Quarter Log Cabin Pillow

I love to make quilty things for loved ones.
So when my brother asked me if I could make him a pillow I didn't need to think twice what I would give him for his birthday.

I had a colour scheme in mind very quickly. Black and white and one of my favourite Kona Solids 'Spring'.

This pillow really shows off my love for graphic fabrics. I selected very subtle, almost low volume  ones and also fabric with stark contrasts.

I mixed the very graphic, manly fabrics with the lovely prints by Lotta Jansdotter from her fabric line 'Sylvia' and I think that and the use of some solids balances the pillow quite nicely.

I used this tutorial by Debbie of 'A Quilter's Table' to make four blocks, each finishing 13.5 x 13.5". The size of the pillow is 26 x 26" (65 x 65cm).

I quilted straight lines which echo in from the center of each block. It was the first time that I quilted with my new Juki. I was very pleased with the overall result, no more puckering issues like I had before with my other machine. Some not so nice things happened though: the stitch lengths varied for some reason and also the machine skipped some stitches... hm, I will investigate why that happened. I obviously need to try things out to have good results.

I used this beautiful variegated b/w Aurifil thread in 40wt, a perfect match for all the black and white fabrics.

I gave it to my brother yesterday and he loved it. And that makes me very happy.

Baby Quilt for Yara

When one of your fellow Quilting Bees is expecting a child it almost is a natural response to make her a quilt. So as Yara told us she is having a baby we immediately started to plan a quilt. We were aiming for scrappy blocks in a white/ off- white background.

Our bee (the Quilty Circle of Bees) consist of 6 members and each of us made two large or four small blocks. The personal style and fabric choices really show in each block and if you know us you can tell which Bee made which block.

So here for example you can see two small blocks by Allison (bottom left and center), two big blocks by Vicky (top left and bottom right), one block by Magda (top center) and one of my blocks (top right).

Here are the two blocks Melanie made (left and bottom right), again one block by Magda and Allison (center middle and right). As we started making the blocks we didn't know whether it was a boy or girl so we aimed for 'gender neutral' colours avoiding too much pink or purple.

The great thing about a joint quilt by such a small bee group is that everyone of us contributed not only the blocks, but also the batting, the backing and binding fabrics.

This time it was me who put the quilt together. I wanted to create a bright background which was subtle and lively at the same time. I used three different whites/ off- white to beige solids, quilted simple straight lines in light beige Aurifil 40wt thread and I think it worked quite well.

Yara received the quilt already and she, her partner and the little baby girl love it and that's the main thing!

Here baby is on the quilt and she looks so good! 

Linking this to Let's Bee Social at 'Sew Fresh Quilts'

I made a Sew Together Bag!

I have always admired the Sew Together Bag but never attempted it as it looked... complicated.
 

But since I have set up my sewing corner in our living room while still cutting fabric on our kitchen table I have sewing tools in two places.

That really started to annoy me so I decided to make a Sew Together Bag to keep all my stuff together.

This bag is just genius! I have my very regular sewing tools in the open pockets so when I open the main bag they are readily available. My seam ripper is in the pink cross hatch pocket not visible. I also opted for a little pin cushion at the outer pocket.

I had so many left overs from my 'Playground Quilt' that I used these and bought zippers to match.

In fairness the bag is not easy to sew. And if it wouldn't be for Heather's Sew Along at QuiltBarn I would have never been able to make the bag. So thank you, Heather, for the very detailed blog posts with lots of photos!!!

I was looking at a lot of Sew Together Bags online for inspiration and found this blog post by Amanda of Crazy Mom Quilts and opted for little fabric pieces at the end of each zipper.

Not only does it add a little more colour it also is easy to sew. Since this is my first bag and I have not tried it without these fabric pieces but I would always do it again that way.

I quilted the outside panel of the bag in straight lines using three different Aurifil wt40 threads. This was actually the first time I quilted with my new Juki and I loved it!!
I also like that the bag looks so different at each side.

Inside the zipper pockets I have the less needed tools such as wonder clips, hera marker, measuring tape and small ruler, additional scissors and a finger hat.

I am currently making another bag as a present for my friends since I have a lot more scrappy strips left over to use for the outside of the bag.

I'm using the same fabrics again for the second bag apart from the pink fabric to the right in the photo. I realised that one open pocket in my bag is all in one colour (the mustard/white print) and to add a bit more variety I'm going with pink from the inside.

For the binding I used one of my favourite fabrics: Carolyn Friedlander's cross hatch in mustard.

I have also attached a little pink ribbon to the outer zipper, that is a little bit easier to open and looks good.

This will not be my last Sew Together Bag, I need at least two more in my house for various items to store. Also, this makes a great present!

The pattern can be found here and is by Michelle of SewDemented.