Quilt for Johan's kindergarten

Some time ago we went to a parents' meeting in Johan's kindergarten.

Kindergartens in Denmark are fairly inexpensive, compared to what I hear from other countries, as approximately half of the costs are paid by the state, over our tax-system.

However, this does NOT mean that there are plenty of ressources to purchase stuff for (neither for the employees, nor for the children). On the contrary. So, unoffically, they have to ask the parents for help and I volounteered to help them with a little hemming of a set of curtains and when I saw the state of a little, very worn out couch, I secretly decided to make a quilt to cover it and for the kiddos to snuggle with.

So this quilt came to be:

A very easy and fast quilt to make, as it made from a layer cake (10 x 10 inches) of  Riley Blake's Line "Alphabet Soup, Boy" and additional 10 x 10  blocks cut from Erin McMorris' line "Lake Summersault", paired with Kona solids.  I love the bright and happy patterns and colours!
The quilt had to be quite big to cover the couch adequately, so it ended up measuring whopping 92.5'' x 55''!

 

The back is made from leftovers from the front (only tiny bits!), leftovers from an IKEA cars bedding sheet I had shortened to make bedding for Johan and more Kona solids.

Yes! It was quite windy when I tried to get some decent photos! :)
Gotta love those cars and trucks and busses!

 

I quilted a dense all-over doodle and the ends with straight line quilting, to ensure that the quilt would be able to withstand the wear and tear and lot of washing such a quilt have to undergo.

 

And who does not love a striped binding in happy, happy colours!?
I surely cannot :)

The quilt was delivered by Santa's little helper (aka Johan) on December 1st. It was very well received, patted, admired and was immediately used to hide all 12 kiddos under, that is Johan's group!

Quilt for Anke

Anke is a very caring and thoughtful woman, who is one of the moms in my Mother Group - do you have that where you live? A group of women, with the only thing in common that they have become mothers around the same time as you, brought together by the specialist trained nurse who come and check upon us during the first months after the birth of the little precious one, giving advise and answers all sorts of questions :)

Anyway, Anke has been very good at inviting us into her home, at initiating all kinds of stuff, so I wanted to thank her in my own special way: with a quilt!

I decided to use a very simple pattern, that would also help me reduce my stash.
I chose blues, greens and grey (Kona Cotton Ash) for sashing, and then added a border in Kona Asparagus, which really helps brightening up the whole thing.

Here you have it, all whashed up and tumble dried. The light was plain awfull, so I have to ask you to mentally add a splosh of bright green to the border and some of the other greens in this quilt!
Hmmm... strange how it looks all warped and crooked... it is not, I promise!!

For the binding I found a striped fabric with all the exact right colours at the local quilt shop

Ever since I discovered Red Pepper Quilts' tutorial on entirely machine stitching on binding, I have been hooked! I know some of you enjoy sewing the binding down by hand and the mediative process... Well... I don't! So this method actually makes me finish my quilts, aha :))

For the quilting I decided to try yet another fancy stitch on my machine. I like how this stitch softens up the very squared and somewhat rigid pattern.
...and here it is after the tumbler drying, all puffed up. Yumminess!!
Anke has by now received her quilt and she loves it. Thank God!

If you have made it to here, thank YOU. I am currently in a finishing mood, so I hope to be able to share more quilts with you soon again!

HST cuddle quilt -done!

Done!
Allow me to introduce my newest cuddle quilt!!

It is quite large as my tall boyfriend should be able to cuddle under it as well :).
Finished size: 75'' x 58''

Taking a decent photo of this quilt, that allows me to show you the true dusty greens, blues and yellows, has proven to be quite a task.
I have decided that this is close enough - just imagine a bit more sea green and blue!


The backing is a very soft and fairly boring piece of dusty green fabric...

As to the quilting, I did a (somewhat) straight line machine quilting in the coloured HTS.
The border is Kona's 'Asparagus' and one of the fabrics from front, just to visually break the solid border a bit.

The batting is a high loft polyester batting. Yum!!

And now on to test it on the sofa *giggle*

Siggy rehersal

I am still here!
Just to tell you that I am still here and actively quilting *smile*

I am eagerly awaiting my fabrics for the 'modern siggy swap' to arrive, in order to get started on the 101 signature blocks.

These are the fabrics I have chosen: Sugar Snap by Melissa Averinos
+ a solid white for the signature part of the block:



In my wish for the swap blocks to be nice, I decided to make some rehersal blocks:

I had some left-over IKEA bed linen fabric, that I had bought and cut for junior bed linen to my little boy.

The scraps became traning siggy blocks, that eventually ended up as new pillow cases. This is one of them.

Now my little boy requires my attention - blog you later!!

Finally I can show you this baby quilt!

