English paper pieced Dresden block: I’ve been wanting to make new pillow covers for a while, to replace the ones that I made about 5 years ago, which have been very well-used and worn. 

I figured I would take the opportunity of having more time at home to do some hand sewing - English paper piecing. I decided on Dresden blocks, using a pull of Carolyn Friedlander fabrics. I used free Dresden templates from Occasional Piece Quilts - I have used her templates before, for a bag I made several years ago. They work perfectly with 2.5″ x 5″ pieces of fabric - which is half a charm square (a great project if you have some charm squares around!) I just printed one sheet of templates, traced shapes onto thicker cardstock for piecing, and cut them out by hand.

I finished off the first patchwork section the other day, which I’ll appliqué to a solid colour background. I think I’ll leave the centre open, like a ring or wreath. I’ll start on a second one, so I have a pair of pillows. I may hand quilt these as well, or at least add some hand stitching around somewhere!

Inside-Outside Pouch: Last weekend (which at this point, feels like a million years ago!), I picked up Aneela Hoey’s pattern for an “inside-outside pouch” on her website. I really love Aneela’s pouch patterns, which have interesting and inventive designs. 

Luckily, I had the fabric and notions needed for the project - including some vinyl that I bought years ago but had never got around to using for anything. Since we were staying home anyway, I had the time to mostly finish it in an afternoon! The hand binding was probably the trickiest part, especially around the bottom corners - otherwise, it was a great, straightforward pattern to follow.

The final pouch is so cute and very functional! I’ve been using it already for a new English paper piecing project I’ve been working on. 

I hope you are all keeping safe and healthy!

Weight of Love quilt - Finished!

It took over 4 years, but I finally finished the Weight of Love quilt that I started with Libs Elliott back when I first moved to Ottawa.

It was my one project that for whatever reason, just never seemed to get done! I left it less than half-pieced for about 3 years (I didn’t touch it after our workshop). At a retreat in 2018, I finished up the patchwork section, but then I waited about another year before appliquéing it on to a backing fabric. Then I finally quilted it up this past November!

Quilty Details:

• * Libs Elliott’s “Weight of Love” quilt pattern - started in a workshop with her back in 2015
  
• * Approximately 65″ square finished
  
• * Used a combination of Kona cotton and Cotton and Steel Basics
  
• * Patchwork section is pieced with Y-seams
  
• * Appliqued the pieced section on top of solid fabric; I didn’t cut out the back so it’s extra thick under the patchwork
  
• * Straight-line quilted on my domestic with 1/2″ spacing, using Wonderfil 40-wt thread
  
• * Backing and binding in Cotton and Steel basics
  

I’m so glad to have this long-time work in progress done! Do you have any projects like this that just take years? 

Grid Triangle quilt - Finished!

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Hello! It’s been a while … a long while :). I hope you are doing well!

I haven’t posted in over a year. 2019 was a tough one for me, for many reasons that I won’t get into here. The result was that I didn’t do very much sewing, and didn’t feel much like blogging either.

But, I want to get back into sharing my projects. I always thought of this blog as something for me, a catalogue of the projects I’ve worked on since I started making quilts, and I want to continue that! I plan to post about some quilts from last year that I haven’t shared yet here. In the meantime, you can also check out my Instagram - slostudio 💕

Thanks for reading! Now on to the post …

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I started this quilt last summer, using a fat quarter bundle from Alanna at Fridays Off - a Canadian online shop that specializes in monthly fabric subscriptions. I didn’t get to finish it up until January - my first finish of the 2020!

Quilty details:

• * Size is approximately 48″ x 60″ 
  
• * Fabric is the Grid collection by Katerina Roccella from Art Gallery Fabrics, plus a mix of Kona cottons
  
• * All equilateral triangles, with some longer strips at the sides
  
• * Straight line quilted at 1/2″ spacing (my favourite!) using Wonderful 40-wt thread
  
• * Backing is another print from Art Gallery, and binding is a Cotton and Steel basic
  

It was fun to take this pics in the backyard, with Ollie watching me curiously (you can see him in one of the pictures, with his winter coat on!)

I really like how this one turned out, I will always love using high contrast -especially black and white fabrics mixed with all the colour! I think this one would make a fun baby quilt or toddler quilt, we will see where it finds its home.

Ultra Violet quilt: Finished!

This week I finished up the quilt I started earlier this year, during the Pantone Color of the Year Quilt Challenge, hosted by Sarah Sharp and Rebecca Bryan. 

I had actually finished binding this one a while back, but it wasn’t straight and that was bothering me, so I took the binding off one side, trimmed it, and re-did the binding. I’m much happier with it now! (For the time being, some of the photos of that process are up on my Instagram “stories” about this quilt!) 

Quilty Details:

• * 55 x 68″ finished size
  
• * Improvisationally pieced - no templates, mostly freehand cuts with my rotary cutter
  
• * Used a variety of prints and solids, including the text prints from “First of Infinity” by Lecien fabrics 
  
• * Matchstick quilted on my domestic (that is, straight lines close together, about 1/4″ apart)
  

I’m happy that this one is done! It’s the only one that I’ll enter this year to Quiltcon. I think it will be tough competition in the improv category, as it always is. I’m not sure this one will make the cut - but regardless, I want to make the effort to try to submit something annually!