Tinker Toys in Love of Quilting Magazine

Way back in January I alluded to two of my submitted designs having been accepted for publication. Today is finally the day I can share the first one. Love of Quilting hits the newsstands today! My quilt, Tinker Toys, is on page 62.

Photo courtesy of Golden Peak Media

This baby quilt goes together super-fast. The design has the illusion of being on point but it's just nine blocks with some clever colouring and borders.

This design was born in EQ8. I was playing around with blocks in the Five-Patch file, putting two together into a quilt layout while watching for secondary design possibilities. I seem to have a knack for seeing secondary designs if some of the patches are recoloured or omitted, kind of a 'what if' technique.

Modified Duck and Ducklings

Fool’s Corner

With these two blocks, I could see an outline or path formed around the darker pinks block if I left some of the triangles white. The path was reinforced by extending the orange and fuchsia triangles into the border. I submitted it in two colourways: cool blues and greens or vibrant pinks and oranges. You know which one I leaned towards! However the magazine wanted the pinks and orange version so that’s what I made. 

finished flimsy

I used Elements and Pure Solids from Art Gallery Fabrics. I've loved their fabrics since I bought Angela Walters' first fabric line, 'Drift'.

Why Tinker Toys? Well, as I say in the magazine, for some reason the five darker pink blocks make me think of the holes in the wooden cogs of that fun game I had as a kid.

Photo courtesy of Golden Peak Media

Hobbs Batting provided the batting.

I quilted it with Superior Threads So Fine and Aurifil.

I wanted to accentuate the pathway, so I did ribbon candy within it. First of all I stitched in the ditch and then echoed a quarter inch so that I had a frame.

The strong diagonal lines I accentuated with straight line quilting. I really like the pattern formed by the criss-crossing lines.

A little more straight line quilting in the darker pinks block with dot-to-dot went in the darker pink blocks.

I absolutely love putting a graphic floral on the back of solid front quilts, so I chose Paradis Sweet from the Joie de Vivre line by Bari J. You can catch a glimpse of it in the first photo. Here is one the night before I mailed it off, on my design wall:

It was a thrill to get it back a month ago and hang it in my sewing room.

I used the stitch and flip method to make some of the units in both blocks. One of the things I dislike about this method is the wasted corner triangles, especially if they are a decent size, which these are. So I sewed them all back together and made them into a makeup bag!

It is for sale in my Etsy shop. I think this would make a great combo pattern, don't you? Baby quilt for the baby of the mama-to-be and makeup bag for the mama!

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Tinker Toys by me! SandraJaneQuilts

Size: 42.5" x 42.5"
Fabric: Elements and Pure Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton batting

Backing: Art Gallery Fabrics 'Joie de Vivre' by Bari J

Quilted: on Avril: 66 553 stitches

Threads: pieced with Aurifi; quilted with Aurifil 2375, and Superior Thread So Fine 401, Bottom Line in the bobbin

Linking up

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

From Bolt to Beauty

Alycia Quilts

Songbird Designs

Meadow Mist Designs

Now I am off to hunt down a copy of the magazine for myself. They don't give us hard copies anymore, pooh, just a digital one. They also keep the rights to our designs for two years now! It used to be just one, so if you want to make this quilt, better grab a digital copy or head out to your favourite place to buy magazines!