Done and Begun

 Let’s start with the “Done”! I have finished a quilt for my dad for his birthday (which is today). Will be giving it to him tonight. I don’t know about you, but I always find quilts for guys to be a little more difficult. I wanted a simple pattern, and nice fabrics that weren’t too feminine.

This is what I came up with:



I’m calling it Blue Diamonds. Original hey? I drew the simple design up in EQ7, found the perfect fabrics (Pear Tree in Blue) already cut into squares in my stash, so it was a simple matter of putting it together.



This is my EQ7 sketch. I love that with EQ7 I can insert samples of the actual fabrics I plan to use. It really helps give an idea of how the quilt’s going to look when finished.

I love square blocks set on point. But I especially love the magic of how they come together. I’m not very good with spatial awareness or of how things fit together. So it always amazes me to see how the strips come together.



Oh and I also suck at estimating how much fabric is needed for backing. Hence my backing’s often being pieced. Let’s all it me being creative and wanting the back to look as nice as the front



Now this isn’t technically a quilt, in that it doesn’t have a layer of batting. So there’s not quilting. It’s more of a doona cover type thing to be used mid season when it’s too hot for a heavy blanket and just that bit chilly needing some kind of cover.


I love Pear Tree – this print is my favourite with that sweet little birdie in the top of the tree. Rather pleased with how this quilt came together!

Btw did you see a snake in any of those photos? Yeah me neither. That's because it was in my kitchen at the time. I think that's when the sneaky bugger got inside as I left the door wide open while I was outside taking photos of this quilt. Eeee. Moving on.

So that’s been one of my bigger projects of late. Now that’s done, it’s time to focus on the next big project. Here’s the “Begun” part of the post. Two quilts for my Nan’s 90th in March. One is going to be a family tree wallhanging, and the other an autograph quilt.

I thought rather than guestbook, it’d be nice to send the squares out to friends and family to sign, then I’ll make it into a quilt for Nan and give it to her at her party. So! I have started!



My squares are going to be 6” finished. So I cut white squares at 6.5” and print squares at 4.5”. I’m using some of the pink and green colourways of Lush by Patty Young. I really love this fabric line (it’s also what I made XOXO out of).



Looking at making about 48 of these. 36 done, so a few more to go. Which I’d better do today so I can get these posted out asap.

Tough part is deciding on the layout.

We can go with this:


We can go with that:


But I think we’ll go with Option 3:


I must be easily entertained. Just like loving the magic of putting on point square blocks together, I also love how one block pattern can make three distinct looking designs!

So there you have it. One project done, one project begun. 2013 is off to a great start!