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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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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Another comfort circle finish!

I finished the broken dishes quilt. And it gets better with every step! I've chosen a simple quilting design following the pattern and not taking the attention away from the fresh and crispy feel this quilt has. Since I donate my quilts to small children I used a happy hippo backing. And I couldn't resist a black and white binding to add to the very graphic design of this quilt. I'm definitely making more of these!

 

 

 

 

Quilt Stats
Measuring: 115cm x 170 cm
Block design: Broken dishes made of solid HST's
Backing: Happy Hippo's (Ikea)
Quilting: Straight lines following the design on my home machine using bright white
Binding: By hand using a black and white stripe

See you soon!Pin It

xxxxxxxx a finish for Floortje

Floortje is born! And I finished up just in time...

The finished top was done, you can find it here. A lot of fabrics I chose with my sister in mind like Eifel towers (she loves them and it was on her wedding invitation), French cookie fabric (bought in a lovely store in Uzes France together with her), the neon I know she loves, some lovely texty fabrics (in English and French) one stating places in America she has been, the white flowers on pink are a leftover from the quilt for her firstborn, the bee fabric (our last name is bee in dutch), and the pink crocodiles I think will make her laugh. I love this quilt like I loooove all of the babyquilts I've made for my sweet nieces over time, I love to do girly especially with a special girl in mind! Emma (Strawberry fields forever), Filippa (kaleidoscope), Merle (across the sea).

Quilt stats
Top: random 6 inch x-s using the tutorial from Pile'ofabric using pinks, minty greens and low volume (beige and white) fabrics.
Back: Some melody miller bees (some of the edge is showing, which I've decide to like) and a flannel pink alphabet fabric.
Binding: handbound in pink cut from a thrift store duvet cover
Quilting: Loopy Free Motion quilted on my home machine. Using light pink, until I ran out. I used some hot pink for the rest of the quilt. I love that it went the same with the fabric choices. At first I used only light pinks, but it became to flat and dull and I added some hot pinks there too!

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A long awaited finish! Wilde Geese

I had shown you the top before here, but now I have finished the whole quilt. After machine quilting the ditches of the blocks for some sturdiness I have handquilted in the blocks. I used several colors in pink and turquoise/green. I didn't really have a plan I just had some fun on the couch watching some of my favorite series (including homeland, scandal, etc.). I always love doing it, though I'm still no expert on keeping the stitches even. But, who looks at it that close up?

I've bound it wit some hot pink and white clovers, and the backing is a favorite Ikea fabric. The quilt isn't that big, but it is a perfect lapsize I think, for snuggling under on the couch. It will be for my dear friend Inge. The sun came out just long enough to take some pictures! All the blocks have their own character and are beautifully made by my fellow bee members. My favourite block is the little handmade star, made by my quilting friend Lotje (slootjesschilder) by hand on her camping holiday to Scotland. I imagine her sitting in front of her tent on a Scottish more stitching the little star. This is such an creative, feisty, cosy, interesting, feminine, international, petite quilt, just like Inge, they are a perfect pair.

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everything changes but you - a comfort circle finish

For some reason this song has been in my head all day. And I don't even think it is true! Maybe it is because One Direction is in the country and I am reliving my own boy band crushes in the nineties...What a great time we had! Who was your favorite one? I was definitely all for Take That!

On another note I can show you the second finished quilt of my January round in the comfort circle. The Starry Scrappy night sequel! This time I quilted it with a diagonal crossing lines in a funky lime green. Backed it with a fabric once meant for a duvet cover and bound it with left over texty fabric from Ikea (my new go to backing). I'm in love with this quilt all over again and I would recommend using your scraps on a quilt like this one. Are you ready?

I will donate this one soon! And I can start looking forward to putting my boaty beachy quilt together, since this one is now officially of the list!

See you soon!


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birthday boy

We had the party! And he got is own "tree house" and an I spy quilt to go with it!

His daddy and his aunt made him a "Buurman en Buurman" cake (neighbour and neighbour?) at his request.

And I finished the I spy quilt for him by handquilting it following the diamonds in multiple color threads. (also at his request, don't we spoil our youngest most do you think?) I bound it with a blue and white stripe and backed it with the hippo fabric I bought at Ikea a long time ago, some of his fathers old shirt and some elephants (from kokka I think). I love handquilting a small project like this in front of a good movie!

And the birthday boy himself to top it off!

My big big boy, sometimes I wish we could turn back time, just for a day!

See you soon!

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ohio star - another baby finish

I've finished the ohio star baby quilt for lottte. I've shown you the top earlier, you can find it here. I've finished it with my favorite Ikea backing and a fuchsia pink gingham binding. It's quilted in white with an "orange peel" pattern. It needed some roundness. I used my walking foot to make it and it was really do-able and I am absolutely crazy about the result. Of course it's not perfect on the first try and since I do not mark the quilt before sewing. When I get the chance I will definitely use it again.

For the Ohio star top I've used a lovely tutorial from RedPepperQuilts. For the quilting I looked at lots of tutorials on the internet and then just tried. Just type in "orange peel quilting" and you will find one to your liking.

Quilt Stats: 
Name: Lotte's Ohio star
Pattern: Ohio star
Fabric front: Lots of
Fabric Back: Ikea
Binding: by hand in a fuchsia gingham
Quilting: By machine whith a white thread and an orange peel pattern using my walking foot.

See you soon!Pin It

starry scrappy night - one down, one to go

I was the queen bee in the comfort circle in January. I had finished two tops with the blocks I received, because the blocks were so big! you can find a tutorial for the blocks here. And a picture of both the tops here.

I've made a quilt out of one of the tops. I backed it with half of a duvet cover from Ikea (green and white checker) and quilted around the squares "in the ditch" to let the lovely assortment of fabrics speak for them selves. I quilted the outline of the white stars in different colors by hand to set them of even more, give them sparkle.

 It's bound with a buttery yellow striped fabric, by hand.

I love it! Giving it away isn't easy this time. But it will go to a local good cause of the salvation army. They offer kids who can't stay at home for some reason a temporary home either with a family or in a children's home. After some time it will become clear if the kids can go back to their homes, or to new ones.
I love that the quilt I will give them, they can take to whatever road lies ahead to give some comfort with their happy scrappy feel.

See you soon!

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