Christmas in July quilt finished - OMG December

 And a new OMG finish just before the year ends; my Christmas in July quilt is finished and claimed.

Our new kitten Chataigne (Chestnut) joined our cat family end October and is the sweetest little kitten. Sindbad and Glacon are used to her being around now and they started playing together.

I enjoyed making this quilt earlier in the year and am thinking of making a second one in white and blues. The pattern is from the Fat Quarter Shop and instructions are clear.

I had twelve OMG projects this year:

1) Dear Dottie quilt

2) Table runner in spring colours

3) Baby quilt

4) Confinement quilt top from Tula Pink fabric

5) Scrap dance quilt table topper in red

6) Confinement quilt backing and Red scrap dance table topper backing

7) Green twist table topper 

8) 6 postcards, 5 sent in August and 1 sent in December

9) Christmas in July quilt top

10) Deconstructed pinwheel top

11) Quilt by the Sea - made all 12 blocks

12) Christmas in July quilt finished 

Linking my December OMG with Patty at Elm Street Quilts

Christmas in July quilt top

 December has arrived and our garden is covered in snow. There is something special about December and the snow brings me in to an early Christmas mood. Early because St Nicolas comes first. This time around we usually fly to the Netherlands to celebrate Sinterklaas. This year, helas, not possible. The snow made up for the canceled trip. We will celebrate this evening - the traditional cheese fondue, a few gifts and lots of chocolate, speculaas, pepernoten, ......

The last few months I participated in a few QALs, more than I would normally do. The cutting and sewing and sharing through FB and IG gave me a sense of coping. Work is very busy and the vaccine development goes way faster than I could imagine a few months ago. This is good news of course, the implications are just a lot of work to organize our work around this. The playing with fabrics added balance and the working with colours made the stress fade away.

 My December goal is to finish my Christmas in July quilt. The top is finished, the fabric for the backing is bought as is the batting. At first I thought to make a quilt for the sofa, but too much white fabric will not work with my now three cats. A tablecloth works, so either with or without batting. I had made a table-runner earlier this year and do miss a bit of batting in it. 

So my December OMG is to purchase thin batting and finalize the quilt. I better hurry as this quilt will be part of our Christmas decoration.

Linking with Patty at Elm Street Quilts

QAL by the Sea

 This QAL was a lot of fun, in total 12 blocks over a few months. I joined late, however managed to make all 12 blocks in time. My OMG for November was to make the last three blocks of segment 3, and not only did I make these, I also managed to make all 4 blocks from segment 1. I used only fabric I already had. To keep a link between the different blocks, each fabric was used at least twice, even if in very small pieces.

Not sure yet how  I am going to finish the top, that will be something for next year ... there are some lovely ideas passing through my feed on IG.

 

Our new kitten Chataigne approves clearly.

Joining Patty and her OMG November party over at Elm Street Quilts.

OMG November QAL by the Sea Segment 3

Thank you confinement - you are great for my creativity. The only hick-up is that I now have so many projects on my plate .... why are there so many QALs going on, I think I participate in four different ones .... plus the other two quilt tops that I made and need finishing ... 

So my choice of OMG November is to focus on the QAL by the sea decided to make all the blocks of segment 3 and potentially at least two of segment 1; I was late to the party and need to catch up as well. There are 4 blocks per segment and for segment 2 all are finished. 

The QAL is organized by a group of designers and each making their own versions of the blocks:  

Abbie Danahy @ Sparkle On!
Becca Fenstermaker @ Pretty Piney Quilts
Jennifer Fulton @ Inquiring Quilter
Karen Thurn @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Laura Piland @ Slice of Pi Quilts
Sherry Shish @ Powered by Quilting   
Sandy Maxfield @ SandyStar Design

I started on segment 3, block 9 needs some more applique sewing and block 10 - 12 are pending. 

 

So in November will need to make the pending blocks, sew the applique in place and add embroidery as applicable 

The theme is the sea and the blocks are great. I am learning a lot about applique, something I was not very interested in so far. 

