Did I mention Daisy?

 I know I have shown this on Instagram, but somehow I forgot to blog about it. When I visited the European Quilt Festival in Birmingham, UK a couple of years ago I came back with a layer cake of Daisy Chain by Amy Butler (well, that wasn't the only thing I came home with, you know...). Or maybe "layer cake" isn't the right term, that's a Moda trade mark, isn't it? Well, anyway - I bought a stack of 10" squares and have had them lying around for ages, leafing through them and not known what to do with them. Eventually I gave them a wash (inside a pillow case) and after trimming them - they weren't quite 10" any more, so I trimmed them down to 9"- cut a strip of 3,5" off horisontaly and vertically, leaving me with a pile of 5,5" squares and 3,5" strips of varying lengths.

Last weekend I finally got to work, playing with the squares on my design wall (glorious name for a flanell sheet hung from two hooks...) and started sewing. I combined the squares with strips of white Kona and stitched all the floral strips together alternating short and long ones, after sorting them into random piles. I used these strips in between and as a border. All in all the top came together quite easily and I'm quite pleased with it. I even found a big enough length of backing fabric in my stash, so it shouldn't be too long before I can start quilting it.

And once I was done, this is all that I had left. Now if that isn't efficient use of a pre-cut packet I don't know what is!

PS! I tend to think I have come up with designs of my own, but sometimes it's my subconcious playing a trick and I have a suspicion that I might have seen a  similar quilt layout somewhere online. If you think you have seen it somewhere, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.

Containing it all

Confession: My sewing table is usually a big mess! I'm sure this never happens to anyone of you, but I always end up with too much stuff lying around. I started with a tin of important things I might need while sewing, next to my sewing machine, like seam ripper, scissors, needles and pins, tape measure... over the years the list has grown longer and the tin has been overflowing, making it harder to locate what I need when I need it. So I made myself some fabric buckets using this tutorial .

I used fabric from the Mama Said Sew collection by Sweetwater - quite fitting for the sewing room, don't you think? For the bottoms and handles I used charcoal linen with red thread for the topstitches - a nice accent, I think. The buckets were easy to make and I would happily recommend the tutorial. I might actually make some more, as they would work well for lots of spaces, not only the sewing area.

The little one is so sweet! It looks like a tiny shopping bag - in fact it might be just perfect as a gift for a little girl. Yet it is big enough to hold four rolls of zippers by the yard and then some, while the biggest one holds two bags of scraps and a bag of leftover batting and backing fabric for mug rugs - a whole sewing kit in it's own right there, in fact.
I realize now that I should have taken pictures before I started tidying up to give you the full "before" and "after" thing, but for your own protection I didn't ( or I just forgot...).
Now we'll just have to see how long it is until I have created a big mess again - not long, I suppose, but for now it all looks very nice at least!

I need a bigger design wall

I had a god day sewing yesterday. Today not so much. Back to yesterday - in between the never ending story of organizing fabric and all the rest I managed to finish all 14 strips of my italian quilt. I started out hanging them neatly side by side, but soon realized that there was not enough room, so I had to overlap them. Still, you get a good impression of what it will look like and I must admit I like what I see. The colours are warm and mellow with just a bit of azure and green thrown in to set the warm colours off. Yes, this is my idea of Italy all right. And now I have the strips hanging there in the right order until I get time to sew them together.
Today I got the bright idea that I should layer my xplus-quilt and do a bit of quilting on my numbers quilt instead, but I was just not into it. I got the xplus layered with batting and backing all right, so I can start quilting whenever. I also sorted the fabrics for backing on the italian and found a perfect backing fabric for the Valori charms quilt. By the time I got around to the quilting part I suppose I was too tired. I had thought that I might finish the quilting today (I have already done some of it), but it was just not happening. I didn't get into the flow and wasn't all that happy with my results, so I called it a day and went and made some oven baked spring rolls instead. Delicious, if I may say so myself. The ones I didn't eat are in the freezer, so no photos, sorry. I enjoyed making them and will make another batch with a different filling soon, I think. These were with ground pork, carrots, cabbage and spinach. Next time I will try a recipe I vaguely remember with crab meat if only I can find it (or make something up). Baking them in the oven worked really well too - I just brushed them with oil and baked them at high heat for 15 min. They came out nice and crispy. Mmmm.

