Geta's Quilting Studio new website

Hello, my friends!

I have good news for you!

One of the most talented and creative quilters, Geta Grama, just launched her new website

 http://www.getasquiltingstudio.com/

Besides many ideas, free quilt designs, tutorials, and tips, you will find there her precise, detailed and clear patterns for quilts, bags, fabric boxes and for a lot of useful and quick projects.

Click here

Click here

Click here

You will not leave her website empty-handed.

Click here to access Geta's blog

I'm sure you will want to come back over and over again to her website. Geta is a good teacher too and you will learn a lot from her quality posts.
Keeping in touch with her  is super-easy and rewarding: if you will subscribe to her newsletters you will have access to a library with over 50 free designs and to other surprises that Geta prepares occasionally for her subscribers.

Go to convince yourselves!

Have a beautiful day, my dears!

Tenacious of Life - working on a new quilt design

My mom needs new decorative pillows. As I am working on a new quilt design, I took the opportunity to test it by making her a pillow cover . The only condition was to use assorted colors with the room.
I was happy with it, mainly because this meets one of my goals: creating designs equally suitable for objects intended for men. These colors were perfect from this point of view.

About the inspiration source: an old Romanian traditional rug.

About the name - Tenacious of life - it came into my mind quite easily. It's related to one of my favorite characters of the classic literature: Jane Eyre from the Charlotte Bronte's novel of the same name.

Mr. Rochester questioning Jane:

"You have been resident in my house three months?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you came from -- ?"
"From Lowood school, in -shire."
"Ah! a charitable concern. How long were you there?"
"Eight years."
"Eight years! you must be tenacious of life. I thought half the time in such a place would have done up any constitution!

And that was it!
I thought that nothing would be better than this name.

I have to see how this design will look by using other colors.
The tests must go on.
But first, let's finish my mom pillow cover!

Have a beautiful day, my dears!

I'm linking to Finish it up Friday!

Opposites Attract Blog Hop - Country Home pillow cover

This is the third day of the Opposites Attract blog hop, hosted by Marian, here.
The challenge is to use only three colors and keep the project under 35 x 50".
Here is my project:

Country Home pillow cover

pattern by Mihaela Alexandrescu (me)

17" x 17"

The first impulse was to express the theme through the colors: two complementary colors on the white background. But I liked too much how this warm green and navy blue looks together. Because they are both cold colors I expressed the complementarity in the way they participate to the layout: placing them symmetrically, facing each other.

When I designed the quilting I continued the theme, on the one hand, by alternating the straight lines with the curved lines and on the other hand, by alternating the surfaces with different quilting density.

The binding relaxes the whole composition. It gathers all the three colors but refuses the opposition. Even if it was also about attraction in there :) One corner is a little different than the others. No more symetry!

Thanks for stopping by!

Don't forget to check out the other participants of the blog hop!

June 03

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
A beautiful day (me)
MooseStash Quilting
Patchwork Breeze

Here are the giveaways offered by Marian:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a beautiful day, my dears!

Opposites Attract Blog Hop

Today started Opposites Attract Blog Hop organized by Marian on her site Seams To Be Sew.

Here is the Full Schedule:

June 01
Tweety Loves Quilting
Quilt In A Not-Shell
Life in the Scrapatch
My Quilty Musings

June 02
DesertSky Quilting
RidgeTop Quilts
Words & Stitches
VROOMANS QUILTS

June 03
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
A beautiful day (me)
MooseStash Quilting
Patchwork Breeze

June 06
Ravelly1
Mary Mack’s Blog
Tea Time Creations
123 Quilt
Sew Many Yarns

June 07
ICANQUILT2
Marjorie’s Busy Corner
Finding myself as an artist
Seams To Be Sew

Check out these blogs to see the creative works of the participants and take advantage of the opportunity to win some goodies offered by the sponsors!

Have a beautiful day!

Urban Folk Quilt Pattern release

I am so happy to have this quilt pattern finished!

 I created the design inspired by a Romanian traditional handcrafted rug. In the same time, I wanted to get a quilt design suitable both for a girl and for a boy.For my tests, I chose the fabrics so that the quilt would go into a boy/man room. For the girl variant, I was pretty sure it would look fine. But for the boy variant, I had doubts. So I made these ones: here, here, here.

The quilt measures 16 ½" x 16 ½" before quilting and washing and it's scraps and strings friendly.

It's fast and easy to make. You need only a few hours to sew the quilt top. It's one of these perfect-weekend-projects.

The 19 pages of the pattern include:

-         instructions for cutting and preparing the units and piecing the blocks

-         detailed instructions and tips for piecing stripes without to bow once they are pieced together

-         step-by-step instructions for adding the binding

-         suggestions for layout variations

-         43 photos and diagrams

In order to give you an overall view of the pattern structure and to help you save time browsing, I inserted a Contents page right at the beginning of the pattern.

The materials needed are:

Top - four fabric fat quarters (you will not use them entirely);

Binding - one strip 2 ½ " x  80";

Backing fabric  -  19" x 19";

Batting - 19"x19"

Thank you, Kat, Bernie and Tessa for reviewing and testing the pattern! 

You have awesome souls and spirits!

The pattern is available in my pattern shop at a special price for a limited time.

To celebrate this launch, all my other patterns are also at a reduced price.

Have a beautiful day, my dears!

I am linking to Finish it up Friday!

Happy Scrappy Coasters

Yesterday.
I was too tired and bored. And I had a lot to do. I didn't know what to do first. And when I was just about to fall into the low spirit, a strong curiosity pushed me to the scraps box.
I forgot everything else and I started to piece a few of them and after a couple of hours, these four little coasters were done.

No stress, no thinking, no worries, nothing. Only playing. Pure playing.

I think, instinctively, my  brain chose the best therapy.

When I finished them I was so happy and fresh!

Maybe the saying "One nail drives out another" is true, after all.

Have a beautiful day, you too!

Linking to Finish it up Friday!