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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bzzzz - bee block update

There's not a lot of updates. I'm not in a lot of bees these days. But I do love sewing with my friends of the comfort circle of do good stitches. This months assignment is a block called Shoo Fly. As you know I love block names and make some blocks just because I love the name of them. I'm curious what this means it should look like though. When I looked it up it seemed to mean rocking chair, or police officer. I don't see either in them. Do you know?

This assignment was by silly banana sewing. She made a tutorial for this block in three sizes on her blog. You can find it here. She asked for solid whites and blue prints. I am of course the queen of blue stash fabrics (I have two stacks of blue as opposed to 1/3 stack of yellow..., I am on a blue fabric buying diet ever since) so I pulled out some lovelies (I think).

I am making some pillows next. See you soon!Pin It

flowers for Eleni

Rachel is the founder and organizing force behind the do good stitches initiative which I have been a member of for some years. Rachel wrights really openly about all things on her blog. So all her readers knew she was expecting a very much wanted baby. The baby (Eleni) was born about the same time my new niece was born, but she is not doing well. We all know things can go wrong with births and babies, but every time it comes near my heart breaks. For the Mama, for the whole family.

Of course you can do nothing to really help, but I loved Jodi's initiative to make flowers for Eleni. You can find her post on this here. So I've made two flowers and am sending them to Australia so Jodi can make a quilt for Rachel and Eleni out of all the flowers. Stitched by hand and with love by quilters from all over the world. Eleni is in all our thoughts.

Our own do good stitches circle (Comfort circle) will be joining hands on a pillow for Rachel and Eleni. More on that later.

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Boat beach quilt

For my next turn in the comfort circle (july) I already pitched my idea, so everyone can make my blocks in their own time. I've decided, in the random samplerish mood I am, to not choose a block for everyone to make, but decided to let things emerge from our own creativeness. My instruction to my bee mates was this:

Maybe you know I donate my quilts to the salvation army who run a temporary foster home in my neighbourhood. Kids are placed there for observation away form their homes and families. Sometimes they can go back home after some time, sometimes they go to foster homes after that. Most of the quilts we make seem to be more suitable for girls than for boys. So I would like to make a boys version this time. 

And I thought about a boat/beach/sailing kind of theme, leaving everyone free to make 1 block in this theme and some "fillers" to go with them. 

Fillers could be a row of flying geese, some economy blocks, friendship stars, hourglasses, half square triangles, or maybe just some fabric strips for a border.

The block could be a traditional or paperpieced boat (there can be many boats for the boys), lighthouse, seastar, seahorse, seagull/bird. Many patterns can be found when googeling. And mind you, the blocks can be any size. I would love to improvise this quilt together in a random sampler kind of way. Lotje has a great example of what I mean by a random sampler on her blog. Let's use our imagination and feel free of restrictions.

The colors would be boyish and sailing related, so mainly blues (all kinds) beige ore sandy colors, yellows (sun), whites, maybe a touch of bright red (a flag?) to give it some sparkle, or a little green (a tree). 

What do you all think, could this work? Or would you rather I choose a nice block tutorial, because I can do that too? But I thought maybe for a little break? Please let me know what you think. 

Eva-Marie

I've started to pin about for some inspiration www.pinterest.com/zusjeb/boat-beach-quilt/ 

And without having made a block myself (which is traditionally what you do to give an example and an idea of the colors and pattern you've chosen), all these wonderfull blocks started to pop up on Flickr and Instagram! Within hours, okay maybe days, of me posting this!

And today, (still weeks from the start of july, let alone the end of it) I have this to show from my mailbox:

This is not how I will lay out the quilt, I have no iead how to do that yet, but to get an idea how everything will fit together.The anchor and the geese are from Muriel, the little folded paper boats and the fabric strips from Marianna in Spain. The bright blocks are signaling flags you use when sailing and signify letters (I am told), such a great idea from Francis Paul (Alphenquilts). She also made the lovely sailboats! 
The lighthouse in the night is my addition. I decided to wait with making something else, so I can see what is missing in terms of space, themes and colors when I have received all the blocks. Is do have in mind to add some of my beachhouses fabric later on.