Scooting along

Sorry, couldn't resist that title...
I just had to show you the 3 zipper pouch I made for my niece's birthday. She turned 17 last week and has been getting about on a scooter this past year. When I found this scooter fabric from Monaluna, I knew right away that I needed to make something for her, and why not another pouch - they are quite addictive...
Because of the directional fabric, I needed to add a seam at the bottom, but unfortunately I miscalculated. I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't notice until I turned it inside out that the seam ended up 1/4" up on the front. Pulling the whole thing apart to amend it wasn't an option at that stage, so I added tiny box corners instead, giving the pouch a narrow bottom - it looked as if I had planned it that way and I was in fact complimented on that. So I'm not telling ;-)
The young lady herself had one comment: "cool" - and that's about the highest praise you can get from a 17-year old, isn't it!

On the wall today

I have been so good at working on my UFOs lately that I thought I might end up with too few of them.

I bet that's an excuse you've never heard before for starting a new quilt! Well, actually, it's more about not being able to stop myself. I have two quilts layered and ready for quilting, one finished top and backing prepared and two quilts I'm piecing, with a third waiting in the wings for the design wall to become available - that's April for you!
After cold winter months with very little going on, my creative spirit seems to unfurl itself like the buds of the crocus on the lawn outside. Suddenly the day has too few hours and my mind can't find rest - there are just so many quilts I need to make!

This one is based on a charm pack of Valorie Wells' Novella. I'm joining them with pieces of robin's egg blue and that wonderful text fabric from Madrona Road. I have used almost all of it now, and will be sad to see it go. Maybe I should get another yard, just in case...? The sashing will be a light grey. I'm still working on the details, but my mind has gone on to the quilting. I find quilting designs whirling through my mind while trying to sleep and my pen doodling furiously in the margins of my notebook during meetings at work - I think I'll have it all worked out by the time I finish the top, so I'll be ready to quilt right away - if I don't start piecing a new top first...

Such fun!

Finish-A-Long Q2

I managed to finish three things on my list during the first quarter, and start some new things, of course... While uploading pictures for this post I started thinking I might be overly ambitious, but why not? It's not as if I'll be punished if I don't finish them all, is it? I've been on a roll these last couple of days, so let's see if I can keep it up!

I've cut all the pieces for my Dreaming og Italy quilt and stitched all the fourpatches so now it's time to get it up on the design wall and start playing with the placement.

My xplus quilt top is finished and I've got the back and batting sorted. I should be able to finish the quilting during Q2.

I have all the pieces cut out for this one as well, so it will be next on the design wall.

Next in line - although it should have been first, since it has been ready for stitching the longest, but I will get there!

This one and the next one are both layered and ready for quilting.

Six quilts. That's doable, isn't it? Some of them are quite large, and I know I tend to procrastinate between finished top and quilting, but the promise of spring has made me quite motivated, so I believe I can do it. Let's get started!

See the rest of the entries here!

I've got my work cut out for me...

Sorry, I just can't resist those bad puns! And it's not accurate either, because I'm the one who has been doing all the cutting. The thing is that fabric has accumulated (don't know how that happens...) and I really need to do a bit of sewing  to create space for it all - I have such big problems, don't I?

The thing is that I am great at making plans, but it takes more of an effort to actually do something about them, so I have come up with a new plan: I am making my own kits. The idea is that if I have all the pieces cut out it will be easier to grab a few minutes here and there and sew some pieces together, and voila, we have progress! We will see how it goes. I actually managed to prepare two such kits for myself yesterday.

 The first one is based on this Novella charm pack by Valorie Wells. The quilt is a simple one, as you can see above - the EQ sketch doesn't show the actual fabrics, but gives an idea of what it will look like. I have added a text fabric from Madrona road and some solids in light grey and robin's egg blue. I think it might work.

