Nine patch quilt top

Having the day off, I took some pics of my nine patch quilt top. ...With a black bird's song in my ears.

It was inspired by a quilt shown in one of Roberta Horton's books. Of course I could not resist using a lot of colour, so much unlike the original which was made in muted, beautiful colours.
It was made by a group of ladies.


Oh, well. I tried to find the book, to show the original, but I could't find it.

I started making it in 1998, and I remember sewing one of the blocks while newly engaged to my husband in early January 1999.
Without borders it measures about 80x115 inches (205x240 cm).
Pieced by hand.

A lot of borders to be attatched...

Thank you Lea and Taryn for your kind comments! Take care.

Note to self

Ignore your fear of messing up, and get it DONE already!
I need a kick where it hurts the most - to at least start finishing this top. It has been laying in the cupboards for almost to ten years. It has been sewn by hand, and I fear sewing on the borders. From experience I know it will be a challenge to make the border and top fit, in order to lay flat. There - this helped. I am a little more determined now, thank you!
A spring gathering of small flowers from our garden. That sounded a little posh, but we are so much enjoying being able to spend time outdoors again!

Zakka fun

These last few weeks I have been in a sewing frenzy daze. Sewing small pouches is so satisfying as they are FINISHED in reasonable time - unlike my other quilting projects which feel take FOREVER. So these pouches are a result of a very inspiring evening (which turned into night/early morning) at a dear friend's house a few weeks ago. Thank you I-L! Among other things I learned how to sew in zippers and to make stoppers/embelishment for drawstring pouches.
The small pincushion is made from Trine Bakke's book.
I appliqued a thimble to this small pouch, so that I know where I keep my quilting thimble and Aunt Becky quilting tool. The pouch pattern is included in Lise Bergene's book.This is reversible and constructed of four strips of 3" cut fabrics. My friend's Japanese co-worker came back from Japan with a pouch similar to this. Her friend had made it for her. I-L had to figure out how to make one. She did and showed me how. I am thinking of putting up a tutorial here a little later. (When my sewing machine is back from holiday at the service man's) I had to make one of these. I loved making it!
... so much I had to make a bigger one, with draw string closing. It turned out to be a present for a good friend, who really deserved the gift. We always have such fun times together. A small zakka bag for a good friend... I am looking forward to making another when my machine returns.

Spring sewing

An applique block part of a sampler I have been working on for some time. Only a few blocks left.
Leftovers - I love leftovers. This top will be made solely from scraps - except for the sashing blocks. When the main blocks are ready I will have to cut more paralellograms to finish the top. The picture to the right is a photo of an old quilt I found online some years ago. It has been in my folder for quilts I (some day) want to reproduce. The paralellograms are fascinating. They can form both stars and diamonds. Such phenomenons trhill me!

Cordless

I usually do not feel bad when this blog has been neglected for a while. I write when I feel I have something to say - and when the light is good for documenting and showing something. But when a small black cord has gone missing I am not granted the right to blog. That is how it feels. I cannot post images still in my - ehem our - camera. So here goes. I will try to find something in the folders in the machine and see what today's post will be about. Just give me a second...

Oh, yeah! This is my "Everybody's doing it"-post. In May last year I started what will be a long journey. I bought my copy Brenda Papadakis' book about Jane A. Stickle's quilt in May 2000. I did not think I would start making my own version, but after seeing the beautiful quilts out there popping up "everywhere" I started out too. I have no deadline to follow. I make blocks in random order, and when I feel the urge and for pure enjoyment. The blocks are made by hand, and I follow Jane's colorscheme. If I cannot find the exact color, I use what I have colorway wise. That way I feel I am making it my own.

The other blocks are some finished New Jersey triangles. After I had started making the blocks I was thrilled to find out they could be named thus, since New Jersey is the only state I have some real connection with. I spent some time there when I was 13 years old. The Jersey shore - yay!

My sweetie was just waiting to flip them off the flanell - and she did, I can tell you. Now where is that cord... argh...

Hobbyhorses and a crown

Our kindergarten princess needed a crown for a dress up party. Her father made her one.
Most of February was spent indoors in our family. We took turns at being sick. So a little fun had to be made. I still have to find a way to secure the body of the horse to its head... From this book.
Take care.

Calico Garden

I started my Calico Garden journey about nine years ago. The patterns were included in the wonderful book "Enduring Grace - Quilts From the Shelburne Museum" by Celia Y. Oliver. I just love the little quilt. I think when photocopying to enlarge the pattern sheets I made the copies a little bigger than prescribed for. I am not sure, but I think I did. It was one of my first attepts at applique work, so I suppose I made them a little easier to make by making them bigger. The quilt was made by Florence Peto. She used vintage fabrics, and so the quilt is a historian's dream for studying fabrics. Her idea was that by incorporating precious fabrics she would preserve them. Here's how she described the quilt in a letter to the Shelburne museum in 1951:
"It has always been my desire to preserve fascinating old fabrics. One time I bought up whole cartons of scraps - none of (which) were over two inches square! But they were charming, ... obviously handsome examples of early hand-blocking and early copperplates as well as English and French calicoes. Calico Garden was (made) to use up the tiny pieces. (All the little designs are original with me.) I made the little quilt first and later, from the rest of the fabrics, a large quilt. ... I called it a 'Mother and Daughter set' All the materials are old except the white broadcloth background and the small flowered yellow backing."

I can just dream of finding "cartons of scraps"...
I had not read the exerpt above too thoroughly. I had no idea there existed a bigger quilt. But just yesterday I found an image of the mother quilt here:

Here is also some online information:

And here are some lovely versions:

I think I will be using the greyish Jo Morton fabric as sashing, and just some simple square in a square corner blocks. Just thinking out loud...

Beginnings

One day in 1995 my mom showed me how to cut fabric squares with a rotary cutter. This was the result. It is my first quilt.
Some may call it a potholder, but it is quilted, and one normally does not frame a potholder, does one? Even though I was uncertain about whether I liked the colors and placement, I DID frame it;) Today it is a reminder of how strongly I felt that this was something I wanted to do more. That I needed fabrics of my own, was also obvious.
I bought some fabrics, and not very much later I put them to good use in this pillow. As you can see it now needs restoration. It is my first - and only - pillow. I was so baffled by the fact that the stripes in the mitered corners made such a nice pattern, that I never thought I would be able to do it again. Silly - I could just have dropped the mitered corners the next time around. I think I will...

Thank you for your sweet comments about the flower applique and my daughter's embroidery - and for stopping by! Always.
Una

Be still my beating heart

Some moments in life... My little sunshine just lit up when she discovered she could draw on fabric: A rainbow... The joy!

Just thinking