license to play

I have made a few quilts so far this year. Funny enough, after taking inventory you would think I should start quilting the pile of tops and backs from my previous post. As much as that was my intention, something else happened. The scrap box and some wip / ufo's was whispering to me, and I just had to listen to what they were saying. 

These two "license to play" are both 40" * 48" quilted by machine on white and warm cotton batting. For the backs, I used two lovely prints by Nancy Wolff in a cotton linen blend. They are similar but different, like siblings, maybe....

I had so much fun making them, and would like to write a pattern or hold a class, someday. So only these partial views for now.

slowly (wednesday wip)

Slow progress and slow stitching going on here. The brown quilt was basted on the floor, using the clever tool Kwik klip to close the basting pins. Good tool, will become a new favorite, I think. 

Those lovely but loose woven side triangles was very flimsy and resisting to be flat (bias cuts tend to be wavy...). Improvised a solution by sewing a couple of big stitch straight seams and pulled at the threads to shrink to measure. So far, it's working well, but the quilting is not finished, yet...

I have started by quilting in the ditch. And then planning to add some simple hand quilting to the blocks. Slow, but enjoyable work.

Also sewing by hand on a flannel hexagon pillow to be. Big hexagons (3") and pajama parts from Heather Ross mixed with some blenders. Soft winter pastels. Planning on quilting it by machine. Another slow wip...

Quiet and slow, that's me! At least for now. Hope you all have some sewing to enjoy.

; )

playtime

It's friday and I have a finish to share. A bit of a long story...

Sandy Klop of American Jane was one of the first designers I fell in love with when I started quilting. The colors and retro feel of her fabric lines was so playful and plain irresistible ; )

So I started collecting charm packs: Peas and Carrots, Wee play, Recess and Punctuation. The first one ended up in my first charm quilt on a rainy day with some other favorites including Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt. 

Anyway, I wanted to make a hourglass quilt using these next three charm packs from Sandy Klop. So I paired them with some white solid and got to work:  

first layout: quite busy to the eye?

At this stage I sewed 9 hourglasses together into a block and started reviewing different options:

second layout: grouping the blocks with sashing?

third layout: checkerboard?

At this point I decided to divide the blocks in two quilts, one frame (layout 4)and one on bay(layout 5):

I think this is when the two tops were put away for some time. Until one day I had another idea:

sixth layout: an offset, asymmetrical frame

My first plan was to add a girl (see tutorial in the side bar). In the end I decided to make a big hourglass:

And here it is, my playtime finishes at 48" by 60", long arm quilted on quilters dream select cotton batting. 

The back is from her latest collection, School Days. I think it's good to pair the lively front with a more quiet back. And I was lucky to have just enough left of the red stripe binding to frame it. Just love this print, it's the perfect binding option.  

Long story, happy ending...

Sometimes it takes a while. Including a bit of shelf time. Now I am falling in love again. And I think I might have an idea on what to make from those precious Sandy Klop jelly rolls that have been maturing in my stash...

Wish you all a good weekend! 

; )

playtime

My finish it up motto for 2012 calls for some deep digging in the pile of ufo's and finished tops.

This playtime flimsy has been through a few circles of different layouts that has then been ripped apart. The first posting about playing with the charm pack was back in january of 2010. It's kind of a time-travel back to my series of exploring the charm pack format. Literary hours was spent piecing these hourglasses and enjoying the colorful Sandy Klop prints.

This last attempt for a finished top consists of adding the big hourglass. The top is 48" by 60". I think I will call it good, and move on to finding a back for it. What do you think? Is it time to finish it up and move on?

friday finish

A quick post to show a couple of fun quilts using "the jelly roll race technique".
I had some 2.5" strings that had been stashed for a while.

This first one ended up 31" * 37", using a remnant piece of Quilters Dream Request.

This second one ended up 31" * 41", using leftover Hobbs Thermore batting. It's backed with a flannel piece, soft and cosy. I think you can google "jelly roll race" to find instructions on how to. Quite fun and easy piecing. Great idea for leftover 2.5" strings!

Still is quite cold and wintery for being the south west coast of Norway.
Happy to have turned stash into some quilt for kids. A few more simple checked tops are waiting for suitable pieces of batting. So it's time to tackle some bigger tops...

Wish you a great weekend. Stay warm!

a few more

Colors looks so much better in daylight!

I keep making a few more of these simple tops,

purple butterflies ...

chicks and chickens...

Wish you a wonderful wednesday!

sunday snapshots

simple checkerboard design

different colorschemes

all 8" finished size

january seems like the right time of the year to start downsizing my stash
I've started by cutting a lot of squares for these quilt for kids
there might even be backings to match...

lots of very tempting scrap quilts and quilt-a-longs are being posted on several blogs

at least I'm making scraps from cutting these, building a scrap stash to play with later!

Wish you all a nice sunday

; )

quilting it

We all need a splash of color on a grey december day. I am quilting some simple pinwheels made from a layer cake - Recess from American Jane.

Looks inviting on the white deck...

I started out machine quilting it both horizontally/vertically and diagonally along the seams. These blocks are 12" big, so I am adding a bit of hand-quilting as well. (Can be spotted in the top picture...)

The wind is piping in, time to wrap it up!

; )

friday finish

With a sprinkling of snow, on a grey morning: a chance to take some quick pictures of my finished O.W.L.S. quilt. It's 48" by 63" with Hobbs Thermore batting, and quilted with a twisted, irregular grid. The quilting is up to 6" apart which is less than my previous choices. This makes the quilt very soft and it drapes really well.

The warm brown solid is left over Chocolate by Free Spirit Designers Solids, from Eva's Garden. Really love that soft and pretty brown! The owls are another favorite Amy Schimler print. For the quilting I used my Hera marker to mark the lines for quilting. This is a nice way to mark straight lines, and they disappear completely after a bit of time, or a wash. It has come to be my favorite way of marking quilt tops, lately.

Wish you all a great december weekend!

november finish

I recently received Scrap Republic by Emily Cier, a lovely book that shares ideas of using your smaller pieces. Also very inspired by the colorful creations of Jolene over at Blue Elephant Stitches, I just had to give it a try.

Starting with a sunny yellow center, I added one or two logs of each color.

My scrappy rainbow log cabin is 38" by 39". I quilted diagonal lines 1" apart on Hobbs Thermore polyester batting. The back is a colorful print from Nancy Wolff. A lot of times I struggle to find a good backing. Looking through my stash of children's prints this one was a perfect match!

I have saved a lot of colorful small pieces. The book has great ideas and patterns on how to use them all. I hope to dive into those scraps again soon...

There's been stormy, wet weather lately. I have a few finishes waiting for photo opportunities. Wish you all some time to create!

; )