Biene's Summer Adventure Quilt - Block #2+3

We're having so much fun with Biene and I can't wait to show you more summer adventure quilt blocks.

We are having fantastic spring weather here with temperatures that feel like summer already (27C / 80F). So we decided to go in the forest and remain in the shade, otherwise it was just too hot.

So this is the first imrov tree block for the quilt and it has very subtle colours. Again I used only scraps and worked with what I had on hand.

We had a lot of fun and enjoyed a long walk.

Who would have thought that Biene is such a poser?!

The following day we went to my Rowing Club and Biene went for a swim. The previous owners told us that she loves to swim and we could see it recently that she attempted to hop into every pond she saw. (Not every pond is suitable for a dog swim though, especially not with lots of birds currently breeding at the banks.)

Usually we don't let her play with tree branches but in the water it was an exception.

So and that is block #3, I used some Alison Glass fabric from her collection 'Sun Print Bike Path' in blue to represent the water, some green for the river banks, birds and flowers and a blue sky.

She hopped into the water a couple of times but was dry very fast in this lovely weather.

And that's Biene with the quilt block pinned to our boat house timber facade. As if she knows that this quilt is going to be about her and our adventures!! She looks so good!

Pantone Quilt Challenge 2018 - Purple Haze (a finished quilt top)

I am so happy to take part in this year's Pantone Quilt Challenge again and that the category 'Quilt Top Only' exists as entry.  Our recent move kept me so busy that I wasn't able to finish a whole quilt in time.

So this year's Pantone colour of the year is Ultraviolet. I had some problems finding matching colours but in the end I was very happy with my choices of Kona Bright Peri as equivalent to Ultraviolet, Kona Corsage as light violet, Kona white and Kona Tangerine as a pop of bright orange. As often I mixed it with the beautiful Carolyn Friedlander cross hatch fabrics. I can't help myself, I just love them.

I also seem to have the suitable Pantone cup for every quilt challenge I do, this one is an espresso cup and it even has some milky foam and coffee in it!

I wanted to do something bright and cheery for this quilt and opted do to improv curves. That was the first time I did improv curves and they were a bit scary but after a few blocks I really enjoyed the whole process!

I was looking for an alternative layout other than having all blocks in one direction or forming circles. So I came up with this design:

As often my husband came up with the name for the quilt: Purple Haze. Very suitable I think.

I love this quilt top so much already and can't wait to finish the quilt. The whole colour scheme, the sewing technique and the quilt layout itself is so outside my comfort zone and unlike anything I did before. But that's what a challenge is for, right?

Quilt stats:
Name - Purple Haze
Category - Quilt Top Only
Size - 1.50x150m/ 59x59"
Country - Germany

Linking to Bryan House Quilts and No Hats in the House and thanking Rebecca and Sarah for hosting the challenge again this year!

UPDATE: Purple Haze has won 1st place in the 'Quilt top only' Global category!!!
Wow, I'm very happy and honored!
See here all the amazing winners.

Biene's Summer Adventure Quilt - Block #1

Ever since I can remember I wanted a dog. As I was young I walked every dog in the neighbourhood but was never allowed to have one by myself.
As I got older life got too busy for a dog: university, high performance rowing, working full time, living abroad.
My dream has finally come true in December last year when we gave Biene a new home. 

So why is there a story about a dog on the blog today? I got inspired by Kitty Wilkin's beautiful lecture 'Quilts to mark milestones' at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena earlier his year. Kitty made quilt blocks of family adventures and brought them with her on hikes, boat rides and even flights. She documented the adventures with her beautiful photography on her blog here and here. Kitty brought her finished quilt top with her to the lecture and it was so beautiful to look at all those fun improv blocks that documented a whole summer.

After the QuiltCon lecture I immediately knew that I wanted to make my own 'Summer Adventure Quilt' marking adventures with Biene. This April we went on the first adventure that is also our first holiday with Biene to the North Sea in the Netherlands. 

There are endless sand beaches in 'Zeeland' and they are famous for the timber poles which break the waves in stormy weather.

The first quilt block was inspired by those poles in the sand. I improv pieced this block using only scraps. I took Kitty's advise and decided for a 15" height of this block and all coming blocks. The width will vary but 15" is the consistent height I'm aiming for.

The weather forecast was not the best so there is a bit of a grey cloud in the block as well.

It was too windy to hold the block up so I taped it down to the lovely timber huts that are all over the beach.

We had so much fun at the beach and Biene just did not tire of running after that ball.

Her whole face was covered in sand but that didn't seam to bother her.

Her floppy ears were going nuts with her speed and that wind. Isn't she beautiful?

 We got Biene to pose with the quilt block and the poles but she could hardly sit still, too excited!

The weather did improve after all and we had some really lovely sunny days.

If Biene wasn't playing ball she would dig holes.

Or dip her feet in the water.

I think she did have a lot of fun!

We all did actually! This is one rare selfie with the three of us where Biene did sit still for a couple of seconds...

I can't wait for our next adventure! And the next quilt block!

(I hope that weren't too many dog photos, but given the fact that I needed to wait for sooooo long to have a dog I think the amount of photos are in order. Quilty photos coming soon, I promise!) 

Three

I have finally found the time to share the mini quilt I made for the 2018 MQG Mini Swap. I was very excited about the swap and signed up to exchange the mini quilts at QuiltCon in Pasadena.
As I received the email with my swap partner I thought: Wow, Anne Sullivan of PlayCrafts is making me a mini quilt!!! And then immediately after that I thought: Oh F#@$%& I have to make her one too!
Anne is such an amazing quilter that the pressure to make her something awesome was big.

After three attempts I made this mini quilt which I called 'Three' giving the circumstances...

I improv pieced strips together and grouped them from light to dark. I like the little craziness in it, so much to look at. The binding is multi coloured as well and plays with the colour arrangement of the actual quilt.

I picked two different shades of violet and paired it with a Friedlander cross hatch fabric in the same colour family. I started with white and light turquoise in one corner and worked my way up to the darker top of the quilt. 'Three' is 24x24" small.

The top also has some orange colour splashes to add a little interest. I used 5 different coloured threads, all Aurifil 50wt, and quilted diagonal straight lines similar to the way I quilted Splinter.

For the back I used remaining fabrics and just pieced a crazy log cabin block. I'm very happy how this mini quilt turned out and I'm so glad that Anne liked it too!

And that's us exchanging our quilts at QuiltCon. I absolutely love the mini Anne made me and isn't it amazing how well our quilts look together? We even made the MQG February news letter!

I'll definitely take part in next years mini swap. Not sure if I will go to QuiltCon though but the minis can still be send via post (although it's so great to see the recipient's face while you exchange quilts and it's always so good to meet other quilters in person).

And I also think I'm going to revisit this design, I'd like to play with it a bit more at a larger scale!

Linking this to SewFreshQuilts and Let's bee social
and Finish Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts