Wednesday W.I.P

Wednesday again and time for an update - be sure to stop by Lee's blog to see what others are working on.

For me the big finish this week was the Heirloom Pendant quilt

After finishing up the Heirloom quilt I had some scraps - the ears from the pendants and a few larger pieces from when I cut the FQ’s. I decided to make some pillow covers. It will be Christmas before we know it and I think they will do well as a gift for my sister.

A HST pillow made from the leftover triangles:

Still working on the Dresden pillow (my first Dresden project):

This week I also made another leap on the circle quilt…I finally got some more background fabric and made the last quarter of the top.  It looks a bit wrinkly here but that because I started hand quilting it so I turn and twist it all the time. Once in the frame it stretches nicely.

I decided to quilt with Pearl 8 in funky colors. I’ve got a bit to go yet but it’s good to have as an ‘in-front-of-the-TV-project’ and then all the other projects for when I crave some quality time all by myself.

 

I went into creative, crazy mood when I made the back. I’m not so sure it’s all that good but it might still grow on me. 

  

So here are the hard facts for this week:

New starts: 2 pillows

Finishes: 1 quilt and 1 pillow

Quilts in progress:

• BOM
• The warm palette Kaffe Fasset diamonds
  
  
  
• The cool palette Kaffe Fasset diamonds
• Circles appliqué
• Leftover Prince Charming striped triangles

Quilting is next...

I am happy to finally report major progress on the star quilt. While my Mom was visiting (she was cat- and house sitting while we were on vacation) we managed to get the two parts pieced. We made the backing and sandwiched it yesterday. Now it is ready for quilting. Feels amazing.

I admit to being a bit bi-polar about hand quilting - was temted to make it a bit easier for us - but we both realise this will be one-of-a-kind quilt and we decided to go all the way. I went and got quilting needles and thread today so now I just need to get started :)

My Mum never quilted before making this star quilt, but she has become somewhat hooked on more quilting, so we went and got her a ruler, mat and cutter as well as some fabric yesterday. She is now on her way home to Sweden but I have a feeling it wont be long before she will call me and tell me that she finished her quilt.

Busy Wonderful June

June has been busy. Lots of school activities, sports and birthday parties. No complaints from me although it meant less time sewing. My youngest turned 8 and this is the amazing cake my SIL made him. Since it was last day of school that day also the theme was 'Summer Holiday' - is the snowman sun bathing not just too funny?

We went to Sweden over the weekend and celebrated no less than two birthdays - my sons and my brothers. Besides the opportunty to be with my family I was also able to work a bit on the star quilt. It is almost there :) Almost. Just need to piece the two parts together and I can start adding borders. My brave Mom (yes, the woman who never quilted before and dived right in the deep end with a huge hand quilt) and I decided the border colors and we also went though different quilting options. Will most likely end up with quilting just around and inside the stars to keep it simple.

I am halfway done with quilting the instant satisfaction quilt. Not so instant after all since life all of a sudden became very busy. I decided however that I will keep the quilt myself - first time I dont give it away. Moda Freebird was the first fabric line I completely fell in love with so I feel something special for this quilt. Can't wait to snuggle up on my couch with it. That is if my cats don't beat me to it. They seem to have a preference for sleeping on quilts no matter what line of fabric it is ;)

 

Ohhh my....

My Mom just sent her part to me and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the progress. I still need to make two more rows. Notice my foot in the bottom of the picture - it looks so small and I'm otherwise known as Mrs. Bigfoot around here. I tell you... this quilt will be gigantic.

Twinkle twinkle little star...

A little progress on the star quilt.My Mother has finished all her 5 rows already so I need to get my act together…  I just started row 4 tonight.  I also better plan a visit to Sweden soon so we can combine the rows and begin planning the next step. As usual I’m without a plan on what to do next at this point. Not so good – need to change that.

So little time, so little progress...

Spring is here - it's been varm almost like summer and the weather has been too good to stay inside. And a new job on top of that. That my excuse anyway. Fact is that my Mom is way ahead of me at this point. Not that I'm competitive or anything like that  ;) She just started at row 4 while I'm still finishing up the second row. I saw her progress on Skype a few days ago and it is beginning to look like a blanket.  Love it.

The hard part...

The Star quilt is processing slowly but surely. My mom is visiting this weekend and we've picked out the basis color. Not so sure my judgement was good this time around though. I originally wanted an off-white but ended up going for a warmer color. However, I'm not really happy with it. I think it looks too yellow right now but I hope it will look better when more stars are added.

Honestly, this is difficult quilting! I struggle with the stiff paper and the stitches trying to make everything come together. And there is so much left..... big sigh!

 

Stars quilt

This winter I asked my Mother to make a quilt with me. We live quite far from each other – in different countries in fact.  The idea to create something despite the physical distance was intriguing.

I’m an amateur quilter really just beginning to learn the basics. My Mother, who is a very good knitter and weaver btw, never quilted before. But when I saw papers to quilt over the idea just popped into my head.

I found a pattern of to make stars and got my Moms attention to the project. The fact that we were to do everything by hand didn't scare her off. She is very brave ;) When she visited me last time we went to the quilt shop and picked out fabric. Blues and browns…

We made the papers and when she left she had a lot of papers with her. I’ve been busy… and so has she. When I went to see her over Easter and we counted the stars it turned out we had almost 80.

We have laid them out and coordinated in rows. Now all we need is to piece the stars with a light background. I love how it’s coming along. We are no where done yet but this is still a lot faster than what we ever dreamed off. 

Below a picture of my Mom and my oldest son counting stars:

Christmas presents 2010

Moda Pure:

Moda Freebird:

Kaffe Fasset and solid blue:

Dot to dot - Moda Pure

This is my latest project. It's a dot-to-dot quilt from American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine sept. 2009. I found the instructions at Missouri Quilt Company.

It's made of Moda Pure by  Sweetwater og measures 195x195 cm.

I'm hand quilting for the first time.. really hope to be done before Christmas  :)

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Jeg har ikke fulgt mønstrets mål (fy) men startede med at lave blokkene med 4 stykker og målte så de store blokke ud bagefter. 

Cirklerne har jeg skåret med en cirkelskærer så de var ca 2 inches mindre i omkreds end kvadraterne for at give plads til sømrum og de er sat på med øjemål. Jeg er med andre ord stinkende dårlig til at måle op!

Det er første gang jeg har kastet mig ud I at applikere. Men cirklerne fungerer perfekt for sådan en nybegynder som mig. Meget nemmere bliver det ikke...

Endnu mere chokerende er  dog at jeg er begyndt at quilte i hånden. Det er helt anderledes end at quilte på maskine. Det giver en fantastisk finish synes jeg. Men det tager tid… lang tid.

Blomsterne er lavet med en passer. Kan du huske dengang man skulle bruge passer i matematik. Jeg var en af dem der altid sad og tegnede blomster i stedet for at kaste mig over matematikkens mysterier. Jeg lavede ret mange blomster på det tidspunkt kan jeg godt indrømme...

Jeg er startet med blomsterne i de store cirkler og så må vi se hvordan det ender. Jeg er ikke sikker på om jeg quilter resten af tæppet i hånden eller om jeg skal forsøge mig med lidt frihånd på maskine.

Jeg elsker , elsker, elsker dette mønster og det er helt sikkert ikke sidste gang jeg skal lave et dot-to-dot tæppe. Drømmer allerede om de næste farver. Det bliver svært at vælge.