April goals

 There are days I am productive and other days just not at all. And then there are all these projects waiting to be finished, started ..... and so many more ideas swirling through my mind.

April will need to help me get rid of some.And what better way than goal setting to advance.

1) secret colour swap

This year participating again in the secret colour swap and this month need to finish the mini quilt and some extras. The mini top is done, needs quilting and binding. I also made a start with one extra ... pictures in B&W as the colours need to stay a surprise

 

2) Court yard quilt

As part of my restrictions of not buying anything new - I completely messed up - and bought the pattern, rulers and fabric of the court yard quilt. This quilt will be a gift. I started cutting and need to get at least the inner blocks done. 

 

3) Socks

I started knitting a new pair of socks this winter and one sock is almost done. Definitely need to finish this sock. 

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for OMG April

March finishes

 The last few days we have had a bit of rain which is always good - good for our garden and good for my creativity. In spring we all like to be outside more, go for walks and take in the sun.

This month I finished a few projects.

1) Baby Angled quilt

Learning how to cut and sew triangles was one of my aims in 2019 and I started the Angled course. Got sidetracked pretty quickly - not only creatively, also professionally. End 2021 I made a candy hexagon quilt and had some blocks left over. I also had quite some triangles from cutting all these hexagons. This was the "push" I needed to finish my triangle baby quilt. Other reasons of course were that the baby was born in December and that I wanted to end all this pink sewing. Did I mention that I was sidetracked a few times? That I made another quilt top in between earlier this year ....

 

The quilt is done and I like the result, well not fully. The batting I used was this synthetic batting - the only thing I can find where I live - taxes have gone out of control when ordering from the UK or the US. I started sewing diagonal lines and for one or the other reason - my quilt size shrank. If I pulled it straight - and released again - other areas where I quilted horizontal lines this did not happen.

Anyways, the quilt is sweet enough to be gifted and am hoping that washing will reduce this weird shriveling.

 

Linking up with Patty at the March OMG over at Elm Street Quilts.

 

2) Tote bag

As part of the tqs fabric swap I received the cutest fabric with vans. I made a tote bag from the fabric, using the two colour schemes on the outside. I have enough fabric to make a second tote bag, or am thinking to try my hands at a backpack for summer.

 

OMG March Triangle baby quilt

 

 

Three years ago, I purchased the "Angled" Course from Stitched in colors. This was a monthly subscription and I joined the party late … and never finished the first course. I did learn a lot, and one of my goals this year is to work my way through the book. Starting with finishing the first lesson on Equilateral Triangles and the first quilt.

 

I already made quite some rows of triangles. I used my 24” ruler that has the lines for 60 degrees angles. I still have some triangles cut from the first series of cutting that need to be sewn together.  

Although I think that I am not going to use the larger triangles.

Plus I have a small box with triangles from the hexagon quilt I made last year. Plenty of triangles to finish the baby quilt for a baby girl born last December.

This is a great way of using up scraps.

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

Feathers SAL February finish

My feathers top is finished. And she is a beauty. The pattern is by Alison Glass and Nydia Kenhle. And the fabric is from Alison Glass bought as a kit and a selection from different Sun Prints, Ellipse and Cross Stitch.

 

Those colours - so vibrant - if shipping and taxes had not become so expensive I could just buy kilos of the Alison Glass fabric. Why was I so slow in discovering this fabric line?

The pattern calls for paper piecing - and I do like the precision of the final product. The high waste factor is a minus .... and so is removing all the paper. Maybe some more folding of the quilt and the different paper pieces might make it easier to remove. I managed to keep up with the schedule of the sew-a-long and finish in time

Or maybe I should have Sindbad roll a bit more all over the quilt to soften the paper ...

Linking up with Patti's OMG for February over at Elm Street Quilts

OMG February Feathers SAL

 Last year on IG a sew a long was announced and after going back and forth - I decided to participate. The pattern and fabric is from Alison Glass "Feathers". I bought AG fabrics on line in the UK and oh my it is so nice. The fabric, the colours .......

I have made a few blocks so far and my goal is to have the top finished by the end of the month.

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

January OMG finish - Frida Kahlo cushion cover

Frida Kahlo cushion cover

I am a huge Frida Kahlo fan. And when I saw the panel that can be used to make a bag or cushion cover I bought it. Not sure if this would be for a cushion or something else ...... Making a bag is on my list of projects tot tackle this year. However my youngest needed a new cushion with a nice cover as we had thrown the one he had away.

 

Last year I found this great sugar skulls fabric on line and bought a meter. A good thing I did, as now the fabric was used to make a border around the panel and for the backing.

 

My youngest is happy with the end result.

Pinguin quilt

I finished cutting all the fabric for my pinguin quilt. No sewing done yet as got side-tracked and decided to participate in a sew along. Which is perfectly fine as this was one of my objectives.

That was quite some cutting and it all fits in a small box .... neatly labeled waiting to become a quilt top.

Sock knitting

Not much knitting done this month, I did make progress on the first sock. Am using the WYS yarn, one of my all-time favorite sock yarn.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and the January OMG.

OMG January 2022

 A new year and a long list of projects. 

For January my list of projects to tackle include

 

1) Cushion cover Frida Kahlo

My youngest had a handknit cushion on his bed. And Glacon our cat was often on the cushion, one of his favourite spots. We had our evening ritual where Glacon would be on the bed, my youngest reading a book. And when I arrived she would turn around on the cushion, walk back and forth between me, my son and the cushion, purring and purring and purring. Every evening same ritual. If I would give a kiss to S. she would join the hugging party. Last year she fell very ill with a severe lung infection and she died. Her last weeks were spent on the cushion carrying her around to make sure she felt loved and taken care off. When she passed the rainbow bridge I washed the cushion, but we just could not deal with seeing the cushion. I had a second one, but that also was too much. 

 

So I threw all out and bought a ready made panel of Frida Kahlo and some backing. S. will have a new cushion adorning his bed. A good thing he likes Frida.

2) Hand knitted socks

I love hand knitted socks - and with all the teleworking I wear them every day. Last year I bought three balls of my favourite WYS sock yarn and started a new sock. This month I want to finish both socks.

 

3) Penguin party

I started cutting fabric for my Penguin quilt. I finally decided on the background fabric. My aim for this month is to finish cutting all the fabric. The fabric is a mix from the market in the Netherlands and some online fabric bought in the UK. The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman.

Linking up for my 6th year with Patty's January OMG at Elm Street Quilts

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