Summer Love Quilt

Summer is outdoor entertaining, BBQ and Stan Getz

Summer is warmth on your skin, sunglasses and summer dresses

Summer is fun, cheeky and exuberant

Summer is beach, sand and sunscreen

Summer is ice-cream, mango and watermelons

Summer is love.

Quilt facts:
Size: 92.5" x 92.5" (washed)
Fabric: California girl charm pack, Bella solids in Feather, and Paisley in Pink inner border; backing fabric in Super ring dots in cream by Red rooster fabrics 210; scrappy binding
Quilting: Machine pieced and hand quilted using DMC Perle no.8 in Ecru
Time frame: 4 months

Progress links:
Slow & Steady
WIP Summer Love Quilt
Summer Lovin'

Paper + Fabric

Who would have thought using paper and fabric together would result in a lovely quilt?  That's right, I am talking about English paper piecing (EPP).  I have seen some lovely examples in the blog world and have always been in oohs and aahs about them.  So I thought I would give it a go myself.  It was not as daunting as I thought it would be once I figured out the size of the diamond template I want, go through the tutorials and Viola! I have made my very first star EPP.

The fabric combination are endless and I think it is a good way to experiment on different fabric colours, designs and texture that you never thought could look good together, or to use up your scraps from other projects.  I found a few great blogs that has really good tutorials on EPP and some really beautiful EPP quilts for inspiration.

Tutorial links:
EPP Tutorial - selfsewn
EPP Graph & Tutorial - My Bear Paw

Inspiration links:
EPP Inspirational Quilts -selfsewn
EPP Rose Star WIP Quilt - Sewing Over Pins

Happy Quilting!

p/s: Clare @ selfsewn is giving away a star quilt - all you have to do is follow her blog and leave a comment.

A Splash of Dresden Sunshine

I have been working on appliqueing these Dresden plates since December last year and I am happy to say it is progressing really well.  As with all my projects, progress is a little slow as I am only a part-time quilter.  There are days when I am in the office that I wished to be at home quilting away but one's got to pay the bills and etc.

It's been really fun and therapeutic to work on this project as the vibrancy of the colors always put a smile on my face after a long day at work.  Nothing like a good color and quilting therapy to chill out with in front of the TV which is really only there for background noise.

Oh... Let's not forget it's Valentine's Day today - Happy Valentine's Day to all the quilters out there.  May your day be splashed with rays of sunshine and love from whatever form it comes in ie. a smile from a good looking guy on the tram/train, a huge cuddle from your kids, a parcel from the postie, your fabric stash and so forth.

Seeing it's a Work In Progress, I thought I'll link up to WIP Wednesday

Linking up!

I chanced upon this blog Lily's Quilt when I was looking for tutorials on English paper piecing techniques via this blog My Bear Paw.  It's been a day of links so I thought why not link my blog to 'Small Blog Meet' to continue the flow.  Join in the link!

Slow and steady

Finally finished hand quilting the Summer Loving Quilt!  It's been a long, slow and steady process but I am really glad to see it finished.  During the hand quilting process, there were times I wished that I had machine quilted it but I am glad that I choose the option to hand quilt instead.  The outcome is stunning and definitely fit into the feel of carefree, sunny and fun loving summer days as intended for this quilt.

Now for some scrappy binding.

Thank you for stopping by and Happy quilting!

Summer Loving Work In Progress

I picked up my Summer Lovin' quilt yesterday after leaving it undone for close to three months.  I had to put it on hold to make way for the Swoon quilt and Childhood quilt.

Now that summer is here, I am hoping I'll get it done by end of the month (fingers crossed).

Hand quilting is a slow but therapeutic process.  It produces an organic feel to the quilt which I think adds to the overall look to the quilt.

Hand quilting can feel overwhelming at the beginning but once you get into the rhythm of it, it is not as daunting as it seems.  I have attached a tutorial on hand quilting by Sarah Fielke on my last blog, do check it out.  I have done my hand quilting a little differently, I don't use a quilting loop but spread out the basted quilt on my dinning table.  So far it has worked well on big quilts like this.  However, I am going to try hand quilting with the quilting loop at some stage this year.

In the meantime... Happy Quilting!

p/s:  I have found a new love - Instagram (I am a little slow in catching up with things like these).  You can follow me at http://instagram.com/bind_quilts

Hand Quilting

I found a great tutorial on hand quilting by Sarah Fielke whom was a co-author of my favourite quilt book titled Material Obsession.  As mentioned, this book has inspired me on many levels with my love for quilting, hand quilting being one of it.  I had hand quilted a few quilts, of which consisted of 2x baby, 1x lap and 2x queen sizes (one queen being work in progress).  I have only started machine quilting recently and I have to agree with Sarah that the 'look' and 'feel' of a hand quilted quilt feels more personal and warm in comparison to one that was machine quilted.  However, having said that, I have also found some simple machine quilted quilts that have worked wonders to the look of a quilt for example quilts by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.

As a beginner to the quilting world, I think it is inspirational to have examples of different quilting methods/techniques so that we can experiment with it.  I feel this helps me in the process of finding my own rhythm and style, and to understand what enhances the design of the quilt.

Hand quilted quilts:

Sabela's Quilt

Olivia's Quilt

Lan's Quilt

Saskia's Quilt

Summer Loving Quilt (work in progress)

Hand quilting tutorial:

Sarah Fielke