Pink pink skull top

The very pink pink skull top is finished.

I had (more or less) followed the pattern from the magazine Make Modern, however gave it my own twist. The lower part had too much grey so I ended up undoing this, removing 52 squares of grey replacing with black squares. The result was much better.I enjoyed making this pixel quilt and will definitely make another one.

 

Now need to decide on how to do the backing as there are several options: 

1) buy some pink fabric and quilt with cotton batting

2) buy some fleece in pink or black

3) look for fabric with skulls

As the quilt needs to be ready early April I have some time to decide on how to finish.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for the January OMG. Happy to have achieved my first goal of the year.

January creations

 January was a busy month workwise. As have all months been since March 2020. Working from home is not always easy and there are days I just want to go to the office, start working at 7 and be done by 5 ... Helas, when working from home the days continue until late, sometimes very late ... 

So to sweeten my time at home I have been participating in a few swaps.

1) fresh start swap

I enrolled in this swap organized by Sparklestash. I made two cards, sent them off and am hoping they reach their destiny.

2) tqs loot bag 2021

This was a fun swap. We were to make a little loot bag and fill it up with a minimum of 1 yard of fabric. I choose an African theme. Our first goal was to post a picture on IG with the fabric we wanted to swap. Fro all the posts we were asked to indicate which ones we really liked. That was not easy as there were soo many choices. Our host Janelle at tinyquiltswaps links us up with a secret partner and off we went making our little pouches. And my pouch with loot is on its way, of course I added some more fabric from my African stash. Looking forward to my loot.

3) scarf for Slava

Slava wanted to learn how to knit a scarf, I started knitting so he could learn and take over. What he actually wanted was me knitting the scarf and him watching me knit or read while I knit. He often does that, while I do creative things he is close to me reading a book. Next thing he wants to make is a cushion using a sewing machine.

January OMG Pink, pink and more pink

 A new year, a new month and a new OMG.

 

 

 

Last year I cut many three inch squares, mostly in pink some grey and black. The daughter of a friend of mine loves pink and skulls. So when I saw the pattern for a bright pink skull in Make Modern magazine issue #35 I knew I just had to make this quilt.

The quilt pattern made by Velda Roy was inspired by a quilt made by Paul Leger. I decided to make a combination of both colour ways. Bright pink for the skull set in a grey setting and a black background. Velda used pink in a white setting with a grey scale background, Paul's is bright colours against an all over black background.

This is the first time I make a pixel quilt and like the idea. Of course my kids want one too ... Let's see first how this one turns out.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

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