The next one is my "Dreaming of Italy" quilt. I have a selection of fabric that reminds me of Italy: terracotta, tiles, mosaics, vines, flowers, postcards - lots of warm colours set off by the azure blue of the sea. The EQ sketch gives the overall layout, but I'm going for a more random placement in the actual quilt.

I fell for this bundle of fabric on a recent shopping trip, but I don't really know what to do with it. Maybe a jumble of coloured squares in different sizes a la Kaffe Fassett? A checkerboard style quilt with solid white or grey? Or something entirely different? Any suggestions?

At least I have a few things to stitch while I'm mulling over this one.

2013 Finish-a-long Q1

I joined the Finish-A-Long with quite an optimistic attitude, and listed 8 different projects. So how did I do? Well I finished 3 of them. I must add that I also started some other projects and even finished some of them, so I have not been completely idle, LOL.

 Number 1 is my Christmas table runner, blogged about here.

 Number 2 is my Hometown Ripple bag, blogged about here.

And finally number 3, finished last night: my Bella X quilt, blogged about here.
I am well on the way with the quilting on the Numbers quilt and the Garden quilt is also ready for quilting, so I might just have something to enter for the next round!

Bella X - tada!

I finally got round to quilting this. The top was finished some weeks ago, but it needed a little rest before I continued... This quilt was made from the tutorial at Stitchery Dickory Dock and was really fun to make. The blocks are quite big and don't really take long to stitch, if you don't spend too much time dithering about and admiring what you have done so far, the way I tend to do, or avoiding the sewing room altogether because it is to cold...
I used my selection of fabric from Lotta Jansdotter's line Bella, and added some from my stash. I like the grid that the crosses create and find that it adds some depth and interest to the design.

I quilted lines along the grid and filled in the areas in between with a loose stipple to keep it soft and make it drape well, because I want to use this as a tablecloth.

The white fabric behand the crosses is the text print from the Madrona Road line, and to echo this I used that text fabric from IKEA for the backing (again). Finished size is 42x42". The colours are a bit brighter than they look in these pictures - I woke up to a blizzard today and it is a bit darker than it should be if the calendar is anything to go by, sigh. Oh, Spring where are you?

Where do I go from here?

 So I joined the x and + along a while back, finished my first block and that was it for a while. A few weeks ago I decided I'd better get busy. I opted for the 7 1/2" block from Badskirt and figured that I could manage 25 blocks before I ran out of steam. I used lots of textfabric for the pluses and quite a few polkadots for the crosses. The rest of the fabrics were pulled from my scraps - without making a dent in that heap, of course! So here they are, all stitched together into a very colourful top.

I really don't know what to do with it next - do I add a border or not? And if I add a border - what colour should it be? And next, there's the quilting, a random stipply, swirly pattern,paralel lines, outline of the pattern or what? I can't seem to come up with a solution, so I think it'll just have to marinate for a while. I welcome any suggestions though!



Okay, time for a change then...

As news have been popping up everywhere about Google reader being shut down, I'm following recommendations and trying out Bloglovin'. Let's see how that goes...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Edited two days later: Mmm, yes, this will work. I like it. I think I'll stay. :-)

How could I forget?

I couldn't resist buying the kit for this quirky little tablerunner on a visit to Denmark last spring and thought I would have plenty of time to make it before Christmas (as you do...). But to finish something, you have to start, right? And that just didn't happen, because there was an ocean of time before Christmas. Until suddenly there wasn't. It seemed to be right around the corner instead. How does that happen?

I finally got started - some evenings of relaxing with a little needleturn applique and I'd have it ready in no time... Right. You know how these things go - Real Life butts in and your plans are overthrown. So I didn't get a new table runner for Christmas, but I decided to keep going and finish it anyway.  And I did. And then I forgot to post about it! Here I had been working diligently for weeks sewing everything by hand and nobody knew! Well, finally here it is!

The backround is linen and all the applique pieces are batiks. I did some changes along the way, had to, in fact. Because I didn't place all the trees right (even though there was a perfectly good full size chart), so there wasn't quite enough room for the house (I should have started with the house...) So the house isn't as tall as it should have been and didn't get a sign above the door to tell you that it is Santa's House. But I know anyway. And maybe that is a good thing, because it isn't all that Christmassy after all, so I can use it all winter if I like.

