Triangles won't get the best of me...

Yesterday I was struggling with triangles.
Today no words... just a huge smile looking at this:

WIP Wednesday (or lack here of)

Today is just not my day... I can't get my 60 degree points perfect and it's frustrating. Yesterday evening after the kids were tucked in, I had planned to dive into some serious quilting. It lasted all of 30 minutes before I called it quits and opted for the couch, a cat on the lap and a film instead. So much for my plans. And for making a grand WIP post... Here's where I left it last night. I need to dig out my seem ripper  ;)


Update Wednesday night: This evening I decided to tackle the triangles head on and got really far. The points are much better after i started pressing the seams to one side rather than open. I was trying to avoid a bump where hexagons meet but after a good pressing it is okay. So no depression in sight after all :)

My youngest needs a quilt - his 9th birthday is end of June. I'm thinking about what to make him but can't quite settle on a pattern... It has to be grand and full of color - just like him.My kids are getting so big and independent. At times I just want them to stop growing. It's like everything passes so quickly and all I can do is watch passively from the sideline. Know that feeling?

I think I am working on too many projects to really feel much of a progress this week but here are the update for this week:

Hexiestars in Terrain 

pieced all the triangles into strips and are now in process of piecing the strips.
Picture is a few days old.

Hexagons baby quilt to Bumble Beans
cut the pieces and have started piecing

Bloggers BOM
havnt started the May block yet.

 

Hand pieced giant hexaflowers
no progress this week. Need more glue...

Scrabby liberated wedding rings in blues and greens
no progress this week

Linking up to Lee's :

 

Flock, Terrain and the 60 degree ruler...

Today it's a bank holiday here in Denmark and I'm spending the time playing.

Im making a quilt destined for Bumble Beans Basics out of the Thomas Knauer 'Flock' fabric I won:

I've made an improvised design wall on our livingroom windows as the design wall downstairs is full of hexiestars:

It could appear that I am developing a very unhealthy relationship with my 60 degree ruler!

Been shopping...

If DH asks this was a real bargain, too good to pass, and very, very cheap  ;) 

I got a lot from Pink Castle and also some wonderful fq's a from the new Fluffy Sheep shop, who carries some lovely fabrics otherwise hard to come by.

My new favourite fabric - Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda. I got a fat eight pack and some half yards to supplement. The green one at the bottom is one yard of Lodge Lattice in Azure Deer Valley by Joel Dewberry. It's really for my stash - just sneaked into the wrong picture:

27 FQs Summersville by Lu Summers - it's pure eye-candy

Full Hometown Fat Quarter Bundle by Sweetwater - that a whoopin' 38 fq's!

A jelly roll for a Christmas project - Joy by Kate Spain:

QuiltCon Block Contest Print Bundle - 10 fabulous Fat Quarters. It has some of my favourite prints in it and some really great supplements. So cleverly put together:

Some half yard stash building

• Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow Dogwood Bloom in Lake Blue
• Headliner Newspaper Black and White
• Waves in Ocean - Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda Fabrics
• Curated Bloom in Patina Green Floral (louLOUthi by Anna Maria Horner)

And finally some fq loveliness from Fluffy Sheep Quilting shop:

Wednesday update...

I spent most of the past week in Sweden at my Mum's place being spoiled rotten and enjoying the good things life has to offer: Homemade bread, good food, wine, and great company. It’s been a busy week quiltwise even though I didn’t bring my sewing machine up there. I started two new projects and picked up another to finish.

I finished the first block for Bee Europa last week. I forgot to take pictures in the midst of the chaoes but luckily Cara posted pictures on Flickr so here's the block - it’s wrinkly after spending time in an envelope across the Nordsee. Doesn't Cara take lovely pictures?

I added a little surprise to Cara. Now that she has her package I can show you the pincushion I made for her. It's a miniature of the block and all made from the cut-offs. Isn’t the polka dot button too cute for words?

 
(Pictures courtesy of Pink Stitches)

My latest project is hand quilting. I thought I was long over hand quilting but it’s really addictive and for a while I've missed having a project when watching TV or when we are reading stories for the kids. I'm no good with idle hands.

I started making giant flower hexies with some shabby chick fabrics. Not sure where this is going (! Why do I always do this) but I’ll probably make more over the next weeks and months. The fabric is not my favorite to be honest – I don’t go ohhh or ahh over it - but it is fun and summery…. and cheap :) Life can’t always be so serious.

My mom and I had a small compitiotion going this week - she had worked on some smaller hexies all winter and she was mighty feed up making them. So we worked on making some borders and now her quilt looks fantastic. I proclaimed myselft much smarter making bigger hexies but I think now she's laughing of me . Her project now looks stunning... and mine not so much.

Start of the week:

 

My Moms quilt by the end of the week (bad mobile quality - sorry):

When I was in Sweden last time my sweet 8 year old niece and I started a new project after she successfully made a doll quilt almost by herself last autumn (Do take a moment too see the concentration she has... I'm amazed by her). 

She pieced the heart herself (and had a blast designing it on the design wall). Adding the borders was too big a mouthful for her though– she’s only 8 - so I brought it home to finish it up for her. I just need to add the binding and it will be ready to ship back to Sweden later this week. I'm so proud of her and  I think she will treasure this quilt as much as she does her doll quilt.

