Hopfaldera

Little quilts

This week I had two finishes. Both are quite small. They are mini quilts, or little quilts, meant to go on a wall.

Above is my mini quilt that resulted from the Pack Patch Mini QAL led by Chase. It was a project that took shape over the course of several weeks and was great fun to work on.

And this is a quilt made following a pattern in the book Little Quilts by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger. This pattern is called Pretty Little Half Hex. The hexagons are completely machine sewn. It's a bit tricky but good fun if you use an accurate quarter inch seam throughout. Everything falls into place in the end!

The wall these quilts will be hung on is quite special because it will be the living room wall of our new home. Finally we found a place with enough space for all our wishes and a garden, and in a great location. We had been looking for more than five years... We'll become the owners in October and will hopefully move in February.

I was glad I could channel some of my bubbling decorating energy into these little quilts. I'm sure I'll make a few more of them, and maybe some larger projects too, before we move.

Plan for February - alyof

February is a short month so I shouldn't pick a big project to finish this month. Or I should pick one that I should just start on without any procrastination. I'm picking the same one as last year February and that I didn't do because of fabric mailing problems: Finish the quilt top of my Pippi Longstocking quilt.

current status of the project

The blocks were made by the excellent members of the Cocorico bee in 2012, and are all themed around Pippi Longstocking, my favorite childrens' book character. They are wonderful blocks, so I don't want to keep them in my drawer unit any longer. The world (or at least part of it) should see them!

the awesome blocks

I'm starting with assembling the quilt top this month. I will probably assign finishing the quilt to another month.

I'm linking to the goalsetting post of A Lovely Year of Finishes for February.

 

FMQ

(= free motion quilting)

I'm working on finishing my goal for this month: a mini quilt of Tula100 blocks with FMQ. I've finished the quilting, this is what I did:

Right now I'm working on the binding and then the mini will be finished. I'll show the finished quilt soon!

Double Dutch round robin quilt

And I FMQ-ed and FMQ-ed and then it was finished! My Double Dutch round robin quilt.

Size: 49" x 49"

Piecing by: (from the middle) me, Marjolein, Mari, Nicolette, Eva-Marie, Lotje, and me again, A.K.A. Double Dutch

Quilting: free motion quilting by me, my very first project quilting like this! I used a lot of thread, at least three full bobbins and corresponding top thread. I used polyester thread, that I also normally sew with.

Binding: scraps of leftover binding from previous projects

Batting: 100% cotton

Backing: red and white gingham from the market

Now I'm going to show you lots of detail shots of the quilting of course, what did you expect ;-)

This free motion quilting was so much fun! Like doodling on your quilt. I got the information on how to FMQ from all over the internet, and from these two books: Free-motion quilting with Angela Walters and The practical guide to patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman.

My top tips would be: 

* Pull the bobbin thread to the top of your work so it doesn't get tangled in your work at the back

* Practice a bit to get a feel for the process and to figure out the settings for your machine. I found that I needed to put my machine on half speed, but that all the normal tension settings stayed the same.

* Just do it. Start on a 'for keeps' project soon. And keep going even if your stitch lengths aren't all perfect (or aren't perfect at all). Don't be hard on yourself! Who in your real life is even going to look at your stitch lengths ;-)

* Have fun!!

 

Goal for July

July will be a full and busy month. The last weeks of school have already started for my kids with the last tests of the year, parties, a musical, camping for my son, an internship at a thrift shop for my daughter. These will even be the last weeks at elementary school for my son, and for us the last weeks as parents at the elementary school. For more than 11 years we have walked around at that school, baked cakes, brought tea and coffee to activities, made gifts for the bazaars, fed chickens, made lanterns out of beets, made sure sticks, drawings, stones and what have you were taken to school (it is a Waldorf school...). It was a very big part of our family life, because a Waldorf school asks for a lot of involvement from parents, especially in the early years, but still now towards the end. I will be collecting and making gifts, a drawing has been made, flowers will be brought. Next year we will have two secondary school kids! At different schools, so new challenges lie ahead. 

What can I do between all those activities (and I haven't even menioned that we will have a sailing trip at the start of the vacation as well)? I have to pick a small goal to complete.

My plan is to finish a mini quilt that I have pieced already. I want to free motion quilt it. It will be my first FMQ project. I'll also put on a binding and make a wall hanging out of it, so I should add some kind of hanging rod casing.

The blocks are made using Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. It is a beautiful and very inspiring book. I only made 9 blocks for my first project from it, but there are so many more wonderful blocks. I'm sure I'll make more of them, not this month though.

I already practiced a bit of FMQ. Now I should just go for it I guess... it is a bit scary, but I made this mini especially to finish it with FMQ, so I will just do it!

I'm linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes as soon as I can.

Two skirts finished

Woohoo, I completed my goal for May and just finished not only one but two skirts for this summer! 

It wasn't easy because I had to make adjustments to my selfmade pattern while I was sewing to make the skirts fit better and I kept having anxiety about the whole process. The only reason they are finished today is because I set the goal to finish them before the end of May. I'm happy they're done! And they fit! And I love them both!!

