Friday 27 April 2012

A good week of quilting - Friday Sew and Tell


Someone once told me I  was a fast quilter and I guess it was right... last year at least. The past few months life has been so busy, the energy low and there have not been that many finishes. Luckily my quilting grove is back in full force and this has been a great week – I’m linking up to Amy’s blog with a re-capture of this week:


First the finish of the boxy quilt nicknamed 'Polka dots and zebra stripes'– now it’s even ironed and threads have been cut from the back so all there is left is to wrap it before Sunday:



Secondly I finished the blocks for April’s BOM. Very cheerful but I think is becoming a VERY colorful quilt and I’m considering toning down the last 10 blocks a bit:



This week I also won something for – seriously - first time ever. A full FQ bundle of Flock. It comes with a string attached (but the way I see it it just makes it even better): I have to make a baby or toddler quilt to Bumle Beans. I’m running a thousand options though my head these days but can’t really decide before I have the fabric in front of me.

thomas-knauer-sews-flock

Tonight I am going to kick back and enjoy a good glass of mine with my sweet DH but tomorrow I am going to work on my Swoon quilt – I have a dear friend just waiting to put it to good use so I better hurry up and finish it. There is one of the fabrics I don't like at all so I decided to change it with some leftover zebra stripes. Hopefully that will bring the balance back.

It’s been ages since I last linked to Amy’s but it's a great place to see other great finishes of the week so hurry up over there.

Thursday 26 April 2012

April BOM blocks

Canton Village Quilt Works


Every month Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works hosts a free block of the month designed by an impressive list of well-known quilt designers.

With only one block a month this is a very do-able project and I make two versions of each block.

Besides being a lot of fun to do it has also been a great learning for me. All the blocks are pieced. When I look at some of the firsts block I made I almost want to re-do them.

I'm not sure if I'll end up with a large quilt or two smaller ones. Time will tell.... For now I'm just enjoying the precess immensely.
This months block was designed by Amy of Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts. Stunning isn't it?
You can see many more versions of this block in the Flickr group.



Wednesday 25 April 2012

I won, I won....

I just found out I won a fat quarter bundle of Thomas Knauer's amazing Flock and now I get to make a quilt for Bumble Beans Basics. I'm jumping up and down with excitement. The colors are light and perfect for a spring project. Just looking at it makes me happy.

Right now I'm thinking and scratching my head for what to make. I'm thinking the Sparkle Plenty pattern would be be great for this fabric.

I know I have already made two Sparkle Plenty quilts but the pattern is amazing. Both my quilts came out so differently and are being used and loved beyond expectations. I could easily make a third  :)

Maybe I can make also make this May Flower quilt from Moda Bake Shop with leftovers?
This is very exciting....

thomas-knauer-sews-flock




Polka dots and tiger stripes is not for everyone

Update: I was able to take some better pictures today but somehow I managed to delete my original post when adding them to the blog (and yes - I do make web pages for a living. Jeezz). I tried to re-create as I best could below.
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I finished the boxy quilt on Monday night. 

My youngest thought the back would improve with him in the picture. Not sure I agree a 100% but at least you got to love his grin


It badly needs an iron but you’ll have to bear with me. This is WIP Wednesday after all. The quilt has been folded waiting for a photo opp since Monday.

I have had so much help with this quilt. How lucky am I to have such sweet readers and to have so much inspiration from quilters around the world and who makes  time to share their knowledge and ideas: 
  • When I had doubts about the layout Stephanie, Betty  and Tamara kindly nudged me to stay on track and continue.
  • Molly suggested a circle quilting pattern and I loved that idea
  • Betty recently finished a fantastic quilt with circles and she was as always kind enough to guide me on how to make the circles and point me to several circle quilting resources
  • The back was pieced with left-over blocks and dark grey – very much inspired by Faith’s of Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts. Her quilt is way prettier than mine - I had lots of the solid grey in my blocks and bordered it with a darker grey. All in all it ended up looking very different.
All in all it's a lovely quilt and it has grown on me. A lot. It's a bit different with all the spots and now a zebra striped border. I just hope my nephew will like it to as it is a gift for his confirmation next weekend. Hopefully he has a sense of humour - after all the massive amount of polka dots and tiger stripes is not for everyone.
Finishing this quilt gives me an opportunity to focus on some of my many WIP's. Hopefully there will be more good news soon. Meanwhile be sure to check out other great WIP projects at Lee's blog
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced 

