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!

Colorwash Quilt

 This quilt is the result of the sew-along initiated by Terry Rowland of @trowstudios. Using scraps to make improvised 3.5" blocks and then sew the blocks into a colorwash design. I dug into my scrap bins and started making blocks.

After making about 10 blocks a day it took me a little bit over a month to make all the 320 blocks needed for my quilt, in all colors I had available in my scrap bins.

This is the resulting colorwash quilt. The colors go (almost) seamlessly over from one part of the quilt to the other. The quilt measures 48" x 60" and is my favorite make so far. Who would think that a bunch of scrap fabrics could result in this beauty?!

The quilt was taken out for a photo shoot on a windy Novermber day. No problems for my quilt holder to hang onto it.

As you can see there is no snow yet where I live. Actually it is very warm for being late November. The colorful quilt really brightens up the surroundings.

The backing fabric is an interesting one. For the binding I used a striped fabric in black and white.

I used cotton Hobbs batting with scrim binder for the quilt sandwich.

Using all kinds of fabrics for the blocks can result in surprises, like this ODD block. I love it!

The quilting was done with Aurifil thread 50wt, shaded light grey in color #4060 and white #2021 in the bobbin in an organic style.

Striped binding for the win!

No, my scrap bins didn't shrink much in volume after completing this quilt... 

Keep on quilting!

 

Baby Quilt

We've had lots of snow this winter, but finally there was a bright day to show off the latest baby quilt on the wall of my deck.

 This quilt is destined for a little baby girl. I searched my stash for good looking fussy cuts, and here I have assembled 16 of them cut to 2.5" squares. Solid frames in bright colors were added around the animals and teddy bears, and in the end the frames were surrounded with a soft flannel fabric.

 The main quilting was done with the walking foot, a fancy zig-zag and straight lines. The backing is a cute double gauze with lots of bunnies.

 

 There are many recognizable animals and other objects in the squares. I also added some hand quilting around the fussy cuts.

 Fussy cuts are fun, what about a zebra in a suit?

All fabrics in this quilt is from my stash and scraps, that's a win-win situation.

Keep on quilting!

Modern Plus in Fall

 

About one year ago I made a Modern Plus quilt . That was such a fun project that I had to make another one this year.

This year's quilt is more in fall colors than the last one. I used the tutorial by Jeni Baker of  'In Color Order'.

The finished quilt is 48" x 64". The design is a great way to use scraps and stash.

This is my thirteenth charity quilt for the year 2021, and number 77 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Keep on quilting!

 

Colorful Quilt History

 I started quilting in 2011, but I have been sewing as long as I can remember. In addition I have been knitting, crocheting and doing all kinds of crafts all my life. Right now quilting is my main activity.

 For the "10 Year Anniversary" I decided to make a quilt that represents fabrics from my whole quilt career.

As for most quilters I get quite a lot of scraps after my many projects. I have severe problems in throwing away scraps, and my scrap bins are overflowing.

I got inspired to make curvy log cabins, using only fabrics from my stash and scraps. The neutral strips are cut 1" wide, and the colored strips are cut 1.5" wide. 

I tried to make each curvy log cabin "ball" different, and kept matching colors within each ball. Novelty fabrics were used as much as possible, and otherwise bright colored fabrics were put in to make the balls perfect. There are lots of animals and other fun stuff in this quilt!
 

 The first layout attempt was carefully stepped on by the cat.

 

 I wonder whether this layout is perfect? 

 

My scrap bins provided fabrics for all blocks except for one, the aqua block, which is made from Island Batik fabrics as a tribute to my two years as an ambassador for them.
 

  Here is the finished top laid out on my deck, a colorful and happy quilt top. There is a black fabric which is remnants from a party clutch I made in 2011, and an apple fabric in the peach ball that I bought this September.

 My whole quilting career is represented!

 

 I love taking outdoor pictures of my quilts, and for this one it was perfect to show off the bright colors together with the fall surroundings.

The quilt is about 47" x 57" after the spiral quilting with Aurifil 50wt Dove.

 

 The quilt also brightens up a new apartment complex.

  The railing on my deck is always a good spot for quilts.

 

 The apple tree in the background is also a good backdrop. All the apples were picked before the photo session.

