number two arrives and I am required for Granny duty! 

I hope you have a lovely week sewing and designing your quilts,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. I am linking with Lily's Quilts blog this week as she is hosting a link up party. Click on the button below to see her blog.

A low volume king size quilt

Charlotte asked for a king size quilt in soft pale colours and it has taken many weeks to make. I laid it all out on the floor many times, stuck labels on all the bits and lost my way several times with it when the labels fell off! But at last it is finished and on her bed. I hope it will be her happy memory quilt, with her wedding day dress, William's shirt, little daughter Juliet's dress and Bertie's sun hat all there to make a family story.

This is how it started with Post and Rail blocks....

Post and Rail blocks by Green Star Quilts

Then it grew......

Post and Rail blocks by Green Star Quilts

I made the quilt in quarters so it was easier to handle but even so there was A Lot Of Quilt!! Can you see my labels, row 1, row 2, row 3......

More Post and Rail blocks

Finally the four pieces were finished and I quilted them with a grid pattern up to an inch from the centre joining edges. It was a bit of a wrestling match to get it all through the machine! Then I joined the top edges together, cut the wadding to size and ladder stitched it , then the backing fabric edges were folded over and hand stitched down and the quilting completed.Wrapped up in this quilt whilst I was stitching it all was so cosy... The backing fabric is white with a pale yellow stripe.

backing fabric

flower on the back made from Bertie's sun hat

Here it is at last on the bed and I am making these big photos for a really huge quilt!

Post and Rail low volume King size quilt by Green Star Quilts

And just to show that it goes right down to the floor too....

Post and Rail low volume quilt by Green Star Quilts

I must say that if I ever make another quilt this size it would be sensible to have it longarm quilted. I have learnt a lot making such a big quilt, such as realising that my Bernina walking foot wouldn't hold the stitch guide thingy until Husband ( now with a capital letter as he is so handy) modified it by cutting up an old electrical plug and saving me £40!

This  sunny morning we have watched the partial eclispe of the sun with our pinhole camera made from a shoe box. We sat in the garden as it got a bit dark and birds became quiet. It wasn't dark enough to wake the owl up though, just rather grey and strange. We both said we felt rather small as our earth lost it's brightness. As the sun returned we looked with gratitude at the garden and felt glad that signs of spring were all around.

Tete a tete daffodils

The colours in the garden are low volume like Charlotte's quilt but I am so grateful to see them arrive after the winter.

May blossom

I have looked out of the window many times over the morning now and felt so glad for the sunshine today. There is a whisper of change, and lots of hope for the summer to come.....

The next quilt on the list is a dinosaur themed one, there's nothing like a change!

I hope you have a lovely week quilting,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. Here is one of the finished seaside quilts.... 

Seaside quilt by Green Star Quilts

  

A sea, sun and sand quilt

kite flying on the beach by Green Star Quilts

Here in Lincolnshire we have the most wonderful safe and sandy beaches and in the summer they make a great place to visit with children. Our seaside towns are very traditional, lots of shops selling buckets and spades, whirly windmills in bright colours and every sort of ice cream possible. The donkey rides are a huge attraction and because the landscape is flat, the sun seems so high in our big skies. Fish and chips for lunch, a walk along the seafront, lots of dogs swimming in the sea and such enormous happiness from burying your feet in the sand..... it all makes a very special day out.

children on the beach

 So even though the weather is still chilly and the snowdrops are only just out, I have been making a seaside inspired quilt. Here is the first block:

star block for seaside quilt

It is a picture quilt with lots to look at and retro camper vans for the trip to the beach.... I fussy cut the campers from a printed fabric:

camper vans at the beach

The shell were inspired by these I saw in a shop window:

Amonites in a shop window

The colours of the quilt are bright and sunny, using lots of different fabrics from all the tiny pieces saved in the sewing room. I save every tiny scrap with Bondaweb on it from other projects and they are so useful for things like tiny strings of bunting....

beach huts by Green Star Quilts

The local people on the coast are very friendly and make every effort welcome people and their dogs...

The quilt top is nearly finished now and ready to be quilted:

Seaside quilt top by Green Star Quilts

Boats, fish, swimmers, bikes are there and daffodils, a Welsh flag and The White Rose of York to show the family history of Emily who will own this quilt soon. I am just about to quilt the top now and will show you the finished quilt next time.

So in this pale spring sunshine, I hope you have felt a little warmer for a few minutes reading the blog,

Happy quilting this week,

Kind regards,

Sue

PS. I so enjoy reading your comments, they make a happy part of my day, so thank you for saying hello, I will answer them all on the comments bit and visit your blogs if possible too.