Takes the Cake

 "Takes the Cake", designed by Thimble Blossoms quite a while ago, was finished in June.  So happy with how this quilt turned out - it's very pretty in aqua, pink and red.

This is was made from my Bonnie and Camille stash with Moda Bella Solid in Ruby Ice for the background.  It's a large quilt - I used 2-1/2" squares rather than 2" as in the pattern, so didn't make quite as many blocks as used in the pattern.

"Party Streamers" is the quilting design on this quilt - more lovely work from Karen.

I was fortunate to find a bolt of "Lighthearted" fabric still available to use for the backing.

In August I came across a tutorial on Instagram to make a "Hidden Wells" block - what a rabbit hole that turned out to be.

I cut loads of 2-1/2" and 1-1/2" strips and started sewing blocks.

I was wanting to butt the blocks against each other but it looked too messy.  Had a look through my stash of solids and liked the look of pink as a narrow border between the blocks.

I used up 99.99% of the strips and now have a large quilt top ready to send to Karen.

I've had this pretty parasol fabric for quite a few years and really wanted to use it to back this quilt but there wasn't quite enough (I had 5m).

A few leftover blocks were sewn together to make a centre panel and the parasol fabric is now large enough to back this big quilt top.

There has been a lot of knitting happening since I finished the cardigan for Jenni and the scarf for my friend.  Making an effort to use up wool in my stash.  I bought a new pattern book, "Joyful Kids Knits", and there are so many great designs in it.

"Toothy Striped Cardi" for Gulli from wool leftover from my friend's scarf.

"Stripes Galore Jumper" to fit Daisy in a couple of years.  Patons "Sierra" left over from her Mum's cardigan with Bendigo Woollen Mills green I've had for years.

Vinnie chose his own jumper from the book"and picked the colours:  "Two Tone Jumper".

And now I'm knitting the two colour version of "Toothy Striped Cardi" for T.  Hopefully the green Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply and Patons "Sierra" will be all gone when this is finished.

Blue and White

I've always loved bows and as soon as I saw this Thimble Blossoms pattern, I knew I'd be making it using "Nantucket Summer" and "Shoreline" light blues and low volumes.  There are so many pretty prints in these ranges.

The quilt top came together so well and I love the scallop border.

"Star Pop"in "Nantucket Summer" and "Shoreline" low volumes is together - this is the small throw size.

Current sewing is "Cakewalk" also in "Nantucket Summer" and "Shoreline" fabrics.

I might start sewing this together later today.

Yesterday my cousin, Stephanie, and I went to see "Titanique" - what a fun take on the movie.  The singing was exceptional.  We loved it.

A couple of quilts are on the way back from Karen:  "Shoreline" version of "Piece and Quilt" Sampler

and Thimble Blossoms' "Takes the Cake".

Last month on my birthday we had some family photos taken - it's been 20 years since the last time.  This photo is my children's favourite.  Right at the end, Steph, Jenni's friend and photographer, told us all to yell/scream.

Tiny Nine Patch (Figtree)

After I'd finished the Bonnie and Camille "Tiny Nine Patch" I had a look through my Figtree scraps and knew that I would have enough bits and pieces to make another quilt.

So happy with this quilt.

I asked Karen to choose the quilting design - she tried "Breezy", a new design to me and it looks lovely on this quilt.

The backing is from an older Figtree range, "Somerset".  This green goes very well with all the colours in the quilt.  I was able to use stash fabrics for the background and squares:  Figtree Favourites pale taupe pindot for the nine patch background and Figtree "Stitched" for the squares, setting triangles and borders.

While hunting through my Bonnie and Camille box of fabrics, I came across a bag of HSTs and triangles that were offcuts from previous quilts.

Started sewing the triangles into HSTs with low volume, Bella Solid 200 and B&C white-on-whites for the background and ended up with these Broken Dishes blocks.

Cut up some leftover charm squares and squares from stash to make more of the larger blocks

and also some more of the smaller multi-colour blocks.

Added sashing to the smaller blocks and this is the quilt top.

I have so many backing offcuts which I try to use for quilt borders, binding etc.  Decided to sew some of these strips together to make a scrappy backing

and added the smaller monochrome blocks to the backing.

The quilt will also have a scrappy binding.

2025 is definitely the Nine Patch Year.  "Takes the Cake" quilt top has been made and is with Karen for quilting - should arrive home this week.

I love this colour combination.  Perfect in my sewing room.

Moda Bella Solid "Ruby Ice" is the background - it's such a pretty, pale aqua.

I was able to buy a bolt of "Lighthearted" bows for the backing and had a backing offcut big enough to cut for the binding.