There is quilting around all shapes in the bacground colour, and one long winding quilt line in contrasting thread from the chimney to the parcels at the opposite end. Some parts were quite fiddly to do, especially the snowmen's noses. They were looking quite rude to begin with, so I had to go back and redo them to get the ends a bit more pointed. They look better now, although one has a tree growing out of his head, poor thing... The backing is a lovely deep red batik, folded around the edge of the batting, which is cut slightly larger than the front, so you get a red edge all around.

So there you have it. A christmas runner finished just in time for Easter!

The pattern is from Danish company Quilt My Design. Instructions are in Danish, but well illustrated, and applique shapes are the same no matter what language you speak ;-)



Placemat inspiration

Somehow I'm always stumped for ideas when I need to make placemats. I have gathered ideas on Pinterest and I have made some sketches in EQ, but somehow I'm never happy with the things I come up with. I think the problem is that I tend to overthink things. You can't make them like miniature quilts or they become too fussy, and with too few pieces they become dull. But sometimes inspiration strikes!
And that's what happened last night when I came across Debbies post about her new emerald placemats. The idea of making the same block in three different sizes and combining them  like she has done, is just brilliant. If you get the math right and make your blocks in equations of the finished size you can't go wrong.

Now Debbie used wonky cross blocks for her placemats, and they are wonderful. But it got me thinking that you could really do the same thing with any kind of block, wonky or straight. If you use just one kind of block, you get enough unity while the different sizes and ways you can puzzle them together makes it interesting. I couldn't let the idea alone, and went to my trusted EQ software and played around a bit. This is what I came up with:

 In the first excample I used my old friend the Monkey Wrench block and fabric from Sweetwater's Hometown collection. Now I would probably use some solids in there to calm things down a bit, but yes - I like the idea - this is definitely something to play more with. And if I make the blocks wonky - yes! Now we're talking!

In the second excample I used the same layout but with Flying Geese blocks instead. By rotating the blocks you can make them even more interesting. In this excample I used the lovely Comma line by Zen Chic for Moda - I can't wait to play with these lovely fabrics, maybe placemats are next on the agenda! Thank you Debbie!

Hometown Ripple

 It was time for a new handbag. Well, the fact was that when I bought all that lovely Hometown yardage from Sweetwater a while back, I also got some of the canvas type fabric, thinking it might work well for a bag, more than the fact that I needed a new bag... But then, any excuse will do!
I played with lots of design ideas, but none of them really did it for me. While going through my patterns, I remembered that I had been meaning to make a handbag from a Melly & Me pattern called "Raspberry Ripple", but I hadn't managed to decide what fabric to use. When it finally dawned on me that I could combine the two, it was time to start working. I had done the cutting before christmas, but was sidetracked by other things that seemed more important at the time, so this got left on the back burner. Once I got back to it and ironed the interfacing on all the pieces, the actual sewing didn't take very long.

I used a turquoise and red polka dot fabric for the lining and the inside pocket. I also added a strap with a swivel hook for my keys or mobile phone.

The original pattern had a magnet button closure, but I added a gusset with a zipper instead, so I can close it all the way. The Hometown charm I'd bought from the Sweetwater Etsy shop is perfect as zipper pull. A pair of leather-look bag handles finishes the bag off quite nicely. So there you go, another UFO bites the dust, and I can happily carry my new handbag to town!

Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'

As I pulled up  the blinds and opened the window this morning I was met with the brightest sunshine and a definite hope of spring in the air - if my life were a musical I would have burst into song - "Oh what a beautiful mornin'" from Oklahoma! or something. Now it will be a long time before "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye", or what passes as summer in our part of the world. There is still a bit of a chill in the air, and you know, that's a good thing!

Because that means I get a chance to wear my new Love is actually all around cowl! I'm ridiculously proud of this thing - not only did I master two new techniques, but I started it, worked my way through and actually finished it without getting sidetracked.

I knew the minute I saw this pattern on Knitty that I had to make it. The yarn looked so sumptious and the hearts in squares were sort of quilty and it was intriguing to end up with a product which looked the same on both sides.

