December finishes - candy hexa quilt and JK cushion cover

 Working with colours helps me deal with my crazy work life and hectic family life. With three kids (young adolescents now) some things are easier such as cleaning up the kitchen after diner .... some things don't change at all .. the driving them around to the different sports/music classes each evening at least one kid has something ..... and some things are more work ... the increase in grocery shopping and the food they eat. Am not complaining as I enjoy the hecticness and craziness as this fits with my personality. I do need time off in between to center myself. In the past I could go for a swim, but the last few years with Covid this has become difficult. Also because the pool is closer to my work and with the teleworking just too far away.

Quilting and knitting have helped me to center myself and as I have finished quite some quilts over the last two years my skills have improved.

This year I discovered making cushion covers, I participated in a few swaps and they were around cushion covers, again stretching my skills as you make something for someone else. I loved all the ones I made and will make a few more in the new year.  

My finishes of December are:

Candy Hexa quilt

 

In October and November I participated in the honeycomb stars sew along. For December I wanted to finish the quilt. Once I had finished the top, I sent it to the LAQ.

 

The quilt is all done now and gifted.

 

Jen Kingwell cushion cover

As part of the winter swap I made two cushion covers in November. One turned out really nice once batted and quilted and one I loved from the beginning. I started a third one, to make up for the disastrous first one, just did not have time to finish in time. After a "vote"  on my IG page with pictures of the two finalized projects, the winter grey/white was choosen most so off that gift went. 

The unfinished winter/grey was originally going to be a mini quilt, however as I kept it for myself, I made a cushion cover, which is adorning my sofa right now.

 

 

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

 

 

OMG December

 December is going to be a crazy month. Starting with St Nicolas celebrations in the Netherlands. And then the rush to get Christmas cards out, think of gifts that I can make that of course never happen ...... least this year as I will maybe need to empty out my sewing room (also my office space now because of teleworking) as we need to extend the heating system. This implies drilling through a one meter thick wall ... generating kilos of dust.

So not much creativity is expected this month.

 So my OMG for December will be to finish my hexagon candy quilt. Top is finished and needs to be quilted and bound.

 

Linking with Patty's OMG at Elm Street Quilts, turns out I started participating in 2017, the year the OMGs started.

November finishes

 This month I finished some projects and I worked on two other projects. My OMG for November was to finish the two cushion covers I had planned to make as part of a Winter swap. The designs are from Jen Kingwell. She just published a new book that I absolute want ..... however I never used her book I bought a few years ago. So that was a no-go. What better way to use her book for some cushion covers. And now I am addicted and want to make more.

1) Red modern Christmas cushion cover 

For this cushion cover I followed the book's instructions and a variety of Christmas red and green fabrics. The end result is this colorful modern holiday cushion cover. Well the way I finished the back allows to also use as a small tabletopper.

The fabric combination really makes this a festive contribution to a Christmas decor.

 

This is the first time I use my new label that I ordered this month, simple. the backing is cotton I bought a few years ago on line in the UK

 

2) Winter cushion cover

 

Why read instructions right, especially if the pattern looks so easy. I did follow the instructions to cut all the pieces and started sewing using my sewing machine. Lots of Y seems ... And then I looked again as something just did not make sense .... I cut the pieces of fabric for hand piecing. For machine sewing the fabric was cut differently ..... After ironing the top looked awful, so I carefully washed the top, ironed again a few times .... very carefully. And sew a border around the top. Now that looked way much better. I used a bit thicker batting giving some volume to the top and the wobbly was no longer wobbly. This one also made it to the finish line in time. Also with the option to either use as a mini table topper or as a cushion cover.

 

3) Winter table top/wall hanging

 

As my second cushion cover was on its way to become a disaster I decided to try a third model of the Jen kingswell book. this pattern is for a quilt and I adapted this to a square. I really like how this is turning out and need to decide if I turn this into a table top/wall hanging or a large cushion cover.

 

linking up with Patty's OMG for November at Elm Street Quilts

OMG November

Towards the end of the year there is always this rush to finish projects. And at the same time there are so many quilt-alongs going on. And of course the different SWAPs ongoing. I love the swaps and have been pacing myself as between a hectic job, the family, crafting for myself I just don't have the time to participate in a lot. Not if I want to make something nice. I have received some very nice swap gifts this year and they deserve their own special blog post.

 

My November OMG will be to finish my #tqswinterswap organized on IG by Janelle @tinyquiltswaps

A few years ago I bought a book from Jen Kingwell "Quitl lovely: 15 Vibrant projects using piecing and applique" and I had yet to use this book. The last chapter is dedicated to cushion covers and I decided that before the year is over I had to use the book. 