Making this quilt in Covid-19 times is great as I dream of summer and use my stash.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts' OMG for November

Deconstructed pinwheel top

One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to make quilts using fabrics I have. In September I made a Christmas themed quilt from my stash (OMG September). For the backing I had to buy fabric as did not have enough. For this quilt likewise, I used fabric from my stash, except for the backing.

My October OMG was to finish the deconstructed pinwheel top. I had bought a layer cake eons ago when I ordered fabrics in the US. Now was the time to use it and I had seen this video made by Missouri star quilt company. I really liked the effect. I had bought a few meters of unbleached cotton a while ago which matched perfectly the layer cake. Quite some sewing and cutting was involved, and I enjoyed the sewing only to cut up again.

The end result is great. And will definitely make this one again. 

 

For the backing I bought a terry cloth - no idea if this will work so next step will to make a sample. Am thinking of either quilting circles or straight lines.

 

Linking with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and the October OMG.

Quilt Along By The Sea Segment 2

 Do I need another project? Maybe not, however ....... I fell in love with the Quilt along by the sea block 2 a cute turtle on "Slice of Pi Quilts" web page. No idea how I found this blog and "re-found" the page and started looking around on her site. And then I found the turtle ... the QAL was already well on its way. I decided to participate using scraps only. There are 12 blocks to make each clustered in segments of 4 blocks.

The QAL is organized by a group of designers and each making their own versions of the blocks:

Abbie Danahy @ Sparkle On!
Becca Fenstermaker @ Pretty Piney Quilts
Jennifer Fulton @ Inquiring Quilter
Karen Thurn @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Laura Piland @ Slice of Pi Quilts
Sherry Shish @ Powered by Quilting   
Sandy Maxfield @ SandyStar Design

 

I finished segment 2 the blocks, some of this work is completely out of my comfort zone as have hardly any experience with applique and paper piecing. However as I only use stash/scraps am not too worried about re-doing some of the sections.

 

Block 5: Head or tails - I really enjoyed making this block and am quite happy with the result

Block 6: Stars at sea - left this one as the last as some pieces were so small, realized that one of the small stars is not very visible.

 

 

 

Block 7: Waves - I might end up adding some turtles to this block - will decide when all blocks are ready as this one add some still part to a potential very scrappy quilt

Block 8: Mariners' compass - for one or the other reasons, part A went well, part B I had to re-do several times. The block turned out too small, so will make a small border as a frame.

OMG October - Deconstructed pinwheel

 OMG time of the month .... among all the projects floating around both in my crafts room and in my head ... which one shall I work on. 

 

For this month my aim will be to finish the deconstructed pinwheel quilt top. I found the tutorial online (Missouri Star Quilt company) and decided to give this a try, the pattern seemed not that complicated. All I needed was one layer cake and background. I had a layer cake that I bought years ago and over summer had bought some unbleached cotton that matches nicely. A layer-cake is a stack of fabric (10" by 10") usually 42 pieces ..... this may differ ... according to online research. Well, that explains it ... my layer-cake included only 39 pieces. I started cutting 36 sheets and figured I would complement with some solids. 

A lot of cutting was involved in preparing all the smaller pieces. When I laid out 36 little pinwheels having only 6 rows in stead of 7, I thought that the center piece looked good enough. I might end up with some leftover little blocks, and can always convert these in to a matching cushion cover.

 Linking up with Patty's OMG October at Elm Street Quilts

Christmas in July quilt top

 My Christmas in July quilt top is finished. I selected the fabric from my stash, sometimes I am amazed with what I have ..... Was not sure if I was going to turn this in to a quilt or a table cloth. So asked my two sons and both agreed that this would nice for our dining table as decoration. 

