Progress on the hexies!

I think I have enough paper pieced hexagons to finish the project I have in mind, so here's a little update!

Paper pieced hexagons

I am slowly stitching hexies!

These will eventually be a tea cozy - not sure when you will see a finished project, but there is some slow progress!

--Ann

Quilts for Grandsons

Once in a while, I need to put my sewing for Magpie Quilts on the back burner and make a quilt for someone close to me. Last November, we welcomed our 3rd grandson into the family and I made him a quilt from a panel my husband bought in Fort McMurray while there on business. I am sorry I didn't take the time to take a decent picture of the whole quilt, but I'm sure I'll get a chance sometime!

Originally I had set aside some ivory Minky for the backing, but for some reason, it didn't quite seem to be the right colour for this quilt. I finally went and bought this sky blue Minky dot and it worked perfectly!

And the newly minted big brother and middle child requested a superhero quilt for his big-boy bed and while I've had the fabrics for quite a while, I only recently figured out what pattern I was going to use and finished his quilt top and it's now at the quilters. Pattern is called "Six and Ten", I don't have a link or a source, but it was easy enough to do. 

The blocks finish out at 10" square, so for each block you need a feature fabric of 6.5"x10.5" with a 2.5"x10.5" strip of the background on either side. Make as many of these as you need (I made 42 for a 6 block by 7 block quilt) and alternate the blocks one horizontal, the next vertical. Sew together!

So, sometime in the near future, I'll have full photos of these two boy quilts for you to enjoy!

--Ann

 

Blog Anniversary! Top 10 quilts to date!

To celebrate four years of blogging as Magpie Quilts, here in no particular order, are the ten quilts that I have sold (or still have for sale!) that I love the most! Enjoy!

Tiny windmills

Almost antique sawtooth

Dresden Star

Sampler patchwork

Bearspaw Quilt

Irish Chain quilt

Kaleidoscope quilt

Baby Quilt

Baby Chevron Quilt

Chevron Quilt

Which is your favourite? I would love to know!

--Ann

A Couple of Angels

I found these little angel cross stitch pictures while I was rearranging and cleaning out my storage cupboard early this year and found a scrap of purple fabric that matched and made this cute little wallhanging. Not sure where the pattern was from, but if I find a copy of the magazine, I will let you know the source. 

Little angels - Love is Kind - FOR SALE HERE

--Ann

Disappearing Friendship Star

At my Monday night guild last month, we had a lovely trunk show and class from fellow member Linda Hurd and her husband, Wayne Kollinger. Linda is a lovely lady and accomplished quilter - her machine quilting is amazing! Wayne is a pattern designer (Tuxedo Park Designs) and has been published in magazines and has a few books too.

The class was on taking a traditional block (in this case, the friendship star) and cutting it into 4 pieces and reassembling it into something new. The quilt it is based on is here in Wayne's Sketchbook Blog - a lovely blue & yellow quilt.

I looked through my stash of fabric and decided on quite a different colour selection - a muted pallet of greens and golds with some brown and red thrown in.

First, the original blocks are made - two with one colourway and two with the same fabrics, just different layout.

Wayne & Linda's instructions have details on how to press seams to avoid bulky seams at the end, but you can just press seams open for the same result.

Four simple blocks. Now the fun part! Cut each block into four pieces as shown.

 Take 2 pieces from one block and 2 pieces from the other and combine to make a new star block as shown.

And combine your four new blocks into a quilt top. I haven't added borders yet as I think this quilt turned out a little more green than I had imagined it would.

When I have a top that I can't decide how to finish, I just put the assembled blocks and related fabrics aside, come back to it at a later date and finish the top when I know what I want to do with it.

Thanks to Linda & Wayne for a great project!

--Ann