More hope valley

I had some time of last week, and instead of working on projects already in the works (and collecting dust in the closet), I started a new long overdue one...

Shortly before Christmas my in-laws bought a holiday appartment, and being in the Christmas spirit (or because the punch were spiked) I offered to make a quilt for their new home away from home, an idea they were really thrilled about.

But I must admit my palms got a bit sweatty when my mother in law asked for a king size quilt...

Thankfully she fell in love with a daisy chain quilt pattern, which would come together quite easy.

I suggested the blue and grey colortone of hope valley, and the plan was a succes, except for the part of me sewing it... I simply have not had the time before now.

It's made with 9" ninepatches and 9" squares of white kona cotton.

After this picture were taken I added both a checkered border and an extra white border. It ended up being 108", and is by far the biggest quilt I've ever made (and will continue being just that in quite along time...)

I decided to have it longarm quilted, since I couldn't imagine this giant fit in my sewing machine.

I chose this chantilly lace pattern, and really look forward to see the final result.

In the meantime I'll play with the leftover blocks, I'm thinking maybe a matching baby blanket, Marie has said she really wants to spend the night at her grandparrents. (well actually she said: dabadesu...muu, but I'm certain she meant the other...)

I hope you had a great weekend :-)

Isa

sunday stash

This week I don’t have any fabric to show, but I do however have something I have been working with all week:
Copic sketch markers.


In the week before Christmas I went on a fieldtrip with my school to the National museum of Denmark, to get inspiration for an embroidery pattern.
Besides a lot of historical Danish artefact, it also contains a lot of effects from cultures all over the world.
From this trip we were to pick an item to be inspired from and do a study about

I fell completely in love with a traditional Korean bridal kimono, I’m sorry for the bad picture, but it was really hard to take one without lights being reflected.
The embroidery depicts bird Phoenix with chicks and symbolizes life, resurrection and fertility.

I did some research on the subject and came up with the idea of a dragon and a phoenix, symbolizing ying-yang, male-female, water-fire and so forth.



I coloured it in different ways, trying to decide the final layout.
I got a bit sloppy in the last one (and a bit dizzy from the marker fumes…)
Not yet sure which one to pick.

I’m going to sew it up on dupioni silk with silk floss.
The final project isn’t due until March 18’th, but I think I know how my evenings until then will be spent.

Happy Sunday :-)

Isa

A start and a finish

But not of the same project

First the finish:
A dress for Marie using Anna Marie Horners new flannels, it’s so soft and easy to work with, and Tula Pinks aqua ladybugs.
In Danish a ladybug is called a “Mariehøne” which means Marie-chicken, so I figured it was a perfect choice.

Second the start of a new quilt.

When Amy Butlers new fabric line LOVE first was released I honestly wasn’t sure whether to like or not, the patterns and colors were very different from what I’m usually drawn too. But when I saw blueblossomgirl's circle quilt on flickr I knew I wanted some.

As you probably remember I used a large portion of it for my sisters Christmas present, knowing that this fabric would be right up her ally. But there were a lot of fabric left that I didn’t know whether to put in my scrap bin or back in my stash.

So I started cutting it up instead, using Marti Michells drunkards path templates. The big circles were easy to cut and piece, but the small templates were quite slippery and harder to piece, therefore some of theme came out a bit wonky and more oval shaped.

I ended up with 14 big circles and 23 small, and very little fabric to spare, I hope to squeeze another small circle out of the scraps.

I’ve been trying different layout styles and am not sure which way to go from here. The circles don’t stand out as much I had hoped, but I guess that was to be expected when it was cut and sewed without any sort of plan.

Maybe some sort of solid sashing would help, I just made an order for some kona solids, and I think I’m going to wait and see what happens with that.

And even though it has no reference for to this post I want to show you my new rug, we just got it yesterday, and I love it so much, it’s so colourful and cherry. It’s from the Danish Design Brand Hay in case you are wondering.

Thank you for tuning in

Take care and have fun

I'm in love

I finished the one-a-day nine patch quiltalong top, and I love it.

I think it's going to be favorite quilt.

I sashed it with white 1 inch strips, because I wanted the blocks being close together

in this way the colorway idea seems to be more obvious.

I made long strips from the leftover squares,

and Marie was very helpful in arranging them...

I finished the quilt with another 1 inch white border, but I must have erased it,

because I can't seem to find anywhere on the computer or in the camera.

But it looks great, you'll have to take my word for it :-)

I think I'll quilt in a relative simple grid pattern since I really don't want to ruin it, and sometime simple is better.

And I signed up for a bug softie swap Rebecca from Blinking flights is hosting, I've been admiring her bugs for quite some time and she's been kind enough to make the pattern free for download.

I've been signed up with Christy from Sweet tidings, she said she liked polka dots, and when looking at this sunday stash I should be able to find some dots :-)

And I won a giveaway! Nicole had a great giveaway on her blog polkadotbunny, with some lovely vintage embroidery patterns and some floss and fabric to go with it. Nicole makes some really cute embroidery patterns, wich you can find in her etsy shop. She also has a Flickr group where you can see the patterns all stitched up.

I hope your day have been as good as mine.

Isa

Copycat

Have you ever seen a quilt and known that you had to copy it?

Well I have, many times. But this time it came out of the blue…

I’ve had a bunch of blue Kaffe Fasset prints in my stash for a long time, it was some of the first fabric I bought online (Boy, a lot of water have been running under the bridge since then!) and I had planned to use them for a lady in the lake quilt. But then I saw this quilt, Rita from redpepperquilt made a while ago, and I just loved how the cotton/linen blend made the printed fabric light up. So I decided to make a very similar one.

I never tried to make a quilt with linen, so I was a bit anxious to use it.

