Caterpillar Kawandi

 A lady in my quilt guild had made a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" quilt for one of her children a few years ago, and she ended up with quite an amount of remnants. Her kids have grown up and are not interested in caterpillars anymore, so she gave the fabrics to me for making a charity quilt to the hospital. 

The character from the well known book by Eric Carle is cherished by children worldwide.

There were a lot of fabrics in the collection with caterpillars, different types of food with holes, cutouts of holes, bright stripes, and stars. I gathered lots of novelty fabrics with animals and birds and other prints that a small child would recognize. I decided to make a Kawandi quilt, because that is the softest  and most cuddly quilt for a little kid.

I had a piece of grey gingham flannel that decided the size of the quilt.

 

Making a Kawandi quilt is the most relaxing and rewarding process I know. You start arranging the fabric from the outside working your way towards the middle. Everything is hand sewn with big stitches, I used a soft crochet thread for the hand quilting.

The quilt is so soft and cuddly! The finished size is approximately 38" x 40", perfect for a baby/small child.

This is my eleventh charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 103 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

 

Golden Savannah

 On my latest quilt guild meeting I managed to get three quilt panels for free, and I knew they would be perfect for a charity quilt. Giraffes and zebras are walking on the Savannah in Africa.

Below is a detailed picture of two of the panels.

I had an idea of the quilt design ready very fast, and when a lady in my quilt guild donated this backing fabric it was 100% clear.

 

This is the resulting quilt. I kept the width of the panels, because you don't always need to cut up fabric into small pieces to make a quilt.

The warm yellow of the backing is represented in the solid yellow strips which divides the panels from the warm fall foliage. 

The black strip and the leafy border frames the quilt in a nice way.

I named the quilt Golden Savannah, where the zebras and giraffes are running wild.

Straight line quilting with the walking foot made a nice an quick finish. The binding was constructed from odd 2.5" strips of matching colors.

The finished quilt is approximately 32" x 40", a good looking, golden baby quilt.

 

This is my tenth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 102 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

 

 

 

 

Modern HST Sampler Quilt

  In January 2016 I joined the Modern HST Sampler QAL hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. By the end of that year all 24 blocks were made. I used the fabric line Good Neighbors by Crazy Mom Quilts in the quilt, all 36 different fabrics, with solid light grey as background.

 

 

The blocks were put aside because I didn't feel the quilt top was big enough. Later I discovered a great idea by a fellow Instagrammer to add a double, scrappy row of 2.5" squares all way round the  top, using leftover fabric from the line. The final stitches in the top wee sewn September 2020.

The finished top was then nicely folded and put aside in favor of other pressing projects.

 

 

In spring this year my quilt guild announced a UFO lottery, and I entered with my Modern HST Sampler quilt. I had to piece a backing, quilt it and sew the binding on, and it had to be finished within the September guild meeting this week.

I managed as you can see!

 

 The backing fabric wasn't wide enough, but by adding 5" strips of leftover fabric it became an interesting backing. I splurged and used wool batting because it will be my own personal quilt! 

 

 

I quilted it with FMQ in a flame design, inspired by Christina of @afewscraps. The wool batting shows off the quilting in a very nice way, and as a bonus the quilt is extra warm. And the icing on the cake is striped binding for the win!

 

Now I can cross off another finished project with this great quilt of 54" x 80"! Just more than 7.5 years in the making...

 

Keep on quilting!

Mini Plaid-ish Quilt

 When Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting announced the Mini Plaid-ish QAL I just had to join. In 2020 I made the original Plaid-ish quilt (an adjusted size) in red tones .

This time I chose a more colorful scheme.

 Outdoor pictures are always the best, and the uprooted tree is a trusted quilt holder. Finished quilt is 50" x 64".

 

A colorful quilt in contrast with a fairy tale tree. This tree is still alive, even though there's not much soil underneath.

 I pieced the backing from three different fabrics. The elephant/monkey piece is very fitting since the quilt will be donated as a charity quilt to the children's ward at my local hospital.

 Look at all those gorgeous colors! The binding is also scrappy.

 

 In making a plaid-ish quilt it is very important to sort the fabrics by value, light, medium and dark. The best way to check this is to take black/white pictures, because sometimes bright colors may have a pretty light value, if you compare the two last pictures.

This is my ninth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 101 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

Elroy Quilt

 Earlier this year I was lucky to be chosen for pattern testing of the Elroy Quilt by Megan of Modern Moon Quilt Studio. I chose to make only four blocks which is perfect for a baby quilt. The simple reason for this was that my nephew and his wife were expecting a baby boy. Now the baby is here and I have sent the quilt to the new owner.

The pattern is a modern geometric design. I used batiks from Island Batik for the front. I love the bright and bold colors!

I quilted it with FMQ in a flame design on my domestic sewing machine using variegated Aurifil thread in color #4652.
 

 The backing is a fun print with birds and leaves, called Birchtree Lane from Connecting Threads. It is a great fabric for the baby boy to focus on when he gets a little bit older.

The quilt went through a wash/dryer cycle which made it nice and cuddly. Perfect for a newborn baby boy!

Keep quilting!

Cute Pattern Weights

After making quite a few charity quilts already this year, I need to make a few garments for summer. And then I need pattern weights. Earlier I have used scissors and some odd things from around the house to keep my pattern paper in place.
 

 Now I felt like I had to have a more professional look for my weights. I had some leftovers from this cute flowers&bees fabric, and it was just enough to make nine of them. I used this tutorial . They are filled with rice.

Now I have to wait for the snow to melt, and start sewing garments for summer, and meanwhile look at my cute pattern weights on the rhubarb leaf tray!