A quilt for baby Lara

I'm excited to show you my very first baby quilt today!
The quilt is made from a selection of pre cut 2.5'' strips I bought a while ago. I added a few more strips cut from my own stash and sorted them from low volume to dark colours. 

I found this tutorial from 'Cluck Cluck Sew' which uses 2'' strips, my quilt is a bit longer using the 2.5'' strips.

The tutorial is called strip & flip, it's super simple and as Allison from Cluck Cluck Sew says 'Fast, fun, and CUTE!' You basically cut a narrow strip out of the quilt top, sew white strips to the left and right, flip it around and sew it back together again.

And then it looks like this:

Cute, isn't it?
The fabric strips I used are mostly from the fabric line 'Home School' by LB Krueger for Windham Fabrics, I also used the same fabric for the back. Part of the fabric line was this beautiful ABC panel, I just needed to include it!

I took the quilt to a local primary school playground and found lots of great locations to take lovely shots of this little beauty!

The ABC fabric had two panels and I cut one little heart out of the second one and used it as label.

That was just the perfect place for it!

I quilted it with swirls and double swirls, obviously that needs a bit more practise... But I think this suits the quilt and breaks up the straight lines of the fabric strips.

And for the first time I used stripy binding!

This is just perfect for a little baby girl's quilt.

So there it is, nicely wrapped up. Lara, Mumy and Daddy were very happy, and that made me happy too!

Selfmade birthday presents are the best!

I just quickly want to share another open wide zipper pouch I recently made for my good friend's birthday.  

It is the medium size open wide zipper pouch following the free tutorial by Noodlehead. I used the beautiful fabric from Amy Butler and combined it with linen and a bias tape.

Zipper pouches are not my favourite things to sew (zippers and me need to become better friends I think...) but you quickly have a nice result and in the end it is a lot of fun. And giving away a selfmade present is always a great thing!

QuiP # 3 - Quilt in Progress: Regatta

Like many quilters I am working on a lot of things at the same time. I finally want to make my very first quilt top into a quilt!
I used four pre- cut packages of 2.5'' fabric strips, two are Kona solids white and the other two are the beautiful Oakshott fabrics in various shades of blue. All bought in my favourite local quilt shop Quilt Cabin in Dortmund.

I started this quilt over a year ago now. I took photos of the process already as I kind of knew I would write a blog eventually. (Just look how super new and complete dust free my sewing machine looks!!!)

I got inspired by the book 'Little Bits Quilting Bee' by Kathreen Ricketson, founder of WhipUp.net. Her quilt 'Step lively' is made from jelly rolls too, here's a link to a photo of it. 

I included white squares and between every blue strip there will be a white strip.
It gets me now that the very first quilt top I made was my own design already, I only followed the principles of the method used in Kathreen's book, I guess that's not too bad!

Sadly Kathreen passed away last year just shortly after I discovered her blog and it's really great to see that her blog is being continued and will inspire many quilters and crafters around the world. I bet she would be proud.

I mentioned this quilt top already in my very first blog post, I left it laying for quite some time as it got too big for me to handle at the time. Now looking at it I thought it still is too small to fit our king size bed so I just cut it down to a lap quilt size and that works better.

I have the quilt sandwich ready for quilting and soon it will be finished! Yay!

Quip # 2 - Quilt in progress - Sea Breeze

I fell in love with a fabric line! Hopelessly.

The fabric line has been released in 2012... I didn't even know what a quilt really was at that time!
You probably have seen it before, it's 'Salt Air' by Cosmo Cricket for Moda Fabrics. 

Ever since I've seen this beautiful quilt from Cynthia of Ahhh... Quilting I needed to have this fabric!
So I searched everywhere and luckily one of the German online shops, Quiltmania, where I usually order my Kona Solids had a jelly roll left and a view metres of the beautiful fabric you can see in the background of the photo above.

I was looking what to do with the fabric, there are so many tutorials on what to do with jelly rolls, I had a hard time picking a design. I found two designs which I liked, both actually using the fabric line as well: One is from the Moda Bake Shop and one is from Shontelle of England Streets Quilts. She provides a PDF download for free!

And that's the one I'm going to do! I have all the blocks finished and I'm putting together the quilt top within the next couple of weekends.

I'm really looking forward to this beauty!

I actually searched the internet and bought all fabrics I could get my hands on! Well, I need fabric for the binding and the back, no? (I'm becoming a bit of a fabric addict here...)
Annie from Busy Bees Patchwork, Newport, South Wales, UK, was so kind sending me fat quarters she had left from the line. She still has some left, if you are in urgent need here's the link.

And for the first time I also ordered fabrics from the US. Jimmy Beans Wool had a sale on a couple of weeks ago. I have so many Salt Air fabrics now I can actually make another quilt! Happy days!

Shattered renamed Phoenix

I have another finished quilt to show today!

I have blogged about this quilt in my Quip #1 but during the quilting process I thought that the name 'Shattered' didn't do the quilt any justice. So she needed a more suitable name.

I associate the yellow patches with the sun, and the grey fabric with ashes.The name 'Phoenix' came to pass and reading up on it reinforced the name. 'In Greek mythology, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Quite often, the oldest images of phoenixes on record would have nimbuses with seven rays.'

