Hopfaldera

x and + quilt

Yippee!! I finally finished my x and + quilt! I love all the fabrics I used and I can look at the quilt for hours!

The quilt is based on and inspired by a Japanese quilt made by Setsuko Inagawa that is popular among many internet/bloggy/flickr quilters. Here is the Flickr group for the quilt along for this quilt. And here on Amy-badskirt's blog you can find a tutorial for the blocks.

I made 25 blocks, using some of my very favorite fabrics. Some fabrics have text, some are shirt fabrics I bought in Shanghai, there is some vintage fabric I bought at Liberty's in London, some treasured scraps. I added a wide border of Kei dot fabric. All to give it a scrappy, Japanese look.

And this is the back. I think it looks rather Japanese too. Like a belted kimono.

I quilted this with lots of diagonal lines. That was fun to do. I'm still so happy I have a walking foot for my machine.

I love how this quilt turned out!!

 

Sunshine

Last week we went to a chateau/farm in Picardie in France with my parents. It was partly to celebrate my mother's birthday (that was in September) and because we had our May vacation. It was a fun vacation, with sun, rain, farm and wild animals, cute authentic towns and markets, disneyland! We had a good time!!

I managed to make a sunny and quilty present for my mother before we left for France. And I also managed to keep it a secret, even though I posted two photos of parts (inner ring, outer ring) of it on Flickr! Here is what I made, a New York Beauty block #7, with lots of foundation paper piecing and curved sewing. It was a bit difficult but fun to make, fun difficult!! 

Here (on In Color Order) is where you can find great tips on how to make the block and a link to the pattern. I found Jeni's tip on using a notecard for folding and trimming particularly handy!

I signed the back and added a hanging rod:

Something new on my wall

This is what the wall above my sewing table looks like at the moment. 

There is something new there. A potholder/mug rug/miniquilt made from the tiny triangles that I cut away when I made the lantern blocks from the previous post.

I guess you could also throw these bits away, but I usually put scraps like that in a little bag and keep them because they are so cute. This time, after finishing the blocks, I took the triangles out of the bag and sewed them together into half square triangle units, and sewed those together to form flying geese. I love flying geese (I mean in quilting, but real geese are nice too), especially lined up and pointing in the same direction. So that's what I did. It's all tiny tiny, I love how it is a bit awkward and mismatched, but still unified. I bound it quickly with some fabric tape and also added a loop for hanging as a potholder. The ribbon for the loop says Home Sweet Home. 

You'd think I was selling the thing, but no, I'm keeping it for myself!

 

Lanterns

I made some fun blocks for the 4x5 bee. This is the bee where you are in a hive with 5 others that you make a quilt block for. The block design is your own choice and the colors of the fabric are the receiver's choice. I made a Japanese Lantern block for everyone (and for myself).

the block in my own colors

I found the block pattern here on Quilter's Cache.

It was so sunny today that I couldn't take the photos in my usual spot at the top of our staircase on the topfloor of our house. It was too light there. So I moved a couple of meters and took the photos there. Isn't spring funny, one day you're in your wintercoat and the next day you don't even need a coat outside. Or one day you can take only gloomy photos and the next they're almost too light. I love spring though. Yes, spring is here!!

 

Collaboration

Today the Modern Quilt Guild are featuring one of my quilts on their blog. They have a week dedicated to collaboration and this quilt of mine is the one I made with blocks from the first round of Bee Europa. That was my first ever bee.

All I know about quilting I have learned through the internet, and I have been able to practice my skills because of all the various bees I have joined. My house would be jammed with quilt blocks if I would have had to keep everything that I ever made. I think it is just wonderful that I can make something and maybe try a new technique or use an unfamiliar color scheme, and then send it to someone that can use it to finish their project and enjoy what I made. 

Bee Europa is starting a third round soon. If you are from Europe and not a real beginner in quilting, and you want to join us, you could contact Amelie to see if there is still a spot available.

Another bee I am involved in at the moment is Cocorico. Last year while I was on vacation in Sweden, I got an email inviting me to join this very fun and creative group. Of course I jumped in right away! Every month one of us thinks of an inspiring theme, and we each make an original block. All the blocks have been so creative, skilled, and wonderful! This is where you can check out our Flickr group.

