Dreaming of Greece - Project Quilting 12.3

 My entry for the Project Quilting Challenge 12.3 - Virtual Vacation is my dream of Greece. I normally go there every year, but now I haven't been there since 2019. Hope to go there soon.

I entered this little mug rug of 5" square from my Instagram account before the deadline yesterday, but decided to put it on my blog, also. 

It is always fun to work on small, fast projects in between the larger ones.

Keep on quilting!

 

Hearts On Fire Blog Hop - My Day

 

 Welcome to the fifth and last day of the Hearts on Fire blog hop hosted by Carol of JustLetMeQuilt .

The rules were:

'Make something with a heart in any color, BUT NOT RED...get creative!'

 

 

Due to a time consuming  project I started towards the end of last year, I only had time to make a couple of small projects for this blog hop. But, anyway, here's my entry: a pouch and a pincushion.

For this blog hop I searched through my stash for suitable fabrics, and I found these two with heart print and absolutely no red. In addition I added a sturdy fabric for the bottom of the pouch. I quilted the pouch with straight lines in a neutral color, and then used raw edge applique to add the three small hearts to the pouch.

I used a recycled zipper, and made my own zipper pull with a little heart attached.

 

Who has got enough pincushions? At least I needed a new one to keep next to my sewing machine. The back of the pincushion is the other heart print.

 

 

Last but not least I have to show an oldie but goodie: A couple of years ago I made this tote with rainbow hearts. This is bag I use often, it has a recessed zipper and is very practical. The tote is colorful and bright against the fresh fallen snow.

 

Here's the full schedule of the blog hop, go check out the projects from the other participants!

January 18

Creatin' in the Sticks

Life in the Scrapatch

Freckled Fox Quiltery

All Thingz Sewn

Den Syende Himmel

That Fabric Feeling

 

January 19

MooseStashQuilting

Websterquilt

Words & Stitches

Vroomans Quilts

Quilt Schmilt

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Songbird Designs

 

January 20

Selina Quilts

Stitchin At Home

Samelia's Mum

Just Sew Quilter

Scrapdash

Karrin’s Crazy World

The Darling Dogwood

 

January 21

Quilt Fabrication

Ms P Designs USA

Beaquilter

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Ridge Top Quilt

For The Love Of Geese

Sew Many Yarns

Quilting Gail

 

January 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karen's Korner

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt In A Not-Shell

Storied Quilts

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Homespun Hannah's Blog

 Thanks to Carol for organizing another great blog hop!

 

 

 

Ileana's Round Robin Quilt

I am one of six European ladies that have joined the Rakish Needle Round Robin this year. This quilt was started by Ileana in Great Britain (crazy house block) and fantastic additions were made by Katrin in Germany.

Ileana wants a quilt "Freddy Moran style" (look it up), that is quite "crazy". I did some research on her style, and discovered that (almost) anything is allowed. Just add some white and black to let the eyes rest a bit in between the color explosions!

 I felt very inspired by Freddy's many examples of quilts, and got lots of ideas. My biggest source of inspiration was the book Undeniably Crazy by Buggy Barn. This is the first time I used patterns from that book. I ended up making this row of blocks.

 When attaching  my row to the original one the combined piece looks like this. The cockatoo and the flower on blue background are patterns from the book. The rest of the blocks are improvised.

A house needs a rose garden, and two roses made in crazy log cabin style are on the far right. I had to add a cat to the picture, and hung a crazy log cabin style "picture" of a cat on a black and white wallpaper.

This is a very wild quilt, and I look forward to see how it will look in the end!

Super Cute Pincushions

My first post in 2017 is a cute one; on New Year's Eve I discovered a Pincushion SewAlong on Instagram. This is hosted by @zeriano and Sew Illustrated. The patterns were free until January 1st, so I hurried to download them.

Each pincushion is 3" x 3" inches finished. I am mostly using scraps of Liberty prints.

I just had to make this as the first one. The orange batik cat is a tribute to my late cat. He passed away two years ago at the mature age of 16 1/2 years.

The second one us appliquéd using two Liberty prints, and I used both machine and hand stitching.

These tiny projects are so cute and rewarding, I am using up the smallest scraps I have. For the back of the pincushions I am using my smallest floral prints.

In this bowl there is room for several more, just stay tuned to my blog!

Happy sewing!