This will make a great quilt!

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Bzzzz - bee block update

I made the april blocks for the comfort circle. They are simple to make and will make a lovely girl's quilt with big bold flowers! Sending them out next week

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Keep smiling ... another do good finish

I'm at the summit of temporary apartment depression. If you look at the facts, it's not that bad, this place we live in for max three months. But it's dark, very temporarily decorated, small, etc. And my new house is getting better and more beautiful every day, and I wan't it to be over. I want to be there and not in this dreary apartment. Especially since we are preparing for my eldest birthday party tomorrow in my temporary kitchen, with only half my stuff. So, I say to myself getting up, chin up, put on your smile, 5 weeks to go, complaining helps no one. But getting it off your chest does help sometimes, so, now you know ad I'll shut up about it.

What's the good news; I finished my do good comfort circle quilt. I'm afraid the pictures are a little improv too, sorry for that. It's made with lovely grandmothers front porch blocks made by my bee mates with a tutorial from Canoe Ridge Creations. I chose to quilt it with a pink thread following the pluses and the diamonds in the pattern. After some deliberation I decided to bind it with a turquoise fabric with white stars for some contrast to the soft warmness. The back is a pink gingham, both from the market.

You may remember my other do good finish. I gave that through the salvation army to a little boy who is placed in a temporary foster home. I have just received confirmation that this one will go to his little sister. I hope all the love put in these stitches will be felt when they snuggle under them and that they will have a bright future.

Quilt stats
Name: Granny's comfort
Good cause: Salvation Army
Top: granny's front porch blocks in orange, yellow, red and ping with neutral backgrounds.
Back: Pink gingham
Binding: by hand, turquoise and white stars.
Quilted: By home machine with straight lines following the plus and diamond pattern in the quilt.

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Busy be(e)ing

I made more bee blocks.

Two for the october round of the comfort circle (do good stitches)

It's an easy block with a great effect. You can find the tutorial here.

And a "monochromatic improv" block, lovely scrabble words too, for rachel from the creative quiltblocks bee. She wanted a block in every color of the rainbow, I thought she only still missed a grey version, but she had that already, but no other colors were "free" so now she has two!

I'm not much of an improv girl, but sewing together scraps, that I do love.

Now I'm up to sew 30 some bookmarks for my son to treat on his birthday. Yeah, I know, we did that last year too, but they all loved it and he is in a new grade with new kids, so I thought, why change a winning team...


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churn dashing away

With my sewing place set up, I couldn't wait to start a little project. And on my to do list I found the september block for do good stitches (Comfort circle). Alphenquilts asked for a churn dash block, which is a real classic, but I had never made it before. I love it! She asked for low volume backgrounds and bright pastels. I sometimes have a hard time deciding how to define such terms, so I just make what I like in the spirit of the blocks the others make. I'm really excited about this block and I think it will make a lovely baby quilt for someone on my list too!

The boys are getting used to the appartement. Look at the big one practicing his angry look. We were baking some together today.

I was glad some of the batter made it into the cake.

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do good - Granny's front porch

Hi everyone, a quick hello surrounded by moving boxes! I finished the Grandma's front porch top before packing up my sewing machine last week! I think the result is so pretty!

The blocks were made by the members from the comfort circle of do good stitches for a little girl who's temporarily placed in another family and in the care of the salvation army. My friends made beautiful and neat blocks, so putting them together was a breeze. For the watchful eye there are two blocks which are a little different from the rest, but I love the imperfectness. The colors are warm and friendly and I hope to accentuate the secondary patterns with the quilting. But that will have to wait for my sewing machine being unpacked in our temporary home.

Since it is a temporary home and a lot smaller than our old and new one, not all my sewing things can come. But my machine and some fabric will definitely be squeezed in there! I actually look forward to a period of "camping" with my little family in a small place that doesn't fit all our things. Especially since we can follow the building of our new home closely, without living in the mess it is now. For now I just wish the move was over and done with, but that will be in the blink of an eye, maybe two. 

The block was made with a tutorial by Canoe ridge creations you can find here.