Over the weekend went to the fabric shop, I haven't gone there in the longest time ... between confinement, summer time, .... new restrictions, ....... and ended up buying way to much. I had forgotten my notes with what I needed. So I ended up buying too much backing (enough for many many matching napkins) and forgot sashing for another quilt that I will start next week ...... So now this week finishing off the backing and deciding on the quilting. Maybe time to try some FMQ motifs that I have been doodling,or some diagonal lines ...

 The pattern is from the Fat Quarter Shop "Jelly Snowflake Mystery" as part of the Christmas in July quilt along.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts towards my September OMG.

OMG September - Christmas in July ......

Christmas in July is something I had never heard off before I started quilting. Then I assumed it was a way for quilters to get ready in time for Christmas. I could not have been more wrong. This cultural phenomena started in the South of the US, in North Carolina, in a summer camp for girls. Nowadays, this has become a real party all over the world - I must have been sleeping all these years .....

In July I started the sew-a-long organized by the Fat Quarter Shop, "the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt". One of my resolutions for this year was to use fabrics from my stash (as much as possible). So this QAL was a good opportunity as I have some Christmassy fabrics. 

There are four different blocks in total to make, in different colours. So as the blocks became available, I wrote the instructions down and cut the fabric for the first three blocks. In August I managed to make the four No. 1 blocks and two colour ways of block number 2 (still two colour ways pending). September is here and this will be my OMG September project organized by Patty at Elm Street Quilts: finish all blocks, sew all together including the border. And then I will decide if will make this into a table cloth or finalize with batting. Either way, this project calls for some nice FMQ.

Five quilted postcards sent (6 made)

This month I participated in a postcard swap organized by Sparklestash. We were to send out five cards. This was a perfect OMG for August as I had planned to take some time away with the family. In a few afternoons I made the cards. I used the instructions from Patty over at Elm Street Quilts - in 2018 I participated in a postcard swap she had organized. 

Card #1 East meets West

These are all African Batiks from Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria

Card #2 Symphony in green

Green fabrics from Mali, Ivory Coast, US and UK

 

Card #3

For this card I used fabric from African designer Woodin, this one I bought in Burkina Faso (years ago)

 

Card #4

For this card I also used fabric from African designer Woodin, bought in Burkina Faso. This is one of my favourite fabrics - unfortunately not much left of the 6 yards bundle. 

Card #5

Initially I made a card with Indonesian batik, and did not like the end result. So decided to make a new one using Tula Pink scraps. Liked the result up to the moment that I was going to use my overlocker to trim and sew the edges - she decided not to collaborate .... grrrr ....

On instagram (where we all had our "own" group of postcardswappers I raised the question which card was better .... the Tula Pink card won. One my co-postcardswappers suggested I do a zigzag stitch covering the overlock stitches. Still not convinced with this card, just could not make a third card as card #5 ....

Card #6 the not-sent-card

One card stayed at home .... not sure yet what I will do with this one ....

Linking up with OMG August at Elm Street Quilts.

OMG August Five Postcards

This month I am participating in a post card swap. I participated once and really enjoyed making a card. Through Instagram I found this exchange organized by SparkleStash.

I need to make five cards and send out before August 30th. This will be my perfect OMG for August.

Linking with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

Green twist table topper

Let's twist again, like we did this summer .....

A second twist table topper finished in Green. And the good thing about this second twist? I made it all from fabric on hand. Early summer I had made one with red batics, and the second one on request in green. The end of the month this will be gifted. Before the end of the year I think I might make a third one and change the lay-out.

My green twist is my OMG for July
organized by Patty at Elm Street fabric.

The pattern is from Carole at "From my Carolyna home"

OMG July - Green twist

I hesitated on the title of my post: rhapsody in green or green twist and choose for the second option in the end. If all goes well I might travel home for a few days to visit my parents. Last year I was to make a table runner for my father and his wife, time got in the way and the table runner never happened. This year am trying again and as I was very pleased with my red batik twist dance table topper that I decided to make a second one. I asked what colour they preferred .. red ... blue ... green .... I knew the answer was going to be green ....

