Baby Quilt For A Very Special Girl

Finally I can show this quilt here after the baby girl is born and the quilt has been gifted!

The design is called 'Crossing Canoes', and I was fortunate enough to be able to cut out the block pieces with my Accuquilt cutter. 

25 'Crossed Canoes' blocks  makes up a quilt of 44" square, before wash and dry cycle. It is quilted by myself in a heart and loops FMQ design.  

The quilt back is very interesting, it is pieced by 11 different pieces of  'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' fabric. This quilt back may be even more popular than the front for the little baby girl!  

 

Economy Quilt for Charity

 

 

As for most quilters my scrap bins are overflowing. I wanted to do something about it and decided on an Economy Block Quilt. 

Through my quilt guild I have access to plenty scraps, and together with my own stash this ought to become an interesting collection of fabrics. Thanks to my Accuquilt Go cutter the pieces for the Economy blocks were cut in (almost) no time.  

Each finished block is 8" square . The finished quilt is 48" x 64", a great size for a young person.

 

It is quilted with straight lines with the walking foot, and used a variegated red/white/blue thread from Aurifil for the quilting (#3852). With all the different colored fabrics this worked out pretty well.

This is my second charity quilt for the year 2021, and number 66 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Keep on quilting!

 

 

Flowers in the Meadow

This charity quilt is the result of a deep-dive into my stash searching for florals.

I used my AccuQuilt Go to cut the 180 4.5" squares from all the 'gazillion' different florals.

To get a little more interest into the quilt I spread butterflies/roses randomly over the surface. I know there will be a girl out there who will enjoy this quilt!

The quilt is backed with a red gingham, which almost makes it look like a picnic quilt. The green binding gives a splash of extra color to the quilt..

Finished size is 48" x 60".

This is my fourth charity quilt for the year, and number 48 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Second Charity Quilt in November

I made a second charity quilt in November, this time I cut blocks using my AccuQuilt Go cutter. I also added solid blocks in a variegated fabric that almost looks like a summer sky. A fun blue print adds life and size to the quilt.

I used a grey solid for binding. The finished size of the quilt is 48" x 64".

This is my charity quilt number fourteen for the year, and number 43 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Charity Quilt for November

My charity quilt for November is made from 4.5" squares of vintage-looking fabrics where the main fabric features Petite Odile by French General for ModaFabrics.

I cut 142 squares of the available fabrics with my AccuquiltGo! cutter with very little waste, and ended up using 140 of them in the quilt. Simple crosshatch quilting adds to the vintage look.

It was a grey, snow-filled day for the photo shoot, the first day of real snow this season.

I added a fun strip of teddy bears to the striped fabric on the backing for interest. The binding is a striped fabric that matches the colors on the front.

Finished size is approximately 40"x56".

This is my charity quilt number thirteen for the year, and number 42 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Keep on quilting!

Snowflakes Coming

The October challenge for the Island Batik ambassadors was to create a table runner or table topper appropriate for the coming holidays. There product had to include appliqué, by machine or hand.

Here is my contribution: 'Snowflakes Coming'.

I used the Blue Sea collection from Island Batik and chose 17 of the 21 prints for my table runner. Cutting 243 two and a half inch squares was a breeze using my AccuQuilt GO! cutter. It makes accurate cuts and very little waste. 

Chain piecing of all the 2.5" squares took a lot longer time than cutting them. This is the closest to a quilt swirl I could manage for this runner. Looks kind of cute, doesn't it? 

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All the piecing was done with Aurifil 50wt in white #2024. I quilted the runner in a cross hatch design with the variegated thread Stonewash Blues #4669. The raw edge appliqué was done with Aurifil 40wt #2024. I used 50wt #2024 in the bobbin for both quilting and applique to get a clean finish for the backing, which is the neutral batik Almond.

The ultra thin Hobbs Thermore polyester batting was used in the quilt sandwich. 

The binding is a blue batik from last year's collection London Calling. The binding was sewn on with Aurifil 50wt in blue #1128, Light blue Violet, and hand sewn to the back.

I found the template for the snowflakes in an old quilting magazine. I can tell you it was a tedious cutting process with a small pair of scissors to get all the details right, and I had to make five of them! The neutral batik Almond  was used for the snowflakes.

There was actually snow on the mountain in the distance, how appropriate for the photo shoot! Winter is getting closer...

When looking for a location for the photo shoot I spotted this place down the hill from where I live; a golden ground! A perfect background for a blue and purple quilt.

Last night's freeze made a good amount of the leaves fall off, but still enough of them hanging on the trees to get good pictures.

 The table runner on top of the crisp maple leaves. The runner is 18"x54" finished.

There was even an orange leaved tree in the neighborhood, how appropriate to display the blues together with the complimentary color!

A nice effect of the sunlight and shadows in the playground!

This is how my new table runner will be used during the coming winter months, though not outside! It is very difficult to get good pictures of the purple colors inside, outdoor pictures in natural light are the best.

A full length picture of the runner with a background of glorious fall colors.

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.
 

