two years

I started this blog two years ago, today! And I have written more than 150 posts since then. Quilting and blogging is such a great combination, finding and sharing inspiration, participating in swaps and quilt-a-longs and so on.... But you all know that! ; )

Thank you all for nice comments and contributions, making this blogging community a good place, sharing the joy!!!

To celebrate, I have a finish to show you- the spiderweb from last years tutorial is done. It took me some time gathering the strips (half a year), and I ended up using a nice selection of my favorite fabrics.

The back with all seams showing. Since its not sewn on any foundations, no paper to rip away, no extra layer of fabric. Quite happy with this technique, and will use it again!

I pinned this top before quilting. Usually I baste the top. This time I took a chance on just pinning. And it worked like a charm. Its quilted with a small meandering. I used Hobbs 80 / 20 batting and hope it will shrink up a little when I wash it...

Quite happy with the texture and surface...

This is another one in my narrow wall quilt series: Scrappy Spiderweb 29" * 67". I have used all the colors of the rainbow, lots of different prints in different strip widths. The solid is Kona White (Robert Kaufman).

And it is two sided! I made 12 blocks for the front, but didn't like it, too much going on, too busy. So I moved two blocks to the back. It was a bit tricky to center them before quilting. It worked out, and now I have my first two sided quilt!

It is nice having a finish - just one year later! I still love this block and am quite sure I will make some more. Next time I'll probably limit my range of colors, and maybe make the blocks a bit larger, starting with a 15" square.

Hope your week is a good one!

red flimsy

Chain-piecing a checkerboard layout. Fun. Sewing the rows together horizontally first...

Still winter outside. This one feels like lots of girl power. I think Pippi Langstrømpe (Pippi Longstockings) is a suitable name. It's 40" by 54". Maybe I'll add a border, later. We'll see...

And my design wall is empty, again...

; )

Happy sewing!

more options - sketching with my camera

Thank you for all your feedback on my layout options for the hourglass blocks!

I split my blocks into two quilt tops and made both the frame and the on point version. I used Kona Snow for both quilts.

Looking trough my wip/ufo's I found more 5" charm packs. Some are made into half square triangles (hst). So I put them up on the design wall. The picture above is also from the lines of American Jane. I love this layout and plan to make a top using the blue, green, yellow and orange charms I have left.

Also stashed away I found these hst made from Urban Chicks Swell collection. I might expand a bit on these and have enough blocks for a small quilt.

Deciding to keep the color red out of the quilt in the first picture, I started to make a pile of all the red charms from all my 30's charm packs. Using a checkerboard layout I put them up on the wall, only to find out there's enough for this 9 by 12 layout (40" * 54"). I like the "vintage" look of this one!

I have made several quilts using charm packs. They give you a large selection of fabric without taking up a lot of storage. And a bit of a challenge to find different ways of using 5" squares.

So far I have cut them in two halves vertically , used them in 2" hexagons, made shooting stars and other stars, square in a square, tumblers, hourglasses and hst (half square triangles). I am planning to use them as plain squares for the red checkerboard (picture above). I am also using them in my oldest ufo, the double wedding ring.

And I'm sure there is more options out there... What's your favorite use of those 5" charms?

options

Frame

Sashing in white

Checkerboard layout

On bay...

And last but not least: on top....

wip - rainbow hourglass

A look at my "design wall" today. I have started putting together hourglass blocks made from 3 different American Jane charm packs, collected over time. Right now I have 180 blocks sewn together in tiles of 9.

I love the classic block and the colorful fabric. Have to play around a bit more with the layout. All together they are a bit busy. I am thinking about:

adding sashing between the tiles

putting them on point and adding white alternating blocks

using them for a frame around a central panel

Just one more tile to put together, and I can start playing with the layout. I'll also have to fix one tile with a block facing the wrong direction.

What do you think? Do you have any favorite layouts?

a little romance

These romantic tumblers are a nice contrast to the cold winter landscape outside!

They have been gathering for some time in a box, waiting to reach "critical mass" for a lap quilt. I have cut into my Lecien fabric, and found a few from various charm packs, picked some different stripes and plaids - kind of a shabby chick mix...

Bleak winter light on the batting "design wall". I'm using the same plastic template as I did last time for my Vintage Tumblers. The layout is 16 patches wide and 21 rows: about 36" * 58". Love this easy sewing, just paring the two groups together, sewing more than half of the top before putting them up and distribute the different prints in a pleasing manner.

My temporary design wall is making the process so much easier for me than before, cheating the cats out of a lot of fun ... Its nice to se this one coming together, finally moving out of the box.

Anyone else dreaming of spring and summer?

; )

wip

Three small quilts for the table, with their selected bindings. The two first ones are stripes, a favorite choice of mine for bindings. I just made a order of stripes on the end of the year sales, still not here... You can never have to many stripes, can you?

The last quilt has a solid for binding. The colors are indigo, so nice and deep the binding doesn't show up on the picture.

