The green quilt top turned into a quilt

The green top I wrote about here turned into a quilt finally!

This was 2 years (!) ago when  started the quilt on my design wall.

 It is one of my favorite quilts, probably just because of the fabrics and the way the fabrics came together in rows.

 Some are old fabrics, soft and worn, like the big leaves...

The 2 on the left were left over in quilt shops (years ago), not in fashion apparently, but I loved them and still do! The one on the right is the worn bed sheet I bought at a car boot sale in England. I like big pattern fabrics. So much fun when I cut the up!

Another 2016 photo of the green quilt top on tall bean sticks.

 Now in November 2018, with the geraniums still flowering o my balcony!

Ready to use when it gets colder in the evenings.

Groetjes
Annemieke

Facts:
size: 1.30cm by 1.55 cm (51"by 61")
fabrics: quilt cotton, liberty fabrics, Japanese double gauze fabrics, thrift shop fabrics.
Batting: 100% cotton Hobbs
sewn and quilted by machine, with my Pfaff quilt expression 4.0

All my 1718 blocks assembled, top is ready!

This weekend I finished sewing my '1718 coverlet replica top'. I was very excited, happy and at the same time a bit melancholic that this was over. It sounds strange but sometimes I'm happy when a project is finished and another time it feels a bit sad to end 'a journey'. 

Last week I was busy finishing the last blocks, like these rabbits and geese.

Sewing all the blocks into big parts....

 Making the last corner blocks...

Finally it started to come together.....

My allotment is so overgrown....

There is not much space for laying out the top!

 Onto a bigger space...

Lizzy helped showing the top, as usual.

Now it is time to finish it. I wanted to make a coverlet as is the original one. The thing is I used so many different fabrics as linen, upholstery, old trousers (slacks) en skirts, Japanese woven fabrics, 50 % linen/50% silk, hand dyed fabrics by my friend Teri and many linen and scraps by Margret Behrends-Kohl , shot cottons, an antique striped sheet. All these differnt fabrics made the top heavy and vary in thickness. I don't want to leave it unquilted. This week I hope to find a backing fabric and make a quilt sandwich. To be continued!

If you want to try to make this coverlet yourself: you can find the book here;)

Groetjes

Annemieke

African quilt finished!

My African quilt is finished! The pattern is from a book by Kathy Doughty called "Making quilts...The promise of joy"   

Here I unfolded the quilt in front of the Cruquius museum ( with the biggest steam engine in the world, used for emptying the Haarlemmermeer lake around1852)

Like this butterfly in the grass near my feet,who is just unfolding his wings I think, he couldn't fly yet. The crinkles are still visible.

All African fabrics are bought at the Tambani stand in Rijswijk quiltshow ( Dutch blog: here ) They sell embroidered panels but at that stand, African fabrics too!

I combined the African fabrics with lots of different fabrics of my closet, like the thrift shop shirts I bought in the USA....

 Shirtings...new modern fabrics....reproduction fabrics....

 linen fabrics, old and new.

 

 The back is a combination from leftover fabrics and a big piece with checks my aunt gave me long time ago.

The quilting is done by my on my Pfaff Expression 4.0 . I used a thick thread( which I had for years but there is n name on it) at the top and Invisafil thread from Wonderfil in the bobbin.

Some African fabrics are really bright, like the yellow and orange butterflies.The patterns so different from the ones we are used to.  All of them were reversible, almost no difference between back and front of the fabrics.

The  best way to see the pattern is from a distance. It is perhaps not a beautiful quilt but just  practical and a fun quilt. It has already been washed and dried, feels good and smells nice!!!

Have a good week, finally Spring has come to our region I hope!

Groetjes

Annemieke

Different fabrics and end of USA visit

My friend from Maryland, USA gave me hand dyed fabrics to take home with me and I made this Amish style top out of a red and blue one. This is the first time, I think, I used hand dyes in a quilt like this.
And to make the triangles I finally used the paper: triangles on a roll I won last year

She also taught me  how to machine quilt feathers. I still have to practice a lot, but I like doing it. I hope to show you feathers on this quilt soon.

On our holiday week we turned these shirts into.....

 ...quilting fabrics! Even some dresses of beautiful eyelet fabric (in Dutch: Broderie)!

There were unbelievable large thrift stores... Here I learned to look differently at used fabrics. We had so much fun hunting for good finds!!!

These fabrics are from quilt shops, the AQS quilt show, a real Amish quilt shop, Jo Ann fabrics and even my friend gave me fabric from her stash;) I hope to start using them soon, so I can show new ideas!

The holiday week at my friend and her husbands home gave me lots of good, happy memories!!! We could talk about quilts and exchange ideas forever. It couldn't be any better!


Wishing you a very happy and creative week!

Groetjes

Annemieke