Finished Scrap Vomit quilt for Noor

I was always intrigued by the name of this quilt pattern. It was a hit some years ago and I wanted to make one ever since. The first step is to collect as many different 2,5 inch squares as you can. The theory of this quilt is they can be pretty or ugly, you won't see that when te quilt is finished. The quilt is all about the overall effect and not the individual fabrics.

So I have spent many evenings going through my scraps and cutting them into squares. A good way to organise your scraps at the same time since every piece passes your hands. I made categories:
- bigger than 5 inch square (sorted bij color in bins),
- smaller than 2,5 inch in one big shoe box,
- all sizes of strips in a box for a strip project,
- triangles all together in a box
- and a scrap vomit preparation box with 2 1/2 inch squares.
I did this watching Downtown Abbey on my computer and these were very happy evenings for me. I have enough squares prepared to make at least one other scrap vomit quilt. I do love the frugalness of using every last bit of those coveted fabrics.

After that I cut the solid squares that make the pattern. I chose white and red and black for the fierceness of the contrast that suits my niece. My niece is a creative and sweet girl but underneath her soft and sweet appearance there is a bold and fierce and colorful girl. That is the girl I thought of when I was choosing the colors and making the quilt. Her favorite color being red I made that the central color in the quilt.

I made 12 7x7 scrap blocks and 12 blocks with the cross pattern. The quilt is meant for a single bed. It is quilted with a dogwood pattern. Half the quilt with multicolored thread. I needed another spool, which I didn't have, so I did the other half in a soft pink. I like the effect! I am not an accomplished free motion quilter but I think half of it is just daring to do it and do it often to steady your hands and technique. Dogwood quilting in squares does give you aim and a structure to quilt in. 

It is and bound with a buttery yellow stripe to soften up all the bold colors a bit. It is backed with some vintage fabric and a red flowered fabric I bought when I started quilting but never found a good use for because of the scale of the print.

This is a finish of some time ago, but I am giving the quilt to Noor today for her 11th birthday so it could not be revealed before. This is made especially for you, with love. Pin It

vintage pastel stars - a finished co-production

Together with my friends from all over Europe we co-produced a charity quilt. I was the queen bee for this quilt and asked for vintage and pastel looking stars on a pastel solid background. I love all kinds of star quilts, but I never made a whole star quilt before. Making quilts in a group helps me tick some things of my own quilting bucket list too!

As a reminder: I make these quilts with do good stitches a virtual worldwide charity bee. I am in the european branche now called the "comfort circle". If you would like to know more, or even join, click the links to get more info. It is  lovely way to give to the community while doing what you love. I also love meeting new people who love what I love and be inspired by their work.

Now for the finished quilt:

I made some extra blocks myself. Now it's big  enough to comfortably cover a single bed. It is backed with a blue and white striped cotton. It is quilted by home machine with a free motion foot making continuous eights. A pattern that is very do-able, I had the quilting finished in about 2 sessions of an hour, but the pattern also complements the sharp corners of the stars with some roundness. It is hand bound with pink pearl bracelets (one of the few fabric names I remember)

And who doesn't fall in love with a rolled up quilt. I think it will make some little girl very happy. It will be gifted to a girl who is temporarily placed in a children's home of the Salvation Army. 

If you love the quilt as much as I do and you would like to make one yourself. the pattern of the blocks is very straightforward. On the bottom of this post I added the explanation to make the blocks. I f you have any questions, let me know. 

See you soon!

Explanation Pastel Vintage Stars
The "pattern" is pretty straightforward. It's especially easy if you make two semi-identical stars with the same fabrics, that is what I did.

From your stash or scraps pick 8 different prints that are "pastel-ish" and fit a romantic and/or vintage feel (I leave all that to your imagination). Cut two 4 inch squares of each. 


Pick a pastel solid. Cut eight 3 1/2 inch squares and eight 4 inch squares. 

Now make the HST's by paring all the printed fabric squares with the solid squares (the 4 inch ones) and pairing the leftover printed squares with each other for the center. They wil be a little too big and after ironing you can cut them down to 3 1/2 inch. 

After that lay-out the blocks, and sew them together.

The block is 12 1/2 inch unfinished. (meaning: after you sew them into the quilt they will be 12 inch)

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Project of Doom - celebrating a new Harry Potter book

During our vacation I read all the Robert Gailbreath (pseudonym for J.K. Rowling) books and Morritz and I are nearing the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (part four). And the newest in the series has been released so we have at least another year of reading together ahead of us. We love every minute of it, thank you for writing such brilliant books!

Morritz and I have been working on some new blocks for his quilt too! This really is a lovely project. You can find all of the free patterns over at fandom in stitches. The end result will be a Harry Potter bookcase quilt. Our last addition is Hedwig, Harry Potters snow owl.

We are not yet near the end at all. We are almost half way making blocks for in the bookcase. We have to construct the bookcase itself afterwards.

