Ostrich Block of the Month

I finished my Ostrich Block of the Month a while ago, and thought that it was about time that I showed it off!

This BOM was organized by Myra (at Tactile Pleasures...in Fabric) through a local quilt group. Thanks Myra! This was one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever made.

This was a BOM that before we started we all made suggestions for blocks, then each month one was picked. We were able to make the blocks and project any way we wanted to. It was called 'Ostrich' because we had the option of 'putting our head in the sand' one month, and not making the chosen block (I made every block suggestion).

They weren't necessarily blocks chosen each month, sometimes they were shapes -

Triangles

Stars

Circles

Sometimes they were techniques - 

Applique 

Seminole Patchwork

Paper Piecing 

But of course, there were blocks -

Churn Dash

Square in a Square

Flying Geese

Nine Patch

Piano Keys

Bow Tie

Dresden Plate

Plus this block - we were told to start the BOM with our choice of block -

I chose a large star. 

I originally thought I would make a medallion quilt, but I quickly realized that that style of quilt needed lots of planning.

Instead I made a bed runner to go on my anniversary whole cloth quilt. It is 23"x90". I used wool batting. I decided not to quilt any feathers on it (a real challenge for me), because it would be on a quilt with lots of feathers, so I tried quilting all different kinds of lines, continuous curves etc.

The last time I blogged there was snow on the ground, now the vegetable garden is planted and growing-

the flowers beds are doing well -

incredibly windy in the photo

And I have finished lots of projects -

I made a pillow using the HexnMore ruler (the small size hexagons and triangles) - it was made to go with my whole cloth quilt and is in the photo of my bed, behind the other pillows.

I pieced a Storm at Sea quilt top,

using this ruler by Creative Grids - it was such an easy quilt top to make. The blocks are 12", and I used fat quarters in two different colours. The top is 64"x78".

I have been practicing free motion quilting (practice, practice, practice!).

I have also been knitting -

I finished a lace scarf

and a pair of socks (the pattern is Skew from Knitty).

I made a couple of shawls - 

Sweet Dreams for a dear friend

and Out of Darkness, both Boo Knits (as well as the lace scarf above)

I spun some yarn,

to make some colour work 'glittens' (gloves with the fold over top).

Lots of catching up!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Hex N More Pillow

I recently purchased a Hex N More ruler by Jaybird Quilts.

There are lots of patterns available, and because the ruler is so well designed it is pretty easy to figure out what shapes you need to cut to make a design.

I was excited to try it out, and made a pillow.

For the 'flower', I used a fat quarter that I have had for a while, with a bold, directional stripe. I always find these prints hard to work with (and there always seems to be one in a FQ pack), this seemed to perfect opportunity to use it. I marked lines on the ruler to correspond to the fabric when I cut the 'jewels' out. The triangles and jewels were cut with the Hex N More ruler.

For the 'leaves' I used a regular ruler, and the 60º angle.

All the pieces went together so well - I pressed the seams in opposite directions which helped.

 I added a cut 1+1/2" border around the block.

The quilting was done with 100Wt thread and a #80 Microtex needle. I used a layer of cotton batting with half a layer of wool batting on the top (more on this further down).

 To make it into a pillow, I made the back piece with buttons and button holes.

I made the binding a bit wider than I usually do (cut 2+3/4" wide, folded in half), I find that this works best with the extra layer of the back piece. The pillow is 21" from point to point and 17" top to bottom. I used leftover bits of wool batting to stuff a pillow form that I made for the inside of the pillow.

Wool Batting

I love wool batting! Silk and wool batting are the only types of batting I use for bed and lap quilts.
I am strongly attached to Hobbs Tuscany Wool batting, but I was told that it was the same as Hobbs Heirloom Premium Wool batting - just different packaging. So I thought I would see-

They seemed different straight out of the package. Maybe because the Heirloom was really jammed in the bag.

The Heirloom was definitely thinner and stiffer.

They were both creased. The Tuscany wool creases usually can be smoothed out when I pin the layers together.

The Heirloom wool creases seemed really set in.

I tried steaming the Heirloom wool batting to see what would happen.

It made a huge difference! It puffed out a lot and became flat - that's the beauty of wool. After steaming my family couldn't tell the difference between the Tuscany and Heirloom.

I tried a different wool batting once, that I bought at a local fabric store off the roll. It was so disappointing! The wool bearded through. I have met lots of people since that have had the same problem with the wool batting from that store - that is why I stick to Hobbs.

It is wonderful to sleep under a wool quilt - it conforms to your body and seems to keep you at a perfect temperature, especially in summer. I also accidentally 'cooked' a quilt with wool batting in the dryer, it didn't shrink or change in any way.

I had a couple of questions yesterday about the 'half layer of wool on top of a layer of cotton batting' that I use for wall hangings etc.

Starting at a corner, 

gently pull the two layers apart.

A piece of wool batting will divide into two layers pretty easily. I place a half layer of wool on top of a piece of cotton batting.
This is a technique I learned from Cindy Needham. The cotton adds weight and stiffness, while the wool shows off quilting so nicely - the best of both fibres. The half layer of wool adds very little bulk.

This is a close up of a piece I made over a year ago (shown here), you can see the nice puffs the wool creates in the feathers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

Quilting Weekend

My online quilting group had our first cyber retreat weekend! We spent the weekend together, thanks to Skype, and three of us made the same little quilt.

outside on the snow for Raewyn

The pattern is Square Dance from the book 'Fat Quarter Quilting' by Lori Smith (if you click on the book picture in the link, you can see all the quilts in the book). The book is one of my favourites - I have made 5 of the quilts, the most patterns I have used from a book.

I made a few modifications - I used a different bird pattern from the book and I changed the 'X' flowers to circles; I also have the appliqué going over the blocks. The appliqué is 'Invisible Machine Appliqué'.

I used a layer of cotton batting, with half a layer of wool batting on the top for the batting - this works great for wall hangings (it has a good weight and lays flat) and it shows the quilting off nicely. All the quilting was stitched with 100Wt thread and a #80 Microtex needle. The quilt is 16" x 20".

Thanks for the wonderful weekend Joan, Raewyn and Wendy!

This next spinning project is from March, I just forgot to show it -

100% super wash BFL fibre - the March Fibre from SweetGeorgia Yarns.

This is the first time I have spun complete skeins of Chain Plied yarn - this makes a three ply yarn the keeps the colours from getting mixed up.

More details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