crochet heaven

A while ago I totally fell for all the gorgeously bright and colorful crochet projects popping up all over the blogland. So, I bought myself a few crochet hooks, yarn, as well as some crochet books and I dove in. It was not a disaster, but not a great experience, either. Every time I tried to crochet, I realized that as much as I liked the finished product, I didn't really enjoy the process.

But, lucky for me, my wonderful mom is a crochet superstar, hands down the best crochet master I know. And here is a proof, this is what arrived in the mail yesterday. Yay!!!

Three totally amazingly beautiful and wonderfully soft crochet blankets, one for each of my kids. I'm so, so in love with each and every one of them. They are perfect, just the way I like them, happy and bright.

And each one is different and amazing in its own special way, just like the little people these blankets are for.  

Oh, my!!! I could spend hours just looking at them. I'm definitely one lucky duck for having such a wonderfully talented and generous mom.

Hope you all have an amazing day, friends. Svetlana

stack and slash {times two}

I love stack and slash method for making improv looking quilts. In case you wonder what I'm talking about, you can see my tutorial for this method here. I love it because you can cut out and make 6 blocks at once and the whole quilt top comes together pretty quickly, too.

So, when I needed to make a boy quilt a few days ago I decided to go with this method.

I used my favorite "boy quilt colors" of white, gray, aqua, green, and khaki and my 12 blocks were stacked, slashed, and stitched in no time. I also added strips of extra fabric to all four sides - I love how this improv border brings some calm and order to this otherwise busy quilt top.

I used a wonderfully soft and cuddly twin sized gray sheet for the backing, straight line quilted it, and bound the whole quilt with washi fabric in coal. Finished size of this quilt is 54" x 64".

And, while I was in my stack and slash mood, I decided to finally finish this quilt top.

It was sitting, neatly folded, in my closet ever since I worked on the tutorial for this block in April. It definitely was my longest lasting wip and the fact that it was still not finished was bugging me to no end.

I used a pretty pink and white lattice fabric from my stash for the backing, did some simple straight line quilting, bound it using Kona Ash (my all time favorite Kona) and in no time this quilt was finished. Phew!!! It's been washed and dried, and is happily waiting to be donated to my local homeless shelter as part of 100 quilts for kids organized by Katie over at Swim, bike, quilt!

I must say, it felt great to get these two quilts finished and off my mental to do list.

Svetlana

 

and the winner is ....

Hi everyone,

just popping in real quick to let you know that the winner of $25.00 gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop is #19 pennydog  who said: I'm already doing 2 qualtalongs but I might be able to do a couple of blocks as ornaments!

Congaratulations!!!

Thank you, all for participating.  Svetlana

this week ....

Sewing, sewing, sewing (and a lot of ripping and re-sewing) !!! That's what I've been doing last couple of days. I even tackled some of my WIPs that were sitting idly for a while.

I so love this quilt top. The pattern is Busy kid by Allison (Cluck cluck sew). It's well written with pictures to guide one along the way. But, since I decided NOT TO READ the directions I ended up spending much more time than was needed on this quilt top. I sewed blocks together in wrong order and the whole quilt looked so awfully chaotic. I had to rip and re - sew so many times.

Now that it's finished I'm really glad I persevered because I truly love how it turned out. If only I could decide how to quilt this bundle of brightness.... Oh, well, one step at a time.

Here's a little peek at another project I've been working on. Dense quilting on a wonderfully bright cotton fabric - this picture makes me so very happy.

How is your summer sewing going? Do tell!

Svetlana

vintage holiday quilt along {and a giveaway}

Happy Monday, everyone!

How was your weekend? We were busy, in a good way, enjoying the beautiful summer weather and having lots of fun family time. And thus, I did not get any sewing done, none at all, all weekend long. I did some plotting and fabric petting, though. Do you want to see?

I've gathered together this delicious stack of fabric for my next quilt Vintage Holiday by Camille Roskelley. I was so glad when Heidi at Fabric Mutt decided to start a Vintage holiday quilt along.

 

I love the idea of making this gorgeous Christmas quilt now, way before the rush of the holiday season starts, and having some friends along for the journey makes it even better.

So, what do you think? Would you like to join? You can find more information here and join the Flickr group here.

And, to sweeten things up, Kimberly at The Fat Quarter Shop offered a $25.00 gift certificate to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment on this post and you're in (international entries welcome). The giveaway will be open until Saturday, July 28th and I will announce the winner on Sunday, July 29th.

