I had enough blocks left over for another quilt, slightly smaller, so I made myself one.
It may possibly turn into a gift for a friend I'm seeing later this year. I'll have to think about that.
But the top is done. There were a crazy number of y-seams, because there isn't a straight line in this quilt AT ALL.
But the top is done!
These are the quilts I (finally) completed in 2024 (well, some of them kind of just in 2025).
Woodland Dead Simple and Spare Squares
A Green Block Oddity and Break Free (or Build Upon)?
Surplus To Requirement (a.k.a. "Harry/The Spare") and Random Penny Patch
Rainbow Around The World and French General 1A
French General 1B and Scarlet Split Square
These are being given away:
- to my 2023 church group, who I was with for five years.
- a couple of gardening friends
- a couple of other church friends
- more gardening friends
- the husband friends
- dad? niecelet? nephlet?
I do have a whole lot more quilts to make...
BUT ALL THAT IS GOING ON HOLD (okay, maybe not the eighth quilt binding)
I'm going to attempt to make a quilt - two quilts, in fact - in two weeks.
The quilts are for two cousins – E1 and G2 – the two older cousins. G2 is, at the time I am posting this, about to be married. Making quilts for them (for all the cousins) is a project I've had on the books for YEARS (literal years) and I'm planning to turn it into a video project.
We'll see how it all goes!
The pattern I'm using is this one or something very like it. It's just so nice and simple, but effective, and hopefully bright. Plus, I have plenty of jelly roll strips.
Mind you, it might end up a bit scrappy.
OH CRAP. I also have to get the Show Quilt at least sewn together. It'll be another Scrappy Block Quilt, because that's what I have available right now.
I got about 8 quilts off to the quilter, two did not have padding, but she was okay with buying it and charging me. That was a couple of weeks ago and she hasn't been in contact which seems a little odd. Usually she's done by the next week. Hopefully they didn't cause her any issues!
I completed the dress for the Blue Mountains Frocktails event and it turned out pretty well.
It was a stretch knit dress, sleeveless, with a cowl neck, pattern Simplicity 2580. I might have liked a bit more flare to the skirt since I don't like my hip-to-waist ratio (practically non-existent) but it turned out to be a pretty comfy dress to wear and not too difficult to make.
I'd use the pattern again, although this first time I had significant issues with putting the cowl together and ended up having to do a bit of unpicking. Twice. This is the first time I've made notes on a pattern for the next time I made it.
I've since cut out another pattern - "(It's so easy it's) Simplicity 2898" - another stretch knit, but just the top this time, although the idea is that it's a fairly long top, which will be a nice change from all the short ones I end up with.
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While peering around in the brick-and-mortar shop being run by one of the organisers of the weekend even, I spotted a book called Zero Waste Patterns by Birgitta Helmersson, which is designed to create loose-fitting clothing with Zero or minimal waste. I've been looking more at zero waste patterns, so this was neat.
They're all loose-fit but with a certain amount of structure to them. Should be comfortable, will certainly be interesting. I do need to try them in lighter cottons and linens - maybe a quilting fabric or two?
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So that's Finish 1 for the year! 11 to go, and it's the middle of February!
Finished (trimmed and bound, etc.) two quilts over the last couple of weeks.
The Valley of Kings has been on the list for about 12 years.
I bought the fabric (Robert Kaufman's Valley of Kings) because I loved the shiny, pretty, drama of the prints, and then realised it would probably be difficult to find a pattern that would showcase it properly.
I don't know that this pattern particularly does the job, but by the time I put this together, I didn't really care. I just wanted the quilt done!
It was originally intended for a friend I knew back in 2010 who held an interest in all things Egypt. I never mentioned it to her, and over the years we grew apart to the point where we're no longer in contact. As a result, I have this fabric and a quilt that I don't have a use for...
I was giving away quilts to a number of friends and added some that had been only just quilted (but weren't yet bound) and Valley of the Kings was in one of those lists. A friend promptly claimed it.
WOOHOO.
Okay, not quite 'woohoo' because I still had to bind the darn thing!
Which I did. Eventually. About a year after actually promising her the quilt. *sigh*
Oh well, she's happy with it. And so is the recipient of this one: the Classic Dead Simple.
So-named because it's pretty much just 5" squares arranged and sewn together. Easiest quilt in the world to make, right?
Well, unless you're like me and you angst over what should go where and whether it's all balanced enough and maybe I shouldn't do the colourwave but arrange it in another configuration...
I've had these fabrics for at least as long as I've had quilting as a moderately serious hobby (ie. taking up serious shelving in my house). I bought a number of charm packs of 'reconstruction' fabrics and mixed and melded them until I had a reasonable colourwash. The original plan was to sew them together as hexagons with either neutral triangles in the corner or a contrasting colour to the hexagon. And then, over the years, I realised it was too ambitious and I was never going to do it.
Cue the pandemic.
I had time on my hands, and all that fabric. I started putting together quilts that I'd only ever planned out. And the Dead Simple Classic was one of them. No muss, no fuss, just line up all the squares and sew them into rows and then into columns. BINGO.
The friend who requested this one was delighted to discover that the individual prints had some oddities to it - it's not just solid colour, it's got some prints and patterns: a map of the world, some paisley flowers, odd geometric designs...
Anyway, two quilts out.
I still have a whole bunch more to be bound and gifted. And something of a conundrum which I might ask for your help in solving. But that's for next post.
