at the end of 2011

on a grey

 

and windy morning

with the help of mr quilt it

I'd like to share my "cool cherrywood coins" with you. With baptist fans on wool batting it's both soft and warm. The last finish it of 2011...

I want to thank all of my blog friends for visits and kind comments in 2011. And I wish you all a happy and creative 2012! May there be many new opportunities for dancing with quilts...

... see you in a little while!

... and bee blocks

2011 my Ringo Pie bee blocks, originally uploaded by quilt it.

The bee was started in 2010, but most of these are made in 2011. Next year will be another round, with a few changes of bee members.

I'll do my best to bee creative ; )

2011 flimsies

2011 my flimsies, originally uploaded by quilt it.

At the end of 2011 there's 6 quilt tops made this year waiting to be quilted. Looking at last years batch of flimsies this is an increase of one... ( I am happy to say that 5 of the flimsies from 2010 are made into quilts.)

"Finish it up" is still on for 2012. I may not be the only one in this situation?

; )

2011 quilts for kids

2011 quilts for kids, originally uploaded by quilt it.

I have made more smaller size quilts this year than earlier years:

two of these were started before 2011, the others have been made in one go, from start to finish...

Hope to keep making more quilts for kids and babies next year

; )

2011 lap quilts

2011 lap quilts, originally uploaded by quilt it.

I have finished 14 lap size quilts in 2011, only 4 of these were also started this year. "Finish it up" has been a good motto that I'll keep for 2012 as well...

i wish ...

... for happy and peaceful days, full of joy and good company ...

Sometimes the scraps are the best part, don't you think? My two christmas stockings finished just in time. They are made with the scraps left over from this quilt top:

Started in december 2011, it will hopefully be ready for use by christmas eve 2012...

Ready or not ...

My little elf and me would like to ...

wish all of you:

GOD JUL,

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

a little red and green...

... to get into the spirit of the season. You may recognize the pattern from Denyse Schmidt's book, it's called Any Way You Slice It. I searched my stash for seasonal colors, some solids and some of Denyse's prints from Greenfield Hill.

The blocks are made loosely based on her templates and in a slightly smaller scale. They end up at 7.5" and are put together into two smaller pieces for the table.

The inspiration was found at LeeAnn and Jolene's .... Now, all I have to do is completing the quilting. Slowly quilting these by hand. Trying to pace myself and rest the arms a bit. No hurry, except the fact that I would love to put these on the table in a weeks time...

; )

Have a nice weekend!

december finish

Up here north we are having shorter and shorter days. I am trying to catch the fading daylight outside to present my finished Recess Pinwheels. This lap quilt finished at 48" by 60" with Hobbs cotton batting.

I ended up doing quite a bit of quilting by hand.

This quilt is made from a layer cake (Recess 10" squares from American Jane) In my own bake shop I cooked up this easy recipe:

combine the 10" squares in pairs with a good contrast in color (I had 2o pairs)

sew around the 4 edges with the usual 1/4" seam allowance

slice each pair diagonally in both directions, press the seams and make into pinwheels

arrange them in a pleasing order and sew them into rows, then sew the rows together

I arranged them on my design wall before sewing them together. And then I couldn't help but make a twist...

... can you spot it?

Time to concentrate on christmas preparations!

Wish you all a good weekend.

; )

quilting it

We all need a splash of color on a grey december day. I am quilting some simple pinwheels made from a layer cake - Recess from American Jane.

Looks inviting on the white deck...

I started out machine quilting it both horizontally/vertically and diagonally along the seams. These blocks are 12" big, so I am adding a bit of hand-quilting as well. (Can be spotted in the top picture...)

The wind is piping in, time to wrap it up!

; )

friday finish

With a sprinkling of snow, on a grey morning: a chance to take some quick pictures of my finished O.W.L.S. quilt. It's 48" by 63" with Hobbs Thermore batting, and quilted with a twisted, irregular grid. The quilting is up to 6" apart which is less than my previous choices. This makes the quilt very soft and it drapes really well.

The warm brown solid is left over Chocolate by Free Spirit Designers Solids, from Eva's Garden. Really love that soft and pretty brown! The owls are another favorite Amy Schimler print. For the quilting I used my Hera marker to mark the lines for quilting. This is a nice way to mark straight lines, and they disappear completely after a bit of time, or a wash. It has come to be my favorite way of marking quilt tops, lately.

Wish you all a great december weekend!