Freja's heart quilt :

My other new project is the Thomas Knauer fabric win. It arrived yesterday and I’ve cut it and are now getting started on the donation quilt to Bumble Beans. I think it will be a fantastic quilt with all the happy colors.

Peww.... that was a long update, wasn't it? If there any life left in you after this be sure to head over to Lee's:

 

Spring Quilt festival 2012

If you haven't visited before a big, varm welcome to my little corner the blog world.

The past week I have been wondering if I should enter a quilt for the spring festival… and if so which one. Last year was a blast. I truely enjoyed reading so many interesting stories behind the quilts entered. And then I knew I of course had to participate again this year... the more quilts I see online, the more I appreciate that for each quilt there is a story.

I’m entering a quilt that I think captures the essence of the quilting community. I pieced the quilt but truth is it would never have come together without the kind help, guidiance and encouragement of others quilters.

I started (and finished it in spring 2012). My nephew wished for a quilt for his confirmation but come on... a quilt for a 15 year old boy. How do you go about that?  I aimed for something simple, modern, not frilly in any way and yet something that would look good in all sorroundings for years to come e.g. when he in a few years will move away from home and start his own life in a new apartment. He said he liked green so that was my starting point. Soon I added blues though… and purple… and yellow... and grey. The quilt ended up being far from green but a great variation of colors. The fabric came from all over - US, UK and Denmark.

After a while I had a pile of the blocks ready but couldn't decide on the sashing.  No matter what I tried it looked wrong. I started hanging some fabrics for another project on my design wall and the polka dotted fabric just seemed to blend in perfectly with my nephews quilt. An odd choice but I think it worked and made the quilt more modern and a bit different.

With all the polkadots it needed a daring border. I opted for a green zebra stiped Kaffe Fasset thinking if nothing else that would get the party going.

These are the people I owe thanks to:

• The pattern is Tamiko of Patchwork Notes box-in-a-box block.
• 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 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 awesome and point-on modern. My back looks very different  - I had lots of the solid grey in my blocks and bordered it with a darker grey.

Below is my youngest trying to improve a photo of the quilting and the back. 

My nephew got the quilt in end of April 2012.

I’m happy to tell the quilt is already being used and loved a lot.

Smart working....

I need a new quilt project as much as I need a hole in my head but here I am in Sweden hand quilting away with my mum. Her project is on the left, my project is on the right. She calls it cheating, I call it smart ;)

I'm using some old shappy chick style fabric I had at home. As ususal I have no idea of where I'm going with this but hopefully it will end up as a fun shappy chick quilt some day

Wednesday WIP

The weeks seems to be flying by right now. Can't believe its already Wednesday again.

The progress this week has been good. I made my very first bee block for the Bee Europa 2012... and forgot to photograph it before sending it of to Cara in the UK. We were asked to make the Lee's Rocky Road to Kansas. I did struggle a little with mine. For some reason it came out at 12 1/4 inch rather than 12,5 inch, so I had to take it apart and remake it. It's a lovely block though and I think it's going to be a beautiful quilt.

Otherwise I'm busy sewing together triangles for my Terrain quilt.  I adore the fabric and are so happy I have plenty more so I can make another quilt in the future. I'm doing hexiestars and they are quite big. Right now my design wall is a mess as some rows are sewed together and some aren't. Here's a picture from earlier this week giving a rough outline. I have since added more stars. I want to the quilt to be large so it's perfect for snuggling:

As always I struggle with cutting wonderful bold fabric into very small pieces so I made the stars quite large. The height is 19" per star. Here's a few of them:

  

The triangles are not as difficult in themselves but I pin a lot to ensure the rows are accurate. Therefore the motto for this week is:

Linking up to Lee's Wednesday WIP. Oh... go on over there and have a look. You know you want to.

 

Sunday playing...

I’m playing with Terrain and the 60 degree ruler and having a grand time. There are so many options with theese 60 degree triangles. For some great options see Jaybirds hexalong

They are really easy to make. I just cut 3” stripes wof and sewed together two and two. 

Then I cut the strips and ended up with 12 triangles.

 And faster than you know you will have a huge pile to play with.

Twelve triangles will make one star or two hexagons.

  

I think I’m set on the stars. Almost ;)

I will use white as sashing. Because of my limited y-seam skills I will make the white as two triangles rather than a diamond. I hope this will make piecing easier.

Now to the moral… Cause there always is a moral aspect isn’t there?

I saw the hexastars on a book cover a long time ago.I didn’t bookmark the book at the time but the stars were printed in my mind.
I haven’t bought the book yet but feel I will have too even if I’m not going to use or follow the actual pattern for this quilt. I had to do a bit of searching to find the book but here’s the link. Unfortunately it's not on Amazon.co.uk.

You could ask, can someone copyright a hexastar and the answer is of course no.  So is a quilt pattern the design or the guidelines provided? If you make the quilt but don't actually use the instructions. I think there is no clear answer to that. So it all comes down to my own moral. Am I copying the quilt on the book cover? If yes, I should buy the book.  Am I just playing with 60 degree triangles and coming up with this design myself? If so, I don’t think I should buy the book.

I'm not trying to be über-moralist here... Just my thoughts on copyright issues.