It’s not a favourite, but it sure isn’t the last time I use linen.

I made this quilt for my sister and her husband a couple of weeks ago,

but I haven’t gotten around to posting about it before now.

Otherwise sewing and bloggin has been a little slow, I think maybe because of the heat.
And because Marie is teething again (who needs more than two teeth anyway?)
I’m not finished quilting my snippets quilt from the ORBC quilt along,
but I’m getting closer.

Have a nice day
Isa

Quilting along

I’ve started quilting the ORBC quiltalong quilt,

and it’s slowly coming along, I’m ¼ of the way.

There’s still at least 6 hours quilting left,

and I decided not to work on anything else before this is done.

But with a million or so degrees outside,

leaving us all hot and sweaty,

I don’t think it will be finished before sometimes next week.

I’m quilting in “wonky” straight lines, with random spacing

and in alternating directions.

I think it enhances the pattern in a good way,

and give the quilt a great texture.

I hope you have a great day.

Isa

Peanut

Look who came to visit.

It’s Peanut the wee elephant.

He was greeted with smile and laughter and hugs and kisses.

I think he decided to stay.

Hopefully his family will soon join him.

He’s got a wife (Hazel) and two girls (Almond and Acorn)

The big one (Almond) looks a lot like her mother,

but the little one (acorn)takes after her father,

they certainly got the same ears.

I wonder where I got my inspiration...

I finished my versin of Crazymomquilts one a day nine patch quilt along

I made 65 ninepatches, but only 60 made the final cut.

Now it just needs sashing.

I hope you have a great day

Isa

making progress on Old red barn quilt along

I’m making progress with the quilt along.

I made 64 blocks.Because I used fat quarters instead of ½ yards,

I made each block of 5 strips making them 10.5 inch. square.

In this way there were less wastage.

On a different note,

you should stop by Tamara’s blog and read about why she named her blog ¼ of an inch.

You can also read how other bloggers came upon there blog name.

Have a good day

Isa

Damsel in distress

It’s not me who are in distress but this nice little lady, who seems to be missing her hair….

I think its cold to be that bald; I better make her some hair

She’s a gift to my niece for her first birthday; I used the pattern from

Alicia Paulson’s “stitched in time”. It’s the first time I tried to make a rag doll,

it was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I got so many girls in my life

that can be gifted with this type of toy.

I also got to “try out” another book from my birthday.

If you are new at embroidery (like me) I highly recommend the doodle stitching book.
It explains the different type of stitches really well,
and have some great “how to” graphics.

My coaster swap buddy Sara has received my parcel and seems pleased with it.

I’m glad she is, I’m always a bit more nervous

when sending stuff to another craftster,

am I the only one who feels that way?

And to round this week up (…) I finished the on the spot quilt top.

I like the idea a lot, but not so much the execution.
I think I’m gonna try another method for the next circle quilt.

Maybe Anna Maria Horner's super circles.

Have a good day, I’ll be back tomorrow with Sunday stash fabric.

Isa

On the spot

I wish I didn’t like circles…

I wish that when I saw a circle quilt, I would do a little nod and say “Nice, but I’m more a square kinda girl” Or log cabin, or even triangles…..Sigh… But I don’t.

I love circle quilts in every shape and form, and when I see one I always want

to do something similar

But curved piecing is such a pain in the … It’s no fun, well not for me anyway….

But practise makes perfect right?

I’m halfway through this circle quilt (inspired by this one)

now I only need the counterpart with white circles.

I’m using this tutorial for the six minute circle.

Boy am I glad I signed up for kindred crafters coaster swap.

Look what my swap buddy Sara sent me.

A package filled with goodies, a magazine, a tea wallet tutorial with fabric and tea,

a picture frame, a nice card and 4 lovely coasters.

Needles to say I love it. Thank you so much Sara!!
You can go to this flickr group to see what

other participants sent and received

Have a great day

Isa

an apple a day

Thank you for all the nice comments and wishes in the give away post.
I had a really good birthday.

I got to pull out my fancy shoes and fancy purse and went to a movie and dinner with Kristoffer, while my sister looked after the children.

And because we had such splendid weather I even got to wear a new summer dress.


Among many things, Kristoffer gave me these books that I’ve been wanting for quite some time. I think the “Doodle-stitching” can be the beginning of a new addiction… erh hobby.



The past week has also been quite busy. I finished some more nine-patches for the one a day quilt along.


I’m up to 37 now

I started a new quilt inspired by this one

I sent of a package to Sara from kindred crafters, filled with goodies as part of the coaster swap… Sorry no pictures it’s a surprise

And I’ve decided to join old red barns quilt along, where you can win a sewing machine!

And to finish this post, I got some Sunday stash apples for you.

Two from Jeniffer Moore, one from Sandi Henderson, and one from timeless treasures

Have a good day.

Isa

P.s don't forget to leave a comment in the SMS give away day post before midnight CET.

I will draw a winner tomorow .Thank you.

Retro cabin

I received this cute fabric from timeless treasure a couple a days ago. I bought it at Etsy seller “afabricoutlet”.

I just wanted to cut it up right away. It’s going to be another baby blanket.

I like the quick gratification of small quilt projects.

There where practically no wastage with this fabric bundle.

I love when it’s like that.

I also cut some extra 2.5” squares that I intended to use for the one-a-day nine patch.

But I didn't think the fabric matched the other blocks in the nine-patch very well

So inspired by this quilt, I made four patches to use with the sashing.
I’m planning on using brown sashing and maybe orange binding…?

On a totally different matter I have a question for you all; When I comment on someone else’s blog I sometime get a response on that particularly comment in my email, I like that feature very much but I can’t figure out how this is done… Do any of you know how to do this?

Have a good day
Isa