 I choose two patterns from the book and will make two different tops:

One will be in Christmas colours and prints

 One is more sober in winter grey tones

When both are finished I will ask the IG group for a vote and send the final winter swap gift in December. 

And the other cushion cover/mini quilt will be for me. 

What I really like about these swaps is of course making something for someone else according to what they indicated. I ended up challenging myself with some new techniques.

My OMG for November is finishing both miniquilts/cushion covers

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts

October finishes

Several projects got out of the way this month so a lot of feelings of accomplishments floating here around.

1) OMG October

My main OMG for this month was to finish a baby quilt for a baby born this month. And the quilt is given to the grandmother so on its way to the baby this weekend.

The new mum loves pink!!! The baby being a girl the quilt just had to be pink, and not any pink .... pastel pink (if that expression even exists in English).

Enough pink fabric in my stash left over from my very pink scull quilt .... just these were very very bright pinks. A trip to a small shop (one of my favourite yarn shops who also happens to sell some baby fabric) and some more fabric buying over summer in the Netherlands and the basics for the quilt were there.

I used the pattern disappearing four patch block from the designer/quilter Material Girl Quilts. I watched her tutorial and started cutting and sewing and more cutting. Once all blocks were done i was not sure on how to best place each block. I tried a few options and ended up making a black and white picture to see how the balance was. After a few try-outs I was happy and started the assembly of the blocks in to a top.

 For the quilting I was not sure what to do and in the end decided to use curvy lines to create soft lines.

Some details: the new mum loves dogs and when I saw the dog-paws fabric I just knew I had to use that also for the binding. And the flamingos are just too cute.

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

2) Socks

I bought this yarn a few years ago for the colours, I had bought two colour schemes, one more purple and this one with more turquoise. And I don't think I will ever buy this sock yarn again. I don't like the way it knits up. I do love the colours, very warm and rich. I started knitting these a few months ago and was so dissappointed that sock number 2 never got finished. I tried a few times and .... not much progress. This had to change. I got a few knitting sessions going and last week finished these socks. They are too ugly to wear - but in winter I might wear these at home to keep my feet warm.

 

3) Scarf

Last winter bought yarn for a scarf. My youngest already had one, my daughter knitted one for herself, so high time to make one for my eldest. He choose the colours and I knitted. This was my on-the-go project

OMG October

Autumn is here with a lot of rain, perfect crafting weather. School started a month ago and am still running around getting things done, or at least that is how it feels. All three kids started their after school activities and once a week I plan go get some exercise done. I found this great cardio class followed by a one-hour stretching class. Exactly what my muscles need after sitting so much behind my back.

 On the crafting path, I started making a baby quilt, a very very soft pink baby quilt. The little darling was born two days ago and this will keep her warm.

I found the pattern, disappearing four patch block, online a few weeks ago from the designer/quilter Material Girl Quilts.

The new mum loves soft pink, so over summer at different occasions I bought fabric, not sure yet what pattern to make, knowing that the design will show up when I am ready. Which of course happened.

I decided to make the quilt a bit bigger - I do have loads of pink fabric now and a baby quilt does not use up a lot of fabric.

My October OMG is to finish the babyquilt so that i can gift this as soon as possible. Thank you Patty at Elm Street Quilts for organizing

September finishes

 After two months of little crafting I got back in September and finished my July OMG project. 

Early this year I discovered swaps on IG and became a huge fan. I participated in a few between January and March and decided that over summer this was not feasible. I signed up for the Autumn cushion cover/mini quilt swap and the project was due early September.

As the cushion cover that can also be used as a mini quilt arrived at my secret partner's home I can post a picture. 

This was definitely a challenge; my partner wanted a landscape .... and i went back and forth between different ideas. In the end i decided to use applique and make lots of leaves, trees and acorns

 

 

All in autumn colours. The backing was also adapted to the theme.

And ofcourse some African fabric ... I had some delicious orange South African fabric waiting to be used.

 

 

Color Jolt QAL

September was a good crafting month .... and not yet finished ... am on a roll.

 

I finally finished my quilt - binding and all. 

 

This quilt started somewhere Q3 or 4 2020 and the top was finished in November 2020. I sandwiched the top earlier this year and somehow just would not progress. This had to change. I added finishing this batik beauty to my OMG list in the hope that this would push me to finalize. I had to add this to another challenge (the wips-b-gone list - 100 last days of the year challenge) to get going. Having a finished top laying around more than one year seems to be a too long.

