City Weekend Swirly Pop (more pinwheel love)

Waaaay back at the beginning of May I started on this quilt using Cluck Cluck Sew's Swirly Pop pattern (yet more gorgeous pinwheels) and my long ago purchased City Weekend charm packs.

Inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts I wanted to try using a different base colour than my usual white, so I used a light grey, it definitely makes the colours pop. But this has been one of those quilts that I've alternatively loved and hated depending on what stage it's at (funny how that happens!). Luckily now that it's finished, I really love it. It's a bit more complex than my usual, and I do lose interest fast when my pile of blocks doesn't seem to be growing quickly enough but I persevered (not that it's a difficult pattern, it definitely isn't!).

I have to admit that I had a bit of an issue (actually a BIG issue) with the outer border, I initially used one of the pink prints as a more solid border and it just looked really ordinary (husband said it looked good, but I'm pretty sure he was just saying that for an easy life!), I ended up unpicking it (after I'd quilted the quilt, wouldn't recommend doing that if you can help it!), ordering two more charm packs and going with the mixed border like the RPQ's one. It added a couple more months to the project (but what's a couple more when it's taken 6 months right?) SOOOOO much better!!! it really makes the quilt I think.

The finished quilt is approx. 60in x 68in and used 4 charm packs of City Weekend (2 for the quilt and about 1.5 packs for the border), plus a solid light grey (I just used one from the local fabric shop).

While I'm on a roll....

Another finished quilt, I blogged the start of this quilt late last year, it took me a while to finish it, and then even longer to take photos of it.

It's one of my favourite quilts. I love pinwheels. I used a lovely pattern by Thimble Blossoms, ""Wild Thing", inspired by this quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew.

The pinwheels are made with a couple of charm packs, Recess by American Jane (found them on Ebay for a bargain price!). The backing, border and binding are Punctuation by American Jane, mainly because Recess is so far out of print I couldn't find ANY yardage. But the two go together really well. I love the retro primary colours. The quilt's already looking well loved thanks to a few washes.

A couple of sneak previews

I've had this one finished for over a week but haven't had a chance to take a decent photo:

A job for this weekend!

And a QUIP (quilt in progress),  a strip baby quilt in pinks and aqua, my second commission for my best customer (thanks Anna!). Hoping to finish this one on the weekend too. That only leaves two other unfinished quilts! Apart from all the ones I've got planned in my head and fabrics purchased....but that's another story.

Really loving this one. I know I always say that! sometimes its so hard to part with quilts that I make for other people and I suspect this one might be the hardest.

Pinwheels

Haven't had much sewing time lately, first birthdays and christmas are interfering!

Squeezed in a bit though here and there, and I do love a pinwheel quilt. All those piles have turned into this:

Much quicker and easier than I thought. I can't wait to finish this one, I love the retro prints (Moda Recess) and primary colours. Waiting on arrival of border fabric, binding and backing, hope it arrives in time for some Christmas sewing!!

Hand quilting

So this is a quilt I recently finished for my baby girl using repro 1930's fabrics. It's my first attempt at hand quilting. I was dubious and thought it'd take eons to quilt but have to say, I'm hooked. I love the way it looks and I loved having a project to work on during evening couch telly time. Felt so productive! But I think I'll stick to smallish quilts for hand quilting.

Cute huh! Could be my favourite quilt so far, weird because I started out hating it!