The Moose are Loose in the Forest

I took a walk in the forest, and see what I bumped into: A herd of moose hiding among the trees!

The moose pulled further in the forest and tried to get away from me.

I managed to gather the moose and bring them home. Here they are relaxing on my porch wall. The forest, which is their home, can be seen in the background.

Maybe they are a little bit more comfortable hanging in the tree?

Relaxing on the sofa must be the best place!

They wanted to go out again, and the porch floor seemed to be a good location.

Quilt statistics:
Moose on the Loose
48" x 60"
Design by Cheryl Haynes for Benartex
Pieced and quilted by me

All the fabrics used are from my stash. The quilt is a combination of pieced log cabin blocks and raw edge appliqué. The quilting consists of straight line with the walking foot (Janome) and free motion quilting on my 50 year old Pfaff.

The backing is a flannel in fall colors, perfect for camouflage during the hunting season!

Here is a detail picture taken during the quilting process. The brown fabric is perfect for moose skin, and the scrappy tree adds to the masculinity of the quilt.

I finished the quilt with a coffee brown binding, and added a hanging sleeve so the recipient can choose whether he wants to hang it on the wall or snuggle under it in his chair.

Linked up to Linky Tuesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, Fresh Sewing Day and CreativeGoodness Linky Party.

Moose Top Done + Progress on Table Runner

My Moose Top is done, here it is displayed this morning on my porch, with a light dust of snow! Look at the date, April 24, and winter is still here! It gives a nice backdrop for my quilt top, though. The top was finished two days ago, but there was a storm yesterday, and it was impossible to take the flimsy out for a photo shoot.

I finally decided on the border, after having auditioned several possibilities. The brown leaf fabric is the same as the one used in the log cabin blocks. That gives a nice finish to the top; I like it.

Tomorrow it will be pin basted and getting ready for quilting.

During the storm yesterday, I started piecing the table runner I cut the pieces to last week. The design is a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop, called Mini Charm Mix.  

I guess I will find some time to piece this one in between the quilting of the lap quilt. Right now the snow is coming down, so it might be indoor time tomorrow, perfect for sewing and quilting!

Linked up to Creative Goodness Linky Party.

Moose in the Cabin + Modern Quilt Plans

My moose are not loose any longer, they are getting domesticated and put into limited squares.

The quilt top is getting close to finish, one more applique block to be added, and then a border. Six days to get this far must be a record for me. Hope to get the quilt top done by tomorrow. It is so satisfying to only use fabrics from my stash; I seem to have a lot of woodsy prints and fall colors! The pattern for this quilt is a freebie from Benartex, it is called Moose in the Cabin, and is lap size.

I have to finish this quilt as soon as possible, because I have a quilt to make for a wedding in August!

I am planning to make a modern quilt from the book Optical Illusions by Kansas City Star Books. I won this book in a blog hop last fall, and there are several gorgeous modern quilt designs to choose from. I have never made a quilt from solids only, before, so this will be a new experience!

Linked to Linky Tuesday, WIP Wednesday and Needle and Thread Thursday ..

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - April's Block

Here is my April block for the 2015 Quilt Doodle Design BOM. This time it is a birdhouse with a mama- and a baby-bird. Two lovely bluebirds!

The glitter fabric gives good life to the birds. The baby is so cute where he peeks out of the birdhouse waiting for mama.

The buttons will be sewn on the quilt when all the blocks are put together and the quilting has been done.

Building rows

I made an appliqué block for the masculine quilt, and I just had to assemble a row to see how it would look. I need a few more appliqué blocks before I can assemble the whole quilt. 

I have the perfect fabric for border and backing for the quilt, and I think there will be a lot of different trees scattered around.

For the photo shoot today, the weather was overcast with a lot better light for pictures. The wind was also cooperating, and it helped that the row is heavier than single blocks.

This will become a good looking quilt!

Distracted - again...

With all the pieces cut for the latest table runner (see my previous post) you should think that I would have been on a good way of finishing the top by now, but not... Instead I started gathering fabrics and started cutting pieces for a new one.

Here are my finished Log Cabin blocks made from 2 1/2" strips. The low sunlight on my porch does not give perfect credit to the colors, but you may get the picture. Seconds after the picture was taken the blocks were blown away with the wind, but I managed to rescue all of them.

This will become a masculine quilt, the design is a free pattern from Benartex; more will be revealed later.

Linked up to Needle and Thread Thursday.

WIP - Another Stash Busting Project

Yesterday I finished cutting the pieces for a new stash busting project, lots of 2 1/2" squares. Together with white rectangles these pieces will form a new table runner, a bit more modern than the previous one I made. This one will also be gifted. Updates will follow.

Linked up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social.