Status On The Splendid Sampler Blocks

The whole year I have been making the Splendid Sampler blocks. The event is organized by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson, and two new  blocks are posted each week. I kept up with the schedule until I went on vacation in July when I didn't have access to my sewing machine.

I have been trying to catch up lately, and today I appliqued 4 blocks that I prepared last night.

I am still behind, as for now there are 82 blocks released. I have completed 65, and I am working hard to reduce the gap.

My blocks are mainly made from scraps.

Keep on quilting!

Blocks, Blocks and More Blocks

This is the year for blocks, and I have joined 4 different "BOMs" with a bigger or lesser workload.

 

The Splendid Sampler comes out with free blocks  twice a week, and when we are finished we will have made 100 6 1/2" blocks unfinished. Above are blocks 30 - 37, in a wide range from simple piecing, intricate embroidery, applique, curved piecing and English Paper Piecing. We get to practice a lot of techniques!

The 2016 Aurifil Designer of the Month June block is Modern Delft II by Jacquelynne Steves. She designed two different versions of the block, where #1 had stitchery in the center block as well as in the four white corner blocks. I chose to make the alternative version of this 12 1/2" unfinished block.

Maybe I will prepare the stitchery project to bring with me on summer vacation, since I won't have access to a sewing machine.

The June block in the Sugar Block Club is Maple Stack, a modern version of the classic Maple Leaf block. I love the boldness of these blocks, and for this particular one I am very pleased with the blueberry fabric! These blocks are the same size as the Aurifil blocks.

I am also making blocks for my Modern HST Sampler, but that will be shown in a separate post. Enough blocks for now...

Keep on quilting!

Seven Splendid Sampler Blocks finished

These are my first seven Splendid Sampler blocks. Actually, I also finished number eight last night, but I was too tired to get a good picture.

As you can see on this photo, we have still got some ice on our porch in the shaded area, winter is far from gone here. You should see the big piles of snow in our yard!

Anyway, today it is mild and raining, so maybe spring is coming?!

Keep on quilting!

The Splendid Sampler

I couldn't resist this "TBEW" (Two Blocks Every Week) either,  The Splendid Sampler hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. 83 designers will give away 100 free block designs in a year. All the blocks will be 6" finished.

I made the first block today, Hearts Aflutter by Pat Sloan.

November ALYoF goal achieved!

The little November house is completed, now there's only one month left of this BOM! The completed quilt is going to look lovely!

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - September block

The end of September is approaching, and finally I managed to make my appliqué block for the month.

This block makes me want to sit down in front of a fireplace and read a good book (or two). Enjoying a delicious apple while doing it would make it perfect!

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - August's Block

I didn't think that August's block would be so appropriate that it turned out to be, one week ago it was cold and rainy weather, but with the latest heat wave Flip Flops are the only footwear I would like to use! With temperatures around 80 F we are experiencing the hottest weather for the summer!

I wanted to praise the summer with the flower fabric from Ikea (2010) that I had a remnant of. The aqua solid for the toe straps and the yellow flower makes the Flip Flops perfect! Putting the footwear on a fabric that resembles sand on a beach makes me wish that I just kicked these off my feet and went for a swim in the ocean; it is that hot!

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - July's Block

This is the July block for the BOM My Favorite Things; a cute cabin in the forest.

I decided to make it as far from 'Christmasy' as I could, this is a real "log cabin". I think the tall tree looks the best, made of a fabric that looks just like a Lumber Jack's shirt.

The stars are also subtle, just like they are in the Northern Hemisphere, close to the Arctic Circle during summer.

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - June's Block

Just a couple of days left of June, but I managed to complete this month's task and made the cute appliqué of Wilson! He was wiggling his tail so much that he distorted the yellow button, sorry about that!

Now I am half way through this BOM, and I enjoy the process of appliqué so much, I have to do more of that!

Quilt Doodle BOM 2015 - May's Blocks

For the month of May there were two blocks to appliqué for the BOM My Favorite Things. First out is the Birthday Cake.

I made a sweet pink cake with white icing which contained lots of white hearts on white (not easy to see in this picture). I like the old fashioned look of the cake stand. Three candles in darker pink tops the cake. Lots of tiny glass beads will be sewn on the cake after the quilting is done.

The second block really wants me to go out and work in the garden! Look at these nice flowers and the hard working bee! Buttons will be attached to the flowers later, in addition to embroidery of the flight of the bee.

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.