This quilt will be donated, and it is my eleventh charity quilt for the year 2021, and number 75 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

 

Keep on quilting!

 

 

Forget Me Not Quilt

 

 

I present to you: My version of the Forget Me Not Quilt top designed by Erin and Sarah of Quilts For Good. 

 

 

The Forget Me Not has been my favorite flower for as long as I can remember. When spring and summer comes these beautiful blue flowers grow like weeds in my garden. The flowers may be tiny, but if you look closely they are lovely works of art.

 

 I long to see flowers like these in my garden, soon!

 

The quilt is constructed as a pixel quilt. The above picture shows the construction process of one of the blocks. The smallest pieces are cut 2" square for the quilt size I chose to make. Finished size for the block is 12" square.

The different blues I used are high quality batiks from Island Batik, these are remnants from my two year period as an ambassador for the company.

 

The finished quilt top is 48.5" x 66.5". It was a joy to piece the top together. The pattern is very well written, and it is to be released March 19th. 

Keep on quilting!

Proud Caribou

 My first quilt top finish for 2021 is here, the proud Caribou!

 I have always loved the winter sky in the Northern Hemisphere with its beautiful colors of purples and pinks. When the chance of testing the Legit Caribou pattern popped up, I jumped at it. A foundation paper pieced pattern of 60"x 80" didn't scare me at all!

 

The patterns from LegitKits are very neat and well explained. 64 individual blocks of A4 size are put together to create the final result. Here's a shot from early in the process.

 

I love puzzles, so this was a perfect project for me! The blocks came together slowly but surely, a couple or three each day, depending on the complexity of the block. The eye block was the most complex one.

There's a lot of fabrics and colors in this quilt. Originally the pattern is designed with 72 different colors of Kona solids, but I made my version with fabrics completely from my stash and scraps. Most of it is batiks from my two years as an Island Batik ambassador. A giveaway prize from Sandra Johnson Designs with batiks in greys and purples also came in handy.

In addition, I didn't realize I had that many shades of brown cotton fabrics in my stash for the antlers!

Laying out the completed blocks on the floor wasn't easy with a quilt this size, but I managed to get a pretty decent photo before starting the assembly process of the 64 blocks.

The blocks were assembled in sections, and the points came together very well. I had a few sessions with the seam ripper to get the connections right, but all in all it was a smooth process. I can totally recommend making a FPP quilt from LegitKits, I had lots of fun in the approximately two months it took me from start to finish of this quilt top. 

 

 

This selvedge on one of my antler fabrics reminded me of taking it slow in the FPP process, you can't rush if you want a good result. I loved every minute of it!

 

The photo shoot in the snow was a success, this is where the proud caribou belongs!

I am very happy I was able to make this large quilt entirely from my stash and scraps. No new fabrics were bought, and the thread was also from my stash, A win-win situation in my mind!

 

 

 

 

Modern Plus Quilt

This is my last charity quilt for the year, and probably also for a long period of time. I need a break to focus on my own things.

It is a colorful quilt for a teenager, and it measures 48" x 64"

The Modern Plus Quilt is a super design for using up scraps or leftovers from other projects. I used a tutorial from the blog In Color Order .

 A great stash buster!

I wanted to show off a detail of the quilt's upper right corner. This is an example of the fun fabrics in this quilt.

This is my charity quilt number 20 for the year 2020, and number 64 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

 

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

 My quilt guild had a sew-together weekend a couple of weeks ago, and this quilt was one of the ones I pieced together.

I had the 2.5" strips cut out using my AccuQuilt cutter. The colors are typical fall colors, and I added a warm yellow solid for interest.

Making a Jelly Roll Race quilt is quite fun. There are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to do it. You need approximately 42 strips of 2,5" x WOF for a good sized quilt. My quilt measured 48" x 64" finished.

 I took the quilt out for a photo shoot on a disc golf course near my home. It was a foggy day which gave a somewhat spooky feeling to the picture. The color of the target matches the quilt perfectly. 

 

 I had the most perfect quilt backing in my stash, it was big enough to cover the whole piece. The design reminds me of very detailed petroglyphs (stone paintings). The background color matches the front of the quilt to perfection.

This is my charity quilt number 19 for the year, and number 63 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.