QuIP (Quilt In Progress)

Just a quick post on the hexagon charm quilt I am working on. Eventhough I am using a random layout, I have decided to lay out the 974 basted hexagon first in order for me to distribute similar fabrics throughout the quilt.   I've numbered them based on rows and sequence before putting them away in shoeboxes. Tedious I know but I think it's worth it!   It's just my way of making sure that the colours and collections are well distributed.

 one and a half inch hexagon pieces

I started sewing the hexagons together in strips recently using hand quilting thread and I have used the whipstitch method for attaching the hexagons. 

My plan for now is to sew these strips of ten together and then attaching them to my largest piece once I've created a small section. I like this method because it's portable. I can sew strips together just about anywhere.

Above, I sewed the two rows together (I'm alternating strips of 9 and 10 hexagons). Then I would lay out another strip trying to get a nice color distribution and this would make up for one small section.

This is what I've done thus far....

The sections above contain 30 hexies each

Happy Stitchin' Everyone! :)

Another Hexagon Quilt in the Making....

I've been paper piecing these hexagons for some time now and have managed to persuade one of my besties, Hafizah, to join me.  It's been fun getting hexies basted during the little bits of time and it is quite addictive to say the least.

I really like the idea of creating a colourful, random collage of hexagons.  My goal is to have a charm quilt, with no single piece of fabric repeating.

I chose 1 1/2" hexagons this time around thus I need 974 of them to make about 72" x 75" charm quilt.

I started out with scraps from my previous projects, also pulling from my fabric stash and ordered charm packs to get the number of hexies I needed. I did some fussy cutting (made my own template using transparent plastic-for finding perfect spot on busy prints) on some of the fabrics.

I've basted the hexagons following Lori Holt's of Bee in my Bonnet  tutorial.  I have about 1,100 of these babies all basted and ready to be attached to each other.  I've made extras with thoughts of adding a few for the backing.

At the moment, I'm treating this as a portable side project and one that I hope will not take a long time to complete! haha

Details on progress of these babies to come soon......

My First Improv Quilt

I am so glad to show you my first finished quilt for 2012. I have used a pattern from Kate Conklin Designs called There's a Square in There. I love the contemporary look of the quilt and decided to make one for my son.

I have mostly used Denyse Schmidt's Greenfield Hill line -dogwood colourway, a mix of prints, Essex Cotton/ Linen solids and a whole lot of Kona Cotton in Snow.

It was a lot of fun cutting the fabrics using Kate's 'stack and slash' method.



I wanted to add more blocks as I wanted the quilt to be bigger and the blocks smaller than the original design. So after a few exchanges of emails with Kate and based on her recommendations, I made the blocks smaller without compromising the look and added 9 extra blocks to make it 72" square. Love the improv look!

Quilting was fun too.   I hand quilted it using Perle Cotton No. 8  and
followed Kate's method

using masking tape to mark out the squares and then quilted on the inside and outside of the tape.

I love her pieced back design
and did the same for this one.  I used
Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line-new day colourway for the backing and added a few green prints to tie up with the front of the quilt.

I made up two scrappy binding strips using the remaining fabrics I have used for the front and placed them randomly on the sides and I love how it looks!

I am very happy with how it turned out and knowing that my son, Iliya loves it....PRECIOUS!!!

2011 Finishes

Besides the Flower Garden which you can read about it here and my Baltimore Album here, these are the other quilts which I've completed in 2011.

I've made another Baltimore Album quilt for my dearest mom (since she loved the one I made for my bed) and gave it to her as a Mother's Day gift. I used Sindy Rodenmeyer's Baltimore Blues pattern which I've purchased from Fat Cat Patterns awhile back.

Before Binding (left) and After

I started this quilt early last year. I hand appliqued the blocks and assembled the top within 4 months, I sent it out to my LQS for quilting as the batting were too thick and my needles kept breaking!  I was ambitious to tell them just to machine quilt the blocks and sashings and that I'll be hand quilting the side and corner triangles. However due to time constraint, as you can see the picture above, I commissioned my good friend Nordzie to help me with it.  She knew how tight my schedule was, so she went a step further by finishing the binding for me! It was so sweet of her! 

Lap Quilt measures 60" x 85".










This Log Cabin quilt was made for my daughter, Syairah. She wanted a bright and colourful quilt to cover her bed and she did play a part in selecting the fabrics for her quilt.

Assembling the blocks were abit of a challenge in the beginning but overcomed it after a few boo boo. The process of seeing the blocks coming together was really exciting and I couldn't wait to see the end product.

 I machine quilted 'in-the-ditch' and managed to whipped this baby up in 3 weeks!


The quilt is 56" x 65".  The colours gave a modern look to the traditional design and am glad my teenage daughter loves it!


Another finish for 2011 was a prayer mat. It was a request made by my sister-in-law, Eka Zahra, and I thought it would be nice to make it as a gift (since it was mentioned a few months prior to her birthday).  I wanted the mat to have a more subdued colour and chose neutrals which also happened to be her favourite!

