needle book

Remember those little improv blocks I made a few days back? Well, I found use for one of then and turned it into a sweet little needle book.

The block itself wasn't large enough so I added a small patchwork of 1" finished  squares to the back. Fun, isn't it?

I went with a different closure than what I usually do. I love this little magnetic snap - it holds the needle book closed without me having to deal with loops and buttons.

I can't wait to put this little cutie to work. Svetlana

dots {a finished quilt}

Unfortunately I'm incredibly useless when it comes to naming my quilts so this one is simply called Dots :) If you, however, have a good name for this quilt please let me know, I would love your input.

This quilt is all about  Kona Snow, a variety of low volume fabrics for the sashing, and a few pretty scraps.

I fused my circles (using Heat n Bond) to the background and did two rows of stitching all the way around the circles. Easy peasy :)

I then did an uneven, sort of wonky cross hatch quilting all over which gave the quilt a beautiful texture and feel.

Finished size of this quilt is 51" x 57".

I'm thinking a similar quilt showcasing my few very precious Munki Munki scraps would definitely be a great idea. If only there were more than 24 hours in a day :)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Svetlana

large scale improv

...doing more improv piecing, only on a much larger scale this time.

 Let's hope it will turn out the way it looks in my head :)

Svetlana

patchworking

It's been a while since I've done any sort of improv piecing, I almost forgot how fun and freeing it can be.

So, I pulled out some scraps over the weekend and got cutting, and sewing, and pressing...

...and sewing some more while making quite a mess all around me - improv sewing is a very messy business :)

Now I have five quite different blocks and no exact plan on what to do with them. Any ideas?

I also made two blocks (using this wonderful tutorial) for Aneela's quilt.

And, I made one star block for Marika who's making three quilts for three special little girls (you can read more about their tragic loss here). I'm planning on making at least two more blocks for these sweet little girls just as soon as I decide on the pattern.

By the way, both Marika and Chelsey are still accepting more blocks if you'd like to help.

Hope you all have a very lovely day. Svetlana

house placemats

Hello, happy Friday to you all.

Today you can find me over at Ellison Lane Quilts. I'm sharing a tutorial for these fun house placemats as part of Jennifer's Patchwork Summer Series.

 

Hope to see you there. Svetlana

flowering snowball {in progress}

As soon as Mary (Molly Flanders) announced Flowering Snowball quilt along I knew I had to join in. I've been admiring Mary's amazing work for such a long time and seeing her gorgeous flowering snowball quilt top made me want to drop everything and start one of my own.

And so I did. I finished these eight blocks last night. I must admit I was quite intimidated by all the curves at first and I approached my first block with some trepidation :)

But, these blocks are fun, and not a nightmare at all !!! I'm not pinning my curves, I only pin when joining the final two long seams to make sure the middle square is not off.

I'm using this stack of pastel pretties for the quilt. I was very tempted to go bright and scrappy but I'm already making a bright and scrappy wedding ring quilt. I'm hoping this quilt will have that sort of vintage feel once finished. Fingers crossed :)

In case you'd like to join in the fun Mary has posted  templates on her blog. I made my templates out of freezer paper. They are not as durable as some other options could be, but I love the fact that they stick to my fabric. It makes cutting precise blocks a lot easier. At least for me.

Each block is 12" finished, so I'm thinking I'll make a 5 x 5 layout which should make for a nicely sized throw quilt. 

Talk to you soon. Svetlana

divided basket

My mom is the most creative person I have ever known. She's been into all kinds of crafts over the years but lately it's all about crochet. And, to my horror, she uses a plain old plastic bag to hold her wips !!!

I decided it was time to dump the plastic bag and made my mom a divided basket (pattern here) to keep her crochet in. I even adjusted the pocket and made a few extra skinny slots for crochet hooks or needles.

Look, here are a few of the newest toys my mom made for my kids. Aren't they the sweetest? You can see more of her crochet gorgeousness here.

I used beautifully soft gray corduroy for the base of the basket, pocket fabric is by Juliana Horner. I simply adore this shade of blue. I think it plays with gray and yellow quite well, too.