February was my month in Cocorico. The theme I picked was Pippi Longstocking. You see, the day after I got the email about Cocorico we went to Astrid Lindgren World, and saw Pippi "for real"! Also Pippi has been my hero from when I was a child. I have made a gallery of the blocks my bee friends have made for me. Please, please go take a look at this. The blocks are beyond belief awesome! Every time I see one appear in the Flickr group I am overwhelmed with happiness that I am getting this block!

Here are the blocks I have made for Cocorico so far.

 

More curves

Curves Class from Rachel has come to an end. It was fun! I learned very much. I feel I can tackle curves now, so that's great (I used to completely avoid curved sewing lines in patchwork). I even feel I can design my own projects with curvy lines now, so stay tuned for those.

First I still have a lot of homework projects to show. 

My D.P. potholder

Some more drunkard's path units sewn together

One Orange Peel unit made into a mugrug

My Mod Bud notebook cover

Rachel said that she might teach the class again, so, if you are interested, you can sign up to be notified when she does. Here.

Right now I am still working on a bathmat from the class and I also want to make a full quilt to finish the class, so I'll show them later.

A sneak peek at my Slices Mat

Sew Out Loud Quilt-A-Long Block 3 - Fabric

Super quilt block designers Joanna and Julianna thought up a great theme for a quilt-a-long: sewing themed block designs using text fabrics that are so popular right now, Sew Out Loud! And they were sweet enough to let me design a block for it. Thank you, ladies!

Here is my block for the quilt-a-long:

A stall from a fabric market. The design was inspired by the stalls that can be found on the weekly market in my town, Leiden in The Netherlands. Here is a snapshot from when I was shopping there:

What you need to make the block:

- A fat quarter of background fabric (you will have some left afterwards)

- Assorted fabric, including tiny scraps, for the rest of the block (measurements will be given below)

- Freezer paper to print the pattern on (don’t worry if you don’t have it, I’ll explain alternative methods)

- Fabric paint and a paint brush (alternatively you can use embroidery thread and a needle)

- A craft knife for paper and scissors for paper

- The pattern, that can be downloaded from here

- All the normal quilting gear like rulers, rotary cutter for fabric, thread and an iron

All the measurements given are height x width. You will need to add a ¼” seam allowance to all the printed pattern pieces. When I give measurements for fabric a ¼” seam allowance is included. Finished size of the block is 12” square (12.5” unfinished).

How to make the block:

When you look at the block you can see it is made up of 6 strips. Here is a photo of the strips before I sewed them together.

First I’ll explain strip 2, the roof of the market stall, because you’ll do freezer paper stenciling using fabric paint that can dry while you make the rest of the block.

Print the pattern for the roof (page 2) on the paper side of the freezer paper. It is possible that on some printers one of the bottom corners doesn't fit on the page. This shouldn't be a problem: just extend the lines with your ruler when you are at the point of cutting the fabric.

Using your craft knife carefully cut out the letters from the paper. Start in the corners to get sharp corners. Also cut away the shape of the letters from around the insides of the A, B and R. Cut out the roof shape. Keep the piece of freezer paper that is above the roof shape.

For the roof you need 4” x 11” of fabric.

First take the piece of freezer paper that was left after cutting out the roof shape (or any other spare piece) and iron this onto the back of the fabric to stabilize it. Now take the roof shape and place it onto the front of the fabric, place the insides of the A, B and R in the right spots. Now carefully place the hot iron on top, do not move the iron around. Carefully press the roof and letter insides until they stick to the fabric. Check that all the edges are melted to the fabric. Let everything cool off.

Now take your fabric paint and paint brush and with a little bit of paint at a time fill in the letter shapes. Don’t let the paper get soaked, work as dry as you can. Move the brush away from the edges of the paper to get sharp letters. When the letters are filled in, let everything dry (look at the instructions on the paint to see how long). Don’t take the paper off yet!

{at this point you can start constructing the rest of the block, but I’ll just continue to explain strip 2 to keep this structured}

When the paint is dry, first take off the freezer paper from the back of the fabric. Now cut the fabric around the roof shape ADDING A ¼” SEAM ALLOWANCE ALL AROUND. Don’t forget this, or you’ll be sad…

Now you can peel off the freezer paper from the front and admire your work! Heat set the paint with your iron if the instructions on the paint say so.