I used one of the designs of the blocks I've made in my previous BA quilt and made it as a header in this mat. I've hand quilted the block and machine quilted the rest.

The prayer mat measures at 28" x 42".

Baltimore Album Quilt

I've always been inspired by pictures of Baltimore Album Quilts in magazines and decided to make one.

This project started in mid 2010. My LQS had a series of BA BOM and with much enthusiasm I've ordered the templates and started immediately upon receiving them.

A few of the completed blocks before trimming to size

These blocks finished at 16".  I hand appliqued the blocks using my favourite needle-turn method.   It took 5 months to complete all 13 of them.

 I wanted to try a new layout so I set the blocks on point and pieced them on a diagonal by machine.  I used a green tone-on-tone fabric for the stars and a soft green solid for sashings.

I hand quilted all the blocks, side and corner triangles. Machine quilted 'in-the-ditch' for both sashings and stars.

backing

Completed this baby in 8 months.

My Baltimore Album Quilt measures 103" square.

My hubby loves the fresh and vibrant colours of this beauty.

2010 Quilts

I would like to show you pictures of what I've been doing over the past two years and this post is about the few quilts which I've completed in 2010.

First off is a lap quilt that measures 45" x 52" which I've made for my hubby's late grandmother, Zaharah.  She turned 90 on the 24th of December, 2010. It was an early birthday gift since I finished this piece in August.

She had/used the quilt for about 7 months until she passed away of old age in late March last year. May her soul rest in peace.  Al-Fatehah. Opah we miss you!

This quilt is now in my aunt-in-law's home and is being well used by her grandchildren.

This baby quilt was made for my sister-in-law, Eila's newborn, Aisyah Zahra in May 2010.

This quilt was done by hand from start to finish. Nordzie, a dear friend of mine - a VERY TALENTED quilter I might add, showed Nahar and I, the steps and techniques used to assemble this quilt.

The 'CatNap' quilt measures 38" square.

Nahar (another good friend) and I purchased our sewing machine about the same time in 2010.  Since both of us were relatively new to quilting back then, we took up a beginner's patchwork and quilting class at our LQS in Ampang.

This is the outcome of it. The sampler quilt measures 40" square. The blocks were done by hand and machine. I used machine to stitch the hearts in one of the blocks as I wanted to learn machine applique.  

Thanks to Mr. Chan, Ms. Wai and Alice of Cottage Patch, for your patience and guidance!  We've enjoyed the weekly sessions whilst we were there.

My Flower Garden Quilt

It all started with this photograph which I saw in the Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine, Vol 18 No 9.

I love hexagons and thought that it would be a nice project to start off after a long while (1995 to be exact) when I last made my daughter's baby quilt. 

This is my very first big quilt. It measures 85" x 95".

I started this project in January 2010 and completed it in February 2011.

There are more than 4,000 hexagon pieces in there, all hand-pieced and hand quilted. 

I used Marti Michell's 3/4" hexagon template to cut and mark my fabrics. These hexagons were pieced following Marti's dot-to-dot piecing technique.

After completing the centerpiece, I've appliqued it to the borders as I wanted to keep the hexagon shaped edges. I stitched 'in-the-ditch' for the hexagons and used variegated thread for the borders.

Backing

I wanted a crinkly, vintage finish thus I did not pre-wash the fabrics prior to cutting.




LOVE the traditional look!

Even though it took me about 13 months to complete this project, I have enjoyed the whole process of it!

The Start of Something New

I bought this book back in February 1995 with the intention of making a baby quilt for my first newborn.

I chose this pattern to be my first newborn's quilt because I love the simplicity of this design.

This quilt was hand-pieced since I did not own a sewing machine back then and for the hearts, I did a needle turn applique following the instructions from the book. 

I hand-quilted it and the whole process took me about a month from start to finish. 

The quilt measures 32" x 40".

I should have used a darker fabric for the hearts to make them pop up (lesson learned) but am still pleased with how it turned out since it was the first quilt I've ever made.

Hi Fellow Quilters!

Greetings, my name is Farah. This is my first time blogging. I love to sew, quilt, bake, read and I knit occasionally.
I enjoy the inspirations I get from reading other amazing quilters and crafters blogs. I have toyed with the idea of creating a blog and after numerous nudging from family members and friends I finally took the plunge.
I am a novice quilter and have been slowly sewing over the last 2 years or so and while my projects aren't always successful, I do learn something new each time. I hope to share and document my quilting experiences and other events that I create throughout my days. This is the beginning of a new adventure for me and I hope it will help me become a more active quilter!
I can't wait to show you some of the projects I've made. They may not be show quality and I can't expect my sewing to be perfect but that's okay....
Please check back often as I will be trying to update frequently and would love to hear your thoughts, ideas or suggestions.
Thanks for stopping by! :)