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staying a little up to speed

We are moving in two weeks. And we are renovating our new home. So not so much sewing, but every now and then I sneak away to do just a little something. Beeblocks are perfect small projects!

I made a knot block for the creative quiltblock bee. She asked for colors which aren't my usual choices, but I think my block worked for the new total package which is off to Corinne Louise in France now! The background really remind me of moutarde de Dijon (french mustard)

And I made 2 blocks for the Comfort Circle (do good stitches) for my friend Muriel over at hopfaldera. She has a tutorial for this easy to make block on her blog. They remind me of old records. I'm sure this will make a lovely quilt all put together.

I'm putting together my top for the comfort circle now, so I hope I can show you next week!

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so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye

My big boy is getting even bigger, he's leaving kindergarten or pre-school to really start school in what we call groep 3. My son was born in the end of October, so he spent almost three years with his lovely teacher.
We gave her something with all the kids leaving her classroom, but I had to leave a reminder my self. To say thank you to someone who has had such a big role in the education and general upbringing of your child can even get a little emotional. And there is no gift big enough to represent that. I have made her things in the past for her birthdays etc. And I have made some things for the classroom. So I was really out of ideas to make something for her. So I made her a pincushion, to encourage her to do a little sewing herself! I made it in light and sunny colors, because she is a light and sunny person. I used the practice block from the lucky stars bomb of don't call met Betsy. It is paperpieced and than quilted on some left over batting. I filled it with small pieces of leftover batting, I love being frugal like that! I hope she appreciates the gesture and my son won't miss her too much.

 I already added some pins and needles, so she is all set up to start!

And since we are in the saying goodbye mode, I also said goodbye to the fly away quilt I made with the care circle of do good stitches. I found a good cause near to me in a temporary children's home made possible by the salvation army. Kids can get placed out of their homes for some time for different reasons. After some time here they can go back home sometimes, or go to a more permanent place for them. One of the little ones now has a blanket to take with him on this road ahead to give him comfort. I really hope things work out well for him. Going there really made me realize how lucky we are and how we sometimes take that to much for granted. I plan to make all my do good stitches blankets for a child in transit in this home. Maybe when my little ones are bigger I can help out in other ways to, but that far ahead is difficult planning.

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flashy stars!

My friend Lotje (slootjesschilder.blogspot.com) is also in my new comfort circle over at do good stitches. She chose a block called: Ohio Star 4 patch Variation. A dreadfull name, but a lovely block! She was inspired by this quilt:

A choice I can totally relate to; it's fresh, modern and has a real summer feel to it!

So I immediately cut in to my solid stash and added some bright colors, including some neons from Michael Miller. I love the result!

see you soon!

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Let's fly away! - a do good stitches finish

I have finally finished my do good stitches plane quilt. My first and last finish in the care circle, since I have now joined the european Comfort circle.

It's my second finish for the second quarter finish along with she can quilt, you can find my goal post here.
I asked for free interpretations of the tutorial from bad skirt and I got lots of pretty blocks from all over the world for it. I made a border around all of them and than cut them up wonky to make it look like the plains are moving in the sky. I backed it with a yellow gingham and some blue, quilted it with straight lines in green and gave it a green and white striped binding. I looove striped bindings.

So are you ready?

Quilt stats

Name: Fly away

Block tutorial: by badskirt

Fabrics: Scraps and stash from me and my fellow bee memebers

Quilted: By machine, straight lines in green

Bound: By hand with a green and white stripes cotton 

I asked if I can make a little boy who needs some comfort happy with it in our local children's home. Other wise I will send it to Jopie's dreamblanket organisation. 

See you soon. 

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Granny's front porch

Another block name to love. This pattern was made by Canoe Ridge Creations. And I chose it for my month in the comfort circle over at do good stitches. A lot of blocks together will make a whole new pattern. I asked my beemates to make the blocks in pink, red orange or yellow with a neutralish background! I'm curious what will turn up in my mailbox next month!