I was planning to finish before Morritz birthday at the end of october, but this will be a challenge...

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Wingardium Leviosa - project of doom

My 9-year old and me are reading Harry Potter together. We both look forward to snuggle up, putting on the reading light and reading together far after his normal bedtime.

Now we are making him a Harry Potter quilt together. It is a paper pieced pattern by Fandom in stitches and you can find it here. We print, he cuts the pattern pieces we choose the fabrics. I lay them out and he sews! We have much fun doing it. He lost his interest for some time after block 5, but when I made a block myself he was very cross with me and I think he will join me again soon (when not reading). Maybe we will finish it before his 16th birthday...... In some (most?) things the process is as important as the end result.

See you soon


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around and around and around we go

I've told you before about the round robins we make with some dutch quilting friends. A round robin is a quilt top you make by making a centerpiece and after that adding rounds. We let the quilts circulate and add a round for all our friends. This is a lovely process since every time someone adds a round, the quilt transforms before your eyes. We have no rules about the rounds, you can really add what you like, keeping in mind of course the owner. As my friend Muriel said: sometimes the new round is about the colors, sometimes it is about the shapes. Sometimes you try to add to what is made, sometimes you break the tradition. Thinking about it and visualizing is a big part of the fun.

Last time my center block became this quilt top. The last round, putting the quilt "en point' I added myself. I am thinking of adding maybe one more round of smaller pieces. Purple is really not my color at all, but I love it in this quilt.

I added two rounds for Nicolette's round robin. I love doing them! I added some blue to the color pallet that matches the blue in one of the fabrics used in the center.

You can find all our round robins and updates in the double dutch flickr group, click here to explore. 

See you soon

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One more Random Sampler filler - a flying geese variation

I love flying geese, they should be in any sampler and in mine for sure. I made a variation to make it measure 3 x 6 inch finished (3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch unfinished)

Cutting instructions:
For some reason I cannot sew very precise when sewing triangles. I think you should be able to make the block using 4 inch squares, but I prefer them a little bigger and then cutting the block back afterwards.
For making two blocks, cut:

• Color 1 (redish checker): one 4 1/4 inch square (or 4 inch if you think you can do it with no waste). Cut in half diagonally.
• Color 2 (red cross): one 4 1/4 inch square (or 4 inch if you think you can do it with no waste). Cut in half diagonally.
• Color 3 (greenish stars): one 4 1/4 inch square (or 4 inch if you think you can do it with no waste). Cut on both the diagonals to get four triangles.
• Color 4 (blue loops): one 4 1/4 inch square (or 4 inch if you think you can do it with no waste). Cut on both the diagonals to get four triangles.

So no you have 4 bigger triangles and eight smaller ones. Lay them out into your block:

First sew the four triangles together to form a bigger triangle. Use the blue triangle as a center piece and sew on the right and left triangle, add the upper one last.

Cut of the dog ears and sew on the bigger triangles. Iron them and trim back if necessary.

You can scatter them over the random sampler to fill gaps, or make a partial border with them. Hope you like them, see you soon!

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another random sampler tutorial - some small blocks to fill the gaps

I told you about the random sampler here. I now have mostly 6 inch blocks and a few 9 inch ones. So I thought we'd need some 3 inch fillers!

A lazy girl tiny nine patch

Two make two tiny 3 inch (finished, 3 1/2 unfinished) blocks you wil need:
- color 1: three 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles
- color 2: three 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Sew these strips together as laid out in the picture. Iron the seams to one side.

Cut them in 1 1/2 inch strips lengthwise:

Lay them out into nine patches:

And sew them together:

Make a few pairs to help your puzzle later-on.

A lovely variation on this theme will be the + block.

A lazy girl tiny + block

Two make a tiny 3 inch (finished, 3 1/2 unfinished) block you wil need:
- color 1: two 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles
- color 2: two 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles and on 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangle (for the center)

This time you will sew together the three 3 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles, Iron and cut in half lengthwise. Put the two halves next to the center rectangle like this:

And you sew them together!

Hope you like them! See you soon!

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And the girls are playing double dutch - a churn dash block tutorial

My dutch quilting "group" Double Dutch have started a "random sampler quilt along" some time ago and we have decided to bring it to life again, because random samplers are so much fun and even more fun when doing them together.

A sampler is a classic quilt design in which you use several quilt blocks of different designs or patterns, but in the same size. Usually in some kind of grid. Like the farmers wife quilt for example. The grid or lay-out can vary but the blocks are the same size in a classic sampler. In a random sampler there is no grid, you improvise all kinds of blocks together in to a quilt. For this random sampler there is a rule: The blocks should be 3, 6, 9 or 12 inch (finished), that makes the puzzling a little less challenging when you want to put it together.

