Wednesday, May 30, 2018

May progress & finishes

May is always a crazy busy month with lots of quilt shows, events and deadlines. You may have been following these in my last few posts. Here are some updates.

Comfort Quilt QAL

I have been participating in the Comfort Quilt QAL based on Amy Ellis' book, Modern Heritage Quilts: New Classics for Every Generation. My version is not her lovely low volume quilt but rather some colourful cuddle quilts using a variation of her pattern. It's great to see everyone's progress on Instagram. There are some fabulous quilts in the making 😊

I want to make 4 cuddle quilts but I very realistically chose to make two cuddle quilts as my May OMG - One monthly goal. I've learned a lot during the finishing of the first quilt. You can read about it below.

22" cuddle quilt made using a variation of Amy's Comfort Quilt
I attached the binding by machine for this first quilt since I had lots of space to sew within the border.

Here is the second cuddle quilt, before attaching the binding. The quilting can be seen better on this picture.
Second cuddle quilt, before the binding
Second finished cuddle quilt

There was less room on the border so I attached the binding and finished it by hand.

These two cuddle quilts were my May OMG. Done!

I am planning on making at least two more but it will probably wait till the fall.





Starry Bright Sky QAL

It's the end of the month and I finished my star last night. As with the origami block, I had help from my son. I don't do 3D very well, even if it's just folding fabric. 😊

Fabric cutout of a star for month 5

Upcoming Kingfisher Stitch-Along and Hexie Runner

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm getting excited about joining the Kingfisher Stitch-Along to make a quilt with some English Paper Pieced (EPP) flowers. I just love being able to use my hexies in different ways. 

I just checked out the Stitch-Along site and I'm in luck! They are using 1" hexies which is what I've been working with, so I probably have a few flowers ready :-)

I've been working on finishing my Hexie runner for a while now. It's very slow going but I plan on finishing it very soon so that I can concentrate on this next Stitch-Along.  This is on my To-do Tuesday list for this week.
Finishing the Hexie Runner soon
What I learned
  • Sewing with flannel is different than sewing with regular quilting cotton. The stitches end up being more embedded into the fabric, making picking apart the sewing very difficult! Of course, today, I read an article about sewing with flannel. They recommend that you use a slightly longer stitch. I hope I remember that for my next batch of cuddle quilts.
  • I measured the quilt tops before adding the border, but after finishing the FMQ, the yellow quilt barely made it to 22" while the blue one was slightly over. In theory they were the same size, and I even used the same size of borders. 
  • I have mentioned before that I am accuracy challenged - that would account for the difference in sizes. I hope the babies won't complain about a ½".
  • Although my cuddle quilts are quite different from Amy's Comfort quilt, I really enjoyed checking out participants' work on Instagram. 
  • This month's Starry Bright Sky block was made thanks to my son's help. I'm glad that he's around to help me with anything 3D or involving math.
  • My star cutout is not as starry as I would have liked but then, like snowflakes, they are all different (aren't they?)
  • For my Hexie Runner, I'm using the same binding technique as the first table topper I made. I'm not sure if it's because it's a larger piece, but it's not going as well as my first one. I hope to have it finished in the next couple of weeks.
  • Great news! I won 2 spools of lovely green thread from Connecting Threads through Alida's Starry Bright Sky QAL. They were shades that I didn't have - wonderful! Thanks Alida :-)
Related Links

Linking Parties
I will be linking up to the Elm Street Quilts' OMG May Finish Link-up as well as Starry Bright Sky QAL- Month 5 link-up. I will also be linking up to many other linky parties. Join me to see what's new out there. Midweek Makers, Let`s Bee Social, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Linky Tuesday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward Monday, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, To-Do Tuesday, WOW Wips On Wednesday, May Color Challenge Link Up, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, 

Project Details


Two cuddle quilts
22" x 22"
Adapted pattern: Comfy Quilt by Amy Ellis
Material: cotton flannel
Techniques: piecing, free motion quilting


Some great news - these quilts were featured on Muv's Free Motion Mavericks!
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19 comments:

  1. Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué31 May 2018 at 02:08

    Bravo pour l'accomplissement de tes objectifs, et j'adore tes 2 quilts Plus ! Merci pour l'astuce de couture avec du tissu flannel, il faudra que je m'en souvienne moi aussi le moment venu ;-))

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    Replies
    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:29

      Merci Frédérique. Le truc c'est de se rappeler de ce qu'on a appris :-)

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  2. Patty 31 May 2018 at 07:18

    Lovely quilts! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.

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    Replies
    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 11:12

      Thanks Patty, and always, thanks for hosting the OMG! It keeps us on our toes :-)

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  3. Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting31 May 2018 at 13:23

    Such an informative blog post! I learned a lot about a lot of things going on in the quilt sphere. I love that Kingfisher EPP quilt. How did they come up with that name? Your comfort quilts turned out great. I love how you have your blog arranged.

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    1. Penny Stewart2 June 2018 at 18:08

      I really have fallen in love with the cobble quilts . Will try to make one of my own. Thanks for sharing them . Like the colors bright

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    2. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:37

      Thanks Nancy. That's a great question about Kingfisher. I thought it might be Rachel's last name (from Stitched in Color), but it's not. I think that they may be from Australia, where the are lots of Kingfisher birds? That's just my guess :-)
      Thanks Penny - they are really cute!

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  4. Susan31 May 2018 at 14:34

    Nice star you posted on Midweek Makers! Love your other projects too - especially the plus sign quilts. I'm usually not a fan of pink and yellow together, but yours is so sweet!

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    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:38

      Thanks Susan. The star was more snowflake than star shaped but then Canadians know their snow :-)

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  5. Lisa J.31 May 2018 at 20:55

    I love those comfort quilts...especially the scrappy version. It looks so good in low volumes.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:39

      Thanks Lisa. I wish I had the time to make a larger real comfort quilt with the low volume background. They look great.

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  6. AlidaP2 June 2018 at 16:42

    It is great that your son helps you with the Star blocks! The quilt will be a team effort! Thanks for participating in the QAL and for linking up the picture!!

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    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:41

      Thanks Alida, my work is often a team effort with my son providing design and engineering type advice while my daughter has an amazing sense of colour. It's great that I can rely on them for feedback :-)

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  7. Dione Gardner-Stephen4 June 2018 at 09:39

    Your yellow and pink plus quilt is going to be very loved I'm sure. Just enough green and blue to make it really pretty. Well done on meeting your OMG. :)

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    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:42

      Thanks Dione. I really love those colours. I'm not sure that there's such a thing as a not lovely baby quilt :-)

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  8. Christine Slaughter4 June 2018 at 23:29

    The cuddle quilts are fantastic. I really love the green plus quilt with all of the negative space. It shows off the quilting perfectly!

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    Replies
    1. Andree G. Faubert6 June 2018 at 12:43

      Thanks Christine. I'm all about making quilts with negative space so that I can play with FMQ!

      Delete
  9. Muv7 June 2018 at 17:01

    Hello Andrée,

    What a productive month! I totally love the simplicity of the cuddle quilt with the green crosses, and the quilting complements the design so well.

    Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks - your cuddle quilts are this week's featured project!

    Love, Muv

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    1. Andree G. Faubert18 June 2018 at 16:35

      Thanks Muv, I saw that! It was good to give them away last week at our guild meeting. I'm really looking forward to doing more FMQ - it seems that I've been doing everything but that in the last few weeks. All the best :-)

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