Crossed Canoes and the Troll - A Fairytale

The Crossed Canoes and the Troll - A Fairytale

Once upon a time there was a quiltmaker who was going to make a quilt for the children's ward at her local hospital. She received fabrics, threads and batting from Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs in her Ambassador shipment.

In addition there was a big surprise in the box, a Crossed Canoes cutting die for the AccuQuilt fabric cutter.

The blocks were effectively cut out in a couple of hours.

The Crossed Canoes blocks were made in blues, greens, greys and blacks batik foundations, and they were happily floating around on the wooden floor. There was even room for a canoe block in bright and happy Check It Out batiks!

The canoes longed to be launched on the lake or the sea, because that's where they are supposed to be, right!

The quiltmaker didn't make a lake for them, she made a checkerboard of the neutrals Almond and Milk Shake to go in between the canoes. An almond-milkshake lake! Yummy!

Can you spot the block turned the wrong way? The quiltmaker didn't notice it before she had started quilting, but luckily she managed to turn it around before it was too late!

The quilting resembles a cascade or waterfall, where the energy of the water is high, and where the canoes may get into trouble.

The canoes were finally let outside, and loved the open air and the low sunlight. But, it would definitely be better to get on the water!

Aaah, horizontal at last! But, hey, are you going to take us to the lake, soon?

The quilt was made in a house that is pretty far away from the lake and sea, but close to the forest. So the quilt was taken on a tour in the wilderness.

The first stop was in a play area where the quilt wanted to become a tipi. Unfortunately it was a little bit too small to cover the whole structure, so the search for water continued.

The troll was very spooky, it grabbed the quilt and wouldn't let go! "Let us go, let us go!" cried the canoes. "We have to find the lake!"

The troll grumpily let the canoes loose. "Don't come back to this forest ever again!" said the troll.

The search for water continued, but the hike took them to higher grounds. "The roots of this fairytale tree must go down to water, but it is no way we could get down there", said the canoes. "Let's search the area!"

"No water here", said the canoes. "Just an old and dry dinosaur spine!"

The canoes got tired and discouraged by the futile search for water. On the way back to the house they took a rest on a fence.

But, hey, what's in the horizon?! The SEA! It is the fjord with plenty of water for canoes, yeah!

Zooming in, the canoes could see a ship! Hurray! Finally, the right element for the Crossed Canoes were found!

The End

Epilogue:

The Crossed Canoes quilt will not end up in the fjord, but will be donated to the children's ward at the hospital. The hospital is almost visible behind the trees at the left of this picture. So the canoes will stay a lot closer to the sea, while they are comforting a sick child.


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The September challenge for the Island Batik ambassadors was the following: 

"Let your inner child come out to play!  Color, fun and playful are all for grabs this month! 
Make a quilt for a kid that you love or to donate to a kid that needs comfort. 
Clear out space for magic & whimsy when creating this month!"

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.



Quilt stats:
Size: 45" x 63"
Fabrics: Island Batik Foundations, Check It Out, Almond, Milk Shake
Binding: Solid black batik
Thread: Aurifil 50wt, #2024 (white) for piecing and #2843 (light grey green) for quilting
Batting: Hobbs Cotton batting
Crossed Canoes 9" die from AccuQuilt




This is my eighth charity quilt for the year, and 37th all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Star Light Star Bright Challenge with Island Batik

The August challenge in the Island Batik ambassador program (for half of the ambassadors, the others participate in the Beat the Heat blog hop) was to create a quilt using any star quilt block pattern. The only requirement was that the quilt had to be lap size or larger.

The first idea that popped into my head was to make BRIGHT stars, and I knew I had the right batiks for that in my stash. In last years first ambassador box I got a bundle of Southern Blooms that I used for two different challenges, in May 2018 and June 2019 . These are bright, rainbow colors with gorgeous butterflies in many of the prints.

I still had enough of these batiks for the center squares of the Friendship Stars. For the star petals I used Island Batik foundations and stash builder rolls. I used 20 different prints from Southern Blooms, and 20 different prints for the star petals. I love it when I can use fabrics from my stash to make new quilts, I hardly ever throw away leftover fabrics!

In addition I used solid white batik for the background and solid grey for the diamonds in between the stars. The design is based on a picture I saw at the Internet.

All the blocks were cut using my Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter, and that is a real time saver! The squares and HSTs are 4" finished.

The piecing and quilting is done with Aurifil 50wt #2024. Walking foot quilting makes up the main design, while I made a "string of pearls", or circles of different sizes in FMQ, in stripes crossing the quilt.

I used Hobbs Heirloom Cotton Batting with Scrim in the quilt sandwich

The finished quilt dimension is 48" x 60".

I used a fun print from Ikea for the backing. The binding is black solid batik.

The quilting is easily visible here where the quilt is hanging over the porch wall.

Today was a beautiful day for a photo shoot, and I brought the quilt with me to a nearby lake.

The sun shining through the quilt showing off the fun print on the back. The sun rays glittering in the lake creates a perfect setting!

The wind isn't always cooperating!

Ready for take-off! Is this the Flying Carpet?

A glorious late-summer day by the lake!


The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.