before the year is over

There is still a few hours of 2015 left (well, about 15, if you live in my time zone), so I'd better show you my last quilt of this year.
I'm hoping to write a bit more about the process, as again I started with a very different idea for this quilt, but lets leave it for another time. For now, let me present... orange pickle:

pieced with my most treasured fabrics,

backed with my favourite Ikea print and with the obligatory pieced strip ;)

and if you look very, very closely you can even see that it's hand quilted.

So, hopefully, see you here some time next year for all the fun facts about the quilt (e.g. the top is pieced with 432 petal shapes and 864 "half-frame" shapes ;)) and in the meantime:

Happy New Year!

summer quilt

Finished at the beginning of summer, gifted at the end of summer, the summer quilt is finally with its intended recipient and I've even been able to hand it to him (well, maybe not so much hand as show, but he did grab a corner for a moment), so now I can show it to you, too.
Here's the front:

and the back full of dots:

and a bit of quilting in progress, because it was such a beautiful sunny day and it looked like I might have managed to mix summer and sun and joy into the quilt:

But the best shot, I think you'll agree, is the one I didn't take but received with permission to show you all:

it's that time again...

...time to air a bit this dusty blog of mine, encourage the spiders to weave their webs somewhere else, vacuum the rug (uh, wait, that last one might be about my flat rather than the blog) and show you what I've been up to.

And the answer is not much, but still there are two finished quilts to share.

First, the bigger one.

I actually finished it some time in May, but I didn't want to show it here before the intended owner saw it. Now that he's taken it home, you can see it too:

and the back:

I quilted pebbles on the blue border and wavy lines on the blocks and although I'd been initially a bit hesitant about the effect of this kind of quilting in white thread on dark background, I have to say I like the end result.

And, what's always the most important for me, the recipient seems to like the quilt.

As for the second quilt, it's still waiting to be gifted, but I hope I'll be forgiven for posting this sneak peek:

2015 Finish Along - Q2

I realize that my blog has recently been more about "maybe" than about "a quilt", but hopefully this is going to change this quarter, as my plan is to work on:

1. sort-of-traditional - a quilt with two different kinds of simple blocks set on point:

The top is actually almost finished now, just top and bottom borders to add, but it still needs backing and then of course quilting.

2. it's mine - an orange peel quilt that will stay here with us and for which I'm using my most treasured fabrics:

The units are 3.5" to make the 4-unit blocks 6" (finished size), so I have lots and lots more to stitch, but they are fun to make.

3. 100years... cushion - I think by now we can safely say that I'm not patient enough to EPP a whole quilt, but I should be able to make a cushion cover:

That's more like it, don't you think?

lace knitting

Ever since I became aware of lace knitting I've wanted to try my hand at it.
Although I can stare for hours at triangular shawls like haruni, I thought it would be a bit more practical to make something that would still be lace but that could double as a more casual scarf, and the seascape stole pattern looked just the thing.

So here it is in its a bit wobbly lace glory:

But it can also be worn like this:

And yes, it also happens to be a finish from the list

skirts are probably not my thing

... or more precisely, sewing skirts is probably not my thing. Still, this one has been on my Finish Along list for quite a long time and it's a relief to be finally able to tick it off.

  It does look rather funny but it's comfortable, so not a total disaster.

the third one

... as in the third finished project this year, although it is actually made of a few firsts:
- my first serious needleturn appliqué
- my first hand quilted cushion
- the first project from the list

I used the appliqué method from Sarah Fielke's craftsy lessons and I enjoyed it very much.
I tend to avoid special products if I can get away with what I have on hand, but for a bigger project I'd probably cave in and buy a more appropriate kind of glue than my, lets face it, a bit old uhu stick, so that I could stitch on the train without worrying about loosing some of the pieces.
Sarah has a lovely pattern to go with the lesson, but I wanted to try something of my own. Sticking the petals in the right places was a bit tricky I must admit, so I ended up adding one more little petal to bring the poppy back to shape, but I think it's not too bad for the first try.

I'm also quite proud of this little circle stitched totally freehand.

I wanted something red for the back, but not solid red, and I remembered I still had quite a bit of this fabric:

Hope my aunt likes it.

raspberry honey

... probably doesn't exist apparently exists, but what I have in mind is the honey cowl in a colour I hope we can agree is somewhat like raspberries, although it's very difficult to show it in photos.

