Quilt for a (young) man ...

I don't think I've yet to make a quilt I didn't like but I've definitely made a few that I love (off the top of my head: Amsterdam / PBF's Wedding / Piano / Snooker Table) and this is in that category. Why? Because it was a gift for our nephew (who was 24 on Thursday) whom we dearly love, the design and execution challenged me and it is so very different to anything I've made before. What I didn't love was sewing all the black fabric ... harder on the eyes than I was expecting!

My inspiration for this quilt was the John Butler Trio t-shirt Alex wore during our ski holiday this year:

Don't quilters get their inspiration from the strangest of places?? I trusted online retailers' photos of fabric colours and was really pleased to see how closely they matched:

I drew the chevrons out and decided on measurements and got cutting quite quickly:

I went with flying geese rather than half square triangles (HSTs) and although the squares were only 2 and 3/4" I still drew lines for accuracy:

Once I'd made the chevrons and added some black framing blocks, I realised it wasn't going to work with just one so I made another ... as you do:

Now I was left with lots of spare HSTs saved from the flying geese corners so thought of a way to incorporate them and use them up. Here's how I went about making the 'Star Wars X-fighters' eyes' ... well that's what DH calls them:

There were too many seams / lines for me to even attempt straight-line quilting so I stuck with what I know - stippling - and chose a dark blue thread as I thought black would be too dull! It worked out really well and I didn't mind it standing out on the chevrons because the t-shirt design had ink stains / paint splashes on it:

I had found the perfect backing fabric - Alex plays guitar - and DH had a bit of fun with the quilt name:

And the finished quilt which, thankfully, Alex loves (as do I!):

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Have a great weekend :)

A 'Man's Quilt!'

One of DH's best friends is Mark. It's Mark's birthday next week and DH asked if I would make him a quilt - a 'Man's Quilt!' In fact, let me rephrase that sentence. DH asked me in a very manly and deep voice to make his best mate a quilt!! So, on Sunday after making all this loveliness, I looked through my fabric. I looked ... 'sigh' and I looked again. 

Now, let me be clear, I have a LOT of fabric. Some might say 'too much' but what do they know, hey?! But what I have a lot of is pink ... and flowers and butterflies ... and, oh, more pink!!

But, what do I spy there? Ah haaaaa! Perfect! I cut up some of DH's 'old' shirts last year. All are good quality, made from 100% cotton but were 'tired' and ready to go to shirt heaven until I washed, ironed, cut them into 6 1/2" squares and waited for the perfect project. And this is it!

Because the fabic was already pre-cut, I made the top really quickly but think I need to add a dark blue border:

And then I had a few squares left over so just had to make a cushion (pillow). I decided to set myself a challenge (will I never learn?!) I wanted to make a 'sealed' cushion and bind it with the same dark blue border fabric ... would that even be possible?? Only one way to find out ... 

I made two 9-patch front and back pieces. Because the cotton is a bit thinner than usual quilting cotton, I quilted some thick Vilene interfacing to each piece. Then, I machine stitched the binding on to 3/4 of the cushion, leaving an opening big enough to stuff that cushion through! I hand sewed down the back of the binding:

Okay, deep breath, here goes. Cushion in and opening pinned closed:

And to the sewing machine ... by now, I am chortling to myself because this does not look like it's going to work!! Ever the eternal optimist, I've sewn ... slowly, very slowly:

And do you know? It worked ... it's actually worked really well. I hand sewed the last bit of the binding down and here it is:

Love it! Please come back later in the week to see if I have finished the quilt :)

Update Wednesday 17th April 1852 - just added the border, basted and now it's ready to quilt ... FMQ stipple v straight line quilting ... who will win???

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced - WIP Wednesday :)