Marcelle Medallion Update

Remember my Marcelle Medallion quilt? The one I started last September? September 2013. I finished the quilting last night. I'll be working on binding this week and I'm stoked. Here's a preview:

Bee Quick

My boss texted me this morning to request a coffee sleeve. In an effort to save money, she bought a Koenig coffee machine. Personally, this would never work for me, because I crave the steamed milk and espresso combo that only a good latte can offer. 

Here's what I stitched up this afternoon. 

The bee is from one of my favourite fabric lines called Just Wing It by MoMo. It's one of the few scraps I have left and I've been looking for the right opportunity to use it. The button is from The Workroom's amazing Button Dept.

I love these little projects that can be finished in one sitting and let me sew freestyle!

Sew Intertwined Quilt

Way back in July 2012, I joined the Sew Intertwined Quiltalong. I liked the pattern and was excited to try my first all solids quilt. Things got off to a rocky start. The first step was to make a large dresden. I love dresden blocks, but I miscounted the blades which led to a colour arrangement that I wasn't very happy with.

Still, I continued on to the next set of blocks. These were fairly simple blocks made up of four patches and HSTs and they came together quickly.  The final set of blocks could either be paper pieced to pieced using y-seams. I was a fairly new quilter and y-seams felt scary so I planned to paper-piece and even got started on it. But it was ardorous and I put it aside. Over the last few years I've looked at the blocks and thought to myself, "I should really finish these."

This August, I finally admitted to myself that I was never going to complete those paper-pieced blocks. I also admitted that the dresden wasn't working for me either. But, could I do something with the simple blocks that I did like...?

Indeed, I could! I added borders to the blocks to make the quilt front, and made an improv log cabin using the dresden block as the centre for the back. I added in an extra block at the top for fun. I quilted it with straight lines with random spacing, which is one of my go-to quilting choices because it always looks great and it's fast too!  Finally, I bound this quilt with a happy rainbow striped binding.

It's surprising how much I adore this quilt, given it's not-so-great beginnings. I love the colours and that it's done completely in solids (all Kona). I gave this quilt to my Nana and she loved it too. I hope it will keep her warm this winter when she's sitting and crocheting in front of the tv.

 

Trying Again

I used to blog regularly, but with working full time with two children has really wiped me out. Plus, Instagram allows me to easily post pictures of my WIPs and get instant feedback from other quilters. 

Still, I'd like to document my finishes, and keep notes about my projects so that I can look back on them, especially the gifted FOs. I've loaded the Blogger app on my iPhone and iPad. I have no idea if this will help me post more frequently and I guarantee more typos, but I'm going to give it a try!

Today I finished two mug rugs. These are to be gifted to my colleagues who have been covering my clients during an extended absence from work. In one, I appliqués some hexies that I made forever ago in an English Paper Piecing class I took with Johanna Masko at The Workroom. I echo quilted around the flower. The other uses some Comma mini charms. I improv pieced this one and stitched in the ditch. I really love this mug rug! My colleague loves grey and yellow so I'm sure this will be a hit!

Over the next few weeks I hope to post some of the projects I made this summer. In the meantime, please follow me on Instagram 

@modern_balabusta.