I bought (!) a quilt...

I saw this quilt at a store for app USD 50. I would not be able to buy the materials needed for that amount of money. So I bought one. I have wanted a solid color quilt for my bed for a while, so now I have one

So...the bed is made, and it looks a lot calmer than the patchwork quilts I usually use. I'll want one of those back in a couple of weeks, but it's nice to be able to alternate :)

I have also decided, that Easter is close enough for decorations to come out 

I also need a new wreath for the front door......must put the kids to work!

Blue and Green Stars for my Bed

I am going to share some of the quilts I have finished while I didn't blog.

One of them is this huge quilt, it was finished in 2014.

I had wanted a star quilt for a long time, and also a new quilt for my bed - so a combination of the two seemed like a good idea.

I pieced all the stars and stitched them into two panels of 8 stars

Working on the 2 panels, instead of the entire quilt, made everything a lot easier. I could quilt it on my domestic machine without too much hazzle.

I attached the 2 panels by using a quilt-as-you-go method. I just googled it, and read a few how-to's and did what made the most sense to me.

It fits my bed, and I am really happy with how it turned out.

You can see on the backing, that I have stitched the 2 panels together right across the middle of the quilt.

The quilt-as-you-go method wasn't bad. I'd do it again. if I were to make another big quilt like this.

Wedding Quilt for friends!

We went to a wedding last weekend.
And....eventhough I am far too busy as it is, I had to make a quilt for our friends for their wedding. It's not their fault my schedule is isane!

 

Obviously I waited until the last possible minute to start this, and ended up spending an entire weekend working on it :)

But I am happy with how it came out.

 

And the happy couple liked it too!

Finished Quilts 2010

When I set out to make this mosaic, I could only think of 2 quilts I had finished in 2010. So with that in mind I guess having finished  4 big quilts and a doll quilt is ok.
I also have 2 quilttops waiting - they are not in this mosaic.

 

Click the picture to go to Flickr and see the links to tell you the story of the different quilts. 

3 of the big quilts were given away, and so was the doll quilt. Maybe that's why I feel like I haven't finished any quilts this year? The only one still at my house is the picnic quilt. I do love that quilt though, right now it is under our Christmas tree pretending to be a tree skirt - a real tree skirt should be on my to-do for 2011!

Morris Workshop quilt done!

My parents have recently moved from their house in the country and to an apartment in the city. I am so happy for them, the house was huge, they had to drive everywhere and there was a huge garden to look after.
So all in all a good thing. For the new apartment they bought a new couch...and as we all know, a new couch needs a new quilt :)

This is the label...I wrote Merry Christmas 2010" and our names. Miss V wrote her own name and did some drawings. I like how it turned out :)

The fabric is "Morris Workshop", I have had it for a while and am very happy to have used it all in a quilt, as I had planned. The solid is Kona Cotton in Mocha.

Please just look at the quilt, and not the mess :) I like how this turned out, and my parents are so happy with it. They were totally surprised by it! Yay!
Also, I must say that finishing this quilt was quite a challenge, my parents have been staying with us most of December because Miss V has had pneumonia, and I haven't been able to work on it while they have been here!

I pieced the backing using the rest of the prints, some Kona Cotton in Mocha and Moss and a dotty print from my stash.

This was a fun quilt to sew, not a lot of cutting and most of it could be string-pieced.

My only problem now is, that my sister just bought new couches too....
-and she turns 40 in January!

A picnic quilt!

I have tried to put my scraps and stash to use, and I have some different projects to show you over the next couple of weeks :)

First I will show you my picnic quilt!
This quilttop is made entirely from scraps. I cut 3" strips to whatever length the scrap would allow. Some are long and some are really short - depending on the length of the scrap-piece it was cut from.
I have pieced them totally randomly, and added each strip once it was finished. It's a little scary for a quilter so addicted to arranging and rearranging LOs as I am :)
I am really happy with how it turned out, though. It is bright, happy and busy enough to hide all the spills....
I quilted flowers like these from Oh Fransson - only mine are connected in a continuous line, I hate securing all those loose ends!

Here is a shot of the quilt in action. The I SPY fabrics in it helped keep the kids busy :)
My favourite thing about this picnic quilt is the carrying strap I attached to it. It is made a'la Anna Maria Horners Totable Towel. Only I didn't do the envelope sleeve.
BTW this year I am definately making a towel like that for a Christmas present for my sister!! I have wanted to since I first saw it, so this year it is going to happen!!
We don't have a car, so we have to carry everything, or be able to balance it all - and the kids - on our bikes. So being able to carry this like a shoulder bag is such a great help!

My oldest is starting school in less than 2 weeks. ACK! Where did all that time go?!
Anyway....looking forward to seeing what I have missed in blogland - I know it's a lot, so I have a lot of exciting reading to do...mmmm a cup of tea and blog-reading!

A baby quilt and lots of fabric :)

Yesterday we went to see my good friends' baby get baptised...and you know how it is. A new baby means a BABY QUILT!! I haven't been able to share any pictures of this before, since it obviously had to be a surprise :) This picture is taken in the laundry room, right after I pulled the quilt from the dryer, and right before I packed it up and ran out the door...we made it to the church on time, but only just!!
My friend loves it...it 60" square
Like so many others, I like to work with solids, and since I order most of my fabric online, I treated myself to the Kona cotton solids colorcard. Wow. I love it. I see many more solids in my future.
I ordered my color card from Canton Village Quilt Works if you don't know the store, go visit. Jackie has a lot of great stuff in her store! I also bought the FQ pack of rainbow colors from her.