Good luck, and have a wonderful day, friends. Svetlana

THANK YOU ALL FOR PARTICIPATING. THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

hand quilting

Just a few more stitches and I'll be done with hand quilting all my tiny hexies. Working on this pillow is so amazingly relaxing and therapeutic, a huge surprise to me since I like quick projects, instant gratification is high on my list of priorities and I'm generally not a patient person.

The fact that I've sewn the whole project by hand gives it that special, almost old fashioned charm. Love, love, love! Be back soon to show you more.

Hope you have an amazing day. Svetlana

modern quilted pillow swap

I joined a really fun swap called Modern Quilted Pillow Swap a while back. It was quite an unusual swap. We did not get any partners assigned, we just made a pillow we wanted and then sent a picture of the finished pillow to our swap mama who posted it in the Flickr group. Everything was very secret and no one knew who made which pillow, or even who participated.  Then, when the deadline came, we voted on our favorite pillows. Now the voting is over and we got a green light to post about our projects as we are all anxiously waiting to get our favorite pillows in the mail.

I used Mary's tutorial and made this pillow for the swap. It was one of those projects I wanted to try for quite a while, it involved freezer paper piecing as well as sewing curves. I must say, it was a lot of fun, and Mary's tutorial was so well written that even though it was my first time doing freezer paper piecing I had no major issues or hiccups along the way.

I had a very hard time deciding how to quilt this guy. The pillow top was already so busy and I worried that an all-over quilting would just make it all jumbled together.

At the end, I decided to do some hand quilting using red perle cotton around the biggest circle. I did simple running stitch with  a few x stitches to add some interest.

I did a zipper closure on the back of the pillow and bound it using a pretty red and white tiny polka dot fabric. This pillow cover can fit either a 16" x 16" or 18" x 18" pillow form, depending on how plump my partner wants it. It's now ready to be sent off to my partner who I'm sure will give it a nice home.

Thanks for stopping by, friends. Svetlana

patchwork tote

Yay! I managed to finish my new patchwork tote over the weekend.

I started off by making patchwork rectangles, sort of following Chase's tutorial. I'm saying sort of following because I did not quilt as I went.

I decided to make the whole patchwork rectangle made up of smaller blocks and then I just quilted the whole piece at once -  so much faster.

Here's the other side of my tote. I have to admit, I was very, very tempted to have the front of the bag all patchworky and to use regular fabric for the back. I am so glad, however, that I persevered and made the whole bag out of patchwork.

I used home dec weight fabric to line the bag. I installed a zipper pocket, it's always a must with my bags, and this time I even remembered to add a loop of ribbon for my sunglasses as well as a latch for my keys. Phew, I always forget to add these.

I had so much fun with this tote, I even added this totally adorable birdie ribbon to the outside of the bag. It adds such a wonderful touch of whimsy and playfulness.

The tote finished at 16" x 12" x 3", perfect size to carry around some of my WIPs and a quilty book or two. Oh, I know, my interests are so limited. My children always tease me about that.

Have a wonderful day. Svetlana

weekend plans

Two very colorful and scrappy projects are calling to me (very loudly) this weekend.

This piece of patchwork made up of some of my very precious fabrics by Denyse Schmidt, Suzuko Koseki, and many others is a base for my new tote bag. This one is going to be quite big and its main purpose is to tote my wips back and forth.

I'm also very, very close to the finish line with my 3/4" EPP hexagons. I'm quite sure they are destined to become a pillow, but anything can happen and they might suddenly be made into a wallet or a bag. Oh, the possibilities!!!

Wishing you all a wonderfully restful and creative weekend. Svetlana

picnic blanket

I've just finished the easiest picnic blanket ever. Want to see?

This blanket was totally inspired by Rachel's picnic blanket. I loved the idea of having a lightweight patchwork blanket big enough to fit all 5 of us. So, I got to work right away, of course.

I started off with this wonderfully fun  Lucy's Crab Shack Clothesline fabric and pulled the rest of the fabric from my stash. It feels great to know I used my stash only. 

I made my blanket top using pretty big differently sized rectangles (anywhere from  4-11" x 21"), I have to admit, I'm totally smitten with all these random rectangles. I think there's a quilt made out of rectangles in my near future.

I used old curtains from my girls' room for the backing. Oh, I know, it does not match the front at all. I wanted to use what I had on hand and I did not want to use any of my precious yardage for the back of the picnic blanket. Simple as that.

