Snowy days - a finished quilt

Yes  you read correctly. This is the quilt that I started just before Christmas and which was meant to keep me warm in the Winter but sadly was only finished a few weeks back.

But there will always be another Winter and to be frank it has been a bit cold in the nights lately which meant it actually has been residing on my bed for a while.

This is a very large quilt with 70in x 80in and is perfect for my king size bed. I am sure you will remember that I have been collecting and playing with these low volume prints for a while now, starting with my one-year long hexagon project.

I then went on to make a cushion in the same prints only to right away decide that I needed a much larger quilt in the same prints. So I went back to the Cloth House in Soho where I know I can get lovely linens and in addition I dug out every piece of low volume I could find in the house.

Piecing this quilt was difficult because many of the fabrics used were very soft linens and others very course and thick, some new French delicate linens and some very old ones from my grandmother. I would have had an easier time piecing if I had used interfacing to stabilise the softer linens.

When I had to decide on the quilt back I procrastinated for ever but finally decided on Essex Yarn dyed linen in Flax. This is a beautiful fabric but heavy and heavy I wanted but it meant that quilting in a one inch crosshatch pattern was very hard work and not at all enjoyable. So I took my sweet time with it.

I bound it with one of the best text prints ever from Sweetwater's collection 'Mama Said Sew' called 'Words Dictionary'.

Although I haven't had the best time making this quilt, I do love it and am always happy when I look at it. It is stunning and works very well with my white/grey/beige bedroom.

Older blog posts regarding this quilt can be found here, here and here.

Snowy Days quilt progress

Who would have thought that deciding on a quilt back could be such agony. I started this quilt before Christmas and had the most trouble I ever had deciding on a fabric for the back.

My thoughts ventures from a subtle text fabric such as one of the Architexture ones to a cloth I bought two years ago in the South of France to a rough old linen I bought in Dresden and then to a plain white only to get stuck somewhere on the return loop.

Then finally just before I went in holiday I decided on an Essex yarn dyed fabric that is a cotton/linen blend in the colour Flax (bought at the Village Haberdashery). A pricey option for sure but one that I am finally happy with.

It has a wonderful texture that feels like linen yet very soft and it is quite a heavy fabric which will make for a great winter quilt (never mind that we are moving toward Spring....well at some point anyway when we stop drowning here)

I will quilt in 1 inch spaced lines in a grid which will take foooor evvvvveeeeeeeerrrrr..... just as well that I love this part of the job.

Snowy days - a work in progress-

There are angels, old linen and new linen

...and music chords

...and roses and scribbles

...and comic figures

...and much, much more

Snowy days - a new low volume quilt

A while back when I finished my first 'On my travels' quilt I felt a real loss when I finished it because I loved the process but above all I loved the low volume fabrics so much. So I went straight into planning the next quilt but this time in a much larger size and not hand stitched.

I cut up all the remaining low volume fabric I had and whilst I had every intention of piecing it right away a few things came in between and I only managed to do a quick cushion. But this week I finally found some time to start piecing and I can't wait to have it on my bed.

On my travels I - a finished quilt

Apologize if you have seen this quilt in the making once to often but I promise these here are the last photos. Why ? Well because it is now finished.

I started this beauty about 13 month ago at the first Fat Quarterly retreat where Tacha and Brioni taught me EPE with hexagons. The plan in the class was to make a cushion but I when I had finished my first set of hexies I  had already changed my plan to make a baby sized quilt because I was so taken by what grew in front of my eyes.

They do say EPE is addictive and I can attest to that. There is something very satisfying about making hexagons.

I quilted it by hand along the edges of each hexagon which was a bit painful to be honest. The quilt back is a gorgeous print from Windham Fabrics called 'Presents Books and Letters' that was gifted to me but is or was available at Tikki. I kept the binding simple and used one of the Muslin Mate prints I had in my stash as I don't want anything to distract from the beauty of the quilt top.

My plan was to only work on this quilt while traveling, hence the final name for it: On my travels I (you noticed the I, yep there will be more additions to the series). I stitched on the Eurostar on my way to see my parents in Germany. I stitched even more hours when staying at my parents. Then I stichted on airplanes to far flung countries, on holidays, on other train journeys through the UK and also a little bit at home in my Garden (full disclosure, short journey from indoors to outdoors, might that be a little bit of traveling ?).

So I put the last stitches on the other day and added the binding this week and when I saw the finished piece I was even more in love with it than I was at the beginning. So much so that I already have started work on a large king size version of this but with 5" squares and NOT hexagons. I know Brioni would do that with Hexies in about 6 weeks but alas I can't and won't. I am however convinced that a large  quilt in squares will look just as good.

I have cut all the remaining fabric I had from this quilt and the collection of Moda Muslin Made I had (by the way the Fat Quatershop has a bundle of the newer editions available here) and already went to the Cloth House and bought a few pieces of rough linen to add to this. It will be glorious, I am sure of it.

This quilt will be earmarked for a yet to be announced niece of nephew.......(so glad my brother does not read this blog).

Previous posts regarding this quilt can be found:
here, here, and here.

What have Haxagons to do with Tennis

...or football for that matter.....

Well, you see I love watching football and even more tennis which means over the past 5 weeks I was doing a lot of just that.

But when it gets all to exciting and tense I need to either hide behind a pillow (like when you watch a scary movie) or concentrate temporarily on something else.

I know it is pathetic and I have missed over the past years a lot of excellent Chelsea and Germany moments on the pitch and even more tennis points with this technique. But its the only way. On the plus side it increases the number of hexagons for my neutral hexi quilt I started at the Fat Quarter retreat.

Have a look.

This here is my magic black box that holds all I need for my hexis.

This is the box opened. It's got my already cut squares, lots of finished hexis, my little rubbish basket for the cutoff corners and also my scissors and thread but I removed them to show you the inside of my magic box better.

And this little pile plus all the basted hexis that are still in the box is the sum total of 5 weeks of Euro 2012 and Wimbledon. You can see that it was tense and in particular the tennis !

And lastly a few trial layouts ! Do you see the hexi flower that is entirely made from the 'Tea Labels' fabric from Lakehouse Dry Goods ? That is a present from the lovely Fiona.... aren't I a lucky girl ! You can purchase the fabric at Simply Solids and also at Tikki. .

I am so looking forward to the Olympics ! Mind you, when Usain Bold runs I'd better pay attention as it will be all over in 9 seconds !

A grown-up quilt

....that doesn't have a name yet.
I have a rather large pile of Kona neutrals that I bought when I made my 'Single Girl quilt'. The reason is simply that I kept changing my mind every time I thought I was sure which background colour I wanted to work with. So I ended up with meters upon meters of several versions of neutrals solids. Stupid as it was I knew though I would use them at some point. That pile of neutrals has been sitting in my house staring at me with looks that plainly say you have neglected me.

For a while I have been wanting to make quilts that have a lot of solid fabric and very little or in fact no print. And after finishing my last rather girly quilt for my goddaughter I am longing to make something gown up.

Ok, this picture does somewhat contradict what I just wrote but the idea is to make a small long single strip of print fabric in soft earthy tones and surround this with Kona Khaki (the neutral fabric on which the prints are lying).

Better get on with it then....