I couldn't find any yarn which looked half as good as the Madelinetosh DK used in the original locally, so I ordered it online. The delivery was swift, which meant that I had only just had time to set the pattern up in my KnitCompanion app and was ready to start the minute I got it home.

I have never tried my hand at double knitting before, but found a video on YouTube which explained it all. Now I must admit I was a bit sceptical and thought this couldn't possibly work as I sat there combining two cable needles full of stitches in the beginning to a round of stitches which should have been enough for a sweater. I just had to go on blind faith in the beginning, because it all looked a mess, but after three or four rounds something started to happen - the stitches gathered themselves into a kind of knitted fabric with a smooth back and front. It all seemed very complicated to begin with, and I sat here muttering to myself: "yarn in front, purl, yarn in back, knit" like a mantra, but after a while my mind and my fingers got the hang of it, and I even managed to work out how to correct a few mistakes along the way without frogging the whole thing. The heart and square pattern helped me along - it was all "I just have to do another round so I can see how it turns out". The finishing off with Kitchener stitch went like a breeze - I had read a bit about how complicated it was, but really, there was nothing to it after mastering double knitting!
The yarn was a delight to work with, soft and smooth, and the depth of colour makes it so so lovely.

Time for a walk to show it off, I think!

Crossing off my list

With so many ideas about what to make and so many projects on the go, it's all a question of keeping up the good work. A little bit here, a little bit there, and eventually it will all be finished. Now that's really beside the point, because I enjoy the process so much that the finished product isn't always the most important thing here. Today is a good excample - I started out working on the blocks for my BellaX quilt, slicing nine-patches apart and inserting strips of grey. Fun for a while, but once I got the hang of it, my mind was off working on a new project.

So of course, I had to give the xplus-block a go. I tried to stick to my scrap basket, but had to find something bigger for the large squares, and ended up picking a great text fabric for it. That made me start thinking about fabric choices. More text, I think. And some polka dots.

Back to the stash. What have I got in the way of polka dots? - there's this layer cake of Kaffe Fasset I haven't been able to cut into - no time like the present! Well, that's a start at least. By the time I had finished cutting it was about time to get dinner sorted. I'll get back to the fabric selection later.

After dinner the sofa and my knitting beckoned. I'm making progress there as well. Yes, little by little I'm making progress on several things and eventually they will be crossed off my list. But the main thing is to have fun along the way, right? And the list keeps growing, so I have lots to look forward to...

And here it is!

Once I had all the pieces laid out and the tutorial ready on my iPad, making the pouch turned out to be a lot easier than I had thought it would be. I fiddled a bit with the end pieces on the zippers to make sure that all three zippers ended up the same length, but really, it is all down to taking care with pinning - honestly, you'd think I had no sewing experience sometimes!
Anyway, the pouch ended up quite nice, if I may say so myself. Since the main fabric is one with buttons, it will most likely be used for sewing notions, but I see it could also be useful for a lot of other things. So I need to shop for more zippers so I can stitch up a few more fore gifts. 

Zipping along with the best of them

Enough time counting on my buttons, will I, won't I? This is all about zippers. I finally decided to join the Triple-Zip Along and here are my fabric choices. They are mainly based on the zippers I had available. My initial ideas just didn't work with these three colours, so I just decided on considering this a trial round. If everything goes well, I'll get some more zippers and make some in the fabrics I had planned on using.

Join the Flickr-group or see all the great pouches that have been made so far, and read Debbie's tutorial here.

I leave you with a photo of my wonderfully overblown tulips - here today, gone tomorrow...

Learning curve

My lovely Madelinetosh DK yarn took less than a week to travel across the Atlantic - impressive! I picked it up from the post office on Friday and couldn't wait to get started unfurling the beautiful skeins. The picture doesn't do it justice - there is a wonderful depth to the colours with subtle shades blending into each other and the yarn is soft and pleasant to work with.

Now it remains to be seen if I can get my head around this double knitting thing. I have knitted and frogged, watched various tutorials on youtube and tried again. I t h i n k I have got it now. Almost. Some quiet knitting time will prove me right. Or wrong...