february finish

Still cold, still winter. How about cuddling up under a nice, warm quilt?

It was time to finish up the lovely and warm flannel top that I put together back in september 2008. This is my warmest quilt yet; flannel top and back (Bonnie Sullivan Winter Wonderland) and Hobbs Heirloom Premium 100 % wool batting.

It is hand quilted,

tied and machine quilted...

But in the opposite order (pinned, tied, machine quilted in the outermost rows and then hand quilted)

Warm Winter Wonderland measures 60" by 72". The bricks are 4" by 8", a mix of a fat 8 roll and some added yardage. The soft and grayed palette is calm and quiet. I watched the winter olympics in Vancouver while quilting it, witnessing the norwegian skier Marit Bjørgen collecting her gold medallion. Perfect combination! No skiing being done by me, just quilting ; )

wip

This is pretty nice and warm.... perfect to curl up in - on a cold winter day....
What do you mean, I have to move???? You are trying to put on a binding?

painting by numbers

I saw this quilt "in person" back in october 2009, at a lecture by Kaffe Fassett and fell in love with it immediately. I have made several quilts from many of his books but I have never tried to copy both the pattern and the exact fabric choices...

Simple design, one patch and fourpatch, framed by ninepatch - easy peasy?

Substituting a few out of print fabrics. Putting it all together in a painting by number fashion:

Big test on being accurate in the 1/4 inch seam allowance.

And finally, a flimsy, 80" by 85"... Quite happy ; ) ...

The original, that I liked so much, was handquilted in perle cotton running stitch. It is quite big, so I am a bit worried about doing that, myself without a proper frame. So I am considering having it quilted on a longarm, in an all over pattern.

Have to think about the next step. Any good advice for hand-quilting a quilt this size is most welcome...

Happy sewing!

Liberated Amish 2010 Challenge

I found a fun class / challenge hosted by Tonya that I could not pass on.

I will play with solids, Amish inspiration, liberated techniques, and even add some letters and numbers.

So I have been cutting into my precious Cherrywood fabrics, just smaller pieces (7" * 9" from their Scrap bags). It will be a scrappy look...

These are 5.5" blocks. I am aiming for a doll / crib size. There's no bigger pieces of fabric in my stash for borders. I will play a bit with layouts and see...

If it looks like fun, head over to the blog. There's still time to join in!