A few 2011 Finishes

DAISY CHAIN LOG CABIN

This quilt! This quilt was in my head from the first moment I saw this fabric. I got a huge bundle of this beautiful material for my birthday. My colours. Greens. Aquas. Blues. So soothing. So...oceanic!

The logs are of varying widths,2.75" and 1.25", and the centres finish at 2.75" square. I randomly pieced the logs in rounds to end up with cabins of different shapes and sizes. I then added a cream/white border and trimmed to 18" square (mainly because this is the size of my cutting mat!).


It is also sashed with the same white/cream, 3''. It is hand quilted around all logs and along major seam lines giving a large scale grid. I used a Guterman variegated thread that worked perfectly. The binding is a navy and white spot that frames it well I think.


The back is a green and navy JoAnns (?) fabric I picked up at The Craft Depot on special. If I had my time again I probably would have used a plain fabric, perhaps panels of cream and aqua. We live and learn. The front is quite sparse and fresh looking so I don't mind that the back is busy. There is also a pieced 'window' on the back made from scraps which was fun to make and breaks up the print a bit.

I love love LOVE this quilt. We have been sleeping under it since the beginning of December when it was supposed to start getting warmer. Ahem. No one has bothered to tell the weather this so we now sleep under a pile of quilts - luckily there is no shortage. It is nice and big so there's no quilt fights in the middle of the night.

It was largely inspired by the classic Denyse Schmidt, and this quilt by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh,Fransson! and by the Daisy Chain Strippy Quilt

THE BRIGHT QUILT

I got the fabrics for the body of this quilt for my birthday as well. They are all Heather Bailey PopGarden and Bijoux. I adore the,m. I was really stuck for an idea. I wanted it to be bright and I wanted all colour and busy-ness, no rests for the eyes. I was flickr-ing one day and came across the popGarden and Bijoux group and I saw this !
It was just the inspiration I needed. I did a few sums and decided on 2.5" strips. I chain sewed them all together until I had blocks of 5 strips. Initially I had promised myself that this was going to be a smallish quilt, not another queen bed sized monster. But I couldn't help myself. It kept growing. I stopped at 36 blocks. I could still be sewing these blocks!


The blocks went into a bag and under the bed for a bit as we had my in-laws out from the UK for 3 weeks. One day Nanny and Grandad took the baby out for the day. I got out my bright blocks and sewed them all together in an afternoon, added the skinny and fatty border and started to ponder the back. I had bought the green and blue floral prints specifically for the backing. I still have oodles of strips so I sewed them together too. And there you have it. A front and a back.


It is hand quilted with embroidery floss - time will tell how this holds up but so far so good (fingers and toes crossed). All different colours. The body is quilted in an organic baptist fan pattern and the borders are straight line quilted.

The quilting!
This quilt is also on our bed and is so deliciously soft and snuggly.



A satisfying , but not entire, stack of quilts of 2011.