Wednesday 18 April 2012

A US shopping spree... from Denmark

I have a really lovely quilt shop locally – 15 min. drive. And I love going there and support them as much as I can. And believe me... I spend a fair amount of my hard erned money there. You see, fabric prices in Denmark are horrendous. $18-27 pr. meter and sometimes more for the Kaffe Fasset prints.  Another problem is that the range of prints are limited – at the shop they have a lot of Kaffe Fasset and bali prints and then some basic prints. Usually they don’t carry the latest fabric lines from Kaufmann or Moda.

So with all the temptations on line - new lines, great designs - I naturally  have bought some fabric from the US. Getting the fabric to Denmark however used to be a  real pain. First the seller has to agree to send to Denmark. Secondly, the international postage is often expensive. Thirdly, we have 25% tax of everything bought outside Europe we need to pay.  If it isn’t declared before, the package will be held at customs so delivery times vary a great deal and often involves several letters and transactions before the package is released. If taxes aren’t calculated correctly you even have to count in a fine as well as the taxes. All in all it used to be bit of a pain. An expensive pain.
Not so anymore though… I’ve started using ShopUsa to get my fabric here. It works perfectly smooth. When you register at ShopUsa you get an address at the ShopUsa warehouse in VA. This means I now have a US address and can purchase fabric from any shop even if they don’t deliver internationally.  I just type in a different delivery address than bill to address and pay with my credit card. All packages are then sent to the warehouse.

Today I received this eye candy from Fatquarterly - 19 pounds of various fabrics.

A huge pile of Terrain half yards:


I also got a mixed box of fabrics for only $55. This is a great way to build a stash. I got a lot of solids and lots, lots of prints. I've ordered fabric this way before - not from FatQuarterly though:






Of course there are always prints you like less or even some you don't like at all but I am sure that they will find a purpose some day... like these kids prints:



But there were also some great finds in the pile...








I can't wait to get started on something new!

So this is how it works. Once I’ve purchased fabrics at a US store I (of course) still need to pay the tax but ShopUsa handles this for me as well as the cost of sending the package here. Once I have registered my purchase at ShopUsa website (and this is very smooth) they give me a price for their charge (tax+postage). So far I their postage is VERY reasonable. They deliver once a week so I know exactly what day to expect the package.

I have bought fabric a few times this way by now and have to say I’m very pleased with the whole process. It’s fast and easy and 100% legal. It’s just less hassle than before. For every step you have an email notification, so you're on top of the transaction at all times.
I still buy most fabrics locally primarily because I really enjoy having the shop nearby and if I want it there, I need to support it as well. But for lines they don’t carry or a great offer like this box getting it from the US is a great alternative.

Update from my sewing room - Wednesday WIP

Whats going on in my sewing room? Not a lot of structured things, that’s for sure. This week I had a major launch at work so I’ve been pretty busy. And the weekend was spent in a small town in the opposite end of Denmark far away from my sewing machine, where my old school had a reunion party. So in other words,  a week with preciously little sewing time.

I have some projects I need to finish - my Swoon quilt, my Made in Cherry quilt but most important  the quilt for my Nephew, which needs to be finished end of April. I made the pieced back this week and basted the quilt. Now I have stalled completely though – have no idea how to quilt it. Only thing I can come up with is stitch-in-the-ditch which is nice but… Well, you know. If you have any ideas on how to quilt this super boxy top I would love to hear from you.

