Hurray a finished quilt

I got my beloved beast back and it runs again smoothly. My suspicion was correct and they had to re-set the casing where the bobbin holder rests in. I suspect that the problems were caused when I was sewing a zipper back with leather (can't show I'm afraid as it is for LP&Q issue 8) the other day which resulted in some jamming of the needle.

And although the weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend I managed to finished my first wall hanging 'Dreams of Summer' and it is already hanging on the wall in my front room.

As already mentioned in my earlier post about it, this piece is most definitely inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts. It is cut and pieced without the use of rulers or rotary cutters expect when it came to squaring up the quilt. The solids are an assortment of Kona and Freespirit Designer solids and some remnants whose origin I can't really place.

After much deliberation and a failed attempt at half circular quilting I decided on random fairly narrow straight lines and I believe this was the right decision in the end as the circular quilting may have been distracting from the actual colours.

One of the things I particularly love about the quilt is that it has no visible binding. The binding is folded and hand stitched to the back for which I used Victoria Gertenbach's excellent tutorial.

To hang the quilt I made a sleeve as it is about 32 inches long. For smaller pieces I would have used triangles in the corner.

And it is hung with a dowel and some eye screws pretty much in the same way as explained by simplyrobin.

You know for somebody who has never been fond of quilt wall hangings, I am actually really pleased with this. It turned out really lovely and makes for a great piece of decorative "art".

Dreams of Summer

Lately the colour yellow has been very much on my mind. Although I am not sure why I suspect it is the result of longing for better weather and a lot of frustration at work that I am trying to overcome with something nice and positive.

I love yellow in all its shades and when it morphs into orange even more. For a while I was thinking about a series of tall triangles in yellow surrounded by a lot of solid but that wasn't really motivating me to move to the cutting table.

Then over the weekend I looked at a few Gee's bend quilts on the internet which always jolts my imagination. So I pulled out my yellow/orange stash and started cutting strips with my scissors, no rotary cutter or ruler in side. It is a great liberating feeling and I was rather surprised how straight the cuts were which meant that I had to deliberately cut a little wonkier to achieve a bit of an improv look.

I am not sure where this is leading yet and even less sure how I will be able to assemble the different sized log cabins....but for now this feels and looks good and that is the mosts important aspect here.

Published in Love Patchwork & Quilting !

This is terribly exciting... I have been published. Yep. And actually twice in one month but this post is for the piece I did for the new Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine that debuted last months. Do you see the image of me in this photo on the right side..... it's ME...

I made a log cabin cushion with step-by-step instructions based on my 'Mod Century Quilt' I finished last year in November.

This was so much fun and it is a great cushion for which I used bright and fun fabrics. It is a great feeling to see my work in such a wonderful magazine. It is from the same people as Molly Makes and I think it is fair to say that most of us really like Molly Makes. The new magazine has plenty of patterns and info in to keep you busy for a long time.

And watch out for one of the next editions because you might see a tutorial for a certain quilt that many of you asked for this year. Can't say more I'm afraid. You can subscribe here...go on.. I know you want to.

She loves the Blues

A new week, a new quilt. But this is probably the last quilt I will finish for 2012. I am starting to feel a bit quilted out to be honest.

My dear brother sent me a mail a few weeks ago asking if I could make a quilt for his girlfriend. She likes Blues and he would trust in my design skills (basically saying I haven't got a glue - bless him).
Luckily they had invited me for dinner the night before and when I left there sumptuously fed and and watered, a design idea had formed in my brain even before Johannes asked me to make a quilt.
Annette has a store bought blanket on her sofa with blues and beige and I thought I could do something with this arrangement.

Antique Blue curtsey of Design Seeds

I decided to make a quilt just of solids and the first stop if you decide this is Design Seeds. I just would not do without this fantastic website. And sure enough it was not long until I found my perfect combination.

So I started to take out my color charts of the various solids producing companies and found to my surprise that all are lacking a decent selection of Blues. You can have masses of turquoise in every shape or form but not the Blues ! Still I ordered the above stack from Annie at the Village Haberdashery (top to toe: Kona Sky, Surfe, Alegria, Navy, Stone and Putty) and added some more from my stash such as Kona Windsor, Royal and Mustard)

And then I started stitching a few log cabin blocks ! Let's see where that is going to take me this week.

