Sweet Jelly Beans

My sister Anne has been working on this lovely little quilt lately and I want to share it with you. She first saw the pattern in the window of a shop on Yonge Street in Toronto as she was driving by - not sure which one, possibly Au Lit - so one day she went and sketched out the pattern. The original had been made in India with lovely thin stripes and ginghams but she soon discovered that is was impossible to find fabric like that here. Over time she did find some ginghams but had a really hard time finding them in 100% cotton. Anway, she has been collecting fabrics for close to a decade and a while back I gave her a jellyroll of bright batiks that happened to match the ginghams nicely so around Christmas she had some time on her hands and started cutting.

HSTs

I had shared with her the technique of sewing quick HSTs (half square triangles) so that she didn't having to deal with the bias seam stretching the squares all wonky - you cut squares and then sew 1/4" on either side of the diagonal line that cuts the block in two...

and soon she was off to the races, trimming corners as she went.

The finished block size is 2.5".














Then it was time to start adding in the white sashing between the blocks.












And here's an idea of what the quilt will look like. She has called it Jelly Beans, which I think is perfect. Isn't it lovely? A beautiful summer quilt. She's continuing to plug away and trying to figure out the final size based on the fabric that she has so I'll give you an update as things progress....M

Pretty In Pink

More progress on the Candied Hexagon front, and interestingly, the latest batch seems to have a focus on pink - more by chance than by design, but pretty none the less.

Remember how much I loved the pink border print in my Goose Tracks quilt? Well, when I really like a fabric I like to sprinkle it through a few quilts when I can so from the scraps I was able to eek out a hexagon for this one.

A bit of fussy cutting for the outer ring of diamonds...

Lovin' the way the paisley print creates a design reminscent of the hard candies that this quilt is named after. The fussy cuts are called fussy for a reason - depending on the print it can seem to take forever just to get 6 diamonds cut, which tends to slow things down a bit - but they are spectacular done up and will provide lots of interest.

The yellow on this one is the same as the binding that I used on my Kaffe Fasset Frothy...

I love the colour of this mauve print...thank you Fig Tree.

It's interesting to me to see how many times I will match two fabrics together for a star and then at the last minute switch one of the prints up, either for a new colour or print combo. Just trying to stay out of a rut.

We're at 54 hexies and counting....M

Workin' It!

There's a lovely pile of works-in-progress (WIP) that continues to build on a chair in my sewing room that I'm intent on dealing with this year - you'll recognize it from my Profile photo - and happily now one more is moved along.

Single Irish Chain

This Single Irish Chain has been in the works for a bit and has been set to quilt since the summer but I have been waiting for the quilters to be ready for it. Since mom passed away a few years ago I've been on the hunt for someplace to get my tops quilted, not  realizing until some time last winter that there is a group of ladies at our church who quilt as a fundraiser. Bingo! Needless to say, I got myself onto their waiting list as soon as I could and now they seem to be raring to go.

Single Irish Chain

So last weekend I bundled everything that they need, including the batting and the thread, and left it in their trusty hands. Once they have the schedule worked out I'd like to sit in and help them quilt it, but I am so painfully slow at quilting that if it is to be finished in this lifetime it needs to be done by someone else. Besides, I already have a quilt on the frame that I have spent a lot of time ignoring. More about both of these later.

By the way, the photo of the WIP chair shows only a fraction of the projects to be finished - I've added to it since that shot was taken - but if I can work my way through it this year I'd be one happy camper. That's my goal, because I keep seeing new projects that I want to start and need to get some of these finished off before I go too far down that path. With two off the list I'm feeling pretty good about my chances...M

Beautiful, Bright Batik

We're enjoying the bright, white, sunny aftermath of a winter storm here today so it seems like a good day to show off some colour.

Today's inspiration is from my friend Ann in Ottawa who was busy this fall whipping up a few special Christmas prezzies. We're not quite sure what the name of the pattern is but she originally saw it done up in a quilt shop and figured out the pattern from a photo that she had taken. Her quilting friend Jane says she saw a similar one in Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott and they called it Sparkling Gemstones, which seems appropriate, so we'll go with that.

She used a lovely selection of rich and bright batiks framed in a beautiful blue & teal that really seem to reflect the name of the pattern.





And, while it's not reflected in this shot, she ended up quilting it by machine on the diagonal, similar to what I did on Grandma Mary's Five Patch, and she was really pleased with.

Sparkling Gemstones

I think the look on her daughter Jessica's face when it was opened Christmas morning just about says it all!

She was also busy cross stitching stockings for the girls' boyfriends, both of whom are comic book guys, so she was tickled when she found a pattern for a Superhero Alphabet Sampler on Etsy and went to work.

Ian got Iron Man, Aquaman, and Nightcrawler...

And Neal got Nightcrawler, Elektra, Aquaman, and Logan.

I have no photos to prove it but I do understand that there were a few squeals of delight when they were opened as well (if young men squeal with delight!). Thanks for sharing Ann!...M