Can I brag a little? I brought the top to my LQS to find the binding and the owner LOVED it – thought it was very unusual and asked for pictures so that they could use it for inspiration to others. I think it’s the dots that makes it stand out so much. I’m growing very fond of it myself. The binding was tough but I found some fantastic fabric and so is the pieced back is looking pretty darn good as well . Can't wait to show you the finished quilt. It will be quite a dramatic, busy quilt.


I continue to make Liberated Wedding Rings from my scrap pile when I can, but I also started another couple of scrap projects this week:
Paper pieced stars – just practicing - the centres are horrible. I have to rip these apart again and start over:



And then I'm making some large blocks in lovely green and red scraps. I hope to make some placeholders out of them but mostly I am making them to practice FMQ.

So as you can see some focus is much needed in my sewing room. Be sure to drop by Lee's blog to see more structured approach to quilting
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Wednesday WIP

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since last WIP update. Time flies. The Easter break became all of us well. My Mom was visting from Sweden, kids were off from school, DH and I both home. The weather was freezing cold – it snowed and there was plenty of rain as well. Nasty weather that did not invite to any outdoor activities - my garden looks like crap right now but I managed to get some quilting done... No complains from me.

I finished the top for my Nephew's confirmation. Need to buy some backing fabric before I can finish it though. The confirmation is April 29th so I better get a move on:


I also started a scrap project last week – A Liberated Wedding Ring quilt. I decided to change it to a spiderweb pattern. Didn’t like it, so now I’m back to plan A and making the Liberated Wedding ring in blues, greens and a bit of yellow. All the fabric is from my scrap bin and it’s so much fun to do. The colors seems really harsh on the picture due to the flash but in reality they are muck like the quilt above.


The no-go spiderweb block - think it will look better with a light centre so I'll hang on to this one and maybe finish it later. I seem to have plenty of scraps to make both quilts:




When not doing Wedding rings I have a little fun with some other leftovers – the diamonds from this quilt. I don’t have enough blocks to make a quilt so I’m playing a little with a layout like the star below. This is definitely NOT going to be the final layout but I enjoy moving the blocks around and see patterns emerge so it’s on the design wall for the time being.

Don't you just love The Prince Charming fabric? I had forgotten how much I like it  :)



No more rambling from me - be sure to check out more WIP updates at Lee's blog

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Saturday 7 April 2012

Snow and sun...

It snowed this morning but luckily the spring is stronger than winter now so it didn't last long. This afternoon the sky has cleared up and the weather is beautiful now. Freezing cold still though. Here is the box in a box quilt ready to be basted - and no the quilt is not growing feet - it's just DH who was nice enought to hold it up for me :




This morning I finally started the BOM blocks. I have never been this late but quilting wise this has indeed been a weird month. Better late than never :) Allison Harris from Cluck, Cluck, Sew is besides a new Mom to the cutest little princess, also behind this wonderful block:



Canton Village Quilt Works

Friday 6 April 2012

Easter quilting


I finished the box-in-a-box top yesterday but outside it’s raining, freezing cold and very, very windy so pictures will have to wait. But it looks good  :) I’m very happy about how it turned out. I need to figure out the back though. I was planning to make a special bag but am tempted to use the super fleece I used for my sons quilt instead. Granted, it doesn’t look as good as pieced cotton back but it’s so comfortable. In fact I find myself stealing my sons quilt at times because it is so nice and soft.  So nice versus comfortable?
I started a new quilt today – scrap style. I was planning to make a liberated wedding ring quilt in blues and greens but  looking though Material Obsession 2 I noticed a variant – Pop Stars - that I also liked. So I went for the latter but changed it a bit so I could paper piece it. I drew the block up myself so the size so it would fit an A4 paper.



Here is the first block. I made a block more after I took the pictures and love how it’s coming together. I am using blues, greens and a tad of yellow for the strings, which are wonky style, and making the stars in reds. It's a little bit difficult to see the final layout with just one block - the greens and blues will create a circle so the red star will not be quite as dominant. It’s going to be colorful though. And that’s just what I need  :)