Merry christmas 2016 everyone!

This is it. Christmas Eve 2016. What a year!

Advent wreath

We are visiting the grandparents, so I had the chance to take a picture of a table runner I gave them a couple of years ago. I love the pattern! Simple squares of assorted christmas and red fabrics, together with simple eight-pointed stars in yellow. I quilted simple wavy lines across the length.

Christmas table runner

I used cut and sewed and cut and sewed. In the end I had material for four runners and matching oven mittens. :-)

Detail of table runner

This project was before someone told me how to do the binding properly. At some time I will need to fix this :-)

Are there things you constantly did "wrong" or more complicated before someone told you? What are some things you could measure your quilting-progress?

End of the year thoughts?

We are living now in the middle of the run towards christmas, the mid-end of december rush of the year. And yet it is also time to reflect on the year that has passed, to think what we have achieved, and to ponder where we could do better.

Of course that includes a quick review of the quilts finished this year. My overall yield of quilts was depressingly low this year, mainly due to work and schedule problems. This is not a complaint, I feel truly priviliged to have work and my life is richer than ever. Nevertheless, next year, I surely want to give my hobby a bigger priority than I did in 2016.

Below a scrap quilt, that was lying in top-staged for the longest time. I found a deal for a suitable back fabric in august and quilted simple crossing serpentines with the walking food of my maschine. I gave it to our neighbour yesterday, because I used many of the scraps she had given me.

Some colours in the white-grey snowy landscape.

For this project I had cut up all my leftovers strips and patches into suitable length and width. They were foundation pieced on very 25 x 25 cm squares of very old and very thin bedlinen. Sewing took place either as "leaders and enders" during other projects or every now and then a square or two by itself. After all squares were covered in strips, all of them were squared up and sewn together in a diamond manner.

I loved going through my scraps and remember the rpojects they were used in :-) THere was definitely a green and a turquoise time. Oh and all the pinks!

 spread on the snow.....

How are your thoughts concerning 2016? Any plans for 2016?

Have a great holiday season!

Quilting on-the-go

It is April already! Snow has almost melted and spring is coming in big steps.

Lately, my work requires me to travel to another city. A lot.
That was enough incentive for me to pull out my travel quilting -kit. I am in the progress of slowly assempling a hexagon quilt. Mainly while travelling. The quilt has been all over Europe and twice to London.

Have you been quilting while traveling? Do you have  a travel project? Do you have any special memories involed quilting on the road?

My favourite memory is sitting in London Hyde Park, enjoying the sun and stitching some hexagons. It was great!

 I have a huge stack of these black and white fabrics already basted around cardboard hexagons. You can see in the picture, that I use bright green and red basting thread, these are easy to see and then to remove later.


At first I sew two of these hexagons together.
And then I sew two double hexagons together to form a diamond.

 The diamonds are sewn into strips and these are later attached to the "mother ship", which is too large to take on travels (about 1.2 m x 0.8 m).












Here is my kit. The turquoise box is from a famous plastic box seller and everything I need fits neatly inside. I have some needles, scissors black thread and red basting thread, extra cardboard hexagons, pre cut fabrics (I use square cut about 10 cm x 10 cm, I like the extra fabric on the back for extra warmth). And of course a stash of about 40 basted hexagons at the moment.

I think this quilt will end up looking very modern and masculine. 

Have a good spring everybody and let me know what you are sewing on!

Snow white dress

Hello everyone.
How is spring time for you?

There was a first sign of spring in the morning air, an almost warm feeling and the snow is melting. Definitely time for spring. Do you have any Easter-sewing going on?

My Allietare quilt was paused last weekend, because I was focused on a special sewing task commissioned by my darling daughter and her upcoming birthday.

I quite like the way it turned out, and I had learned from previous dresses, that to make the arms "puff" really nicely, one has to use absolutely enormous amounts of fabric!

No pattern, just measured and eyeballed. (The dress actually IS symmetrical, it just lays down a bit crooked)

Allietare Clue 5

Yes, yes, yes!

This weekend, was wonderful, no work to do and time to relax and sew. And the mood was elevated even further by my good friend coming by and we spend the whole saturday afternoon sewing, drinking tea, and chatting while the kids where playing together. I don't know how it could get any better. And with the help of this extra sewing time, I just flew through clue 5.

(I even assembled 4 gold blogs, to see how they will fit and look.)

How does a perfect sewing afternoon for you look like?

A quilt top for my parents

This is a christmas present for my parents a couple of years ago (2012).
I started the quilt as a railway fence lapquilt, in 2009. It laid unfinished in the closet, something was missing. And it was too small.
I searched for a nice border, but I had also run out of fabric. And the borders should fit to my parent's style. During that summer's holidays at home, a detail in the tiling of the floor caught my eyes:

 Here is a detail of the corner tile:

And here a close-up on the side borders:

I measured the size of the railway fence top, and calculated a reasonable size for each unit. Then I drew a cardbard template and reproduced the pattern on two-sided adhesive interface and ironed on the fabric. And then cutting. A lot of cutting.And then a LOT of appliqué.

This picture shows the finished top, and I quite like how it came out. It was quilted with stitch in the ditch on the center part and echo quilting in the border. It was bound witht he same dark green fabric as was used in the inner border.

The quilt found a permanent place on my parent's sofa and it fits exquisitely into the style of the house.

Now I feel I want to do some appliqué. What's udner your needle?

Working through Allietare Clue 5

Sping is coming, the sun starts to shine through the window, and I can see the snow glistering in the sun through the window in my sewing room.
The success of finishing Clue 4 motivated me to keep on going and get the half-square triangles out and sewing. Sorting a couple of patches together, intercepted by a leader and ender.

Sewing a looooooong line.

And stacked in piles of ten. Waiting to be ironed.

Allietare clue 4 - finally done

This took a while....
But I am comforted by the knowledge that others struggled with clue 4, too. Maybe not quite as long, but still.

 Here are all 30 sets of four piled together. I can't believe I am done with these.

Some ended up a bit wonky, I hope they fit well in the quilt.
In the background, I immediately pulled out the fabric for clue 5. I am positive things will come along better now.

On the bright side. I got LOTS done on my leaders and enders project (which is just 2'' squares of all my scraps sewn together to 4x4 patches).

 My basket with my leaders and enders project, 4x1 strips, some 4x2 patches on the left side.
Below, watching Netflix and ironing the 4x1 strips. so bright and cheery, I am totally in love with these scraps. A journey through all my past quilts.