Quilting Project

Have finally got round to blogging about a project I finished a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that it was a friend's 40th birthday present - and it was late!! There were reasons - not being well over half term seriously cut down on my crafting time, as all my spare time went into writing reports.

It's the most complicated quilting project I have attempted so far - although probably not that complicated for the more experienced out there.

I decided to have a go at the Amish Friendship Star cushion cover that Jenny Rayment posted on Create and Craft's website (under Nov 2012 Quilting Classroom).

I started with this piece of material as my inspiration. I loved the colours - although not se keen on the pattern. I thought the colours would go well with my friend's beach type theme in her living room.

As you can see from the finished article, I cut my pieces very selectively so I ended up with bluey grey pieces, peach pieces and lilac pieces. I wouldn't have been able to achieve this without my Sizzix dies. I used the 1/2 square triangles (3" square when sewn together on the diagonal), and the square die (3" unfinished - 2 1/2" finished).

I cut them all in one go so I had enough to do each of the four patches to join together. The glittery silver material was left from another project. Because of the way the 1/2 square triangles are cut, it makes them very easy to join together. I then followed Jenny's instructions on how to join the squares for each patch together (see above).

When joining the squares, I used my Tim Holtz piercing ruler to measure the seam allowance - it does look like the pencil line is wobbly, but its just the way the photo was taken.

I then joined these, ironing open the seams at each point.

Finally the patches were ready to be joined. The whole thing was then sewn onto the wadding, The outside of the finished cover was made from a charcoal grey material - although I know it looks black on the photos. I made a very simple pillowcase type back using just this material (Jenny suggests you use several different materials - I'd had enough complications by then, so went for the simpler option).

Despite the hiccups, it turned out pretty well. Late - but I hope it was better late than never.

Cxxx