I had started with straight (more or less) horizontally accross and then some more vertically across. And then the little block ... no idea what to do with them .... nothing seemed to inspire .... so decided to quilt diagonal lines, using one of the diagonal sashing as the basis and work across.  Up close, the quilting looked awful .. to me and I almost threw the quilt out. Took a deep breath, layed the quilt on the floor and stepped back .... and loved it again ... from 2 meters away the total looked good. 

 With new energy finished the quilting and the binding three evenings later.

 The backing is solid purple and some African batik.

Linking up with September OMG from Elm Street quilts.

OMG September

The weather this week is so good and am enjoying the nice temperatures - not too hot and not too cold in the evenings either so we can still eat outside.

Over lunch spent some 15 minutes cutting branches and was contemplating if I should go back to my blog after two months. Either going back or not all ???? Not going back lost!. Part of the blogging pleasure is boosting myself to finish projects, and to get more ideas for which I have absolutely no time. Only to be sidetracked for more projects calling to me.

 

Some finishes are in order and these are mostly my July goals.

1) Color Jolt QAL quilt top

 I made some progress and FMQ-ed straight lines across and in the length. Next step decide how to quilt the blocks. Am thinking diagonal lines across, maybe in pink. If I would go for white the thread would stand out to much on the red fabric. Red thread would stand out too much on the white sashing. Or maybe I zig-zag across the rows, or in each block.

2) Knitted socks

Both socks are knit and still waiting for the final step. They will be useful this winter, even if I am completely not happy with the result so far.

3) Swap

I love swaps, just don't always have enough time to participate. Making something for someone else is so nice, even if you don't know who the other person is. The challenge is definitely part of this. I have made several things this year - things I would otherwise not have tried. Am now working on an autumn inspired cushion cover. As this is a surprise for my secret partner (or actually I am the secret partner) no pictures until the project is send . Autumn colours for sure.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for the September OMG. Hopefully this month I will finish a few projects.

Sewcialites top

 Not sure what happened to summer. One day she arrived .... only to pay a short visit or so it felt. Not much crafting happened ... all weekends were busy. We managed to go see my family in July so two weekends out, took a week off so another two weekends gone. The ever optimist, I brought some knitting work with me that I started last year, frogged the whole lot and re-started. Not much progress as we were camping and did not have electricity. Looking at the stars was more fun then trying to knit, clearly.

In June I finished all the blocks of my sewcialites blocks and started assembly.

Only to take it out partially in July as one block (the same one each time) had a way of its own and played rebel. 

 

 

So that was my July project ... just waiting to be written about.

 

 

OMG July

July is here and so is summer. My list of projects to be finished is slowly getting shorter .... and my list of new projects and ideas is getting longer and longer.

 

My July projects are:

1) Color Jolt qal quilt top

The quilt top was made end of 2020 and basted earlier this year ... and then no more progress. The basted top was waiting and staring at me asking to be finished. 

 

 

 

 

 2) Knitted socks

Both socks are knit and waiting for the final step of closing the toes.

 

3) Destination quilt along

I so not need a new project .... this one is just to difficult to resist. Last year I participated and had so much fun, so the theme of this year .... different surprise destinations each time. Between each block there is a time span of two weeks ... so this should be feasible

 Slice of Pi Quilts, one of the blogs I follow, is one of the organizers/designers

 

4) Sewcialites qal

36 blocks sewn over a period of 36 weeks. Final assembly to be done this month.

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

June finishes

Halfway the year 2021 and am making a little dent in my projects to be finished - only to get side tracked by new projects, ideas .....

On the knitting front I almost finished a pair of socks, both are done and the only pending is finishing the toes with the kitchener stitch of both socks. Maybe because I don't really like the yarn ... not difficult to knit - just not what I expected. My favourite sock yarn is definitely West Yorkshire Spinners. And I have some yummy colours waiting for me.

I did finish a scarf for my youngest - he choose the colours .... and that was it ... supposedly he was going to learn how to knit himself .... another day/year ....

I started a scarf for the eldest which progresses nicely, no thinking required and can be done in front of the tv  and this is one of those "no-rush" projects. 

On the quilting front my OMG finishes for the month are:

1) Harmony hand pieced quilt

This wall hanging really turned out nice. My daughter wants it for her room, so this will be either a wall hanging or a sort of curtain. I thought of turning this small quilt in to a sewing machine cover, so will need to make a new one for myself.