Finally, I can show you this baby quilt for my first nephew, who was baptized today, Sunday.
His name is Emil. It has been ready for months, but as it is a gift I could not reveal it before now :)

And finally a baby quilt for a BOY, so obviously I chose to make it in blues, green and a tad of purple. (it is also from this quilt that I have made my header of this blog)

The applications are the creation of my (normally not very crafty) boyfriend. But he insisted on making all sorts of vehicles for the quilt and the motorbike is a symbol for Emil's parents and their common passion :)
So indeed this has become a present from both of us! I might even ask him to make me more patterns for appliqués in the future :)


The quilting is my very first attempt to stipple, and I am very happy with it too - I know that I have shown you later examples of my stippling, but this was my first try *giggle*

The binding is finished by hand on the back. I am not good with hand stitching, so you will NOT get a closeup...


(back)

Next, I must try to use some of my after-Easter holiday days off to focus on the blocks I have not yet finished for my two quilting bees!! Shame on me...

Rocket Ship pillows finished!

I wanted to make something nice and try something new to me, so I decided to try a free pillow pattern that I had found at Don't Look Now!
Kellie creates the most amazing patterns for appliqués that I have ever seen, and her choice of fabrics are just that juicy and perfect!

So I decided to try the pattern that looked least intimidating to a newbie like me, and I went for the Rocket Ship tutorial for my friend's two boys (she and they have NO idea that I have been cooking this up for them).

Pictures, you say? Oh well, here then!


And a little detail on the quilting - I used a small swirly one on the green version of the pillow and stippling on the purple pillow. I like the stippling better, possibly because I am not comfortable with real quilting patterns yet *giggle*!

BushFire Quilt Project *update*

Just wanted to show you my truly wonky blocks.
After I took these pictures, I read Tia's recommendation of signing them, so I did!

They will be off to Australia tomorrow!
----
11 February:
As I sit on my couch, cup of latte in my hand, and start reading all my favorite blogs out there, I came across this amazing initiative, that Tia has taken.

I am possibly one of the people farthest away from the fires in Australia, still it aches in my heart to learn about so much loss and devastation down there.

Therefore: Please consider joining me to pass on hope and whatever little help we can bring the families, who have lost everything.

2 blocks in an envelope can and will make a difference for somebody!

My scrappy blues *updated*

Update:
My scrappy blues have now been quilted AND photographed, so I can show it (partly) to you all.

I have stippled it intensely - remember those blue coins are just 4'' x 2'', as I decided to use my last bits of batting, some of them quite small :) So scrappy blues it is:

I like how the coins seem to pop up from the quilt!Quilting around the blue coins resulted in a brilliant effect on the back too:
Now I need to finish the binding and sew it on - that will take some time, be warned!
But overall, I am pretty happy with this one! Yay :o)

---------
25 January 2009:
I finished this Coin Quilt patchwork top yesterday evening. I decided to name it "My scrappy blues".
Naturally, I wanted to tell the wold (= you) about it immediately but I had to wait for daylight to take some photos...
Facts:
* Blue scraps of all kinds, 45 varieties/2 blocks of each
(some of the fabrics are from my very first attempts, back in 1997!)
* Connected with semi-bleached cotton, that I have recently gotten a huge pile of, for FREE *dancing around with joy*. It is slightly heavier than the rest of my stash, but I think it will work out nicely.
* The blocks are 4,5 x 2,5'', including seam allowances.
* The strips are 2,5'' wide.
* Final size, without binding, is 64 x 42'' (162 x 107 cm)
Gosh, I did not realize I had so much blue - and there are still some blues I have not used!

Also, I tried to use up some of my thread rolls, filling up the limited space I have available - 3 small rolls used :) Consider that a tip free to use!

I have dyed some of the cotton into a dusty blue, perhaps that would do for the backing... hmmmm...

This is it: I finally have a blog!!

Hello all you wonderful, sparkling, creative people out there!

I have been immensely inspired by all the creative minds and blogs or homepages I have read the last month or so. Mostly by quilters and other related crafts, as this is my main interest.

I must find out how to link to other blogs.... hmmm...

So now it is my turn to share my quilts and other stuff with you.

They are not many... but I have made them. All by myself!
And I am happy with the results so far :)

Take a look and let me know what you think, please.
(click on a pic to get directed to the larger version on Flickr).

This is my second baby quilt for my first niece.

This was also a present for her baptism in 2008. She is named Birgitte.

I used a pattern called "Big Bear Log Cabin", a free quilt of the month pattern from Judy Martin's website. I made a completely different choice of colour and the way I changed the colour flow over the quilt. I think it worked out nicely :)

This is my first baby quilt.

It was a baptizing present in 2007 for our good friends' first little daughter named Astrid.

I was inspired by a pattern from the wonderful Danish texture artist and quilter Charlotte Yde, called something like "Hovering Triangels", I think...
I love the shadow effect, just a bit too elusive in pale yellow!

A single bed spread to my former mother-in-law. She is a lovely lady!

Finished in 2005.
Hand quilted with little heart pattern matching one of the fabrics.

This is my first quilt, EVER!

It is a bedspread, kingsize, to my parents back in 1997.
Classic Log Cabin pattern and diagonally hand quilted. That was when I realized that I will never be the happy hand quilter. I shall leave that to others *giggle*.

About me?
I am a Danish 35-year-old girl, who just enjoys life, creating things and of course loves my boyfriend T, with whom I live at the edge of Copenhagen.

Thanks for looking at my blog!!!