Happy 2019, my friends!

Thank you for joining me on this wonderful sewing and quilting journey!

I am so grateful for your fidelity and support!

❤

Have a beautiful 2019, 

my dear friends and clients!

P.S.

Stay tuned! New sewing pattern on the road!

Summer Sorbet between Autumn and Winter

And here we are at the beginning of the penultimate month of this year. Just between the sumptuous golden Autumn and the whimsical silver white Winter.

The project I want to share with you today is a quilted table topper I just finished.

The pattern is Summer Sorbet by Geta Grama, the block variant without borders.

I confess that I started to work with a heavy heart. I have avoided for a long time piecing together octagons, trapezoids, and triangles.

I never thought that this could be an easy job. But it really was easy. Because Geta gives a lot of useful instructions and images, and above all, she gives a lot of tips in order to prevent mistakes.

There are also illustrated suggestions for finding the best quilting design and what I much appreciated - printable pages for trying different quilting designs. Very useful, as you might see.

Working on my table topper was a relaxing activity.

Thank you, Geta! Your pattern is really good!

Have a beautiful sewing day, my friends!

new quilt, new beginning

I'm still in the neutrals mood.
I managed to start another quilt, using the fabrics left from the other quilt I made.
This time I'm playing adding a few drops of red and blue into the layout made out from strips and rectangles.

And as we are in the middle of the summer, I wish you to

Have a beautiful sewing day or a fun vacation!

Bulky Alphabet Printable

I like to add applique words to bags, pouches, T-shirts, pillow covers. Last year I created a set of capital letters that helped me to sew a lot of beautiful gifts for my friends.

Today I share with you a brand new set of capital letters, I named it Bulky (I think it's obvious why).

Creating it, my main aim was to make the design so that when stitching one letter in place to go all the way around without cutting the thread when moving from the exterior to the interior edge.

The first test was this simple beach bag I made for this occasion.

I chose this applique word because Summer is my favorite season when I keep thinking about the seaside and waves, and blue sky, and shells... That's why I limited the color palette to this beautiful blue.
I used the 2" reversed templates of the letters and the star symbol. 

The star symbol and - & - are the bonuses I added to this Alphabet template. They will help you to create a lot of layout variants of your words, names, phrases. 

So If you plan some projects needing applique letters, maybe the Bulky Alphabet Capital Letters Template will help you. It waits for you here.

Enjoy your work and have a beautiful day 

my dears!

a sneak peek at the finished Racetrack Quilt

I finished the Racetrack Quilt.
I used for quilting straight lines following the patchwork design units but regarding their density, I composed an irregular grid of vertical and horizontal lines to avoid the quilt getting a stiff, static look.
Here is only a sneak peek at the quilt.

More details about the quilt, in a future post.

Have a beautiful day, my dears!



  

The Racetrack - New quilt in progress

I just finished a quilt for which I used only neutral prints and solids. A little bit warm neutral, a little bit cold neutral, a little bit white and a little bit black, trying to give balance to the whole composition.

I made a few quilt designs and I chose the one that suggests a racetrack. 

Working on the test quilt I liked that it was easy to make. Piecing only squares and rectangles. It needs only attention not to mess up the order in which they are sewn.

The variations that I have searched for the fabric choice confirmed that the quilt layout looks good in other combination of colors and prints too.

And I have one more mention: the Racetrack quilt is Jelly Roll friendly.

It's that kind of design that can be used both for large quilts and small quilts, by simply assembling more or fewer bloks or units. Also, it might be the perfect choice for a boy or man quilt.

I confess that knowing what hard it is to find a design when you have to sew a quilt for a man or boy, I have in mind to stay a while in this niche making more designs for quilts for the boys/men rooms.

The quilt top is ready. Now, to the big step - the quilting.

In the picture above the quilt lies flat. The quilt design gives the illusion of roundness. It's interesting that in reality, this illusion is not as obvious as in the picture.

Have a beautiful day, my friends!

Linking up with  Finish it up Friday!
                         Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Rustic Chair Pads

My kitchen chair pads needed new covers for a long time.
I took two orphans from my pattern testing blocks box and decided to give them life as tops for the new chair pad covers. A few pieces of red fabric and two zippers helped me to make two of the most cheerful reasons to like the time I spend in my kitchen.

No quilting, no batting. Only the good old patchwork.

And as the beauty is in the imperfection, it does not bother me that the red-white little squares of the gingham pieces of fabric do not match each other.

The name of the block I used is Country Home. Easy and quick to make.

How about you? Do you plan to sew something new for your home this year?

Heave a lot of beautiful sewing days, my dears!

Linked to Finish it up Friday!

Welcome 2018! - Anahata quilt

The heart chakra, or Anahata in its original Sanskrit name, colors our life with compassion, love, and beauty.

Anahata is unifying chakra. It is the healing center.

It means living your life with loving kindness and compassion towards others. It means that your heart is open to others and you inspire kindness and compassion in others. It is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity.

Anahata moves love through our life.

Its color is green, higher energy frequencies can turn to pink.

We are used that an effect is produced by the confrontation of two opposite forces.

At the level of Anahata chakra appears the possibility to integrate the two opposite forces without the two forces to be confronted. The energy is specific to cooperation and integration, which brings peace and a new perspective in a world which, up to this level was made only of a more or less conscious confrontation between opposing forces. 

So, these being said, I hope you understand why I considered a challenging task to make a quilt illustrating the symbol of Anahata. The friend who asked me to do it is a lovely person and I could not refuse. 

The quilt should have been ready before the winter holidays, but I could not decide which quilting technique would be more appropriate.

One big question was also: To use a single fabric or more?

Using more fabrics, the quilt would definitely come out, more appealing, more vibrant. Paper piecing or applique would probably have been the most suitable sewing technique. 

But reading, again and again, the meaning of the Anahata symbol, I realized that, this way it would be more difficult to express its essential traits: balance, calmness, and serenity.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that a wholecloth quilt is the most appropriate form of expression: I will use a single fabric, in the defining color of the symbol, green, and a single thread color with which I will draw/stitch/quilt the contours of the elements. And as I had to suggest the invisible energy flows and one of the seven main wheels of energy (chakras), I used a color of thread having a low degree of visibility as against the background. 

For background, I chose to use quilting with straight lines, in various orientations, in order to express the confrontation between opposing forces of the life. Their density is similar with the density of the rounded lines inside the symbol, in order to require more time for the eye to separate the details of the Anahata symbol from those of the background, just as the knowledge of one's own self is a process that requires time, willpower, patience, and depth in thinking and senses.

In choosing the green shade I had a practical reason: it is a friendly shade with a wide range of colors, so it can help to create a welcoming interior.

One more thing about the thread:  I used Mako NE 50/2 from Aurifil, which was a real performer of this quilt.

There was no need to change any settings on the sewing machine. The thread never broke. It worked wonderfully.

Aurifil thread has a soft shining and blends so well with the fabric.

It is indeed a quality thread. Free motion quilting with it was a real pleasure.

All in all, Anahata is a special quilt, as the meaning of its elements guides the aesthetic expression and precedes it in terms of importance. That's why at first glance it may go unnoticed. 

But for the future owner of this pillow - because this way it will be used - I'm sure it will become one of the most loved pieces of decoration in her new home.

Have a beautiful year, my dears!