Alternative: Transfer the shape of the letters from the roof pattern to the fabric and embroider the letters on the roof. I made a very simple embroidery example, but you can be as creative as you like with this. If you embroider you will need a bit more fabric so an embroidery hoop can hold the fabric. In this case also make sure you add a ¼” seam allowance all around the pattern piece before you cut the roof shape from the fabric.

For the background fabric that is to be added to the sides of the roof you will draw your own template. On a piece of paper draw this shape:

Measurements are: top = 2.5”, bottom = 1”, side= 3”

The diagonal line will follow from these measurements. Add  a ¼” seam allowance to all sides of this shape. Now cut out the shape, et voilà, that’s your template!

This is the amount and shape of fabric you need to add to the sides of the roof of the market stall. Put the template on your background fabric with the side, top and bottom along the grain of the fabric. Cut the fabric around the template (add another ¼”around the shape if you are not sure about the precision of your seam; I did this myself)

Cut one piece of fabric for the left side with the template like you drew it. Turn the template over to the back to cut the fabric for the right side of the roof.

Sew both these pieces of fabric to the diagonal sides of the roof piece with a ¼” seam. Press seams open. Trim to 3.5” x 12.5”.

Now I’ll explain the construction of strip 4:

This strip includes the piles of fabric on the market stall. For this you can use tiny bits of fabric. I recommend that you iron them, so they are easy to use.

The pattern for the piles of fabric is on the first page of the pattern pdf. The rectangles on the pattern with a capital letter (for example A3; these are also the colored rectangles) are to be cut from colorful scraps to make up the different fabrics on the market stall. B4, C2, and E4 can be price signs. The rectangles with lowercase letters (for example b1) are to be cut from background fabric.

There are two methods to cut all those little pieces from your fabric. 1. Look on the pattern to see what the finished size of a piece is supposed to be (you can measure or use the scale I have provided on the pattern), ADD ¼” SEAM ALLOWANCE ON ALL SIDES and cut from the fabric scrap. Or 2. Print the pattern on a sheet of freezer paper, cut all the rectangles apart, iron them onto your scraps and cut around the freezer paper ADDING  ¼” SEAM ALLOWANCE ON ALL SIDES. In this case it is handy to also print a copy of the pattern on regular paper as reference for placement.

Sewing the bits together: When you look at the pattern you see it is made up out of 5 sections, A through E. You construct each section separately and then sew them together. Sections A and E are the easiest with only horizontal seams. B and C have a couple of vertical seams, sew those first. Then you sew the remaining horizontal seams. Section D is the trickiest. First sew the seam between D1 and D2 before attaching them to D3. Then sew the seam between D4 and D5. Then sew between D6 and D8 and attach to d1. Then the seam between D9 and d2, and attach that to D7. Now sew the two bits you made last to one another. Go on by sewing d3 and d4 to D10. And d5 and d6 to D11. Now you’re left with only horizontal seams to complete this section.

After you have sewn all the pieces and sections together you should have a patchwork that measures 4.5” x 7.5”.

The last steps to complete this strip of the block: From fabric for the structure of the market stall (I used the black wordy fabric) cut 2 pieces measuring 4.5”x 1” and sew them to the short sides of the patchwork with a ¼” seam. From background fabric add 2 pieces of 4.5” x 2.5” , one on each side, also with a ¼” seam. You should end up with a strip measuring 4.5” x 12.5”.

On to the remaining strips of the block:

I’ll give you the measurements of the fabric you need including the ¼” seam allowance. Please refer to the photos of the block and the strips for their placement.

Strip 1: 1.5” x 12.5” of background fabric

Strip 3: 2 pieces of background fabric measuring 1” x 1.5”, and 1” x 10.5” for the decorative strip along the bottom of the roof

Strip 5: 2 pieces of background fabric measuring 1” x 1.5”, and 1” x 10.5” for the horizontal part of the market stall structure

Strip 6: 2 pieces measuring 3.5” x 2.5”, 2 pieces measuring 1” x 1”, 1 piece measuring 3.5” x 7.5” all of background fabric. 2 pieces of fabric for the legs of the market stall measuring 3” x 1”

After making all 6 strips, sew them together. There is your block!

