Monday, September 15, 2014

irish chain {in progress}


I started, and even finished, a new quilt top over the weekend (pattern can be found in this book) . As you can imagine, there was some serious marathon sewing involved :)


At first I was quite intimidated by how very precise all the seams needed to be. Those green squares finish at 3/4" so even the slightest discrepancy in seam allowances would show right away.


At the end though I found the repetitive nature of piecing these blocks together quilt therapeutic and enjoyable.

Hope you all had a great weekend too. Svetlana

Saturday, September 6, 2014

scrap eater {a finished quilt}


I finished my Scrap Eater quilt. Fun, isn't it? And just like the name suggests I only used scraps to make this quilt top.


I used this wonderful tutorial to make my blocks (they each finished at 12" x 12") and I absolutely love that even though I used scraps of every size and color, the finished quilt still looks cohesive - well, sort of crazily cohesive but I think it works :)


Here it is during basting stage. Oh, I do love a perfectly flat, zero wrinkles, freshly basted quilt top very much indeed.


My plan at first was to do an all over spiral quilting like I did on this quilt a while back. After just a few minutes of pretty poor quilting and wrestling this beast I decided to scrap that plan and rip out all the stitches ... plan b, continuous eights to the rescue :)


My eights are about 4" tall and I was happy to see that even after washing and drying this quilt stayed pretty flat. Last time I tried this quilting pattern I made my eights smaller and a lot denser which probably caused the quilt to crinkle up more than I'd prefer.


I used this beautiful lime (and blue) giant dots Marimekko fabric for the backing. And since I live close to Crate and Barrel outlet store I bought it at an incredible sale price of $3.98 a yard !!!!


I couldn't choose just one fabric for the binding so I copied my quilting hero Amanda Jean and went scrappy. I think it adds just the right finishing touch.



The quilt finished at 72" x 72". And yes, I still have tons of scraps left over, but on that next time :)

Wishing you all a very lovely weekend. Svetlana

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

around the world blog hop

Hello, happy Monday to you all.

Welcome to my stop on Around the World Blog Hop (thanks Beth for inviting me :)) where different bloggers share a little glimpse into their creative process by answering a few questions.

***********
What am I working on?

The biggest project I'm working on right now is my large improv patchwork quilt. I loved piecing this top using limited color palette and decided hand quilting will make a lovely addition to this otherwise quite minimalist design.


I also finished piecing my Scrap Eater quilt top and I'm planning on doing a circular machine quilting on this beast :) Hope it will work out well.


And then there's my Double Wedding Ring quilt. I have all the arches done but of course I underestimated how long all the other piecing will take. I decided it's okay to take it easy and enjoy the process instead of rushing it which means it will be quite a while before I have some significant progress to show.


How does my work differ from the others?

Now, this is a hard question to answer. All I can come up with is that I try to make what I like and what makes me happy. So, that means a piece of me and my style is definitely put into my projects and hopefully that makes them "mine" and slightly different from all the others.


Why do I write/ create what I do?

I create because I enjoy it, sewing gives me something that's completely totally my own - dishes have to be done, laundry and dinner made, but no one will go hungry if I don't make yet another quilt :). It calms me down (seriously) and relaxes me. I love getting lost in all the planning and plotting, and looking through my stash to find just the right fabric.


...yes, sewing does make me happy :)


How does my writing/ creative process work?

I usually just have an idea and I have to start working on it as soon as it pops in my head. And then I change my mind a thousand times before I finally settle on what I'm actually making.

Also, I never cut all the fabric for the quilt at once. I cut as I go, adding and subtracting fabric depending on what feels right.

Now it's your turn. If you'd like to take part in this blog hop simply write a post answering these four questions:

   1. What am I working on?
     2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
     3. Why do I write/create what I do?
     4. How does my writing/creating process work?


Thank you all so much for reading. Talk to you soon. Svetlana
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