My husband and I took photos of Phoenix at an old steel production plant, the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum now turned into a cultural venue which is part of a heritage trail presenting the steel and coal mining history of the Ruhr Area. The rusty steel structure of the buildings seemed a perfect setting to have Phoenix shine.

All solids (apart from the white) are Oakshott fabrics, they have two different coloured weft and weave which gives it a beautiful depth and vibrant colour. I quilted the yellow/ grey patches in the multicoloured Aurifil thread and the grey fabric with the black/ white thread.

Phoenix has a beauty spot ......
unfortunately some puckering appeared in the centres of the yellow/ grey patches. I was quilting with straight lines working my way from the outside in... should I have done it the other way round?

But I am really happy with this quilt, all the quilting at the grey fabric is free motion quilting in overlapping rectangles. I am more and more confident with the quilting and it's actually lots of fun.

So, there she is: all rolled up ready to rise and shine!

My entry for the MQG fabric challenge and Why I called this quilt Emerald Isle

As I've seen the previous fabric challenge by the Modern Quilt Guild I was impressed with all the different designs people came up with and didn't have to think long and signed up for the 4th annual fabric challenge. I have never taken part in a challenge before and as I received the fabric I was quite nervous about it.

I combined the given fabric with solids and started some improvisational blocks and didn't really know where this was going. But here it is:

 
I'm pretty certain that this will not go anywhere... I'm mean competition-wise. I have seen some fantastic quilts for the challenge already.. I have a lot to learn.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the quilt and since the fabric wasn't available anywhere in Germany it turned out to be smaller than a usual lap quilt, so I thought this 'small persons quilt' is perfect for my niece and God Child, Anna.

I opted again for a fleece backing but still quilted it with curvy flowery stitches to accompany the floral fabrics on the front.

During the piecing process I always try to name the quilt in progress. I think every quilt needs a suitable and memorable name.

My solid fabric choices and the floral challenge fabrics began to remind me of Ireland, where I lived for six years. The colours stand for the blue and white clouds, the often, very often grey and rainy skies, the pebble stone beaches, the steep and dramatic coasts, ancient rocks, mountains, bubbly cities, the beautiful flowers and super friendly and happy people.

My husband again came up with the name and also with the little twist in the quilt... a quilt named 'Emerald Isle' and there is not a single green piece of fabric in it?

So there it is: a tiny green patch quilted with a shamrock! Awwww!

I will give the quilt to Anna soon, she is ten now and starts secondary school in August and I think that the quilt will provide warmth and comfort.

Thank you Modern Quilt Guild and thank you Michael Miller Fabrics, without this challenge I would not have made this quilt.

I have been busy making zipper pouches!

Not that you think I was lazy... I have been making some open wide zipper pouches following this tutorial by Noodlehead.

These are the smaller sizes but slightly altered.

The first one I made was from fabric left overs from my current quilt in progress with crazy piecing and beautiful multicoloured Aurifil thread, I loved the effect it had and will use it on my quilt as well.

The second one I made was a gift for one of my best friends and rowing partner, her favourite colour is green so I added pink and a linen fabric with grey, green and pink.

And the third one was my very first custom made item for my colleague, he wanted this as a present for his girlfriend, he picked the colours and thankfully they both liked it, phew!

I am in the final touches of quilting my fifth quilt and will post about it soon!

Introducing: 'Gogglebox' log cabin quilt

2014 will be a year of a lot of firsts, this is my first log cabin quilt and also the first 'real' quilt made from a sandwich of back, batting and front.

I pieced this quilt already in September/ October 2013 but then needed to practice free motion quilting and that took me a while...

I made the blocks from the fabric line 'Piccadilly' designed by Sparky & Marie for Quilting Treasure and combined it with Kona solids.
The free motion quilting was a real challenge for me, I found this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman very helpful!

 I choose to do meandering all over quilting...

... there are a lot of little mistakes but I think for my very first time doing free motion quilting I'm quite happy how it turned out.

The quilt got this really nice crinkly look now and it suits our brown couch.
I made the binding in the same colour than the beige block dividing fabric to keep the attention on the blocks.

On the back, however, the beige binding really stands out and I like that a lot.

My husband came up with the name for the quilt which in Ireland is a TV... I loved it and the quilt got it's name 'Gogglebox'!

 

I'm featured on Lotta Jansdotter!

I have to say I am super excited about being featured on Lotta Jansdotter's Facebook page!
Have a look yourself!

QuiP #1 - Quilt in Progress: 'shattered'

I thought I share a 'Quilt in Progress - QuiP' with you today.

This is some improvisational piecing based on the method by Jaquie Gering and Katie Pedersen and their book Quilting Modern.
I used grey, black and yellow; my favourite colour combination at the moment:

I cut strips, paired them into contrasting combinations...  ... and sewed them together and cut again. All without measuring, how freeing!

And here's the first block:
Voilà!

I will go for a different layout of the blocks than shown in the book though, I'll go a bit crazy on that one!
The quilt will be called 'shattered' and I have a great location already in mind to take photos of it!

I bought all the fabric in my favourite quilt shop Quilt Cabin in Dortmund, Germany. They have a fantastic fabric selection and very friendly, helpful staff! They have an online shop too! 

Stay tuned, finished quilt top is coming up soon!