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I'm leaving on a jetplane

Don't know when I'll be back again! I finally finished the top for the do good stitches Care circle. I joined in january, but after two months there was a big shift in do good stitches to make the groups more "local". I'm now in the comfort circle with only european members. But I was quilter in the Care circle and in my month I asked for airplane blocks. (tutorial by badskirt). I asked everyone to approach the block and the instructions freely, make big planes, small planes, make them take off, do what you like with them, just let them be planes. So I got all kinds of lovely planes (mostly from australia!). I love the creaivity that everyone put in it. There's one with kite fabric, one with hot air balloons, one with clouds, etc. 

The last one arrived a few weeks ago. I didn't have much sewing time, this is excuse number one, but I had no idea how to put them together either. After lots of ideas, I decided I didn't want a traditional sampler lay out. So I bordered all the blocks and after that cut them up "wonky" to look like they are taking off or moving in the skies. The finished blocks became 14 inch square. I'm pretty happy with the result. It's really playfull and full of movement. It is of course meant for a little boy who needs a little comfort and a little cheerfullness.
After I finish it I will send it to Jopie's Dromenquilts. 

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Still playing doubles dutch (part two)

again just in english, sorry dutchies!

I told you a little about our quiltmeet in the last post, especially about the swap. So I told you we did lots of talking, this involved lots of discussing where to buy, what to do when, plans, but some of us also brought some "designer blocks" with us, to get new perspectives on what will be the plan for a project. 

Lotje, Mari and Muriel

so cosy under the attick beams

The designer blocks I brought where the set of blue, green grey 4x5 blocks and my plain blocks. I can't decide how to put together in a quilt, I'm not to excited on a standard sampler lay out, I need it to be a little more lively. I got some new ideas and I will keep you posted on the progress when I get to it! I'm showing the plains since I don't think you saw them all together already.

But we did more than just chatting and admiring the swaps... (not much, but some :-))
I basted my scrappy trip quilt which I started to handquilt that same night at home! With different colors of thread on one diagonal. Not done yet of course, but getting there!

I'm off sewing!

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Double Dutch - flying high!

In the Netherlands (modern) quilting is not as popular as in the USA or Autsralia. So some girls decided to look up dutch girls on flickr and organise a sewing day. It was really nice to be around people who din't think your crazy if you cut up fabric and than sew it together again! We made a flickr group and are planning too organize some things together every once in a while. I also made some airplane blocks for my month in the care circle. 

In nederland is (modern) quilten niet zo populair als in andere landen, zoals bijvoorbeel de USA en australië. Hier zijn we vooral aangewezen op de virtuele wereld en het buitenland voor stofjes en uitwisseling. Maar er zijn er zeker wel een aantal in Nederland, dat kan niet anders. Dus een paar meiden hadden het idee opgevat om eens op flickr.com (een populaire foto, etc. uitwisselsite voor naaiers/quilters) te zoeken naar een stel nederlandse meiden. Ze hebben ons uitgenodigd voor een naaidag afgelopen zondag. Ik vond het superleuk om onder mensen te zijn die zulke mooie dingen maken en het niet gek vinden dat je het leuk vindt om stofjes uit te knippen en dan weer aan elkaar te naaien. Die ook bergen stof verzamelen, vinden dat je nooit genoeg dekens kan hebben, etc. We hebben lekker samen genaaid, ideeen uitgewisseld, show and tell gedaan, een mini workshopje, we hadden boeken bij ons om in te kijken en we deden een ugly fabric swap. We hebben bedacht om nog eens wat dingen met elkaar te organiseren!

Meer informatie vind je op onze nieuwe flickr groep: Double Dutch.

Ik maakte ook alvast de blokken voor de Care circle als voorbeeld. Ik gebruikte de tutorial van Badskirt die echt al heel lang op mijn todo lijst stond. Ik heb iedereen gevraagd een vrije interpretatie van een vliegtuig te maken. Die blokken sturen ze dan naar mij, ik maak er een deken van die gaat naar Jopie

Tot gauw!



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bzzzzzzz (bee blocks)

Vergeet mijn give away niet! Zie de zijbalk!
I made some bee blocks! They were fun and look great I think!