2015 Aurifil Designer of the Month - March Mini Quilt

In the previous 3 years I have made the Aurifil Designer of the Month quilts, where one block was made each month, and then all 12 blocks were assembled into a quilt in the end. In 2015 the designers are creating their own mini quilts. I didn't make the mini for the two first months of this year, but, for some reason the March design appealed to me. The finished mini looks gorgeous together with the crocuses in my yard. There are not many other flowers in my yard, yet, and 10 minutes after the pictures were taken we had a real snow storm, so spring has not come to stay quite yet.

The mini is 15 1/2" x 18 1/2", and is designed by Kimberly Jolly. The quilt is made of 5 different batiks, with a light neutral with lots of tiny leaves scattered all over as background. The binding is a purple/blue batik.

 I quilted it with straight lines using a light neutral cotton thread. The batting is cotton, which gives the mini some volume.

The back is an old curtain fabric. The quilting shows up very well on this side.


This is my second finish for the 2015 FAL. The original goal post can be found HERE.

This is also my finish in April for ALYoF; I managed to make it fairly early this month.

Beekeeper's Heaven

My first finish for the 2015 FAL is accomplished, the table runner I named Beekeeper's Heaven.

I once won the golden hexagon fabric (center in the block above) at my Local Quilt Guild meeting, and I wondered what to use it for?! It was lying in my stash a long time, unused, but when I started picking fabrics for the Quatrefoil blocks, it was just a perfect match for block centers. It almost looks like beeswax, and looks really good together with the soft pink print, charcoal and green. The eggshell colored solid background matches any interior.

After a wash and dryer cycle the table runner measures 17.5" x 41", It looks great on my coffee table, just a shame that it will not stay there... The table runner will soon be on its way to a couple of friends who among other things are beekeepers, that explains the name!

The runner is quite densely quilted with straight lines in the negative space. The way the lines crosses and makes a "waffle" design gives an interesting effect, in my opinion.

I used FMQ in the Quatrefoil blocks, and the one thing I am mostly pleased with are the bees in the two golden hexagon center blocks. The design of the bees comes from Lori at the The Inbox Jaunt. She has wonderful tutorials on free motion quilting, and even I, who am a novice in this, managed to make an image which fairly resembles a bee (!)

There was also room for a few hearts in the corner blocks.

The center Quatrefoil block has a pink, gorgeous fabric from my stash. Due to the busy design of the fabric I chose to quilt this center with a square spiral. Most of the quilting on this runner is done with a neutral cotton thread from Connecting Threads, but the petals of the charcoal block is quilted with a dark grey cotton thread. The picture above is taken before wash, and you can easily see the structure of the quilting. I am a big fan of straight line quilting!

Here is a close-up of the square spiral and the FMQ of the center block.

The runner is backed with a light flower print from my stash. The binding is also an old piece from my stash, Candy Cane Angels by Lynette Anderson The binding was cut at a width of 2", and is a double fold. 

It feels good to finish another stash-busting project, and one that is so good looking!

My original goal post for the 2015 FAL for the second quarter can be found HERE

Linked up to Fabric Frenzy Friday, Link a Finish Friday, Finish it up Friday and Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday.

My 2015 FAL - Q2 List

It is the second quarter of 2015, and a new list of projects I want to finish is due. Thanks to Adrienne over at On The Windy Side for keeping us in line.

For the first quarter my goal was to finish three projects, and I managed to complete two of them. Three is a good number, and that will be my goal for this quarter, too.

The above picture shows bits and pieces that will be assembled into a mini quilt. Batiks and a neutral fabric with tiny white leaves will be put together in a nice little wall hanging.

My Quatrefoil blocks are being sewn together and will become a great table runner for beekeeper friends.

Last, but not least, I put in the goal I didn't accomplish for the first quarter of the year, Love Squared by Lindsey Weight. Now the background fabric is ready and waiting to be cut into.

This list should be possible to accomplish; I am looking forward to a nice few months!

ALYoF 2015 Goal for April

My ALYoF goal for April is not a very big one, but here is my starting point: These bits and pieces will be assembled to a Mini Quilt top, and my plan is also to quilt and bind it before the month is over. That should be possible to accomplish. I am using different batiks for this mini, paired with a neutral with tiny leaves from my stash. 

This morning I woke up to a snow covered landscape. Yesterday we had spring with the sun heating up the place, but, you know, this is the month of April, and any weather is possible. Let's hope the snow is gone by Easter Sunday!

Progress on Quatrefoil Table Runner

This is the project I started last month (or yesterday), the pieces are cut and I have started sewing the blocks together.

I found the design over at ModifyTradition, but I know this has been published lots of other places.

When auditioning the fabrics I had to switch the center block of the block to the left, the original fabric I had chosen was way too "weak", the new center pink is a lot more interesting, and it even has some 'gold' in it which matches the golden hexagons in the other block.

This will eventually become a three block table runner, about 42" long. As for my latest projects I am only using fabrics from my stash.

Since Easter vacation started today, officially, I have to show off some yellow colors, too. This nice spring bouquet is perfect for Easter, hope it will last all the vacation days.

Happy Easter!

Linked up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday.