Hearts

This is my new pillow cover. It feels good to have it in our living room. I had a moment of hesitation and I was wondering whether I should piece a quilt, but luckily for us I decided to keep it as pillow cover (piecing quilts by me is neverending story...:).

/ Uszyłam sobie nową poduszkę. Co prawda w pewnym momencie chciałam uszyć więcej takich bloków i stworzyć quilt, ale całe szczęście oprzytomniałam i skończyło się na poduszce (quilty szyję latami...:).

 

Modern Geese - published

Issue 88 of Love Patchwork & Quilting is out and you will find my next project in it!

HERE you can get your own copy:)

And it actually made a cover:) well, as mini, but still!

photo of courtesy of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine

This is the usual project of mine: long time in the making...:))) First blocks ('modern' part) were pieced in November 2016 (or even earlier), but I finished the whole top in late 2019. It was quilted in early 2020, right before sending it to LPQ. What a race! ;)

The sentence was figure out by me as some sort of my reaction to the discussion in the quilting community about what makes a modern quilt. Now I guess it is not up to date? 

The pattern is based on flying geese blocks, a bit alternated by adding some sort of a frame to each geese. This way I created the space for fussy cut words. One block is for the sentence/word start, the next for the ending and of course the third for everything in between.

It is very versatile design as you can place there any sentence you want - sky is the limit!

The most time-consuming part is fussy cutting the letters, the rest is just easy and fast (especially piecing the blocks and assembling the whole quilt top). Well, unless you are such a snail as I:)))

I used mostly solids mixed with some Carolyn Friedlander prints and some others prints that matched the colorstory.

The letters are fussy cut from Suzuko Koseki prints, actually 2 prints tops, but in different colors. Several letters are constructed from other letters as I run out of some of them (could you spy them without enlarging the photo?).

For binding I used some of the leftovers of two bias tapes which I had - just to create something interesting (one of the bias tapes has a crochet on the edge - a traditional twist to this bold quilt).

I really enjoying making this wall hanging and I'm glad that I chose so happy colourway.

I hope that LPQ readers will have so much fun as I have while making it!

photo of courtesy of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine

Love letters

New issue (86) of Love Patchwork & Quilting is out and it contains my quilt Love Letters (I don't know yet if such name is used in the mag).

This is a very special quilt for me, my favourite quilt I made so far. However, its history of making is quite long… First blocks were made in 2014 or even earlier (first photo of WIP I managed to find is dated 2014, I'm not sure whether on my old laptop I won't find earlier photos). Top was finished in 2017, but I bounded it in November 2019. This means that it took me 5 years to make it (I'm sure that I've got WIP's which will wait more to be finished:).

I'm sure that it would take me longer to finished it if it wasn't for Margaret (Silesian Quilt) who quilt it on her long-arm. The quilting is simple, but yet very effective. I am so grateful that Margaret decided to quilt it and so honored!

This is a simple log-cabin quilt with red Suzuki Koseki flowers in the centre, but I incorporated in each block love themed sentences. It was so fun to look for words that can build full sentences and I love all of them:) My favorite is probably 'I love you to the moon and back', where I used Heather Ross moon insted of the word (bottom left block in the below photo).

All blocks are framed with black print with numbers, but I didn't have it enough for whole border so I used another print of Suzuko Koseki with daisies (also red as the one used in the centres of each block). The binding is made of selvedges. It is just perfect for this quilt (I have to admit that I love such binding so much that I would gladly bound all my quilt this way:).

I didn't not take any photos of finished quilt before sending it to LP&Q, but I've got a few (crappy) photos of some blocks and finished top:
(I plan to make a proper photoshoot when my quilt backs home)

If you would like to use my pattern and make a similar quilt, here's the LP&Q cover, where you can find it:

edit: thanks to Margaret (Silesian Quilt), I can show you more photos of my quilt (she took them while/after quilting):

A dream

When I started quilting 10 years ago I remember exactly what I was thinking while watching (admiring!) others works. I was impressed by the craftmanship and I was convinced than I never ever be able to piece some blocks, get know some techiniques etc. For instance, I couldn't figure out how Dahlia Blossom quilts are made (I was sure that they are pieced by hand, because back then I thought that piecing curves is impossible [I know - silly me;)]).

I was convinced not only that some types of works are and will be forever beyond my skills, but also I wasn't even dreaming than that one day I will be designing quilts by my own.

How wrong I was... Fun fact is that I started designing my own projects in the first year of quilting. I just did it naturally. Without any special preparation.

Buttefly Blossom, finished block, 16in square

Back then I was hit by the idea of making a flower from butterflies. I knew exactly how it should look like, but it was just before I get know paper-piecing method. Therefore I tried to recreate my idea using applique. In a fact first flower made of butterflies was not a quilted one, but it was cut out of felt (I used it as little mug rugs).
I thought that my first flower made of butterfles was this one (CLICK), but recently while organizing my sewing room I found a pillow top made before this one was made. If I remember it correctly I just learned how to make appliques and it was one of the first tests of this technique, but I decided to add a cord on the edges (I thought then that it will look more pretty:).
[I hesitate whether I should add photo of this project, it's just ugly:)]

I wasn't able to design the circles of butterflies properly, but I gave several tries to draw it (in Paint - I know, what a perfect software for print designing). Here is one of the prints:

At the end of last year all of a sudden I decided to make this pattern using paper-pieced method. And it worked perfectly! I don't remember when was the last time (if ever!) when I pieced so many repeats so quickly! The finished block is presented at the beginning of this post.
So a dream from the title of this post did finally come true… I was so proud that after many years of quilting I was finally able to design the pattern in the way I really loved.
The pattern is a combination of two of my previous patterns (THIS one and THIS one) and it's quite big (16" square).

Later on when I was brownsing my old designs on my very old laptop I found that I actually designed circles of butterflies in the past! I just forgot about it… (I have no idea how I could forget such design). It is different than the above pattern, its shape is based on hexagon and probably is more beginners friendly.

Here's the comparison of these two patterns:

***

When I published on Instagram the photo of my finished block I said that this pattern will be one of my free patterns this Spring (for my 10th blogging and quilting anniversary).
I am now preparing to fulfill this promise.

Pattern testers are invited! Just e-mail me at jednoiglec (at) wp (dot) pl

We love you, Anna - baby quilt

Oh, boy... I started making this quilt back in 2015 and it was finished just recently (in November 2019). But that's not important. The most important is that it is finished, beautifully quilted (by Gosia from Cotton Cafe) and pattern for it is published!
Last year I contacted after a long break folks at Love Patchwork & Quilting (wonderful Alice, who was working at LP&Q when I first published there) and they booked me for 3 issues. So Alphabet Soup (LP&Q name for We love you, Anna baby quilt) is not the last quilt to be published this year.

I'm so happy how this quilt came out. The main reason is the quilting. It wouldn't be possible without help of Gosia. My quilting would ruin this quilt, but Gosia brought out of it the best!
The quilt is back in our home and it covers Anna's bed. Although she is not a baby anymore, she appreciates I-spy concept of this quilt, especially because I loaded it with kittens:)))