Spooky Sampler

 

Last year I participated in the Spooky Sampler quilt along where nine amazing quilters provided free blocks for the sampler. It was scheduled to be finished by Halloween 2023, but I was too busy at that time so I saved the patterns to make it for this year, instead.

The quilt was finished long time before the spooky season starts. It is a colorful and not so scary quilt. Each block is 15" square. I free motion quilted the blocks with a spiderweb design, using Aurifil thread 2600, Dove. The silvery thread thread mimics the spiderweb very well.

 

The backing is a fun print from Ikea from 2016. Binding is a multi colored stripey fabric bought at Hancock Fabrics more than 10 years ago. Finished size of the quilt is approx. 56" square.

The super cute (and spooky) quilt will be sent off to a little boy.

 

Keep on quilting!

AGF Sewcialite Sampler

 Six weeks in early 2024 was used to make this gorgeous sampler. Ten designers were responsible for two blocks each, in inverse colors. I used fabrics from my stash for both front and back of the quilt.

 

Finished size is 54" x 67". Quilted with wavy horizontal lines. A pieced colorful backing from my stash adds extra color to the quilt.

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!

Thrive Quilt

 I joined the #thrivequiltsa hosted by Suzy Quilts and made a crib sized Thrive Quilt in cool blue and green tones. The fabric is Birchtree Lane from Connecting Threads, from a few years back. This is going to be gifted to a little boy, and I know he will be thrilled by all the birds and feathers in the fabric. The backing is a whole piece of the bird fabric in aqua, and that will keep him occupied when he is going to learn to count!

Finished size of the quilt is 38" x 55". It is quilted with diagonal lines, and looks good displayed on the white picket fence.

42 Is The Ultimate Answer

42 is the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" according to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

What a fortunate "accident" when making the Moda Village quilt that the number of houses summed up to exactly 42! The houses are built on solid foundation and will stay there forever.

Another reason for making this quilt was the Scrappy House Block Challenge by Persimon Dreams.

Making quilts has a side effect, scrap bins are overflowing. I have a tendency to keep the tiniest pieces of scraps, you never know when they may come to good use! This challenge was a great chance to put a dent in my piles.

This FOOD fabric by Timeless Treasures was a giveaway prize a few years back. I have already made two charity quilts with the fabrics, and it was wonderful to use the last scraps in this house quilt!

This quilt is planned to be donated to the children's ward at my local hospital. With the situation being as it is now, it is somewhat uncertain when they will be able to receive it.

This is my eighth charity quilt for the year, and number 52 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

The original pattern of the Moda Village quilt had the houses much closer to each other, but in these times with social distancing I chose to add wider background pieces of scraps from Britten Nummer to keep them further apart. The background fabric also helps counting the houses.

The backing fabric is the cute "Bah, bah, BABY" from Windham Fabrics. I did loopy free motion quilting in an off-white color all over the quilt.

The backing fabric was not wide enough, so I added a strip of matching grey checked flannel on the side. Finished size of the quilt is 51" x 63".

I am very pleased with the resulting "Social Distancing" quilt. It is colorful and happy, and hopefully soon the society will open up again.

I made another quilt right at the time the country was being closed down due to the virus in March, and that was to keep myself sane in the difficult times when the situation was a lot more uncertain. That quilt is shown HERE.

Keep on quilting!

Christmas Came Early

It is only October, and here I am posting my finished Christmas quilt, what's going on? This quilt is made from the blocks designed by Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts. In January this year she started the sew along 'Have a Jolly Little Christmas' with 15 free blocks, the last one published in August. I made all 15 blocks and put them together to make a colorful quilt. All fabrics are from my stash.

The block setting made a long and skinny quilt, so I added a red and a blue border to get a better sized quilt.

I took the quilt out for a photo shoot on a beautiful fall day. My husband is the quilt holder.

The old barn is a beautiful backdrop for the pictures.

Beautiful fall colors in the surroundings.

I used my precious Britten Nummer from Ikea as the backing. For the quilting I had fun with FMQ, a stars and loops pattern on the main part with the white background, and experimenting with new designs (for me) on the red and blue border.

Here is a detailed picture of the quilting. I am trying to get more confident with free motion quilting, and I am going to take a class in "experienced" FMQ in a month's time. I feel I have to get some more practice before that time.

Here is the fabric I used for the binding. It gives the quilt a lovely 'icy' finish.

I have had this fabric in my stash for a long time, as you can see it is an old one from Ikea, designed by Kazuyo Nomura in 2009. 

Now I hope that we will keep this nice fall weather for some time, I don't need snow before December!

Keep on quilting!

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!

2016 Aurifil and Splendid Sampler Blocks

May's Aurifil block, Cups and Saucers is designed by Amy Friend. My version of the block is shown above. I am trying to stick to blue and white blocks for the whole quilt, and so far it looks good.

Like many others on the World Wide Web I am making my Splendid Sampler blocks, two blocks a week. This weekend I managed to get a picture of the 28 blocks made so far laid out on my porch. The breeze tried very hard to ruin my photo shoot,  but I managed to take the pictures before everything became a mess. All the blocks were then put safely back into the storage box.

Yesterday I completed block #29, Scrappy Happy Heart designed by Christa Watson, a lovely paper pieced heart.

Keep on quilting!

More Blocks and A Blog Hop in June

22 blocks of the Splendid Sampler are completed. Each block is only 6 1/2" square, but put all together they make an impressive mosaic. I am doing this QAL from scraps, so it will be a random, colorful look to the quilt when it is finished sometime next year. I like it so far!

I will show you details of the three last blocks.

Here is the most time consuming one, Nature's Walk by Vicki Tucek. It is all hand embroidered, and it took me more than two days to finish! This is the kind of embroidery I did when I was a young girl, with lots of satin stitching. It turned out lovely!

After the 20th block it was a blessing to do some simple piecing. This is Sweet Candy by Kris Thurgood. It is really sweet with the cute hearts and the tiny floral background against the black and white candy wrapper.

The latest block of the Splendid Sampler is Goose on the Loose by Amy Smart, a paper pieced block. This one was fun, but I have to admit that there were a few seams I had to unpick during the construction of the block. But, it is nice to be challenged and have to get out of your comfort zone!

I am also making progress on a second QAL, that is the Modern HST Sampler hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. These blocks are 12 1/2" square, and are all about HSTs. These are the lastest three blocks that have been published. I am making my blocks from Good Neighbors fabric by Amanda Jean Nyberg, with a light aqua as the background. Eight blocks are made so far.

I am also up to date on my BeeHive blocks, but here I can't show this month's block, yet. It has a long way to travel to the other side of the world (almost), but I will show it when it has reached its destination.

Coming Soon

Sponsored By The Fat Quarter Shop

I have also joined a Blog Hop that will be launched in June, Opposites Attract, logo is on my sidebar. The blog hop is hosted by Marian of Seams to be Sew.

I am in the process of choosing fabrics and designs for my project(s), and I can promise it will be interesting! Will show you more later...