Quilts for Charity

I have just started to realise just how many crafty people there are living locally to me! Yay!  One of them is a lady called Tamara McDonald who makes wonderful quilts to sell for charity.  She is currently selling two, a masculine and a feminine.  All profits raised from this will go towards a children's cancer charity, in this case it will be the Piam Brown ward at Southampton general, UK. 

So I just wanted to share them on here in case anyone who reads this would like to go and buy them!

Tamara McDonald Feminine Charity Quilt

Tamara McDonald Masculine Charity Quilt

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely day!

Festival of Quilts

All I can say is WOW!  This was my first time at a big quilting event and to say I was overwhelmed would be a massive understatement.  Not only by the sheer volume of fabric stores offering their wares but also to the amazing talent on show with all the amazing quilts on display.  Wasn't sure if I was allowed to take pictures but everyone seemed to be clicking away! So here are some of my favourites.

This has to be my absolute favourite of the whole day:

I loved all that wonderful colour and idea behind the quilt, especially having been the outsider living in different countries for 10 years of my life.  Loved the way it was quilted too.

Then in stark contrast is this wonderful piece of art, by Susan Chapman.  I totally love the simplicity of the design work. 

Loved her style so much I bought one of her postcards!

 Loved the miniatures section too.  I'm afraid my photos are a bit blurry through! Girls and their shoes eh?

Thought my daughter would love this one!  War Horses by Emily Booth.

 It became apparent to me that I am not really drawn to traditional quilts, love something a bit different.  Check out this wonderful bench!

And this amazing piece was teeny tiny bits of fabric sewn in place

This had the most amazing quilting on it as can be seen more clearly in the close up.

And this one was amazing too!

This final one got awarded Best in Show.  I loved the design and how it reminded me of how Japanese kimonos are displayed.  Amazing work.

 And now onto the purchases.  As I said it was a bit overwhelming to see so much fabric in one place! I could have spent so much more than I did, but apart from the odd indulgence, most of what I bought was bought with either class or market ideas in mind! So quite restrained I thought!!  I have photographed it with the card of the shop I bought it from.  Think my favourite shop for the selection of unusual fabrics has to be The Eternal Maker.  So pleased to hear it isn't that far from me! Might have to pay them a visit soon.

The Eternal Maker

Simply Solids

Creative Grids

Favourite Fabrics

Sorry can't remember where these were from!

Lady Sew and Sew

Fiddlesticks Fabrics

Funky Needlework

The Fat Quarters

Harry & Floss (not actually at the show but near to my sister's house!)

If you are going have a great time.  I will definitely be going back next year.  Maybe for 2 days!

Happy Go Lucky Quilt

I made this quilt a couple of weeks ago using fabrics from different ranges but most from a range called Happy Go Lucky I think, hence the title.  The colours look really cheerful together and I think although I made it with a boy's baby quilt in mind, it's not really gender specific.

After much deliberation I decided to do free motion loopy quilting.  I was going to do wonky straight lines.

I almost like the back more than the front.

Finished Petite Street HST Baby Quilt

I managed to finish up the Petite Street baby quilt I've been making.  The fabric line is called Petite Street and is by Dashwood Studios.  You can get it locally to me here and here.  I had split a fat quarter bundle with a friend so I had a set of fat eights and decided to cut two large squares from each to make the HSTs.  I bought extra of the fabric for the binding and backing and used a white star blend for the rest.

I love the modern and simple look this quilt has.  Love how the quilting turned out.  Will have to try to get a better picture as it is hard to see the vertical lines which give the partial grid look on the white triangles.  I've popped it in the washer/dryer to fluff it up a bit! But maybe if the sun comes out tomorrow I might get some more pictures!

[Edited to add these next two pictures to show you fluffed up loveliness!]

You can definitely see those vertical lines in the fluffy pictures!

I'm happy that all my points match up! Yay that was worth the extra effort.

It measures 40 x 40 inches, so it's great for baby/toddler or even a lap quilt.  I had some unpicking to do as I didn't check my tension properly! Doh! But it took me about eight hours start to finish (7.5 if you don't count the unpicking!). I was hoping for 5 hours all in, so took longer than I thought.

I picked my favourite fabric from the range to put on the back.  Who could fail to love those fluffy little clouds! And I think the pink binding is a really lovely contrast, both back and front.

So tell me quilters, how long would it make you to make this quilt? And if you make quilts to sell, what sort of hourly rate do you factor in?  As this is the first one I'm considering selling, I could use your advice.  Obviously I have my own ideas and I have done research on Etsy, but I was just wondering what your personal experience is. Thanks :-)

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WIP Binding going on!!

Well the binding is going onto the Petite Street quilt. So happy with how this is turning out!

Love the quilting grid pattern. Have to say though, a few lines had to be unpicked at the beginning as my tension was off a bit! Frustrating! 

Anyhow, as I said in an earlier post, this quilt is destined for my Etsy Shop/ Market and as such I have been minute by minute timing myself. And it's taken longer than I thought it would! So a few questions for my quilting readers. How long would a toddler size quilt take you to make? And if you make to sell, what hourly rate do you factor in? Just interested as to what others do really. 

Hoping to finish today. So will post the finished quilt tomorrow. 

W.I.P. Petite Street HST Baby Quilt

Today I got to spend some time working with the cute Petite Street Fabric that I had made the half square triangle stack I shared a while back and asked for some guidance on which design layout to go with! Well I decided, with your help, to go with option 2, triangles!

So today I pieced it together.  So pleased with the outcome.  I love the modern simplicity of it.

Also worked hard on achieving seam accuracy to get my points to meet up perfectly and am really happy with the outcome.  Best I've done yet I think!!

Have planned to quilt it like this one over at Red Pepper Quilts.  Love the look and think it complements HSTs really well.  Thanks Rita!

This one will be ending up in my Etsy Shop, so watch this space!

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