I have been telling myself to "journal" a bit more on how I do things:

Binding: The binding is cut at 1.25", sewn on the front using my guided 1/4" foot, and then folded double to the back and stitched down by hand. This makes a nice and slim binding.

From left to right:

A little table-topper 13" * 18" made from leftovers from this quilt top, using a Amy Butler FQ as backing, and Hobbs 80/20 cotton/ poly for batting. It's quilted in small scale meandering, and it turned out a bit stiff. Not washed yet.

Another small table-topper 14" * 27" made from a charm pack: 1974 and 2" english paper piecing cut templates. It is sewn by hand and quilted by hand. I used the Hobbs 80/20 for batting. This one is so much softer than the above one. Not washed yet.

The third one is 17" * 46" made from 4 pieces of beautiful woven japanese (ikat?) indigo fabric, purchased at a speciality store at a quilt show in Seattle. It is a two sided quilt (intended to be used on both sides). The "batting" is an experiment, very loose woven cotton (not sure what it is called in english). It is both hand-quilted and machine-quilted with straight lines, and drapes beautifully and soft over the edge of the coffee table. Not washed yet.

Still winter around here. My sweet cat has been staying indoors for weeks now, keeping an eye on me...

Happy sewing!

sharing the joy ... an invitation

to participate in a different kind of swap...

I want to focus a bit more on how to quilt it, that is:

what texture and drape (stiff, firm or soft)

how thick or thin,

how warm or not

my quilt "ends up" after quilting. This goes for both my lap quilts and my wall quilts.

So far, it's been a lot of learning by doing and gaining experience. But I am ready to start organizing my knowledge and expand on it by focussing a bit more on two factors together:

batting + quilting

What I want is to build myself a personal "library of smaller quilted samples" to return to whenever I am planning the batting & quilting part of a project.

The picture above is of my recently modified Snow White. I added my first wonky star / maverick star / liberated star block to it. It's good to rest the eyes on after all the Christmas red...

I like the texture of this quilt, and I wonder what kind of batting i used? It's made back in

spring 2008, but did not take any notes about it.

After my last post, Janet kindly led me in direction of Debra at I've gone Completely Batty. She's on a mission to explore different kinds of battings, and have taken on a huge job, working through more than 50 different products.

Debra and I had a little exchange of ideas, and she is now posting to see if anyone is interested in a quilted sample swap. Please head over and see if this is a way to share and to broaden your quilting repertoire!!

This picture shows more of the quilting / texture. The modified Snow White is pieced of several white and off-white pieces of fabric, and then quilted with straight and wavy lines in a improvised manner. I used some heavier (Ikea) woven cottons from a flee marked find, it has a bit of weight and hangs nicely. The 5" star sits on the 32" * 57" backdrop.

So, if you are game to play, or just interested in knowing more about batting, please take a look over here...

I might ...

New year often comes with resolutions and good intentions. I am not always in favor of putting on more pressure to produce more quilts or finish up more wips.

It is nice, though, to reflect a bit over what has been accomplished in 2009. And even to think about what to do in 2010.

I have made/ finished some lap quilts: finished 8 smaller and bigger ones, have some close to finish, and a few finished tops, as well. 4 of the 8 are given away as gifts...

I have made/ finished some wall quilts: 1 large, 5 in my narrow series, and 4 smaller ones...

I have shared the fun in 3 swaps, and joined a virtual quilting bee...

I have a fair share of wips and finished tops in my closet, and a nice stash, too...

I have given a lecture to my small quilt guild...

I have posted my first tutorial...

Speaking of which, I am happy to show my first 2010 finish. My two first spiderblocks are put together to a little tabletopper 2 star spider 16" * 27". They are hand quilted. I used Hobbs Heirloom 80% cotton 20% polyester for the batting. These two "test" blocks are sewn in a different way than those in my tutorial. I used the white cotton in the center star as foundation for the strips, so the spiderweb has an extra layer of fabric. I was ok hand quilting them. I might make more blocks this way, as it is quick and easy .. we'll see.

It is still extraordinary cold around here. The snow makes a nice backdrop for the quilt, adding a blue tone to the picture...

A close up of the hand quilting, straight lines in the strings...

So what will 2010 bring? Like I say, no resolutions ...

But, I might want to try to finish 1 wip or ufo every month - that makes 12...

And, I might want to explore and journal a bit more about the texture of my quilts - how batting & quilting works together, and how it changes when it is washed... I have lots to learn!

I started to reflect a bit about this subject, and am a bit sad to say I haven't taken any notes of the batting I have used for my quilts. Promise myself to start now. Wanda was sweet enough to share some of her experience and preference when it comes to batting choices, she distinguishes between wall quilts and lap quilts. I would love for you to share about this subject to! Could be a great subject for a post? Don't you think?

(ok! I won't nag. And I plan to share a bit along the exploring path of 2010...)

Third, I might make a few smaller, utilitarian quilts this year - table toppers and table runners and placemats... They make nice gifts, nice house decorations and have a great format to try out techniques and color combinations...

Like I said, I might...

Do you have a list of what to do, or do you prefer to make no obligations?