Some details: I made two a-line skirts with zippers in the back. I made my own custom pattern using Sew What! Skirts. The feather fabric is from Field Study linen/cotton blend by Anna Maria Horner. That skirt has a red zipper. The blue flower fabric is from Stenzo (Dutch brand) and I got it at the market last year. That one has a blue zipper. Both skirts have a facing at the top that I made 6 inches high (twice as high as the book says) to make the skirts feel less floppy (I mean you feel like you're wearing a serious piece of clothing instead of just some fabric around the waist). 

To celebrate I edited my photos in Pixlr today. As you can see, these are my skirts for 2013. There aren't going to be any more skirts this year. It's back to quilts again for me. There is just less anxiety that they have to fit...

I'm linking to the finishes party of A Lovely Year of Finishes for May.

Marcelle and Anouk

Today I want to show you my Marcelle Medallion. I don't have the book that the pattern is in (Liberty Love: 25 Projects to Quilt & Sew Featuring Liberty of London Fabrics by Alexia Abegg), but I do have the magazine (only available digitally now). 

This is how I planned my medallion and how it grew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am now working on border 5. You can see the bricks above. I have already sewn them into strips, and next thing will be to add those strips to the medallion. It is a great project. I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm actually cutting into my Liberty fabrics and some other precious fabrics that I normally keep in a separate place. Stay tuned for more of my Marcelle Medallion!

Today I also have to talk about the Eurovision Songcontest. Tonight is the semi-final in which Anouk will try to get a place in the final for The Netherlands. This has become a bit of a national trauma; we haven't gone to the final in so many years that I can't even remember when was the last time. And we want it so bad! So bad, that this year Anouk, who is definitely the coolest and maybe the best singer in the country, is representing us. If she doesn't make it to the final I suggest we forget about it and never enter again, with pain in our hearts. Here is the song (please vote for us if you are in one of the countries that can vote tonight, thank you!!):

 

Plan for May

It's time to set a goal for the new month of A lovely Year of Finishes. This time it will be a project that I haven't started yet, but something I have been thinking about for a while. Actually, I had a similar plan last year but I just didn't do it. This month I want to make a skirt for myself.

The pattern, or method because you make the pattern yourself, is from Sew What! Skirts. The fabric that I got for the skirt is a linen/cotton blend from Field Study by Anna Maria Horner (I ordered it from her own webshop by the way).

The first thing I need to do to make this plan a success is wash and press the fabric. Then I will make a pattern on paper. I will need to check if I have a good zipper, otherwise I will have to buy one. Then I will cut into the fabric and follow the method to make the skirt. It will be an A-line skirt with a zipper in the back. (I like to make my plan as concrete as possible, so it is easier to accomplish)

I'm linking to the May goal setting party of A Lovely Year of Finishes.

 

Sampler of some sort

Besides setting monthly goals to finish projects this year (January, February), I am also starting a new project that I want to work on during the year or even longer maybe. It will be a sampler quilt inspired by the Random Sampler on Bloomin' Workshop (I saw Lotje's version in real life), Liberated Medallions and the new free (!) block of the month (BOM) on Craftsy.

What appeals to me is that there is no overall symmetry in these inspirations, and that they all look like little individual quilts put together to make a larger one. It is also an opportunity to put together favorite blocks or techniques in different sizes and come up with something unique.

Not long ago I bought two inspiring fat quarter packs (Fairy Finds and Modernista) of Art Gallery Fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics, and I want to use these for this project. And I'm sure I will add more fabric to that. I still need a background fabric, but I don't want white. I'm thinking of something textured and lively while being neutral.

The first blocks I made for this sampler were the Craftsy BOM blocks for January. They finish 6" square and together with some flying geese they will act as a kind of frame around a larger block.

January Craftsy BOM

I also made the February Craftsy BOM but now I'll wait until June to make a BOM block again, because the blocks that come in March, April and May don't really appeal to me. My plan is to pick my favorite blocks from the Farmer's Wife Sampler and several Japanese patchwork books and make those for this sampler as well. And maybe the Schoenrock Cross block found at Leila's. We'll see, we'll see...

February Craftsy BOM

Japanese basket tote bag

When I was in New York this summer I went to the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya. They have a wonderful collection of craft books there. These are the ones I bought.

Umami, about very modern and organic looking bags, Colour Couture by Suzuko Koseki, and Machine made patchworks 02 also by Suzuko Koseki. 

This week I found the courage to try one of the patterns from Colour Couture. The book is completely in Japanese except from some titles. But luckily the measurements are written in arabic numerals a.k.a. the way I do it, and even in centimeters! The diagrams in the book are very clear and helpful too, so it was not so hard to figure out how to make what I wanted to make: a very cute and clever bag.

Here it is, all finished. It looks like a cute basket, useful for when you're buying just a few things.

But when you decide to buy more, you can unfold the inside of the bag and turn it into a full shopping bag.

For the front panel I used a piece of vintage fabric I bought from Carina who was destashing a bit. The aqua tape measure fabric I used for the back is also from New York, from Purl Soho to be specific. The rest of the fabrics I pulled from my stash.