Last week I took Miss V to the fabric store - to buy backing fabric for the baby quilt - and she chose these fabrics. She needs new dresses and skirts, she has grown so much since last summer that all her summer clothes are too short. LOL. So I am going to start by making her some skirts. I also bought these orange and teal fabrics. Orange and teal is my favourite color combination right now.
Also....I am a swap mama in Doll Quilt Swap this round. EXCITING!!! So if you visit the flickr group or the DQS blog, you'll see me there from time to time as well!

Plain Spoken #2

I finally finished my first 2010 quilt! It's the second time I have made a quilt using FunQuilts' Plain Spoken pattern -and it probably won't be the last :)
I love the colors in this quilt. So bright and cheery!

It is a 40th birthday present for a friend, and I finally tried out the fabric sheet Karen sent me. It was so easy to use!! I'll definately be making more labels this way. Maybe I'll even put labels on all the quilts I've made?!
I used a solid red for binding, and it ties the front and the backing together quiter nicely I think.
It is difficult to find "guy-prints" so I had Charles help me pick out the fabric for the backing ;)
The quilttop reminds me of the beach, sea-glass, swimming pools, summer and all things nice!
It was hard to give this quilt away, but start to finish it was meant for someone else.....so it would have been wrong to keep it. But I can still miss it a little, right?

Merry Christmas

I made an I SPY for A for Christmas. I used the "Turning Twenty" pattern and made the blocks 12" square. I like it :) And more importantly, so does A. I especially like the binding!

I tried to use as much dinosaur fabric as I could in this, it's hard to find dino prints here, but much to my liking A refers to this quilt as his Dinosaur-quilt :D I even put a label on it!!

Miss V also needed a quilt for her bed, and I have been promising her a princess quilt for a very long time.
Sometime in November this conversation took place:
Miss V: Mom, I am looking forward to Christmas sooooo much!
Me: Yes, I know
Miss V: Especially because at Christmas I'll get my princess quilt
Me: Really??!! (slight panic and disbelief)
Miss V: Yes, mom! That's why I can't wait!

So I started sewing!!

This is the front, the panel was giving me a hard time, I have never worked with one before. Miss V loves it, that's a success if you ask me :)

I tried some spiral quilting in the purple border - fun!

Both kids were happy with their quilts, and so am I!!

We had a very happy Christmas, I hope you all did too.
Little A and I have been sick for a little over a week, though, so that slowed everything down a bit.

Now I need to see if I met my sewing-expectations from last New Year, and decide on my goals for 2010!

I hope you and your loved ones had a very merry Christmas!

One month to go....

...and I haven't made any Christmas-presents yet!!! I have made a softie for my good friend who is having a baby...

....and I have been fabric-shopping. I won't show you all the fabric I bought, for some reason I hoard fabric when I am too busy to sew!

Oooops...the photo is upside-down!

I have started the princess quilt for Viola. This is a picture of the quilt-top. It had me so confused, I never worked with a panel before.

It's a little too pink-and-purple-and-glitter for me, but I am pretty sure Miss V will love it ;)

I finally finished my 8two8 quilt. And I love it!

I love the backing fabric, the dots are happy-happy-happy..

I quilted some spirals in the sashingstrips, and squirly-squirls everywhere else.
This is a picture of the finished quilt. I like it so much. Can you tell?!
I am going to try to get back into blogging, but I am having such a hard time getting into the new routine. I miss you. And I miss sewing. So much.

8two8 March and April

These are blocks I made for Tia for the 8two8 group. Tia wanted liberated stars, 4 to a 15" block -which proved quite a challenge :) But we all managed, and Tia has already put the quilttop together. She's such a fast quilter!!

Next up was Lisa, and she asked for any pattern, in black and white.

I have nevet worked with black and white before, so it was fun to try :) I am very happy she likes these.

I have 7 days left to finish my paper, and it looks like it'll be fine. I am very impatient, and cannot wait to get back to my sewing machine. I wonder if I can remember how to use it??

Possibly the cutest owls ever......and another two presents finished :)

Eileen from Eileens Attic sent me these adorable owls!! I think they are just adorable!!
Eileen also sent me a kit to make one myself, she knows how busy I am right now, and sent the kit so I would have a chance of sewing one of these beauties before Christmas :) If you want to make one too, there's a tutorial on Eileens blog!
Thank you so so much Eileen! I love them, and they are going on our Christmas-tree....all 3, I am determined to sew up the kit!

And I may just be able to find the time, because I just finished my last Christmas-project!! The flying dutchman quilt for my sister.
I tried my hand at free motion quilting again, and eventhough I definately still have a lot to learn, I can see improvement with every quilt. That is very comforting :)
I pieced the label into the backing...the stamped labels are growing on me, I think I am even starting to like them :D
Here is a picture of the back of the quilt. I wanted to use up all the dots...the pink floral is a Kaffe Fassett print that was just too perfect to leave out...
The binding came from my stash....completely forgot why I bought this fabric, but it works well here, I think.
And all folded up and ready to be wrapped and given away....
....this will be hard to give away.....

The other night I made a Black Apple doll for Viola. It was fun and easy to sew, and I hope she will like it :)
Now...I know I said I was done with all my presents...but can I really give this doll away without a doll quilt??