Modern quilts and modern blogging

I have been blogging for 10 years now and recently I have gone to less frequent posts, it seems there is less to say and so much more to do! But I miss it, I love taking the photos of quilts and I hope to make more time to carry on blogging, even with Instagram, Pinterest, the website and many other things to do. I don't think I have time to Twitter though! I have been making quilts though so here are some photos:

Modern Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I was inspired by Tula Pink's book and used a million tiny scraps to make the blocks:

Here is the whole quilt which measures 43 x 49 inches, 109 x 124 cm

Modern Quilt by Green Star Quilts

This is the inspiring page although I didn't use her blocks, but made up my own:

100 Modern Quilt Blocks by Tula Pink

The colours are like the primulas and primroses which self seed all over the shadier parts of the garden. This is the backing fabric....

Modern quilt by Green Star Quilts

I have also finished a sweet baby first size bed quilt for a little boy called Teddy which uses some of his outgrown clothes including his first football shirt.....

Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts

The children in the middle are Teddy with his big brother and sister. Now I am really hoping to have time to tidy the sewing room which looks such a mess!

Happy quilting in June to my visitors, 

Kind regards,

Sue 

Scrap Flags and Bunting Quilt

I have been saving red, white and blue scraps for ages and truth be told I have had this quilt in bits in the to do basket for over a year. But recently I have been on a mission to tidy and clear up the sewing room, with a buy less, use more up resolution..... you know, the resolution you hope to keep but then you go to a quilt show and guess what happens......

The design started as one from a tutorial by Ashley at Film in the Fridge but then I added some tiny flags which could be bunting.

Flags and Bunting Quilt by Green Star Quilts

One thing I have learnt from making a white background quilt is this..... don't use white scraps unless they come from the same bolt of fabric! Reader I tried but then came a great deal of unpicking as there is white and then there is white, there is unbleached and there is ready to dye white..... There are also bits of old sheet, bits of Cona white and bits of white shirting in my white fabric drawer. And I can tell you that they are all different. And I can tell you that when you mix them in a quilt top they all look different On The Quilt Top........ ahhhhh and then there is a lot of unladylike language and hours of unpicking. Then there is a lot of recutting because you have lost the points of the flags ends..... 

Flags and Bunting Quilt by Green Star Quilts

But in the end it is all worthwhile and the quilt looks so fresh and jolly:

Flags and Bunting Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing is a pale grey cotton with tiny swirls which look a bit like fossils. The quilting is like coiled loopy rope.

Flags and Bunting Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The binding is scrap pieced too. The quilt measures 102 x 133 cm (40.5 x 53 inches)

Thank you to Ashley for this tutorial, do visit her using the link above if you get time, her quilt photos are brilliant!

Happy quilting

and very best wishes 

from

 Sue  

Purple Makes Me Happy Quilt

For ages I have been collecting purple fabrics and scraps and tucking them away in a big basket in the sewing room. Pirjo from With Love From Lincolnshire makes gorgeous little girls' shift dresses and gave me lots of lovely offcuts from her dressmaking, so I had added to the basket and then it was full. Time to tackle the purple mountain. I had mostly rectangular strips so decided that would be the basis of a very happy, throw everything at it quilt. So here it is, put on your sunglasses before looking......

Purple Makes Me Happy Quilt by Green Star Quilts

It has a kind of 70s look, think Mary Quant designs and there are apples, bees, butterflies, birds, flowers, so many fabrics I lost count.... A good friend had a pair of purple velvet hotpants and silver thigh high boots then and it reminds me of her dancing.... and goodness knows what comments I will get on the blog  following that sentence! 

Purple Makes me Happy Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is an aqua cotton with tiny white polka dots:

Purple Makes Me Happy Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The quilting is in horizontal wavy lines and the binding is a vintage Laura Ashley cotton in lilac and white which doesn't dominate the other colours on the front. I took my portable quilt stand (husband) onto our local green space commonland for an arty photo. I  thought the purple would look good against the green as they are opposites on the  colour wheel. It was a bit windy so it took a while to get him set up, knees bent to hide his head, feet tucked in so they didn't show, howls of agony ignored.....

Purple Happiness Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The quilt measurements are 49 x 60 inches (125 x 153cm)

The fabrics are all cotton and the wadding is 80/20 Hobbs Heirloom cotton.

It would make the perfect present for someone who loves purple, or as a companion on a lazy picnic, or even a sofa throw or bed topper.

If you would like to be the new owner of my Purple Makes Me Happy Quilt it is for sale on the buy now page of my website www.greenstarquilts.com

Thanks for dropping by, I hope your weekend is peaceful,

Kind regards,

Sue  

A life in the country quilt

Is it too late to wish you all A Happy New Year? The time seems to be flying by already and things are already getting busy in the sewing room here. Ellie had her baby and I made a gift for husband to deliver to her, along with a chocolate chip cake because we all know that flowers are lovely but gifts you can eat are great when you have just had a baby! Here is the quilt I made for baby Wilfred who will grow up knowing all about foxes and pheasants....

Countryside Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I used lots of small pieces of fabrics which I have been saving for just such a quilt with a 'throw everything at it' approach which always seems to turn out well amazingly!

