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Friday, September 28, 2018

Respect Testing


This is the latest pattern I have been testing for Berene of Happy Sew Lucky. The release date for the pattern is October 13.

RESPECT may be my absolute favorite from the tattoo quilt patterns by Berene. The Doe is such a beauty!



Look at those eyes! Adorable!

This is the tenth block of my tattoo quilt pattern testing project, only the big center block left. I am waiting patiently to complete my quilt top!

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Autumn Geishas



Another charity quilt is made for the children's ward at the hospital. This time I took a panel with Japanese geishas, cut the panel apart and added sashing in between.


The red, shiny cotton looks like silk wallpaper, and makes the geishas stand out like paintings on a wall. 


I quilted the geishas with echo quilting in a neutral color. The "wallpaper" is echo quilted around the leaves with red thread color.


The finished size of the quilt is 41"x 62". The backing is a warm flannel and binding is a black solid.

This is my seventh charity quilt for the year, and number 27 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.


Friday, September 14, 2018

Lots of Stars for Maja



The years 2017 and 2018 have been a wonderful experience for me after I joined the Rakish Needle Round Robin. Six European ladies have contributed to each others quilts, and quilt projects have been going back and forth in the postal services between Germany, Great Britain, Poland and Norway.

This is the sixth and last quilt I received to work on. It belongs to Maja in Poland, and she wants a quilt full of stars. The picture above shows the starting point I received in May.


I have to admit it took quite some time before I started working on extending the quilt top.There were so many stars, how should I add more?

I finally decided to add a row on top and one at the bottom. The quilt top is really scrappy from before, and I can assure you that I added to the scrappyness.


I gathered lots of star fabrics I had in my stash, used extra stars that was left from the other participants, and made only two traditional stars and a wonky one that can be seen in the top row. 

The quilt top was packed and sent to Poland in August and Maja has already received it. Feedback from her is that she loves it in all its scrappyness.

It is exciting to wait for my own quilt which is currently in Germany. Don't stress Katrin, I have all the time in the world!

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Starstruck with Island Batik



September in the Island Batik Ambassador Program is all about stars. You can see stars all over in the quilting world, both in traditional and modern versions. I have used them many times before, but this time I wanted to make something different.


The Ambassadors were free to make any kind of star project, any size. I searched the web and found this free paper pieced pattern of the Interwoven Star, finished size 6".

I used leftover fabrics from the April Challenge , Paisley Dot Brights including a neutral.


These stars seem to be spinning fast, and I decided to make four equal blocks and turn them 90 degrees off from each other to make a table runner or wall hanging. All the piecing was done with Aurifil 50wt in white, color 2024.


I cut 2" background strips for sashing and border. The quilt sandwich was made with Hobbs Thermore batting, and I decided to hand quilt this little project. I happened to have two spools of Aurifil 12wt, white 2024 and pink 2479. These are perfect for big stitch hand quilting. I also used a variegated Aurifil 50wt color 3852 for machine quilting the outline of the stars.


With the low rays of sun in September the hand quilting is clearly visible. I used white in the background and pink in the stars.


I also made two things I have never done before: A flanged binding, and a few prairie points in a matching color for extra interest.


The Starstruck project of September is completed, and time will show whether this one ends up on a table or on the wall.

Until then, keep on quilting!

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Island Batik Ambassador Great Outdoors Blog Hop and Giveaway!


The giveaway is over, and the winner is #39, Beth. She has been emailed.

Hello and welcome to my day of the Island Batik Great Outdoors Blog Hop!

The month of August is a great time for outdoor life. In my part of the world the temperatures never get very high, but we had some record highs this year. This led to early berry picking, and I love taking hikes in the forest looking for wild blueberries and raspberries, and the occasional cloud berry. This resulted in quite the collection of jams and jellies in my basement.

Now at the end of August I can feel the fall coming, with crisp temperatures in the mornings. Winter is around the corner! One can almost feel the winter blues...


I'll show off what I made from the cool colors of the new London Calling collection from Island Batik.

(Fabrics used in the project and the items for the giveaway were all provided to me by Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs who are sponsors for the Island Batik 2018 Ambassadors.)


This is what I received in my "surprise" package from Island Batik. 

