The dove (part 1)

Time for another Nativity part! I started optimistic with this December 3rd block, and the result is a nice dove:

But due to the title of this post there's gonna be a part 2: I used the wrong colours... the background of the dove should be LIGHT brown instead of the dark brown I used. So very very soon I hope to post part 2!

Have a nice day!

Something completely different

After sewing all those little pieces I felt for something different: big blocks, no pattern and a little fantasy. I guess this is creazy quilting! I used a left-over fabric (Ikea) with different coloured stripes, and cut them into long strips. Then I cut and sew just pieces with the idea of a log cabin block.

All the blocks are about 13 inches (35 cm), I want to make a few more for a picknickplaid (the fabric is very strong). So this is a good reason to go to Ikea!

A little shepherd with a black beard

Allthough it's only September and not December the 2th today I made the second Nativity-block. Before I started I sorted out all the fabric I need.

Part of the pattern is this colourscheme, and gladly my mother had a lot of fabrics collected in the last years. There are lots of browns and greys needed, and as you can see in the picture I made a start. I've chosen all the colours that are used many times.

And so I made the 2th block today:

As you see, lots of very very little pieces. It's like a little bit of magic: sewing all those little pieces together, then attaching the different parts... and there is the shepherd!

This very special man is wearing a tunica of the same fabric my mother has a blouse of... how wonderful is that!

So this is the second block. 24 to go!

Very little baskets (3)

Yeah, today I finished the miniquilt with the very little baskets!

It's really a mini-quilt, only 12 inches (30 cm) long.  So it's to big for a tablemat, to small for a placemat, to big for an oven cloth, to small for a puppet blanket....

But it was a good practise and I like this not-so-useful miniquilt!

First star!

Today I made the first block of the Nativity-quilt.

This first block is made of 4 parts (so I think in fact I made 4 blocks today ;) )

Since this is the first, I'll show the steps to make it. Here's the first part A.

The second part, B shows different colors of blue, that make the star shines!

The third and last part, C and D. You can also see a little piece of the shelter.

The most difficult part to me was sewing A, B, C and D together.

So, well, this is the first block. It's definately not perfect but hey, what really matters: the star of Bethlehem is shining!

25 blocks to go...

The Delft blue one

A few months ago I started with this top,made of different blue fabrics. It's almost finished, I only want to make a few more blocks on it at the long sides.

This one is for my youngest son, and his name is...

I used fabric with a Delft-blue print, extra special because he was born in ... Delft. The lightblue fabric is from an old duvet cover of his parents. Nice, isn't it?

I think I will quilt it with red thread, to give it a little more power.

Plaids from the past

Long before I knew about quilting I liked to sew and play with fabrics. I made several plaids to use in my family. This one I made from all different pieces, cut into triangles.

As you see, no quilting but despite of it it's a very nice plaid for a picknick, for going to the beach, for building a tent in the garden, for lying under on the couch....

  This next one looks a little funny, but if you think about the game Twister... yeah, you can play it on this plaid!

For the backside I used all different kind of ribbons. All this fabrics are from Ikea, my favourite Swedish shop :).

Very little pieces (2)

Yesterday I finished the block with the very little pieces. I'll finish it later with some quilting by hand. If you look very close you'll find out why the title of this blog is TRYING to quilt... all the not-so-straight-sewing...

Thanks to my eldest son for taking this picture! He used the 1 euro-coin to show the size of the baskets.

It was a good excersise, because later that day I got mail from the States:

So much much more little pieces to sew... to be continued. First step is to buy the fabrics, I hope to do some shopping this weekend. My goal is to finish this before Christmas 2011 :).

Pink&red (2)

This week I quilted a part of the Pink&red one. For the first time I quilted together with my mum on this piece, we felt just like the women in the early days must have felt; we enjoyed it a lot!
I quilt it big block by block, and try to make different patterns to learn. And the result of today:

I do like the effect!

Very little pieces...

Yesterday the postman brought me the Patronenpost, with a lot of new ideas. I tried to make a few very llittle baskets (2 inches each), it's a part of a bigger block.

As you see I'm still working on it and I changed the pattern a little. And pfff the pieces of fabric are really very very little!

Hexagons (0)

This wednesday for the first time I visited a real quilt shop! I felt the same way my children felt last year at their first visit to Disneyland.... of course I bought several lovely fabrics, a new thimble which really makes the quilting easier and I couldn't resist it:

Hexagones! I haven't done anything with it yet (besides making this picture :) ) but I'm looking forward to it!

Paper piecing (3)

Last week I made a few new crockery blocks, so now I have 16. Time to think what to do with it! I know I should have made a total design before I started anyway, but I thought I was just trying this new thing.... Well, I really learned how to make them!

Today I put them all on a big board (a fake 'design wall'), it looks like this:

So now the plan is to make 4 blocks instead of the white fabric, with the 'shelves' in a third colour, and 4 or even 8 blocks for the top and bottom row. And I'm gonna change the order of the blocks, I 'm not sure I like it this way.