hexie mini

I have this strange relationship with epp hexagons. I love basting them and turning them into hexagon flowers, but once that part is done I get stuck. The whole project then feels too traditional and not very "me".

A few weeks back I made six scrappy flowers which I loved very much, but only when I looked at them separately. Once I placed them all next to each other, they seemed to completely loose their charm and became a jumble of many hexagons.

Then I came across Malka's gorgeous mini quilts and I knew rightaway what to do with my hexies.

I surrounded my scrappy flowers with white hexies to make them shine and stand on their own and turned them into a  mini quilt.

I then did very heavy diagonal quilting which I think was a perfect complement, as well as contrast to this traditional pattern.

And, just like Malka did, I rounded the corners and used white binding to finish this mini off.

I love how it turned out, I think it makes for such a pretty, happy mini quilt, don't you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by. Svetlana

iqf chicago {recap}

Last weekend I attended my very first quilt show - IQF Chicago. As I mentioned before, our Naperville Modern Quilt Guild had a special exhibit - Log Cabin Challenge.

  

I was amazed to see how gorgeously diverse and imaginative all our quilts were.

{me, with my Improv Logs}

There were so many beautiful quilts on display, these two were some of my favorites. Sorry, I completely spaced out and have no idea who made these quilts.

 

 

I'm thinking I need to make a house quilt in the near future :)

 

 

I also loved seeing many vintage quilts. All these were for sale and totally out of my price range, but just looking at them provided so much inspiration. I'm so ready to start a new quilt as soon as possible.

One silly picture of my son and husband "enjoying the quilts" before I go.

I'm sure most of you would like to hang upside down and soak in the beauty of all the quilts like that, right?   :-)

Talk to you soon. Svetlana

international quilt festival chicago

Happy Friday to you all!

I'm so very over the moon excited about the International Quilt Festival Chicago going on this weekend in Rosemont, IL. Our Naperville Modern Quilt Guild Log Cabin quilts are on display there and I can't wait to see them in person, yay!!!!

I've never had a quilt in any show before, so this is a very fun first for me.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my Improv Logs hanging next to tons of amazing quilts.

(I used this fantastic tutorial to make my quilt label.)

The show is Thursday 6/20 from 5-9 pm, Friday 6/21 and Sat 6/22 10 am to 6 pm, and Sun 6/23 10 am to 3pm.  Tickets are $10 per day or $25 for the weekend. There are tons of classes, open studio sessions, and demos throughout the weekend, you can see more info here.

Also, Naperville Modern Quilt Guild and Chicago Modern Quilt Guild are co-hosting a Modern Meet Up. 

Unfortunately I can't make it to the Meet Up, but I'll be at the show on Saturday. Hope to see some of you there.

hexie pin cushion

I made this little 3/4" epp hexie pin cushion a while back and although I quite liked the way it turned out, especially the adorable little panda, I did not use it much. It is small and so very light and flimsy that every time I tried to take out the pin I would pick up the whole pin cushion. 

The other day, though, I had this idea of sticking it into a pretty porcelain jar. I figured if it could stay in, the jar would give it enough weight to make it nice and sturdy, and staying in place when I take the pins out. It worked!!!

I think it looks like a pretty cupcake (with floating sprinkles), doesn't it?

So, I was wondering. What do you use to fill your pin cushions with? I usually use fiberfill stuffing and while I like how soft it is, I think I need to go with something heavier next time.

Hope you all have a very lovely rest of the day. Svetlana

picnic blanket makeover

I made this very simple and quick picnic blanket/ giant outdoor tablecloth almost a year ago and while we used it a few times as a tablecloth while camping, we never really used it as a blanket. So, I had a "brilliant" idea of giving it a makeover.

Since I used no batting and the two layers were tied together in the original blanket, it was pretty easy to rip it all apart and start from there. I never really liked the old curtains I used as backing, so I decided now was a good chance to make a new, matching one.

