Batik Triangles

 

 Winter is here with freezing temperatures, and what gives a better contrast than bright batik triangles?!

I had a lit of batiks in my stash, and figured out that they would be great for a charity quilt. I decided to make my first, ever, triangle quilt. I cut the triangles using the Hex'n More ruler. 

After cutting I realized there was one triangle short to make the last row complete, so I fussy cut a cherry block (can you find it?).

 The backing is a great panel with dragons and castles. It wasn't wide enough, but a green strip with leaves took care of that. quilting is done with a green thread on the front and a light green thread in the bobbin. Finished size is 33" x 53" after a washing and drying cycle.

This is my twelfth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 104 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

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 were 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!

Number 100

 I started quilting in 2001 and made my first charity quilt in spring of 2012. My quilt guild is donating quilts to the children's ward at my local hospital, to long-term ill kids. My very first charity quilt is shown here: Walk in the Woods.

During all these years I have kept count on how many quilts I have donated to the hospital, and lately I was getting close to a round number. Here it is: My charity quilt number one hundred to the children's ward at the hospital!

 The quilt is a patchwork of 4.5" square blocks with garden motifs and various domestic and wild animals. I dug up up lots of interesting fabrics and there's a lot to discover in this quilt. 

Finished size of the quilt is 44" x 52". 

It is always great to take pictures of quilts in natural light. Lately we have had very cold weather down to -13.4 °C ( 8 °F) at night, and just barely over freezing point during the warmest part of the day. This has led to a sparkling blue sky, bright sun and gorgeous weather to take a walk in, just remember to stay out of shaded areas.

 

The backing fabric is a blue solid that I bought at Ikea some time ago. It's a shame that they seem to discontinue selling fabric :( 

The quilting was done by myself using the walking foot, with dark green thread in a crosshatch design. Binding is a soft flannel in blue and purple.
 

 Here's a detailed picture of the blocks and quilting. There are lots of details in the blocks.

 

 This was a very fun quilt to make. I've come a long way since my first charity quilt was made 11 years ago. This quilt took three days from start to finish. Chain piecing blocks is a great technique!

I enjoy making these charity quilts, and it gives me a great feeling that they give comfort to children during difficult times. I will not stop making charity quilts, but I will probably take a few months break from them to focus on other projects.

This is my eighth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 100 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

Harry Potter Quilt

 

 At my guild meeting some weeks ago one of our members gave away some Harry Potter fabric. This was perfect for a charity quilt. I paired it with a book fabric I had, a Jen Kingwell fabric in three different color combinations and some other fabrics that would suit a boy.

I had the quilt professionally quilted by a new longarmer in town, she did a great job!

 

 The backing fabric is full of old-fashioned fountain pen tips, to go with the book theme of the quilt.

 Finished quilt size is 42" x 54".

Here's a detailed picture of the quilting. The star pattern is perfect for the quilt.

I also gathered my leftover binding pieces and made a scrappy binding, which makes the quilt more interesting.

This is my seventh charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 99 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

 

Wild Star

There are so many free patterns out there one the internet, and one that really caught my eye was the Wild Star by Plains&Pine.What a great way to use some of my treasured scraps! I chose to make the baby sized version, they also provide a throw sized pattern.

I dug into my scrap bins and picked mainly kid-friendly fabrics with lots of colors.

This little quilt begged to get some experimental quilting. I did some FMQ with lines and circles, walking foot quilting with cross hatch, wavy lines and a band of dense quilting. Good practice and I had lots of fun.

The background is a cream/grey colored fabric with subtle numbers and letters.

I found a very child friendly backing for the quilt, this will truly be a double-sided quilt!

The finished size of the quilt is 38" square. I used frankenbatting and scrappy binding to complete the quilt.

A detailed picture of the scrappy diamonds that forms the quilt. The quilting is clearly visible.

This is my sixth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 98 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

 

Project Quilting 14.6 : FEAR - No More

 

The challenge for PQ 14.6 was "Conquer a Fear". I have never tried out reverse applique before, I don't know why! Have I been afraid of it? This was the time to get over my fear.

I used freezer paper , traced the letters on the dark green fabric, added the bright green fabric on the back and started zig-zaging.

The SCARY part was cutting out the top fabric layer of the letters, maybe I made the project a little bit on the small side. Using my seam ripper and a sharp pair of scissors it worked out OK.

I conquered my fear and made a grafitti-like embroidery so my statement is: FEAR NO MORE !

A great new mug rug of approx. 5" x 6" to my selection!

 

What is Love?

 February 1st the 'What is Love' Collab event was released on Instagram. Fifteen designers released one modern quilt block each. During the month I managed to sew all the blocks, it was a great skill builder with curves, applique, foundation paper piecing, HRTs and inset circles.

Fifteen blocks were not enough for a decent sized quilt, in my mind. One of the blocks, Grow Wild by Brooke of Eudaimonia Studio, is a HRT block where you actually make two blocks at a time. Then I had sixteen.

I found a multicolored print in my stash and that gave me three 12.5" blocks  and a few leftover pieces. From the remnants I pieced the background of the block, added the circle that was cut out from another block when making an inset circle, and put in inset narrow strips after a tutorial from Hillary of @entropyalwayswins. My improvised block looks like a planet in space! You can see it in the bottom row of the quilt.

I love taking pictures in natural light, so when there was a pause between the snow showers I got a photo shoot on my snow covered deck. (When is winter going to end?)

The backing is a fun Ikea print from 2016 that I had in my stash. 

The finished quilt measures 48" x 60".

I challenged myself to free motion quilt it on my domestic sewing machine. I chose a design with hearts and loops, perfect for a quilt with lots of hearts in the blocks.

Here's a close up picture of my own designed "planet" block. I don't like to throw away useful pieces, whether it is blocks, strips or scraps. My scrap bins tend to overflow.

The binding of the quilt is a candy striped one in pink, perfect for the quilt. A totally sweet one!

This is my fifth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 97 all time for the children's ward at the hospital. 

Keep on quilting!

 

 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Project Quilting 14.4

 When the challenge for Project Quilting 14.4 was announced, A Novel Project, I knew exactly which book I wanted to highlight.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by the French author Muriel Barbery is my absolute favorite book.

 A moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us (Goodreads).

 The phenomenal New York Times bestseller that “explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building” (Publishers Weekly).

The book is very well written, it is a pleasure to read, try it out! 

 

 From the title of the book I just had to make a project with a hedgehog. After some internet searching I found the cutest, free pattern on the Flamingo Toes blog: Harriett the Hedgie Pillow.

I needed a new pillow, so this was a win-win situation! The pattern fits a 20" pillow form. I chose to narrow the borders a bit to make the pillow a little bit more puffy.

 Here's the pieced pillow front.

 

 The only time the hedgehog could prick me was in the basting process.

 

 After quilting the hedgehog is so soft and cuddly.

 

I made the back of the pillow with a hidden zipper closure.

 

I seem to have a preference for pillows in these Project Quilting challenges, here's a comparison with the 3" pincushion I made in PQ 14.3.

Keep on quilting!