Magpie Quilts

Denim - it goes with everything and although the quilts made from them are heavier than a normal quilt - they will wear forever! This lap size quilt was made early in 2024 and the customer who bought it loved it. She then messaged me to ask if I could make another one, this time in a Queen size.  So I tapped into my online friend network to find the denim I needed as that first quilt used up all the denim I had on had. I ended up with a pile of a variety of colors. My customer then requested that she would like the faded denim look from the first quilt - which I made solely from my husbands worn jeans that were all the same style and color. The denim I had collected was definitely more on the medium to dark blue and wouldn't work for her. I had one more friend that had jeans for me and thankfully, most of her jeans were the well-faded variety! Not sure that I had enough for a queen quilt, I traced and cut out circles, figuring that if I didn't have enough, I would at least know...

I have a bin of fabrics from the Hyde Park line designed by Blackbird Designs. Some of it was already cut into squares in preparation for a project I had in mind, but never got to.  This scrappy Irish Chain pattern was free online and I've had it printed out, thinking I would use my many scraps to make it. And then it was on my table at the same time as I was looking at the Hyde Park fabrics and ta-da! There was some pink yardage in the bin with the Hyde Park pieces that were already cut, so I just started to add pieces to the design wall and put them together. I have made more than a few Irish Chain quilts and I love how they get that diagonal movement using just squares of fabric. Making the squares next to the creamy white background all the same pink just looks amazing. I backed it with a cream Fireside polyester for the cuddle factor and sent it off to Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts in High River, Alberta for quilting.  Love how it all turned out and bonus - it was scoop...

Ok, I still had the odds and ends of batik scraps out on the cutting table and thought that just maybe, there were enough for a little quilt.  This pattern is called "Kisses for Dad" from a Miniature Quilt magazine - sorry, I don't have the issue number on hand! It required 2 small 1" squares and a rectangle for each X. The piecing was diagonal and it took a bit to sew together as I wasn't able to speed through it and keep everything in place. I first picked out this turquoise blue border, but when it was sewn on, the quilt was no longer square - and that happens when the edges of a piece are bias edges like on this quilt. I took the border off, took the time to measure for the borders - a step I must admit that I have been skipping - and sewed on a new border. I was much happier with the result. Added a batting and a backing and quilted the middle portion with an all over meandering design. And finished the border with some ruler work - definitely need more pra...

Sometimes, I will just buy charm packs - in quilting lingo these are packs of 5" squares containing a full complete sampling of a fabric line. These quilts were inspired by one little pack. I made a couple of table runners out of the first little charm pack I had picked up - likely at a quilt show somewhere. One of these table runners was sold and that person decided she wanted a queen quilt made from the same fabrics. Now, fabrics can sit in my closet for a while before I make anything, so the likelihood of finding the exact fabrics again get less as time goes on. I was fortunate to find a jelly roll (pack of 2.5" strips) and a fat quarter pack to make the queen sized quilt. All good.  And earlier this year, the bin that I keep my batik fabrics in was no longer closing, so I pulled the baggie that had the left overs from the queen quilt out and went searching for a pattern or two to make some new quilts. I found this pattern in a book called Tabletastic 2 and made a couple ...

Most of the time, my quilting process is based on my stash of fabrics, a photo or pattern I've seen online or in a magazine or book, and very rarely, a pre-packaged kit that includes fabrics and pattern. I bought this kit a number of years ago - the pattern is "Homecoming" by Shania Sunga Designs - and it's been in my to-do pile ever since. I finally took it out and finished the top and then it hung in the closet where it wouldn't get wrinkled until I figured out how I wanted to quilt it. My free motion quilting skills are improving - still working on them - and I saw a couple of ideas on Pinterest and had a few friends on social media give me suggestions and I had a plan! I quilted it and listed in in the Etsy shop and it sold immediately and then I had a request for another one. The original batik red fabrics were no longer available, so I made the next one with a Northcott Stonehenge Canada fabric and it turned out just fine. And then there was enough fabrics ...