hollyhocks

Slow quilting by hand, using the double baptist fan template. Cotton batting, dark purple no 16 perle cotton thread. Lovely texture. A very happy quilt. 

My Hollyhocks finished at 60" * 72"

This quilt is a little homage to the Norwegian painter Kjell Pahr Iversen. His colourful paintings, especially a series he named Icons, inspired me to take up quilting. Paint or fabric - just two different tools for expression - right?

If you look at the previous blogpost, the Madhouse blocks started out with a pentagon center. These Hollyhock blocks start out with a hexagon center. Variation on a theme. Which I have realised I often do. Do you?

snow day

snow day pillow: 24" * 24"

We are having a blizzard today. A modest blizzard with a minimum of snow blowing outside. What a perfect setup for my first finish of 2014! The hexagons are big, 3" sides. A mix of Heather Ross flannel pajama parts mixed with white and snow cotton. Quilted and wrapped around the pillow with an envelope back / closure. 

hand pieced, machine quilted big stitches in aurifil 40 weight

envelope back with a good sprinkle of snow

Wish you all stay warm on a cold day!

slowly (wednesday wip)

Slow progress and slow stitching going on here. The brown quilt was basted on the floor, using the clever tool Kwik klip to close the basting pins. Good tool, will become a new favorite, I think. 

Those lovely but loose woven side triangles was very flimsy and resisting to be flat (bias cuts tend to be wavy...). Improvised a solution by sewing a couple of big stitch straight seams and pulled at the threads to shrink to measure. So far, it's working well, but the quilting is not finished, yet...

I have started by quilting in the ditch. And then planning to add some simple hand quilting to the blocks. Slow, but enjoyable work.

Also sewing by hand on a flannel hexagon pillow to be. Big hexagons (3") and pajama parts from Heather Ross mixed with some blenders. Soft winter pastels. Planning on quilting it by machine. Another slow wip...

Quiet and slow, that's me! At least for now. Hope you all have some sewing to enjoy.

; )

sirupssnipper

Cookie making is an important part of Christmas preparations and tradition says you have to make 7 different kinds. Then you are likely to find your favorite one amongst them. 

Sirupssnipper is one of the classics. I have no idea how to translate the name but they are recognizable by their diamond shape and half an almond on top. 

So, I consider my sirupssnipper quilt part of my Christmas preparations this year. Not eatable but still a favorite. Maybe the wool batting has a lot to do with that, making it warm and soft. The quilt finished at 50" by 72",  longarm quilted in a pattern called Rosie. Thank you, Merete for your beautiful work on my quilt!

This quilt started out very innocent around Christmas time two years ago. I had a charm pack and a full bag of 2" paper hexagons to play with. Hexagons are quite addictive. Soon I started adding fabric from stash, only leaving a few of the original charms (see center diamond in picture above for the original charms that got to stay). The hexagons were made over time, only interrupted by a few trips to the chiropractor and a few longer breaks. Layout with hexagons are always a bit of a challenge to me so I dusted off my EQ for this one. The size is a compromise of stash and improvised framing of the diamonds. There were times when I questioned my sanity for making this quilt and I even considered giving it away (That's when my DH started worrying "What? You can not give this quilt away! Are you crazy?").

We have had seriously cold weather lately so I have had a chance to use my sirupssnipper quilt. Growing quite fond of it. Enjoying the soft and warm feel of the quilt. Long story short- I think sirupssnipper is my new favorite.

( a disclaimer: the cookies was purchased for photographic use only...)

Wish you a great weekend. Making or savoring your own favorites...

; )

inspired

by Clare to make more hexagons. Her piece and love quilt is so charming...

Cutting into the vintage linens, there might be some small cuts left over. The very pretty pincushion to the right came  from Ayumi's little shop full of treasures, (a birthday gift to myself) and inspired me to make the not so small pincushion on the left.

Small pleasures, easy stitching.

Wish you all a lovely week!

baby, it's cold outside...

but it's time for a quick frosty january photoshoot:

the finished top is 52" * 74"

all the 2" paper hexagons are out,

time to think about a back...

and a good name, too. If you can think of something suitable, please share it with me.

Happy to stay inside, today. Wish all of you a great week!

slowly

but surely

these 2" hexagons are pieced together

started a little over a year ago

 no rush...