Hubblebird's Quilt Blog

I was over half way through making the 120 framed nine patch blocks needed to make my own version of Lynne Dykstra's ( Klein Meisje Quilts ) gorgeous quilt ( see my blog here ) when I got sidetracked by this butterfly block tutorial by Mrs Schmenkman Quilts .  The blog isn't kept up-to-date any more, but please go to it to discover how the block originated.  This tutorial was written in 2010 when it seems the block was very popular. Anyhoo, I became obsessed with making my own and, using any scrap I could find, I started making what has turned out to be one of my favourite quilts. The tutorial is very clear and I had no problem putting these blocks together. I don't normally trim blocks to size, so that task was tedious, not to mention wasteful of the black background fabric, but I persevered to produce one hundred 6" blocks.  In the beginning I wasn't going to put a border on, but quickly found that the butterfly wings stretched too much to be simply left with a s...

Meet Otso and Fatso. Otso means ‘bear’ in Finnish, and I knit these from a free pattern downloaded from London Loop Knit Lounge.   Both are knitted from 10 ply yarn.   The hardest part (for me) is getting their faces right and there has been lots of ripping out of scary eyes. I love their fat bottoms and pudgy arms and legs. I also finished six baby burp cloths mentioned in my last post . These went together very quickly and I’m reasonably happy with them. However, even though I pre-washed the flannel it did shrink again after the prototype was washed.   This is probably not the best quality fabric, so before I make any more from the next lot of flannel, I am going to modify the pattern to make it slightly bigger – maybe a half inch all round.   I’m also going to cut on the fold as it will be a lot easier to cut out. I’m now finishing up a gorgeous frilly cotton/wool mix cardigan for the new summer baby, as it can still get cool in our part of the world in No...

Not that I need to put my nose to the grindstone, as it seems I have managed to accumulate a lot of projects, and I’m loving it. W ith knitting and hand-sewing my evenings are completely taken up. For daytime sewing I came across Lynn Dykstra's blog, Klein Meisje Quilts , a few months ago, and I fell in love with her solids on prints series of quilts.   She is a prolific quilter and encourages readers to use her designs ‘at your pleasure’. I am particularly fond of the framed nine patch, and set about making my own using only fabrics from stash, plus any large scraps. Here are my blocks so far up on the design wall.   At the moment I am just throwing them up there as I make them.   My intention is to make the quilt 10 x 12 blocks which is a really big quilt.   I find piecing these very soothing. Around the time I read Lynn's blog I also read about Ruth’s framed nine patch ( Gigi’s Room ) and I’m really taken with the idea of doing a quilt-as-you-go using her ...

My new grand daughter will have two cousins - Zoe and Eli.  I decided to make a quilt for each of them as a gift from the new baby. Here is Zoe's quilt which I have named Cupcakes.   I wanted to use only fabrics from my stash.  The multi-coloured strips came from a jelly roll that I bought years ago thinking that they would make good blending fabrics for my indigenous hexie quilt.  But they were far too loud and modern and I abandoned that idea.  The jelly roll has sat on the shelf for at least two years.  I never knew what to do with it. Then I saw the cupcake fabric in my local patchwork shop a few weeks ago.  I teamed it with the small scale 'girly' animal and rainbow fabric.  The border fabric is left over from baby MJ's cot quilt.  The backing is from stash and purchased at garage sale just before our Corona lockdown. I used a multi-coloured thread and the serpentine stitch on my Bernina to quilt this little quilt and I'm happy with...