Second question - table runner or table topper? Table topper. I will not add batting as this will need to be taken in their camping car so the less volume the better.

I went through my stash looking for green fabric, and much my surprise had more green than I thought I had. These colours seem to go well together and the background will be white. With Covid-19 still around am not in a hurry to try to find a matching green background. For the backing most likely will use the second fabric from the bottom as still have quite a lot from that. What a great way to get some stash moving.

Linking up with Patty's OMG for July over at Elm Street Quilts

Confinement quilt backing

My second goal for OMG June was to finish the backing of my confinement quilt. Originally I was going to order some nice wide-backing ... however with the confinement going on, supplies were low everywhere and the ones I liked were not available. (Note to self to purchase some wide backing fabric up front to add to stash). In the end I ordered some Kona fabric in a matching purple colour on-line in France. I had some left overs from the rail fence blocks and I made six more rail fence blocks with black corners. The black fabric being the same as the one in the top. With left overs I made a colourful border around the purple top and finished off with a black border. I had to be creative as realized I had not ordered enough purple fabric.

When done I rinsed the backing as was full of wool from my carpet ... I definitely need a design wall dedicated to my quilts, only I have no wall I can dedicate to that. Rinsing the backing was not the best idea I had; the fabric frayed and I had to cut off all the little loose ends as the quilt was supposed to go to a long-arm quilter ... oh well .. lesson learned. I cut loose threads, checked all the seams and gave it a good press.

At first I was not happy with the backing and almost almost ended up looking online ... I took a picture and then realized that the backing wasn't that bad at all. Maybe time to be less critical of my creations .....

Both the top and backing are on their way to the long-arm quilter Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for my July OMG.

My goal this month included two projects and happy to say that have managed to achieve both the table topper and the confinement backing.

Table topper finish

The red and white tabletopper is finished. I added the border, the backing, stitched in the ditches and done. The twist dance looks really nice and will make at least a green one ... and then one babyquilt size ......

This is part one of my OMG for June organized by Patty at Elm Street quilts.

OMG June - table topper, quilt backing ...

June is here, the start of a new month. And not the start of new projects .... there are a few I need to finish .... so what best way to make these my OMG. My mind is already on new projects .... so no ... am strict with myself.

1: Finish my tabletopper - scrap dance twist quilted table topper. Choose the fabric for the backing and finalize

2: Finish the backing for my confinement quilt. The top was finalized in April and I have left over blocks and scraps to make the backing. I discovered a mix up in the front. Spent time thinking if I really want to undo a lot ... no .... the colours still blend in very well and the secondary motive is still visible.

Bonus project

I started a baby quilt using scraps and making triangles. So far have made a few rows. Ideally I will finish the top. Not sure how work is involved in finalizing the top. Hence a bonus project this will be.

Scrap dance twist mystery tabletopper

My OMG for the month of May was to finish my table topper.

The mystery quilt "Scrap dance twist" was organized by Carolina over at From my Carolina home. I still don't know how I stumbled on her blog .... a few years ago. Each year she organizes a scrap dance and this year I decided to participate as have so many scraps and fabric and while waiting for the fabric I ordered online to make the backing of my confinement quilt.

I really like the end result, and will make a few more as they make nice gifts.

Next step making the backing - I think I will use some red fabric. Not sure if I will add batting, as this will be a tabletopper a flat top will be easier to handle.

Linking with Patty's OMG for May over at Elm Street Quilts.

A good thing my OMG was "just" the tabletopper as I ended making a bunch of masks for my kids, secondary school started last week on a voluntary basis and they go four days a week. It makes teleworking definitely a lot easier.

OMG May - Scrap Dance Twist

Am participating in a mystery quilt organized by Carolina over at From my Carolina home. First time I participate in a mystery QAL. Am making the table-topper size. Other sizes are available (crib, throw all the way to King size). I wasn't sure how much time I was going to have, so decided for the smallest size.


Am using batiks I bought last year in Malaysia.

