Kawandi Quilt

 

Kawandi quilts seem to be one of the hottest projects around these days. I jumped on this wagon and made a charity quilt for the children's ward at my local hospital.

There are lots of interesting fabrics in this quilt, colorful prints with animals and many recognizable objects. This will be perfect for a little child.

Kawandi quilts are 100% handsewn and are sewn from the outside in. The first row of the project with fabric pieces of different sizes. 

The starting point of this quilt was the softest  piece of a flannel backing from my stash. With a thin cotton backing I started stitching.

A detailed picture of the process. Since you sew through three layers, the project is being quilted as you go (QAYG). I used a white cotton crochet yarn for the big stitching.

I made a little test project first of 6"x9" to get acquainted with the technique.

My big Kawandi quilt measures 28"x41" and is the softest and most cuddly quilt I have ever made! It is the most relaxing and rewarding quilting technique I have ever tried.

This is my twelfth charity quilt for the year 2022, and number 91 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Keep on quilting!

 

Summer Tote To Chase Away Winter

We are almost in the middle of May, and Mother Nature decided we hadn't had enough of winter, yet. It has been snowing every day this week, but thankfully the sun manages to melt most of it during the day.

I really just had to make something to chase the winter away, and what other than a colorful tote bag?!

I used the new NÄBBFLY home decor fabric from Ikea, and that one is definitely giving me a tropical feel.

I used the Market Tote tutorial from BijouLovelyDesigns as the basis of my tote construction.

I hope the three tropical birds on my new tote will flap their wings in unison and create a warm wind that will chase the winter away! I definitely have had enough of the snow!

Colorful Drawstring Bag

Just before Easter and there was still snow on the ground. I needed some color in my life and decided to make a drawstring bag from a tutorial by Erica Arndt. I used a mini charm pack of Vintage Picnic fabric by Bonnie and Camille for the patchwork panel and various florals for the rest of the bag.

A yellow ribbon acts as a great drawstring and is perfect for an Easter bag. The little birds bring promise of spring.

Hexie Tote for Spring

During the last few months I have taken a hand-sewing project with me to quilt guild meetings. I have only sewn on this English Paper Piecing hexagon project during these meetings.

These 2 inch hexies are made from leftover strips of fabric. I didn't have a specific plan when I started, but when five were done I decided to make a spring bag out of them. I appliqued the hexies on linen and started looking for a bag pattern. I chose a tutorial from Jedi Craft Girl, and modified it a little bit.

Projects completed

I just remembered that I haven't posted pictures of the bag I made in a weekend class in the middle of last month. So here it is:

This is the bag in question, designed by the Norwegian designer André Wallenborg. During the weekend class we managed to sew and complete this bag, and it is so satisfying to bring home a completed project after a class! I chose a home decor fabric from Ikea for the main fabric. I think it gives the bag a sporty look.

I learned a lot during the class, both smart solutions concerning sewing techniques, and things I didn't know about my sewing machine!

The black fabric is cotton duck, and that gives the bag solidity and sturdiness. The black fabric also gives a nice finish and calm down the kind of busy design of the fabric. The size of the bag is perfect for a carry-on bag in airplane trips.

Today I also finished this table runner, the second in a row I just had to make for gifts this month. Sorry about the lighting, it was snowing like crazy outside when I took the picture.

The runner was made using a tutorial from  Missouri Star Quilt Company .The size of the table runner is approximately 14" x 28". I used smaller squares than what is used in the tutorial, so I used more squares to get a decent size. Now both runners are ready to give away.

Happy quilting!

Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday

It has been a long time since last blog post, with a good reason. Last weekend I attended a 16 hour class of bag-making. During the weekend I managed to complete a very good looking and practical carry-on bag, perfect to bring with me on a plane. I will write a separate post on this bag after I am able to take good pictures of it in daylight during the weekend.

Last week I finished the quilting on my 8th (I think) charity quilt. this is one of the 2014 Aurifil blocks that the quilt consists of. Together with 8 grey blocks, this gets to be a good sized quilt for older children at the hospital. The quilt is now finished, and the binding is sewn on. Pictures will be taken in the weekend, since it is getting dark when I come home from work, still. I hope spring will come soon with good light!

