stars, stars, stars ...

Very inspired by the lovely and talented Kerry i have been diving into my small scraps for some scrappy stars. Wiping out the supply of the smallest pieces... These stars end up as a 6" block, the circle of stars at 22".

In may I also got to send out my pif to 9 lovely ladies:

The mug rugs are 6" * 9". And more stars are still on my to do list...

; )

Ya'll have a lovely sunday!

may finish

This week I finished a quilt that was started some years ago. My fantasy forrest ended up 38" by 52" after a trip trough the washer and dryer. The batting is Warm & White. I quilted it with diagonal lines 2" apart, and then adding some quilting around the stars and the trees. The quilt now lives with my sweet 7 year old niece, who is celebrating her birthday today ; )

I am happy, she is happy, so it's like a fairy tale, right?

The process of making this quilt has not been so straight forward. Inspired by Gwen and Freddy's Collaborate Quilts, I decided to try their process of making blocks and then gather them into quilt tops.

I started making some trees and then some stars. The design wall was very helpful. The process quite painful. Bits and pieces came together. Frequent breaks. Looking for ways to progress. The top then got to spend more than a year in storage. It kept sending me accusing glances whenever I looked through the pile of finished tops. An upcoming birthday and a pretty red fabric purchase was the inspiration needed to finish it up. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

Framing the top in red and adding the last star brought it all together. The yellow binding lifted the mood a bit. It is backed in green. The quilt makes me think of little red riding hood, lost in the forrest....

Nifty pointed me in the direction of Sherri Lynn's interesting posts about improv quilting. I like to use different ways of improv techniques in my quilts. It can be fun, and it can be painful...

; )

bee friends

Hi! It's my birthday. We're gonna party...

And what better way to celebrate than joining the fun of Blogger Quilt Festival :: Spring 2011?

Tonight is also the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. All of Europe gather in front of their TVs to cheer on their favorite songs, enjoying the show and the pretty dresses...

So here is the quilt i want to share with you:

In 2010 I participated in the Eurovision Quilters bee. August was my month, and I received blocks from Belgium, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, UK, Sweden, The Netherlands, France and Norway!

They are all so pretty in their best dresses!

It was both fun and challenging being part of the bee. Trying different techniques to meet each months challenge. Finding a theme and setting up guidelines for my month. I decided to plan on different block sizes and sash them to make them all come together in the end. And then I put up a tutorial on my blog on how to construct the girls. All the fabric was sent out for the bee members. The dresses are both Katie Jump Rope from Denyse Schmidt and Wee play by Sandy Klop.

My bee friends measures 48" * 65" and is quilted partly by machine and by hand. It has a soft and cosy flannell backing and uses Hobbs Heirloom batting ( 80% cotton / 20% polyester).

Can you see how they are all dressed up for a party?

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Please check out the bee friends tutorial in the sidebar of my blog if you like. And have fun visiting the rest of Bloggers Quilt Festival, too!

sweet M

This weekend, we got to spend a special day with the sweet M, and her family. M has just turned 15, and is as fair and smiley as saturday was sunny and warm. A celebration calls for gifts. This young girl has taken an interest in quilting (I might have a little part in that ; ) ), so I wanted to make her a quilt of her own.

I have collected these honey, peach, pink modern prints - just waiting for the right opportunity. Wanting to show off the big prints, I started making disappearing 9 patch blocks. Sashing them in Kona Snow, and adding cornerstones in a grid. The design is a variation of a quilt I have made earlier. I like how big a difference the choice of fabric makes...

Making a gift for someone else, there's always a bit of a gamble involved. Will she like it?

Her big smile was very reassuring, and I know the quilt has found a good home...

Sweet M is 48" * 65" with Quilters Dream select batting and baptist fans made by the talented Merete. I washed it before gifting it, to achieve the slightly crinkled texture.

Lately, this is my "label", just initials and the year the quilt is finished. I am using perle cotton and embroider through the backing and batting. Making sure nothing shows on the front.

We had a very lovely day with sweet M and her family. Seeing her joy was reassuring. I will keep making quilts as gifts. Wrapping the world in them, one person at a time...

; )

Big plans, small stitches...