We all enter designs or tutorials for this quilt. I you like the design you make one, or a few of these blocks. I have entered a tutorial before, you can find it here. You can find all the tutorials for the double dutch random sampler here. You can join us at any time and even contribute block tutorials if you want. Feel very welcome.

I've decided to add a tutorial to the list for a churn dash. It is no original design, but a very nice addition to any random sampler I think.

For those of you who can't read my handwriting:

6 inch finished (6 1/2 inch unfinished) churndash block

Cutting instructions:

Color 1:

- two 3 inch squares

- one 2 1/2 inch squares

- four 2 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Color 2:

- two 3 inch squares

- four 2 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch rectangles

Sewing instructions:

- make 4 half square triangles (HST's) using the 3 inch squares, trim to 2 1/2 inch

- pair the rectangles

- lay-out the block and sew it together

For the second one I used 3 different fabrics as a variation

If you would like to make a smaller churn dash, you could use some really small scraps! And they would make nice fillers when you are ready to puzzle the top together. These are the measurements I used:

3 inch finished (3 1/2 inch unfinished) churndash block

Cutting instructions:

Color 1:

- two 2 inch squares

- one 1 1/2 inch squares

- four 1 1/2 inch x 1 1 inch rectangles

Color 2:

- two 2 inch squares

- four 1 1/2 inch x 1 inch rectangles

Sewing instructions:

- make 4 half square triangles (HST's) using the 2 inch squares, trim to 1 1/2 inch

- pair the rectangles

- lay-out the block and sew it together

Hope you like it, see you soon!

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Epic Finish! My farmers wife quilt all done!

I promised you the revelation of my epic quilt! A long adventure and I enjoyed every minute of it (okay almost all). And needless to say I learned a lot from it too! The end result is far from perfect, but I am totally in love with it!

In the last three years I paperpieced 100 farmers wife blocks (there were 111 patterns in the book). I used all kinds of fabrics, no theme really, just what I put my hands on and was into in the moment. Some weeks I disciplined myself to make two every week. I Sewed two and cut the papers and fabrics for the next two. This helped me to have a little job waiting for me in my sewing room, even if I had just a quarter of an hour to spare. I had such fun wit them. When I started out I was a very inexperienced paperpiecer. I had to unpick a lot of times and there are still visible mistakes in some of the more difficult blocks. I decided to love them anyway.

About half way I discovered I was cutting the blocks down a little to far... They were about half an inch smaller than they were supposed to be. After some swearing and a few weeks of sewing depression I decided to just go on from there and tot trust myself I would find a way to fix this. When I had about 80 blocks I brought them to a meeting with my quilting friends and told them about my problem. I couldn't make my self throw out 50 blocks I painstakingly made. After a few ideas we settled on lining them and alternating putting the blocks "en point" and straight. That way I gave my self room to fix the size difference. I decided to do that with a beige linnen so the very colorful blocks would bee toned down a little. After some evenings of lining blocks and hanging them on my "design wall" I decided it to be just a bit boring. I ordered som ice blue linnen to. I conferred with my quilting friends on instagram. Would I put in a row of light blue, or some scattered blocks, or even alternating colors? I decided on scattered crosses.

The quilt is pretty big! 2.20 meters square. How would I back this monster. I decided on leftovers in muted blues, grey and whites. I also got out a pile of discarded shirts from Alexander I kept to use in quilts and started ironing and cutting them up. I made a big jigsaw of it on the bed and put it together. The sandwiching was a bog job of course, but I smelled the finish so I got right to it.

After another input round I quilted it with my free motion foot on my home machine using a dogwood pattern in a light grey thread. This was hard work and I felt like a wrestler at times. Again not perfect, but I wasn't disappointed by myself at all! I love the allover effect.

Last but not least the binding. I love striped bindings but black and white was to much for me here. So I used a coupon from Ikea in a blue and white stripe. After three evenings of sewing the binding to the back by hand, this lovely monster is finished.

Thank you for a lovely adventure Laurie Aaron Hird and all the contributing farmers wives. I've already started the next farmer's wife 1930's sampler quilt to be finished in 2018!

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Goodmorning sunshine - how about a blog come-back

For some weeks I am contemplating a come-back since I miss blogging a lot. There is of course Instagram and Flickr to keep in touch and share about my making self. That is absolutely ok too, but to me it feels a little flighty. There's lots of showing and little talking. I miss that. Just talking to my computer and to who ever will or will not read what's going on in my making-mind. It helps me structure my thoughts. It helps me to set goals. I also like keeping track of what I make and my progress this way.

Not blogging does leave more time for making, I admit. But maybe I could let go of my maniacal me who says I must blog twice a week. A little less rules maybe. Just sharing something if I feel like it.... Let's say I will show you my finished Farmers Wife Quilt next week (What? You started that 3 years ago! That's right, I am stitching back the binding as we speak...!) and we'll take it from there....Pin It