Ik maakte deze blokken voor Care do good stitches met deze tutorial:

En deze voor de creative quilt blocks met deze tutorial

De eerste is sneller klaar dan de 2e, maar beide waren prima te doen en echt leuke frisse blokken, ik kan ze zeker aanraden! Ze zijn onderweg over de wereld, ze herkennen me al bij het postkantoor. (Ik moet eerlijk zeggen dat mijn webshop gedrag daar ook mee te maken kan hebben (-;)

So far so good dus met de commitments. 

Tot gauw!

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scrappy trip along!

Vergeet mijn give away niet! Zie de zijbalk!

Zo veel leuke initiatieven op het web trekken aan mij, ik heb me aan de één na de ander verbonden de laatste tijd:

• Pile O fabric: Skill builder block of the month Prachtige moderne blokken en een kans om fmq (free motion quilten) te oefenen en quilt as you go (niet de hele deken in één keer doorquilten maar blokje voor blokje), dat laatste heb ik nooit gedaan en is al lang een wens.
• Amy's creative side: Dancing stars quilt along Een prachtig ontwerp voor een hele quilt met 1 soort blok. Prachtig!
• Flickr: Do good stitches: Ik stond al een poosje op de wachtlijst en ben nu "toegelaten" tot 1 van de groepen (de care circle). Ik ben "quilter", dus naast dat ik elke maand 2 blokken maak die ik opstuur naar een andere quilter, kies ik ook 2 maanden in het jaar het blok en sturen de anderen het naar mij. Ik maak er dan een quilt van en geef het aan een lokaal goed doel. Bij mij wordt dat natuurlijk Jopie's dromenquilt! 
• Don't call me Betsy: Lucky stars Block of the month: Besty (die eigenlijk geen Betsy heet) stuurt elke maand een pdf voor een ster die je op papier naait (paperpiecen), ik ben daar niet zo'n held in en zou het graag beter kunnen. Bovendien deed ik ooit mijn eerste "quilt-along" voor de kaleidoscope quilt bij Betsy en dat vond ik echt een overweldigende ervaring; over de hele wereld mensen ontmoeten die aan dezelfde deken werken als jij had ik nog nooit mee gemaakt. Ik ben dus ook gewoon van de Betsy fanclub en ik steun haar initiatief graag. 

En dat terwijl de 99 bee nog loopt en de creative quilt blocks bee ook. Toen kon ik het ook niet laten om weer in te schrijven voor de 4x5 modern quiltbee waar ik al 1 1/2 jaar aan mee doen. Dus toen zei ik: nu is het echt genoeg!!

En toen kwam ik de scrappy trip along tegen, hier vind je de tutorial. Die kon ik niet weerstaan. Het is een heel simpel blok wat je maakt van restjes. En wat in meerdere patronen met geweldige effecten kan leggen. EN je hoeft er geen deken van te maken! Het kan ook een kussensloop worden, een tas, een tafellaken! Ik maakte 4 blokken en ik kan nauwelijks ophouden!

Dus nu moeten we maar creatief gaan doen. Ik kan bijvoorbeeld voor de 4x5 een blok kiezen van don't call me betsy. Of voor care circle 1 van de skill builder. Wie niet veel tijd heeft en wel veel plannen, moet slim zijn!

So many initiatives on the web caught my eye, I joined some initiatives in my sidebar. And I vowed to keep it at that. But than I automatically joined the winter quarter of the 4x5 modern quiltbee. And I couldn't help but fall in with a very big hype on the web now: the scrappy trip along. It is a real challenge to make it actually very scrappy and not to overthink it, but I love just grabbing some leftovers, cutting some strings and some mostly mindless sewing (though not to mindless). And you should see all the variations you get from the colour choices, but als form the very different layouts. Eye candy if you ask me. So check out the ever growing flickr group, the tutorial for the block is found here. Luckily I can do most of these initiatives in my own pace and maybe combine some. (perhaps chosing a star from the lucky stars bom as my block for the 4x5, or doing the dancing stars in my do good stitches month, a little creativity to still be part of all this goodness).

Wish me luck!

tot gauw!

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