Countryside Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The pattern is a 'bricks and mortar' one. Most the pieces were put up on the design wall to start with to get the balance right with the darks and lights. When it all got too big for my small wall, I used the floor too, a good reason to hoover the carpet of pesky threads! With all the patterns of the different fabrics, it is magical how they almost become joined up in your mind when you look at the over all quilt top and the darks and lights of the colours become much more important. I love this style of quilt but I can quite understand that it might be too much for people who like a calm life!

Countryside Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The quilting is a simple quarter of an inch from the seams to create a grid and little squares in the corners of each brick.

Countryside Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I have attempted to take the photos in the summer house down the garden but it is cold and a bit muddy.... how do quilt makers take such gorgeous photos of their quilts in the snow and on the beach etc without getting them dirty? It is a mystery to me and one I continue to struggle with!

Another finish is The Beast..... which felt as though I was knitting a large dog at the finish! 

Icelandic wool jumper

This is a jumper I have been knitting for daughter who is living in Norway, temperature -7 degrees, lots of snow, beautiful pink twilight all day and many many sledge dogs to exercise.... Again I have tried the arty photo, the jumper ended up covered in leaves and bits of twig, this doesn't seem to happen to those clever knitters who have snapped their finished jumpers on reindeer skins beside camp fires and in the snow..... what am I doing wrong?? Husband looked at he photos and commented that people would think the wood pile was really untidy..... just another thought!!!

Icelandic wool jumper

I now know how the knit a yoke though and really I love the Lopi Icelandic wool which is so warm although a bit hairy and itchy so she will need a thick t shirt underneath. The knitting grows at an amazing speed too.

This week I am making little new baby quilts and finishing a scrap one too. More attempts at arty photos to follow soon,

Happy New Year and thank you for visiting my blog,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Icelandic jumper pattern

What is about winter evenings that draw me to knitting? When the heating goes off in the sewing room I settle in the sitting room with a log fire, chocolate, crossword and at the moment some very warm knitting. Daughter who is living in Norway has asked me to knit a jumper from a lovely Norwegian design company called Valley Knits. You can find them on Raveley, the knitting pattern site. The jumpers are photographed on snow, with husky dogs and reindeer fur and they look amazing. I do hope mine will look amazing too, but I haven't  got to the difficut bit yet! Yes, that is the circular yoke with traditional patterns mixed with paw prints.... I suspect there will be much undoing, some grumpiness and hopefully triumphant photos when I get it right!
Here it is so far, no husky dog here to style the photo though....That may come when I finish it and post it to Norway!

Design by Valley Knits, norway

The sleeves come next, then hopefully it will all join up to make the yoke stitches, I  really hope it does!! 

Carrying on knitting,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Scrap fabric bibs

This week I have been addressing the pile of fabric scraps which I can't bear to throw away. I found a lovely pattern for bibs ages ago on the internet and sadly can't find it now, so I drew around an old bib to make my own pattern and here are my scrap fabric bibs.....

Scrap fabric bibs by Green Star Quilts 

The fabrics come mostly from a quilt I made which was designed for a bike ride and picnic. I loved the bikes fabric and kept even the tiny scraps afterwards. I'm so glad they have been used!

Scrap fabric bibs by Green Star Quilts

I stitched the three layers together and then turned the bib to the outside. It was a bit of a fiddle with the wadding but cutting it really close to the stitching worked well. After turning, I quilted the whole bib in straight lines and round the edge. The fastening at the neck is a large popper as I find velco catches on soft fine hair and pulls.

I  am also making a memory quilt and you can see this on my website commissions page. 

Are you all making Christmas quilts and gifts? I haven't got to that bit yet!

Hope you have a good week,

Kind regards,

Sue 

Little elephants on the move

This week I have made a cot quilt for Sophia Rose. Such a pretty name! She is very new to the world having been born in October but is now the owner of her first quilt. I have made so many elephant cot quilts over the years and they all look different with the same over all style. This one is in pinks with pale greens and soft yellows to make it look more modern. Many years ago I was in Paris and saw a window frieze of cut out elephants in a shop display. I drew a quick sketch on the back of an envelope and with more design this has become a favourite quilt pattern. Here is Sophia's quilt....

Cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is white with tiny bright pink flamingos in rows:

Cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

This quilt measures 36 x 36 inches and has a cream coloured binding...

Cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

Now I am finishing a tractor quilt which is needed for Christmas. So far I have finished the top of the quilt and here it is.....

Cot quilt by Green Star Quilts

Just the quilting needed to complete this one. I love these autumnal colours, the leaves of the beech tree in our garden have  turned to amazing shades of gold which echo the golds in this quilt. The weather is still quite warm and bright low sunshine too, but evenings need a log fire and a cosy blanket when the central heating goes off. At the moment in the evenings I am making felt food.... pasta shapes and lots of cupcakes using lids from plasitc bottles as the base. The internet has lots of free patterns so tonight it is ravioli and an attempt at a pizza! I will show you when I have a complete meal! You should see the bananas!

Have a lovely week sewing, thanks for stopping by,

Kind regards,

Sue