It's a Hoot Zakka Cushion Finished.

You might remember the tiny It's a Hoot Scrap Quilt I was making? I decided to make it into a cushion in the end. I also wanted to try out my beautiful new Japanese Linen in a little project, so i combined the two and made a Zakka inspired cushion.

The squares were 2 1/2 inches left over from a quilt made with a Jelly Roll and Layer Cake, and just too cute to not use. They were sitting behind my sewing machine for a long while….

There were 81 in total, which made a nice sized cushion top. (Dolly thought so too.)

 Do you ever iron open your patchwork seams? I have been doing it more and more often, specially when there are lots seams. I find it really makes the finished piece smooth and gives a good finish.

Quilting in progress - top.

This was a hand quilted project. I always use a quilter's hoop for hand quilting, it just helps me keep the tension even.     

Quilted back - It would have looked nice as a quilt too.

The top was trimmed back and I used that nice oatmeal linen for the back. 

It was just a simple envelope style back, which I finished with a groovy little row of stitching to fit in with the cushion front.

And here it is, proudly sitting on the couch with some other nice cushions….

And here it is, in its real home amongst the casual stylings of a 15 year old's bedroom. She actually liked this project, what could I do?

I've been sewing with MoMo's new fabrics, Oh Deer, too and just finished another very easy quilt made from a layer cake, but that's a subject for another day.
Do you prefer hand or machine quilting?
Till next time - happy sewing,
Ann.

My Diamonds Quilt

Time to write a blog post. I went down to Melbourne last week to attend the best Australian trade event, Australian Quilt Market. There were lots of Familiar designers and fabric companies there with a wealth of fabulous goods for me to stock in the shop... but more about that in another post.

I feel it's time to revisit my blog....

These are photos of the process of my Diamonds Quilt - now finished and hanging in Quiltopia! if you're in Maleny and able to come in and see it.

Up above is the book with the pattern and my selected fabrics - only a few actual Kaffe Fassett's, but lots of other gorgeous stuff. Then, to the right is the design wall progress.

All the diamonds are in place below. I used the same hydrangea fabric twice - once for the top row with predominantly creamy blooms, then later I used the blue/purple ones. This was the fabric I started the quilt with.

You can see the blue hydrangeas here. I like the idea of the directional fabric and stripes going every which way, and I've seen a Kathy Doughty (of Material Obsession) diamond quilt made using all stripes - incredible!

Here's the whole thing on the design wall, ready to sew. If you've ever made a diamonds quilt, did you find a formula for sewing that ensures perfect matching of seams? I'd be interested to know because

every time I thought I'd found a way, it changed in the next row. A bit frustrating. I quilted the whole quilt in the ditch by machine then used a huge variety of variegated Perle 8s to hand quilt about 1cm in from the seams. Each fabric row used a different colour.

The back looks stunning (even if I do say so myself) with it's hand quilting and sublime Prints Charming paisley - it's in the top too and as no one was buying it I decided to use it. It has a very luxurious feel (or "hand" as they say in rag trade).

The quilt could easily be used either side and I look forward to having it on my bed. See those border triangles? They're a Bali Batik and, being a child of the 60's,  orange and pink has long been a favourite colour combination for me. I think I feel a workshop coming on in 2012 for this one. On from quilting - my daughter has just finished grade 10 and started her first real part time job. It gives me a funny feeling.... I started this blog when she was still in Primary School. In fact it would probably be about  a blog anniversary time !
I'll look it up and maybe we could do a give away :) I'll post details here and also on Quiltopia!Design facebook page, so if you haven't already, join us there for daily updates and special offers.
Thanks for reading and following over the years

xo xo Ann.