Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Orca Bay upcycle!


This time last year I was loving the excitement of joining in on Bonnie Hunters yearly mystery ( my first ), Orca Bay.
Here is one of the photo's I took for the blog link up.
All was going well, until I started to put all these star blocks together with the string blocks....................

Blue string blocks


gold/orange string blocks, with our sweet Rosie


That's when I ended up with Ocean Waves, rather then Orca Bay. Talk about wavy!!!!!!
 This was the moment I threw the lot in the headache box! I had some advice to join in blocks, rather then in rows as Bonnie said. But by now my Mojo & excitement for the project was over!

Until a few months ago I had the idea to 'upcycle' the star blocks.


Tada!!.................................... Not bad aye? I have made this for one of my family members, fingers crossed it is liked.
The back has some lovely fabric with star blocks & I even used a star block in the label.

For the plain 6" blocks I used a new stencil, well part of the stencil, then I did orange peel on the background of the star blocks.

For the border I also used a new stencil, a celtic knot/ rope. I used a new thread too....'Glide' I also tried Miracle Chalk, which a friend lent me to try. I tested on a piece of the border fabric, it came out like a breeze. I quilted, went to iron off as instructed, it didn't come out of the needle holes!!! ARG.....slight panic ( note this stuff is very messy to work with ) I tried a damp cloth, I was reluctant to try again with the iron, as my thread is a polyester, I didn't want to melt it. I contacted Diana at Stitchworks who suggested I try a hair dryer or the brush attachment on my vacuum cleaner. YES!! that worked!!

A few more photo's.................
Artfully? rolled in the garden..........................................

I found a spot in the lounge to enjoy it until it goes to it's new owner.

I also finished another book......................


An eclectic bunch of people with a mixed up lot of problems come together at an Amish widows home to learn to quilt. Say that 10 times fast!!!!

Happy New Year to all, may all your hopes & dreams come true!




13 comments:

  1. Great "save" of the Orca Bay stars, Leeanne. If your family member doesn't like it, I know someone who does! : )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great up cycle! I was never very taken with the string blocks in Orca bay. I'm glad I never set out to make it. i like your version much better

    Cheers

    Londa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leanne - that looks great. I've got a few extra blocks from my Orca that will go into some other projects too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to see some of your OB blocks are now living a happy and productive life as a quilt!! Love that border quilting - glad to hear you solved the marking removal problem. The book looks interesting - will have to check on Amazon. Happy New Year to you :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the quilt Leanne. I have read that book too, wasn't it great?. I will be up to shop some time early February - can't wait.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the upcycle! If it isn't loved by a family member, I could volunteer to take it off your hands for you...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey! Those made a really, really attractive quilt!! Thanks for the book share - I'll have to check that out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well done on a remarkable up-cycle!! It will be well-loved, I'm sure. (Yaay some Leeanne sewing time!!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. it looks great! I still need to quilt my ORCA, I'm almost done with the blocks for easy street, seems to go together okay, the orca didn't for me either and I ripped out certain places and others, well i'll see when I quilt it

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's gorgeous Leeanne, I always love star quilts. Love your quilting too with the new designs.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's lovely Leeanne, great save, all that work did not go to waste.They will love it!
    That book looks interesting...I'm not much of a reader, but this looks like I might enjoy .
    Happy New Year.
    Julia ♥

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello Leeanne
    A wonderful upcycle - glad to see it's not still hiding in a bin - far too much work gone into this beauty.

    I'm just starting my quilt journey (well about to in February when things are more back to normal)!
    So I'll be keeping a good eye on your blog, as I've seen a comment left on Nicky's blog about your amazing quilting skills with a standard machine.
    I've got "the basic Janome" so no fancy quilting techniques there - I'll be hoping you won't mind me studying your quilts!!!

    I'm your newest follower and hope you'll have time to visit me sometime - in between all this stitching!

    Have a great 2013 and many happy hours spent quilting and whatever else you enjoy doing.

    hugs
    Shane - a kiwi blogger too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. How smart of you girl! What a great new creation from the start of an OLD creation!
    I REALLY like the colors and yes,,,,rolled in the garden....pure art!!

    ReplyDelete