Two of my absolute favorite features are the handles (fabric wraps around the webbing) and the divider of course. Anna is such a sewing genius. I seem to be repeating myself when I talk about her patterns but they really are so flawlessly written and easy to follow. I would very highly recommend you give this basket, or any other of her patterns, a try.

Thanks for stopping by. Svetlana

patchwork placemats

I've been meaning to make a set of placemats for my mom for almost a year now. Every time I wanted to start though, I got stuck on what fabric to use.

Last night, as I was once again going through my stash trying to find just the right fabrics, I realized the beautiful fabric bundle I put together for Cindy's shop would be perfect for my mom.

I cut twelve 2.5" squares out of each FQ and decided to arrange all squares the same way for each placemat.  I was so very tempted to use gray fabric for the middle but decided to go with Kona Stone instead as I'm pretty sure my mom prefers this beigey color over gray.

I used two different brown (my mom's favorite color) fabrics for the backing and bound each placemat as I would bind a quilt.

Each placemat finishes at 12" x 16.5" and I followed my tutorial (which you can find here) to make them.

I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out and hope my parents will actually use them - previous placemats I sent them are used for decoration only :)

Hope you're all having a very lovely day. Svetlana

Linking up to Finish it up Friday.

scrappy sixteen patch

I love making happy scrappy baby quilts. So, the other day I grabbed a stack of already cut 2.5" squares in array of colors and got to sewing. I had no precise plan in mind, I simply sewed the squares together to make scrappy sixteen patches. The only "rule" I tried to follow was not to put the same fabric /shade next to each other.

I was chain piecing my squares and before I knew it I had 10 sixteen patches all finished. All that scrappiness needed some room to breathe, so I decided to alternate scrappy blocks with polka dotty ones. I think polka dots make all the colors pop and become even brighter.

I also tried a new kind of FMQ on this quilt. It's definitely not perfect, but I quite enjoyed quilting these giant flowers to fill up each square. 

I like the way flowers made each polka dotty square sort of pop after washing.

I enjoyed making this little quilt so much, I even started a boy version already :)

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

super tote

Last night I finished this Super Tote for a friend of mine.

I love the shape of this tote and how roomy it is. I think it will make a really nice summer bag for my friend who has four small kids and is constantly on the go.

I used Anna's pattern which you can buy here. And, just like all the other patterns and tutorials Anna writes, this one is superbly written and easy to follow. Just make sure you read ALL the directions, even the ones on interfacing. It will make the whole process go a lot more smoothly (speaking from experience here :)).

Zipper closure is always such a plus, I love bags that can be closed securely.

This tote has a nice large front pocket - I installed a magnetic snap closure to keep things from falling out.

There's also a giant pocket on the inside. I think it will be great to keep water bottles from tipping over inside the bag.

Now, this is not a quick, two hours and you're done bag. No, no! It takes time, and patience. But is totally worth all the extra effort and I would highly recommend you give it a go. I'm pretty sure I'll be making one for myself soon. I'd like to use solid linen for mine, something like the one Anna made a while back. My to do list seems to be getting bigger every day :)

Svetlana

pintuck wristlets

I'm a huge fan of Michelle Patterns. So, when teacher appreciation week at my children's school was just around the corner I went straight to Michelle's website to see what fun pattern I'd like to make.

I decided to make Pintuck Wristlets (with some modifications as I decided not to add straps and button decorations - mostly because I was seriously running out of time).

Unlike most of the people who sew, I find choosing fabric the most draining part, I prefer simply sewing all the time :). I already made quite a few pouches using Michelle's patterns so I knew what to expect.

I must admit though, I got completely stuck on pintucks. There were no precise instruction how to make them and I messed up a few times before I finally settled on a way to do them - maybe it was the fact I was not exactly sure what pintucks were ??? Anyway, once I got through that hurdle the rest of the clutches came together rather effortlessly. And, most importantly, my kids' teachers loved them.  

Plus, I really love the size of these wristlets, they could probably be used as clutches, too. I'm thinking one more Pintuck Wristlet just for me is in my near future :)

Hope you all have an amazing rest of the day. Svetlana