longing for spring

This spring I keep looking through wip boxes, and one of them contained a fair amount of 2.5" strips in pastell colors from maybe 2 years ago. So I decided to move along and empty out the box.

These 16 patch blocks ends up a square 8", and I was aiming for a 64" by 80" layout. Easy piecing, but still a bit of puzzle to find a good balance and nice contrast in the final top. 

A few pastell marzipan eggs was consumed during constructions, as may be expected of a easter time endevour as this... Appropriate, I would say, as they were an important part of the inspiration regarding the color palette. 

Did you ever make a quilt inspired by a favourite snack or sweets?

; )

bargello blues

I have one more friday finish I want to share with you:

my bargello blues measures 60" * 72", is quilted on a long arm with my favorite hobbs thermore polyester batting.

Like the popular scrappy trips around the world this bargello pattern is also a classic design that is freely shared by Bonnie Hunter on her Quiltville webpage. I have made a few of these by now. I like how this pattern is easy to sew but still fun as you get to play with color combinations and contrast.

This one has a special recipient in mind. Sometime later this year.

Wish you all a lovely friday!

; )

emerald city

This weeks friday finish is my version of Katy Jones popular pattern scrap vomit:

my emerald city measures 70" * 70"

and is pieced of 1.225 small squares

quilted on long arm with hobbs thermore polyester batting

with a lovely green print from Heater Ross' line Briar Rose on the back...

I think this popular pattern has potential to be a great "I spy" quilt for a kid. You can do lots of fuzzy cutting and then even pick a selected favorite color combination for a lucky kid... Just an idea

; )

Wish you all a lovely weekend. I'll be watching the olympic opening show, hand stitching a new binding and wishing for better weather for the next photo shoot!

wednesday wip

In the end there was no choice, I had to have a go at Katy Jones popular pattern "scrap vomit". I think scrap archives would also be a fitting name. Seeing so many and so diverse fabric come together in the same quilt. I have included some of my oldest purchases, some of my newest, some gifted to me by friends and some swapped. 

My quilt will have 1225 simple 2.5" squares. The nifty sizzix machine with the right die comes in handy, here. But my own scrap system also heavily leans towards these cute squares. A quarter of a charm square. The end of a jelly roll. Extras from a bargello block, a 16 patch and so on. Over time they do collect. For this quilt I also had a proper look and slim down of my scraps. The ones I keep in smaller boxes, sorted by color. My scrap organizing system builds on inspiration from Bonnie K Hunter, Amanda Jean and Cheryl. So far I have been making popular patterns from several designers out of the 2.5" squares and the small scrap boxes:

Bonnie K Hunters / Gwen Marston Maverick stars ( two finished lap quilts)

Emily Ciers Scrap Hoover (top)

Jolene's Granny Square (finished quilt)

Elizabet's Tokyo Subway Map (wip / top)

Amanda Jean and Cheryl's Scrappers delight (wip) and The Missing U (wip)

and now:

Katy Jones Scrap Vomit (wip becoming a top)

A few of these wips are in a state of arrested development due to a shortage in scraps! I will consider this a success. A few years of quilting does produce quite a bit of scraps. As some of you may have noticed I happen to love the scrappy kind of quilts. And now there's room for more. I think it's time to turn to the stash and cut into some yardage and FQ, soon...

This latest adventure, my scrap vomit wip has been named emerald city. I do enjoy making it. The most difficult thing, so far, has been to choose the central cross colors. In the end I went with emerald, by pantone named color of the year 2013. 

"Symbolically, Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is important in today's complex world." quote from Pantone

A bit uncharacteristic for my taste in colors, I really love how well the emerald contrasts with the colors of all the other pieces in there. 

A scrappy greeting from me. Somewhat quiet these days on the blog. But still piecing my life together, bit by bit... Happy stitching!

cool sixteen

a show and tell with lots of pictures and a few words:

cool sixteen : 64" * 80" on hobbs thermore batting

gifted to a young man with a big smile, a big hart and a real understanding of the value of a quilt to go with the sofa...

pictures taken on a very sunny day

p.s. a great and easy pattern to play with colors. (This one uses 2.5" strips ending of with 2 8" blocks from 2 WOF strips.)

really love the colors and fabrics in this one

; )

stash buster

Sometimes we all get smitten with a lovely quilt pattern, and it starts popping up on lots of blogs. The so called scrappy trips around the world pattern have been on my to do list for quite some time. I made my first (this is so fun you would want to make more than one) last spring, and now I would like to  share the finished quilt with you.

