madhouse

spring is late this year and I will share a quilt I finished a bit earlier

here is madhouse:

• finished at 72" * 72"
• hand quilted in perle cotton no 16 on quilters dream wool batting
• logcabin variation, starting with a pentagon shape
• basted on the wall with quilters safety pins

using 2.5", 3.0" and 6.0" strips and charm pack squares from my many boxes of precut fabric, I managed to scale down and free up some storage space. Rearranging fabric is an neverending activity. I think it's also a way to find new inspiration.

The quilt is soft and warm, quite happy with the finish. I have used a bit of black color, and think it adds a lot of dept to the palette.

More hand quilting is going on behind the scenes, and hopefully there will be more quilty goodness to share in a while...

; )

friday finish II

swoon habitat

84" * 84"

longarm quilted on wool batting

This one finished some time ago, but was not so easy to get a good picture of, due to the size of it. The pattern is Swoon by Camille Roskelley and the fabric is the Habitat collection by Jay McCarroll. Almost a copy of a quilt made by Katy Jones, and made with her approval and also help in sourcing the background fabric as I was running low...

Gifted to a dear friend.

friday finish I

fractured field study no 2. 

84" * 84"

longarm quilted on wool batting 

This year is close to an end, and I have a couple of finished quilts to share.

Long time ago, I enjoyed playing volleyball. Who knew that the outdoor volleyball net one day would be the best chance to take picture of my finished quilt....

Also a long time in the making, this is my twist on Kathy Doughty's fractured pattern. Lots of favourite fabrics in this one, starting out with Anna Maria Horner's Field study collection.

Ziggy Stardust

Meet ziggy stardust, 42" * 50" hand-quilted with perle cotton on a piece of leftover hobbs wool batting. 

I started out with 6 log cabins that was made some years ago. Inspired by a few pretty quilts with this fun layout, the blocks were cut in four and arranged on my design wall until I liked the composition. Luckily I found a larger cut of light blue to fill out the rest of the top. The band of quartered log cabins was supposed to run horizontally, until the batting surfaced from my stash and had a different opinion. (Not big enough.) The joy of using what you have on hand means sometimes changing direction as you go. 

As I was putting this top together, the news of David Bowie's passing made head news. So the name just came to me. I was watching several documentaries and listen to his music as I quilted this by hand. So many great songs from a big artist!

fractured field study no. 2

It's friday and time to share my first quilt finish of 2013. My fractured field study no.2 is 48" by 60" and hand quilted on wool batting and a voile backing. I showed a picture in an earlier post, telling the story of how one quilt top ended up as two. (Not the first time that have happened to me  ; )   )

The pattern is my simplification of Kathy Doughty's lovely pattern. I used 2.5" strips WOF for the stepped blocks and added 4.5" squares for the center ones. The start of this palette came from some of Anna Maria Horners line Field Study. I had a lot of fun combining the colors, adding many favorite designers to the mix... 

The AMH voile has a width of 54", making it a great backing for this smallish size lap quilt. I have used this fabric as a backing before, in yellow and fuchsia. This is the first time I combine it with wool. The result is so soft - wish you all could touch it. Hand-quilting this combination was a joy too!
; )

And quite a few? more pictures...

Wish you all a happy international woman's day!

; )

five

My latest quilting adventure started with some beautiful field study fabric and a wish to try making Kathy Doughty's Fractured pattern using 2.5" strips WOF.

I pulled out a warm palette to complement Anna Maria Horners Field study from my stash: orange, pink, red purple and gold. Making blocks and putting them up on my design wall I decided my fabric selection didn't work out, so I put some of the blocks and ready cut strips aside. Then I finished the purple fractured top shown in picture 4.

The spare blocks from this first fractured quilt top kept calling me. I put them on my design wall and decided it was half a top worth of pretty blocks. So I pulled more fabric from stash and made the pink fractured quilt top shown in picture 2.

This second fractured top is slowly being hand quilted on wool batting and a voile backing. (see picture 3). It is softer than butter and oh so tempting to work on.... The key for me is to go slow with the hand-quilting. I have spent all my money at the chiropractors office lately. Not fun! I have to find a way to go back to spend my money on fabric instead.

The center 4 patch in the first picture are made from spare parts from the second fractured top. They were just winking at me saying "don't we look pretty? All we need is a few star points from the scrap bin."

So we are down to picture 5. The spare parts from the spare parts formed a figure of five stars. Reminding me to tell you it's been 5 years since I started this blog. Thank you all for making it such a great place to share ideas and inspiration!

Wish you all a great wednesday and hope you will have some pretty spare parts tempting you to get creative! Me, I am trying to go real slow. 5 years is not so long, I do not want to stop quilting and blogging just yet!

; )

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...

; )

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!