Here are all 20 fabrics of the  London Calling line spread out on my porch in the sun. I received half yard cuts of the whole collection, in addition to two-yard cuts of two of the fabrics, one lighter and one darker.

The first thought that came to my mind when I opened the surprise package was sun-bleached and washed-out jeans.


My inspiration was a quilt I saw some time ago, that I unfortunately don't have a picture of. The blocks were made in a log cabin style.

The London Calling collection goes in shades of blue, from almost white to dark navy, with a few added golden tones.


Look how the blocks match my faded, old jeans! Most jeans are top stitched with some kind of orange thread. Orange goes very well with these blues, and I decided it would spruce up the quilt with some bright splotches spread across the top. I used the orange batik from the Paisley Dot Brights as the accent color.


The separate blocks were made in an improvisational style, I made the big ones 12.5" and the small ones 6.5". Then I puzzled them into a layout I was pleased with.


The photo session of the finished quilt was done in a recreational area/forest 15 minutes walk from my house.  This fairytale tree is a great backdrop for a quilt photo. 

I used all the 20 different fabrics of London Calling in this quilt. In addition I also used the orange Paisley Dot Bright and a neutral, Milk Shake.


I enjoy very much hiking in this forest. The roots of the tree are amazing, it looks like the tree grows without soil, it is hugging the rock!


This is an area used a lot by kindergarten kids on short hikes, and it is a perfect spot for picnics. Look at the awesome "spine" made from a fallen tree. It is a great place to play.


A close-up picture of the quilt I have named Balance in Chaos. The quilt finishes at 36" x 48", and will later hang on the wall in my son's apartment.


Not only beautiful scenery in the photo shoot, I walked a few steps,turned 180 degrees and got this view of the power lines...


The quilt was pieced with white Aurifil 50wt thread, and quilted with various Aurifil threads of 50wt and 40wt, all provided in the Ambassador package I received this spring.


I used the lighter of the two-yard cuts for the backing, and a Batik Foundation called Smoke for binding.


The batting used is Hobbs Thermore that I received in my Ambassador package. I quilted it with horizontal lines of varying distance, in five different Aurifil thread colors, and in addition I added a variegated orange thread from Sulky. This mimics the top-stitch thread on jeans, and adds extra life to the quilt.


Giveaway time: I am giving away a stack of 5" squares from London Calling, one from each of the 20 fabrics in the collection. In addition I am also including a little Dumpling  zipper pouch (made by me) with the dragonflies on the exterior.

To be included in the drawing follow my blog, either by Bloglovin or GFC, and leave a comment on what you would make with the squares.

The giveaway is open internationally, and I'll select a winner by random number drawing on Sept. 5th.

 
Island Batik is having a giveaway on their site.


Thanks so much for visiting today! See below for the full schedule.
You can visit all the blogs to see the new collections of Island Batik fabrics and be inspired by the other Island Batik Ambassadors.


WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

Monday, August 20 – Ocean Odyssey
Toby LischkoKaren Overton
Thursday, August 23 – Dragonfly Dreams
Inchworm FabricsBeaQuilter

WEEK 4

Wednesday, August 29 – Lavendula
Carole Lyles ShawMasterpiece Quilting

WEEK 5

Tuesday, September 4 – Whatnot
heARTS CreationsSlice of Pi Quilts

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Heather Ross Charity Quilt



Some time ago I won a bunch of 2.5" squares of Heather Ross prints, lots of cute ones. For a long time I didn't know what to do with them. I didn't have time or patience to use them for EPP. What about piecing them into a panel and use them for a charity quilt?


Here is the result. I pieced the squares into a 13x8 panel, put a white border around them, and started looking for fabrics to complement the panel.The roses on each side take in the reds and yellows of the panel. The fabric on top has an abundance of apples,pears and roses. The green fabric on the bottom is a wonderful print of a pond with water lilies and goldfish, it would be a shame to cut it up in pieces.


Here is a detailed shot of the quilted panel. I stitched in the ditch around each square with a silver thread color, and for the background I quilted it with a simple loops and meanders in a dark green color. The finished size is about 42" x 62".

This is my sixth charity quilt for the year, and number 26 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.

Happy quilting!