Not bad, right? I used some of my very precious Promenade by Denyse Schmidt as a jumping off point and raided my stash for more matching fabric.

I then decided to use very thin polyester batting to make it more cushy and comfortable - I think that was the main reason we were not using it, it simply was not comfy to sit on. 

Quilting this giant, I must say, was a nightmare. I don't think I ever did this much unpicking in my whole life. I first wanted to make some free motion loops but after a few rows of struggling I gave up. It looked bad and my stitches were not uniform at all. I tried another free motion pattern which looked even worse than the first one :(  so I finally switched to my trusty walking foot and did this sort of organic grid. I like how it looks and it was wonderful not to have to mark any lines (I don't like marking quilting lines at all).

 I think this makeover was totally worth all the extra work and I'm sure the blanket will get tons of use now. 

See? Not only will it make a lovely picnic blanket, it works great for rolling down the hills, too. We tried (like a gazillion times) already.

Thanks so much for reading.  Svetlana

Linking up to AmandaJean's Finish it up Friday.

this and that

Hello, happy Thursday to you all.

It's been pretty slow and quiet in the sewing area lately as the kids and I are trying to find the right schedule and activities for the summer.

I did, however, manage to make these two patchwork chair pads. Now I just need to make three more and our kitchen chairs will no longer have to go all "naked". Plus, they are so much more comfy to sit on.

I also did a little bit more swooning. Six blocks down, three more to go.

And I got my little peeps to sew, too. It took a little persuading to get my son to understand that : "Look mom, no hands!" is very cool for bike riding, but not sewing :)

Wishing you all a very lovely day.  Svetlana

scrapper's delight {a finished quilt}

I managed to finish my son's Scrapper's delight quilt over the weekend. 

We both love how it turned out and it's a perfect size for him, 60" x 60". 

I started off by using a Scrapper's Delight pattern from Sunday Morning Quilts, but I ended up changing the pattern a little - you can read about it here.

I backed it with blue minky (per my son's request) and quilted it in concentric squares (thank you, Jamie for the suggestion). I worried a little about this minky being so "bumpy" but at the end it gave me absolutely no trouble at all. Yay!!!

I love how fun yet unobtrusive this quilting turned out- it makes for an interesting backing while blending in with the quilt top very nicely. 

I finished the quilt off by using Kona Ash for the binding. I think it frames this busy quit so well and calms it down a little, too. 

This was such an interesting quilt to work on and I absolutely love that middle square "popping out" of the quilt. Plus, this pattern lends itself so well to boyish colors (always a hard thing for me to do).

Thanks so much for reading. Svetlana

time to swoon

I bought Camille's Swoon pattern months ago but never felt like tackling this quilt even one bit. And then, a few days ago, I suddenly knew it was time to Swoon. I found my pattern, ordered some fabric (I'm using Sketch in mist grey for the background), and last night I made my first block.

I'm in love !!!! 

I think this will be a perfect quilt for our bed, I'm even planning on hand quilting it this summer.

What fun projects are you working on?

two grannies

Granny square block (tutorial here) is one of my very favorite blocks in quilting. I love how quickly it comes together and the potential for mix-and-matching fabric is simply fantastic. 

 See? Doesn't it look oh, so very lovely in both of these colorways? I know, I keep talking about using more saturated colors, but I could not help myself this time.

A while back I came across this image on Flickr and I knew I had to make similar pillow covers soon.

So, on Saturday I made this granny pillow cover using 3" squares framed with a 3" striped border. I even decided to miter my corners and I absolutely love the way it turned out.

I then quilted it in diagonal grid about 1" apart.

I used an invisible zipper to finish the pillow.

I couldn't make just one of these pillows, though. Once the blue one was finished, I decided to make a green one, too. Again, I used very similar fabric layout and even cut into my precious Suzuko Koseki striped fabric for the border.

 Both of these covers fit a 16" x 16" pillow form and are happily living in our bedroom now. They surely do brighten things up, and I'm all for that.

Hope you all have a very lovely week ahead of you. Svetlana