Step 2 was sewing the little squares all together

Step 3 was making half square triangles

Step 4 (four-patch units) and step 5 (making rows of 2 four-patch units and one square in the middle) - no pictures .....

Yesterday step 6 was released and in two weeks time we should have the reveal and I will be able to finish the top.

My OMG for May is to finish the top. I might even make a second one as they make pretty gifts.

Linking up with Patty from Elm Street Quilts who keeps us going each month.

Confinement Tula Pink quilt top

There are advantages to being locked up at home. The first few weeks were difficult, adjusting to homeschooling and working at the same time required a lot of patience. There have been so many moments in my life in the last years that I was thinking that my patience was going to be tested .... and sure enough every time there is a new situation ....

I have found a great way of dealing with these moments ... I quilt. So now as we cannot leave our house, except for groceries and bread, which I do at lunch time as less people around, I end up having a lot of time in the weekends.

In March I cut the fabric for the spinning rail fence quilt and re-named it "confinement quilt" a more appropriate name. Also bringing some positive thoughts to the lock down and definitely lots of colours. The fabric used is from Tula Pink's All Stars collection

I enjoyed working on the quilt, taking step by step of sewing the strips (early April), cutting the sub-units, sewing the sub-
units, cutting 9" blocks .... and slowly the quilt came together. The blocks were sewn in diagonal strips. Once done a beautiful rainbow quilt appeared.

I took the top to the garden and hanged it in the plum tree.

I wasn't sure about the outer border, the pattern asked for 4 1/2" strips, I tried 2 1/2" strips, too thin .... so in the end I cut 4' strips. Perfect in between solution.

I will send the quilt top to a long-arm quilter in the Netherlands; Rachel from Stitched in color will do a great job.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street quilts for my April One Monthly Goal.

OMG April - confinement quilt

I started a new quilt - I will call it my confinement quilt, obviously because I am making it while confined. Unfortunately I won;t be able to finish the quilt as I have no backing and shops are closed. The fabric shop where I sometimes go has an on-line shop - however closed as well. The little shop recently discovered close to where I buy my veggies - closed as well.

I bought the pattern last year from Shabby Fabrics - the fabric used is the Tula Pink All Stars collection. The colours are awesome.

The pattern calls for a black border and am not very convinced yet. The black border does make the colours stand out, so maybe I will just make a small border - or a very small border and a colourful outer border.

I have cut now all the triangles and strips.

I have made the strip sub-units. Next step is to sew the sub-units and cut these up.

My April OMG will be to finish the top - yes an ambitious goal, but am stuck at home. Not much time during the week between work, homeschooling three kids, ensuring three meals a day ... the weekends I reserve time for myself. I had these great ideas of using my commuting time for craftsy things .... so not happening.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts and the One Monthly Goal for April

Baby quilt

Baby quilts are cute, easy to make and most of all easy to quilt and improve skills.

A colleague of mine gave birth to a girl. We had to postpone (or cancel) the baby-shower. So the quilt will only be warming the new baby when this crazy period is over.

For March I had two objectives: 1) finish the quilt and 2) finish the table runner. Am happy to blog that I finished both projects.

I try to craft every day half an hour now that I don't commute - this was not yet feasible - am improving though. A few small projects to finish that are almost done .... there are some advantages to the confinement. Needless to say that my sanity is pretty intact.

Linking up with Patty's OMG for March at Elm Street Quilts

A little green dress

Everyone needs a little green dress. A colleague for mine brought me fabric from Ghana. Enough to make a dress. I went through my stack of patterns - some dating back from years (read many many years) ago. I have a hard time throwing patterns away. So in an effort to contain the piles of pattern magazines have been sorting and selecting a few times to keep only those I think I might make. All those I know for sure will not make are out ..... still many to go. It does feel good to go through the oldies and select patterns. This dress was one of them, not sure from which year. I adapted the dress by making it wide enough so I don't need a zipper.

With a small cardigan (in a matching green) I can wear it when days are a bit cooler.