The pattern is easy and fun and free for all over at Bonnie. Thank you Bonnie for providing so many great classic patterns! Quiltville is a true treasure throve and a great place to find inspiration.

For my first take on this pattern I set two rules:

• a limited color palette: yellow / orange / pink / purple and turquoise
• using the darker strip of each block as a diagonal

I did some stash busting on this one. You will need 2.5" strips of about 17" length. FQ will work nicely. Putting the colors together for each block was great fun. And so was seeing how fast it grows on the design wall...

My scrappy trips around the world finished at 60" by 72", long-arm quilted on hobbs thermore polyester batting. It is to be gifted later this spring to somebody special.

It is a fun quilt to make and can be a great stash buster. I would like a halloween one, a christmas one, maybe use those pretty Tula Pink FQs in one, or my precious japanese fabric or maybe dive into my favorite Denyse Schmidt...

sometimes it is hard to stop at just one. You just have to believe me   ; )

We are having a mild and wet start of 2013. The first day of the year was spent visiting the doctor as I am completely knocked out by the flu. Hopefully that will pass quickly, and I can dust off my sewing machine. Not sewing is not good for my soul. 

Wish you all a great thursday!

november stars

A morning without rain is an opportunity that cannot be missed. Grey and wet november days are replaced by a grey and cold november day. So, I am having a little photo session outside.

My november stars finishes at 50" * 75", all soft and light with it's tuscany silk batting. Quilted with baptist fans on a long arm machine, and with a bit of added hand-quilted in perle cotton to emphasize a few of the stars.

These "maverick stars" (Bonnie K Hunter's phrase) are a fun invention from Gwen Marston. Both women are among my quilting hero's. The beautiful quilting is done by Anne, and the colors are among my most favorite combinations. So, there's lots to like about this one  ; )

I have been a bit quiet lately on the blog. A sore shoulder is preventing me from doing to much of anything. Including cutting, sewing and quilting. A test of my patience, I'm afraid...

Lesson learned, I don't expect to make any presents this december... So a reminder to myself: next year I will make a few small quilts and gifts throughout the year. Is it too early for new years resolutions, yet?

Enjoy your makings!

a second chance...

Sometimes we all need a second chance. Don't you think?

This is one of my favorite quilts, the blue bargello I made back in 2009. It's quilted with all over meandering free motion pattern on warm and natural batting. Measuring 60" by 72", that's a bit of work.

The thing is, I was never happy with the quilting of this one. The quilting was all wrong. A lot of work, and my best effort, but still - all wrong. I tried washing it. Didn't help...

So, three years later I decided it was time to give the quilt a second chance. Armed with the hera marker   I am making straight lines this time. Quilting on top of the meandering.

So far I'm done with all the diagonal lines in one direction. Liking what I see, I have decided to continue adding all the crossing diagonal lines. The meandering works as an excellent basting   ; )

When I am done with all the straight line quilting, I am planning to pull out the seam ripper and remove the meander quilting from 3 years ago. In fact, I couldn't wait, so I started undoing the original quilting in this corner. It's a change for the better! Now I am finally looking forward to enjoy using this "old" favorite. There's always hope... 

This is my first second time undoing the quilting on a whole quilt. (Last time it was a baby sized quilt with wool batting. The straight line grid looked so much better in hand-quilting then on machine.)

Have you ever redone the quilting of a whole quilt? Or am I the only one?

transit of venus

A finished quilt is usually a happy moment

my transit of venus finished at 50" * 70"

hand-quilted on quilters dream request cotton batting and the soft voile backing.

Last week we witnessed the rare astrologic occasion of the transit of venus, blissfully unaware...

that by the end of the week...

our very own, sweet furry companion would suddenly leave us confused and hart-broken...

She has been my sweet helper and quilt inspector, a frequent star of this blog. (My very last picture of her is included in my previous post - before the horrible truth of her fatal injury was revealed to us.) I needed to share these sad news with you all. 

The full story includes a few trips to the vet, who did all she could. I can not even type this without crying, so please let me stop now. The house is suddenly turned oh so quiet and I am being very lost for words. For that very reason I disabled the comments to this post. Please understand.

Promise to be back, but for now ...

rip my sweet venus