I hope you’ll have fun with this pattern! If you make this block, show it off in the Flickr group. I would love to see it!

Fabrics to make this block and all the others of our quilt-a-long were very generously sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop. Thank you!!

These are some of the fabrics I used: Ruby cotton lime sundae for the roof, Curio Pond Cabriole for the decorative strip along the bottom of the roof, Lost and Found Black labels for the market stall structure, Kona Ice frappe for the background.

Curio Pond Cabriole: great for fussy cutting a decorative strip or bit of text

The schedule for the quilt-a-long can be found here. Next week Susanne will have a great block for you!

 

My homework

I'm in the third week of Curves Class, and it's fun! I love what Rachel is offering us. And I'm learning a lot. Especially just to keep going even if things become difficult, because it'll turn out alright. Or you can always get out the seam ripper, and start again. 

I want to show off what I've made so far.

Scallop bunting

That was fun and easy to make. And it came at a great moment because it was finished and hanging in my sewing room when I had my birthday a week ago. I used some of the FQ pack of Echo by Lotta Jansdotter that I was saving for something special.

Then came the Clamshell Pillow. I had a lot of fun selecting fabrics for that. The background is a mix of linen and silk that I bought in China last year, and the scallops are all fabrics with one color on white. I love how it turned out!

After this we went on with improv curves. I made some notecards, that I'm not too sure about... To me they look a bit messy and wrong instead of purposely curved.

I was hoping that continuing with a bigger project would make the curves look more like deliberate swirly lines instead of just crooked sewing lines. I think it worked! I made the Rainbow Road table runner and I love it!

Rainbow Road

This week we are starting with precise curves, and I can't wait for the first project! I'll show you soon!

Quilty news

I want to tell you about a few things. All very exciting and all quilty!

First of all, today starts Curves Class! Rachel of Stitched in Color has organized and put together a 5 week class for quilters that want to learn how to sew curves. I subscribed to the Premium class which includes videos and an e-book at the end. I'm looking forward to learning more about sewing curves with confidence! I have worked on a few curvy projects, both of which are UFO, but I usually try to stay away from sewing curved lines. Stay tuned for hopefully lots of photos of wonderfully confident curvy projects!

my curvy UFO

Second, today is the kick-off of a new Quilt Along, Sew Out Loud {quilters' wordplay}. It is a Quilt Along with blocks that are related to sewing, sewn with wordy fabric, pieced words connected to sewing, etc. There will be 11 block tutorials offered for free and the 12th block will be designed by participants who can win wonderful prizes and who will be judged by a celebrity guest judge.

Guess what, one of the first 11 blocks is designed by me! I've designed a fun block and I'm working on the tutorial as we speak. Today starts the kick-off giveaway (great prizes too!) that you can enter via Joanna's or Julianna's blog. The block tutorials will be posted once a week starting from February 13th. Be sure to check out the giveaway, and the schedule for the Quilt Along!

Some wordy and sewing related fabrics

Thirdly I wanted to mention another exciting event, the Fat Quarterly sewing retreat in London. The retreat will take place on June 2nd and 3rd, and I signed up to go!!! Very scary, and fun and exciting! I'll get to meet all the quilty people I have previously only known through the internet, and we'll get to sew and take workshops together! My family will also come to London, and they will do all the other exciting things that London has to offer, but I will be sewing with like-minded people, how cool is that!?!!!! If you also want to come, sign up via Fat Quarterly.

 

Hot pads à la Suzuko

I made two hot pads and/or potholders. I was inspired by two books by Suzuko Koseki: Patchwork Style and Natural Patchwork. These are great books, with lovely inspiring images and doable patterns. Suzuko is a patchwork and fabric celebrity: she designs fabrics that are very popular, lovely, and pretty hard to find (although it is possible on Etsy and her own Japanese website).

While I was making these pads, my sewing machine broke down.... A loud noise from the bobbin holder and lots of heaped up thread. OMG, it was a scary moment, because I can not live without my machine, really not! I took a deep breath, read the manual a bit, and screwed the machine open. Okay, there was a lot of fluff there, so I cleaned it out, even using the vacuum cleaner (the manual suggested this), and after that the machine worked like a charm! Pfff, maybe I should clean it more often... haha, maybe!