2) Catching up with the Sewcialites QAL

I was pretty behind and made 10 blocks this month and worked on the lay out. I managed to do more that planned which is always a bonus. Another month will think about the backing and the quilting, although I definitely want to have a finished top next month. For the FMQ part am thinking of maybe straight lines diagonal across and that will look nice with the diagonal lines of the HST.

 

 

 

 

I cut the grey blocks and the grey/yellow HST and played a bit with the lay-out

I think I like the second layout best - so that will be my finish for next month.

Linking up with Patty's June OMG at Elm Street Quilts.

Harmony hand pieced quilt

 Ta da!!!! My first hand sewn project is finished, what an accomplishment. The good part is that I really enjoyed the slow pace of hand sewing. Still quite a few things to learn, such as precision when using the paper templates - or actually - next time make carton templates for more precision.

We had some nice weather over the weekend so I managed to make some nice pictures.

My cherry tree is a good model for quilts.

For the quilting I tried to be a bit more adventurous and used the design to guide the FMQ and not straight lines or a circle. This is still not my thing .... and a good thing I went for the wall hanging size. Although now that the quilt is finished am very pleased with the result.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin Esser at Simple Handmade Everyday. Thank you for the lovely pattern, explanations and motivation.

June OMG

June is here with typical May weather, instable ... rain announced and no rain arrives, just clouds and more clouds, some sun and then some more sun, and then rain .... and wind .... and back to sun and clouds ..... Work-wise still hectic, however I manage not to work many hours over the weekend. The pace of last year was not feasible. We are now well over one year in to the Covid-19 pandemic and still new vaccines to be evaluated.

A good day to get some crafting done.

For June my OMG is

1) Harmony handquilted top

I finished the top and officially have a flimsy future wall-hanging. Basting is done so aim is to finish completely this project. Only to make one over summer most likely in different colours as a "take on holiday project" working towards a quilt. Still not sure what this will be when finished. My daughter needs a curtain ... as a wall-hanging would go as well with her room. As a cushion cover is definitely to large.

2) Sewcialites

I am so behind on this project and have quite some catching up to do. Block 34 just came out (the one but last block) and my block number 27 is only cut .... I have some serious cutting and sewing to do here. aim is to have all blocks caught up. And make the HST blocks. 

Linking up with Patty over at Elm Street Quilts

May finishes: Harmony QAL, flying geese ...

May brought a lot of rain, a lot!! This past weekend was very nice so not a lot of sewing done.Finished altering a pair of pants for my daughter and ironed my top of the Harmony hand piecing QAL. 

My May finishes:

1) Harmony handpieced QAL

Finished my flimsy top of the Harmony quilt. This was one giant learning step in hand piecing as I always stayed as far away as possible from hand sewing. Sometimes there were small things to mend and I would take care of that. But a quilt top .... no way .... I enjoyed this a lot and learned many things. Clearly I need to be more precise on the template cutting, iron my fabric before cutting as with the paper templates flat fabric is even. All in all the top looks nice. Yesterday I basted the top and started thinking about the quilting, straight lines  and triangles seem a good option. Fabric used is Kona, left overs from a quilt I made a few years ago. I thought the top would be good as a cushion cover, but too large, so need to see how to use this once done.

 

2) Geesey Geesey quilt

Forgot how many flying geese units are in this quilt. I made this last year as part of the sew along organized by Stitched in Colors. The fabric is so beautiful (insert name) I was worried to completely mess up the quilt. As this was definitely a project I did not want to have waiting around until I gathered courage, decided to send this to the LAQ. Who else best suited to quilt this than Rachel, the designer. I sent the quilt early May and as always was very pleased with the outcome. After that, cutting the strips for the binding and sewing this on was a matter of a few evenings. Now to decide where in my house my new quilt will be on display. For now Glacon my cat decided it's hers.

 

 Linking up with one monthly goal at Elm Street quilts

Harmony hand piecing qal Rectangle Units

 Slowly I make progress on my slow stitching process. A colleague asked me why I was hand stitching and I said that I enjoyed the slow pace and I am not in a hurry.

Working life is crazy as is - and this pause during the week is exactly what I need. 

This week I finalized the rectangle units, so the wall hanging is almost done. I am still not sure if I make a wall-hanging out of this block or a cushion cover. I used the left overs from a quilt I made for my daughter so this could be a nice add-on to her bedroom.

Over summer I think I will make a new one as this would be a perfect holiday project. 

For one or the other reason my flying geese are smaller than the other units, not sure why. I used the templates: I cut one template and used this with a ruler to cut the white and green triangles. More practices is in order.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin at Simple Handmade Everyday