Siblings Together V

It's Friday  Saturday and until the deadline of 15th May I will report every week on the progress of Log cabin quilt project for the 'Siblings Together' Project. If you haven't heard anything about it yet and wish to join in this great cause then you can read up on it in the flickr group, the charity itself, Lynn's blog or on my first and second post.

Over the past week I received two sets blocks; one from Colette and one from Jennie.
Thank you to all of you for your generosity.

The first set is from Colette who is also a fellow member of the London Modern Quilt guilt and the two of us with a few others are of to Lucie Summers tomorrow for a screen printing workshop (just to get  you all jealous.....) Anyway back to 'Siblings Together', Collette made these great striking blocks for the cause.

Colette's blocks

The second equally striking and colourful  set is from Jennie and if I wouldn't know it any better I'd say they have been working together on these as they are quiet similar in colour choices. These will work great together.

Jennie's blocks

Siblings Together III

It's Friday and until the deadline of 15th May I will report every week on a Friday on the progress of Log cabin quilt project for the 'Siblings Together' Project. If you haven't heard anything about it yet and wish to join in this great cause then you read up on it in the flickr group, the charity itself, Lynn's blog or on my first and second post.

Over the past week I received blocks again from all over the world; Canada, Australia and the UK. I absolutely love that this has turned into an international effort.

Thank you to all of you for your generosity.

This first set of great blocks came all the way from Australia and are from Kay. I just love the diversity of the blocks. 

Kay's blocks

These wonderful dotty and stripy numbers arrived from Kelly who is also a member of the LMQG. 

Kelly'a blocks

This third set of eight fantastic prints are from the lovely Leanne from Alberta in Canada. Again these are wonderfully diverse and gender neutral in every way.

Leanne's blocks

And set number 4 is from Rachel from here in the UK. Don't you just love the dogs !

Rachel's blocks

Siblings Together II

Many of you will probably have heard by now of our sewing endeavors for the charity ' Siblings Together' which brings siblings together that have been separated through the UK care system in a summer camp in East London this year. Lynn, myself and many generous quilter are making and donating quilts for this camp.

You can find all the details on our flickr group, the charity itself, Lynn's blog or on my first post about 'Sibling Together'.

I volunteer to make quilts from received blocks and have been utterly overwhelmed by the positive response and the generosity of the quilting community.

Already this week I received 5 sets of blocks that I would like to share with you today !

The deadline for me to receive blocks is the 15th of May so still plenty of time if you fancy to joint us.
This thread will give you all the details to the blocks I would like to have.


I received the first set of lovely Pezze print blocks from Pennie last Sunday on our monthly LMQG meeting.
Aren't they fantastic ?

Pennie's blocks

Then over the week the postman brought almost every day a wonderful little parcel. Next of was Sigrun from Norway who is also German like me and also live abroad. Don't you just love those wellingtons ? Perfect for boys and girls alike.

Sigrun's blocks

The third package that fluttered into my house was from the Netherlands from Francis. I love the strong colors and contrast in these blocks.

Francis' blocks

The fourth parcel was from Emily who made two wonderful blocks for girls and two for boys. I am so please that you ladies also think about the boys.

Emily's blocks

And the last parcel that arrived was from Sheila who send me those fantastic richly colored blocks.

I want to thank each of you for your most generous contribution to the project. I will collect all blocks until the 15th of May at which point I will start assembling quilts.

And I will also do a weekly post with updates on the blocks so everybody know what's going on.

Giving something back

The lovely Lynn from 'Lilly's quilts' became aware of a fantastic charity that tries to bring together siblings that have been separated by the UK care system. I can only imagine with a lot of difficulty how hard it would have been for me if I would have been separated from my sister or brother at a young age.

'Siblings together' have a summer camp running this summer where they are bringing together siblings to spend quality time with each other. Lynn's idea was to donate as many quilts as we can to the children and teenagers in the camp.

I for one think it is a great idea and I immediately volunteered to make a quilt out of received blocks (bit like a Bee without the Bee so to say) as I can imagine that there are a lot of quilters who are willing to help but may not have the time to make an entire quilt.

So here is the deal:

Anybody who wishes to participate and contribute one or a couple (as many as you wish) log cabin style blocks should head over to the flickr group and to my thread Project 1 and sign-up.

Imagine the smiles and warmth we can bring to those kids with a lovely handmade quilt.


Thank you !!!

Judith