Astra

I first made an "Astra" quilt as a customer order at the start of last year.  At the time I thought it would make a great quilt for a man and later last year made it for my brother for Christmas.  I love how it turned out with those colours against the navy background. 

The backing is actually a dark blue wideback fabric and worked very well for this quilt.

Late last year I needed a baby quilt for a dear friend's new grandson.  My friend lives in UK and the baby lives in New Zealand.  I wanted to have the quilt arrive in New Zealand when my friend was vising baby William.  My friend has always loved Peter Rabbit so I was very pleased to find I still had some of the sweet Peter Rabbit blocks left from previous quilts

and some of the fabulous border print.

Shoreline Piece and Quilt Sampler

During the Piece and Quilt Sampler Sew-Along I made two sets of blocks:  one in scrappy Figtree fabrics and one in Thimble Blossoms' Shoreline fabric range.  The Shoreline quilt was finished in June and looks very pretty in these colours.

Karen used "Featheration" for the quilting design - it looks great.

I've made a few quilt tops since June but have only sent a couple for quilting and they're back from Karen awaiting binding.

One is an "Astra" quilt for my brother for Christmas made from my stash.  Started this in August.

A lot of cutting out for this quilt but the blocks go together very easily.

Bought a wide-back offcut from Widebacks Australia for the backing.

The other quilt waiting for binding is "Ruffles 'n' Rows", a Bird House design, made for my friend who can no longer sew.  This is also a Christmas present.  Sadly she has been moved to a nursing home so I'm hoping the quilt will bring her some happiness and comfort.

Some suffolk puffs and buttons to be added now that it is quilted.

The Lakehouse Dry Goods fabrics in this quilt top are so pretty.

More Cutting Out

Once again, my blogging is way behind.  Lots of sewing has been happening and a few quilt tops are finished - some have been quilted and some are waiting for backings to be made.

I've spent a fair bit of time cutting out and have a bagful of homemade "kits" ready to go.

Mainly I've been cutting up my blue and white stash of Thimble Blossoms' fabrics - "Nantucket Summer" and "Shoreline" as well as Tasha Noel's "Simply Country".

Thimble Blossoms' "Cakewalk"

Thimble Blossoms' "Darling"

Quilty Love's "Star Pop"

Cotton Way's "Wish Upon a Star"

Vinnie's "Dinosaurs" quilt top is together and with Sarah (Patchworks Plus) for quilting.

Stegusauruses

Triceratopses

Vinnie and I went shopping for the backing and he chose this fantastic fabric.  He also wants a shirt in this.

Astra Quilt

"Astra" is a quilt designed by Zahmco and a customer from USA asked me to make it for her.  The colour-scheme is based on a quilt made by one of the pattern testers.  It's a whopper!  90" wide x 108" long.

Karen quilted it with grey thread using "Square Dance" design - it looks great.

My customer chose the backing from Australian Widebacks and Karen said it was great to work with.

The quilt arrived at its new home on Monday and the client is extremely happy with it.

I have cut out another "Astra" quilt (a smaller version) to make later in the year for my brother for Christmas.  All those fabrics were in my stash.  This one has a navy background.

In March I went through all my Figtree scrap fabrics and cut out strips to make a Figtree Tiny Nine Patch quilt.

I had enough of the Figtree Favourites light tan pindot on ivory for the nine patches and the Figtree "Stitched" fabric for the alternate squares and borders.

The plan was to make this later in the year but, once I started, I couldn't stop.

At the start of April I cut out some blocks for Vinnie's "Dinosaur" quilt designed by Elizabeth Hartman.  This will be my second full-size version of this quilt and I'll have plenty left over to make the smaller size.

I'm using the Robots kit fabrics because Vinnie liked the Dinosaurs rather than Robots.

There is a lot of prep-work involved in Elizabeth Hartman's quilts but once the cutting out is done the patterns are so easy to follow and the blocks go together like a dream.

Next up are the Stegosauruses