And, since this is a picnic blanket/ beach blanket/ giant outdoor tablecloth I wanted to find a way to carry it around without having to shove it, and thousand other things, under my arms. I've pinned a tutorial by Penny for the handle strap a while back and it seemed like a perfect solution for my dilemma. See, it holds my blanket nice and tidy. I can carry it with ease, hands - free. Don't you just love Pinterest?

Have a fabulous day, everyone. Svetlana

my wips { finish-a-long }

My WIPs are multiplying a lot faster than I can finish them, so I thought it might be a good idea to join finish-a-long sponsored by Rhonda. I'm hoping having yet another list will help me "remember"  my WIPs a little better. Here is my list.

I want to give my scrappy HSTs some much needed love and attention soon. I'm thinking of turning them into a sort of medallion quilt, this way I would not need as many HSTs as I first thought.

This quilt top has been finished since April. Wow, I think this is the longest lasting WIP I've ever had. I have a backing ready, all I need to do is baste and do some simple quilting. I'd like to donate this quilt to our local shelter as part of 100 quilts for kids organized by Katie at Swim, Bike, Quilt!.

Next on the list are my tiny 3/4" paper pieced hexagons. I really love working on this project, I'm actually surprised by how relaxing EPP can be. I've also started a new quilt using Busy Kid pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew (love Allison's patterns, by the way). I think this is such a happy quilt, just perfect for a child.

Last thing on my list of WIPs that needs my attention ASAP is my do.good stitches quilt.

Well, that's my list. I'm pretty sure that as long as I stay focused and on track it's very doable. We'll see. I'm not very good at sticking to lists, but sometimes it's just nice to have a plan.

Svetlana

simple patchwork quilt {all finished}

Yay! Here it is, my simple patchwork quilt all finished!

I really like the way this quilt turned out. From the very beginning it was meant to be a quilt for a boy (always a major challenge for me). I think this color combo of blue, yellow, green, and gray worked so well. I love how fresh and modern it looks yet it has that wonderful old time charm thanks to the  simple patchwork pattern.

I used 180 5" x 5" squares for the quilt top and went with a beautifully soft gray flat sheet for the backing.

I quilted the whole quilt in double horizontal and vertical straight lines.

I then used this fun Oliver +S green fabric with tiny white and yellow polka dots for the binding, which I always, always attach by the machine.

Finished size of this quilt is 54" x 68". I love making quilts this size, they are big enough to snuggle in yet not too huge for dragging around the house.

Hope you have an awesome day, everyone! Svetlana

basting

Don't you just love how wonderfully crisp and smooth quilt tops look like?

I'm finally basting my simple patchwork quilt. I've had the top done for quite a while but with all that heat and humidity I did not feel like tackling anything big, or warm. Well, it's still very hot outside, but I had a house all to myself for a couple of hours this morning so I decided it was time to finish this quilt off.

As I type this, the finished quilt is taking a warm, soapy bath in the washing machine. Can't wait to see it all nice and snuggly after I pull it out of the drier. Oh, I so love that feeling.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.

Svetlana

coin pouch

Lately it's been all about tiny and scrappy around here. Which is a good thing, because my scrap baskets are overflowing. So, I decided to make this tiny log cabin coin pouch.

The pattern is from the book Patchwork Style by Suzuko Koseki. I really like Suzuko's style and the wonderful scrappiness of her projects.

I did scrappy log cabins on both sides of the pouch. And, I was able to use some of my very small scraps since the whole pouch is only 4.5" x 4", just perfect for keeping my change.

I even had a flex frame that the pattern called for on hand and I used Riley Blake fabric for the lining.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I will, however, make some adjustments next time I make this cutie. I want to figure out a better way to attach a top band and make it a little bigger and less bulky to hide most of the flex frame.

And, speaking of tiny and scrappy, I'm slowly working on my little hexies. I'm still pretty undecided about what to turn them into. I was thinking a pouch would be nice but now I'm leaning towards a pillow - which means a lot more hexagons, of course.

Enjoy your day. Svetlana

tiny hexies

I seem to be suffering from sewing induced ADD. Seriously, yesterday I was talking all about crochet and fabric merged into a blanket and then I saw Chase's gorgeous tiny hexies. So, when the time came for me to finally get some sewing done, what do you think I did? Of course, dropped the crochet / fabric project and started my own hexies.

They are tiny, only 3/4" and I had soooooo much fun making them. I can't wait to make some more tonight. I'd better hurry, too because I already spotted another project I HAVE TO work on soon. Hopefully my fling with hexies will last long enough to have a finished project before I move on to something else. Wish me luck.

Svetlana