I started making these small bow tie blocks last week, it is a free design called QM Bitty Blocks. featured in Quiltmaker's  blog. These are free quilt block patterns monthly during 2015. What is good about this BOM, is that you are supposed to use only scraps to make a lap size quilt, and who doesn't have lots of scraps?

The last thing I will talk about in this post is a fun appliqué project, this is the first of two January blocks. The design is from Quilt Doodle Doodles, and the project will run throughout the year.

Keep on quilting!
 
Linked up to Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

The South Park Bag

I am not making bags very often; as many other quilters I am most comfortable making things in two dimensions. But, with all those gorgeous bag/tote patterns out there, one of my ambitions is to overcome my "fears" and make a few with different techniques.

The first one out is The South Park Bag designed by Jennifer Mathis from Ellison Lane. The outer fabric is from IKEA, and the lining is a plum colored solid I bought from Connecting Threads.

The other side of the bag shows shows a feather-like design. The bag is closed with a magnetic snap.

Inside the bag there is a divided pocket. I also added a key fob chain to have a safe place for the keys.

I am very pleased with the result, and I may make this one again, but first I will try out another design!

This was originally my May goal for ALYoF, but it isn't that bad getting it finished one month late.

Linked up to link-finish-friday-124 ,  fabric-frenzy-friday-21 and linky-tuesday.

May Goal for ALYoF

My goal for May is to turn these fabrics,

into a beautiful bag like this:

The above picture is borrowed from betweenquilts.blogspot.com/ .


The designer of the South Park bag is Ellison Lane .

Linked to May ALYoF goal setting party .

Spring is in the Air

My Spring Chicken decided to stay on the outside of a drawstring bag. The bag had to be 10" x 15" for her to fit in.

Of course the chicken had to bring some eggs with her, and they are safely put on the back of the bag.

Will the eggs stay warm in the bag? If it gets a little cold, then the Pyramid Egg Warmer by easypatchwork will do the trick.

Thanks to my patient stone-egg model for showing off the design.

Oops, where did she go?


Well, enough of this nonsense (?), I have waited to publish pictures of a project of mine for a long time. The problem was just that the recipients read my blog, so I had to keep it a secret until the mail reached its destination.

Three cute fabric boxes survived the long trip, and they are all in good condition. Hope they will come to good use!

Linked up to LAFF #111 at Richard and Tanya's blog, and Fabic Frenzy Friday #9 .

Colorful bag

Last monthly meeting my guild had received some fabric from a lady who had shut down her store. A few big boxes of fabric were on display, and the best was that it was free for the guild members! Who can say no to free fabric? At least not me!

The boxes contained mostly curtain fabrics, but also a few good cottons. I brought home a few items, with the intention of making bags. I was in a bright color mood, and soon I had picked out a design for a big bag that is perfect for class-projects. There is a lot of room in this one, for cutting board, big square ruler, project box, and probably more. The size is approximately 18" square.

Here it is on display in my old, dead plum tree in the yard. As you can see, the spring has not come very far, yet. The snow just left a week ago, and we have had fairly cold weather. Since there are no flowers or green grass around in my yard, the bag really cheers the place up.

We have put out one chair on the porch, that is where my cat takes a nap in sunny, warm weather. Since the temperature is just a few centigrades, the chair is available for picture taking of quilt projects. Here is the other side of the bag, plus a peek of the lining.

To sum up, the outside of the bag is a compilation of curtain fabrics, and the lining is an old IKEA fabric from my stash.

I am pleased with the result, and looking forward to start using it!

Pick-A-Pocket Purse

What a great way to display this bag in vibrant evening sunlight, golden radiating colors!
The free pattern is given here: Pick-A-Pocket Purse. This purse is great to use in warm summer days, it has six (!) pockets on the outside. It was fun to make!

The latest tote

Yesterday, after I finished the binding on my 'Summer Dream', I started making a tote for a friend. The outer fabric is plastic coated, which is very appropriate for the climate where I live. I finished the tote late last night, and I handed over the gift this morning when I caught a ride with her to work. She was very happy for the gift, and started using it right away. This morning was sunny, but when we went home it had started raining a little bit. On the walk to the parking lot she was happy to have a waterproof tote! I forgot to take a picture of it before I handed it over, but she agreed to model with the bag this afternoon. It looks good!