I thought I'd show it to you on a person (just me I'm afraid, not my sister-in-law who received it a few minutes later).

There is just one small thing not exactly right with this photo, but fortunately the wrong side of the cowl is quite presentable, too.

This is actually the second thing I managed to finish in January (and it's from the list too), but the first one is still waiting for a better photo. I might show you the third one in the meantime.

2015 Finish Along - Q1

Even if I'm not very good at finishing what I planned, I still think Finish Along is fun, so let me show you my list for this quarter. 

1. Poppy cushion: I promised my aunt a cushion and since she left the choice of fabric and style to me, I'm going for needleturn appliqué this time.

This is a bit of an experiment, as I ever only stitched rather wobbly circles onto one block a long time ago and I have no idea if the shapes I used for the poppies aren't too fiddly for this technique but I'm excited to try. I might add a leaf too, and I need to decide if I want to add something more to the background and of course after stitching it and quilting turn it into a cushion.

2. 100 years quilt: I started this more than a year ago, made three blocks with the centre half teal half pink and the "circle" half black half light, but it wasn't really working for me. So I pulled the half apart and I'm thinking about dividing the whole quilt into light with pink and grey and dark with blue and possibly yellow/green.

As the name of the quilt suggests, I won't probably finish it this quarter, but I'm keeping it here to remember to at least make some progress on it.

3. Seascape stole: Rolled over from the previous quarter, this is almost done, so hopefully I'll be showing it off quite soon.

4. Honey cowl for SIL: One more knitting project and I'd like to finish this before winter ends (although with +8C right now it's already too warm for it, but it might get colder in February again)

It's pretty hard to capture the colours, but I'm using two kinds of red in my favourite soft and squishy alpaca.

5. The denim skirt: I can't quite believe I haven't finished this one yet, but hopefully this time. 

So 5 projects it is, let's see how it goes. And now, before it's too late, I'd better link it to:

2014 catching up {the big finish}

I can safely say that quilting-wise the last quarter of 2014 was devoted to this one quilt. But I hope that we can equally safely say it was well worth it.
As always, the most important thing is that the recipient likes it (yay, I'm so happy). But I also really really enjoyed making it.
 

When the quilt top was ready I got this notion that hand quilting would really suit it, and I'm happy I stuck to it. There is something very relaxing in hand quilting.

For the back I chose a text that I knew my friend would laugh at and one that would bring back memories of our Swedish classes. And just to make it a bit more Swedish related (as the text is in Polish), the letters are based on the Sweden's official font.

I did plan the overall look, with the dark centre and white "petals" in the middle, and with dark "petals" on the edges, but I still wanted to keep it a bit random, so I didn't spend too much time on choosing fabric for each block. 

The binding is mainly in solid greys, with a bit of denim blue and a few plaid pieces.

So this is my biggest finish from the 4Q FAL list. Hope you like it, too. 

2014 catching up {the cushioning...}

...OK, maybe just {the cushions}.
Anyway, there are two cushions (or pillows if you prefer) I haven't shown you here yet.

The first one is the one I made for Kasia for our almost Christmas swap.
One side is all about spring (sporting my trusty potted sprouts):

The other side is a calmer winter landscape - with an improv take on trees in deep snow:
 

The second cushion, made from a lovely pattern from Julka's last minute Christmas Sampler
was really a last minute Christmas gift for my Mum:

last minute photo, too

2014 catching up {the swapping}

A long, long time ago, about last spring, there was this happy swap.
You might have read about it on Susan's blog, you might have noticed my happy comments but I'm ashamed you have never seen the photos on my blog.
And I got so lucky with what I received. Pieced with the coolest fabrics I've always wanted to see in person, combined with linen and hand stitching it is just perfect, and as so many of Susan's makes, it is a project that seems so happy and full of joy.
See what I mean:

It resides on the "armless armchair" in my sewing corner. 

2014 catching up {the knitting}

Once upon a time, a long time ago, about last October, I finished the mittens from my 4Q FAL list and even managed to see them in use, so it's high time I showed them to you as well.

 

..................
There is one more knitting project (not from the list this time) I'd like to show you as it was my first try on brioche stitch - a simple cowl.
I wasn't sure how long the cowl should be so I knitted it as a would a shawl:

no, I didn't use those big long needles on the train

and the I stitched the ends together to form a Möbius strip.

It may not look like much, but I wish you could touch it - it's so soft, light and squishy.