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Quilt projects on my sewing table in June (Quilt studio diary)

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Welcome to my quilt studio! Today, I’ll share two quilting projects that I’ve recently been working on in my sewing space. Project 1: X blocks into a quilt top First, here are almost all the X blocks that I needed for my latest quilt project. See the clips that hold them together? I got a box full of number and letter clips from my friend Soile for my birthday, to use for tagging blocks. There is one of each number from zero to ten, and then alphabets. That’s why I had to be a little creative when using the clips to mark how many blocks there were in each stack. L3 is obviously 13. That was easy enough, but when I’d made all the blocks I needed, I really had to stretch my creativity! Z0 = ten; LT = eleven; I4 = 14, and the upside down J together with 5 make fifteen. I got the idea for these blocks when sewing different X blocks for the “Swiftly Flew the Long-eared Herald” quilt. It took me a couple of tries to get the measurements right (I can see this from the pho...
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10+1 things you probably did not know about quilting

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When I started making this list, I wasn’t sure that I could come up with enough items, but as soon as I’d written down one, the rest came easily. Some of these 10+1 things may be familiar to you – they definitely aren’t secrets! Most items on this list are things that I wish someone had explained to me when I was a beginner quilter! So here they are: 10+1 things about quilting that you did not know – or at least haven’t stopped to think about in a while. 1. Fabric won’t mind if you do use it wrong side out. Because fabric has a “right side” and a “wrong side,” it takes me a bit of mental effort to consider using it the wrong side up. But if the wrong side of the fabric looks better for a project, we are allowed to use it that way. Sometimes the wrong side just looks better with the other fabrics. Ugly fabrics, for example! Or, the wrong side may be just that much lighter in value than its neighbours, and achieve good contrast. Here’s an example - both the lower two blocks in th...
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Finished: Swiftly Flew the Long-eared Herald quilt

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Happy Sunday! This post is one of my Quilt studio diary series, where I introduce my recently finished quilts and quilted items and share some thoughts about the process. Let me introduce a new quilt make: the Swiftly Flew the Long-eared Herald quilt: This quilt got its inspiration from an image of the Positive Vibes quilt pattern by Charisma Horton. I did not use a pattern: instead, I figured out the blocks and measurements that I needed. It took me around four weeks from the first test block to the finished quilt top. In other words, this was a quick (and fun) make – at least up until the top was finished. I did start slowly, by making a test block, but after I’d sewn 25 of those X blocks, I got better and faster and in no time (it seems), I had the blocks done. Here are my notes about the design phase of this quilt, in the post Finishing a scrappy quilt top quickly. Look it up if you’d like to know how I organised the blocks into a design that pleased my eye. One...
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Looking back: the Early to Rise quilt from 2015

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Today, I’ll share some of my “quilt thinking” and reflections on one of my earlier quilts. If you saw the post about my favourite quilts, you may remember the Early to Rise / Aamuvirkku quilt which I finished in 2015. I sewed it according to the free tutorial/pattern “Geese Migration” by Cynthia Brunz. I had four good reasons to be inspired by the tutorial/pattern: It gave me an opportunity to use scraps – though not extensively The pattern uses a neutral for background Even though the block repeats across the surface, the colours do not. I did not have to make many similar blocks (and indeed, all my blocks were different) The pattern uses a sew-and-flip method for making the flying geese block. Before this, I had only made them of two half-square triangles When I look at the  Early to Rise / Aamuvirkku quilt now, I immediately see that many of the flying geese blocks do not have enough value contrast: their colours blend into each other, and the block loses defini...
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Splendid colour tips for quilting: Pink colour in quilts

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This post is one of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share information to help you choose fabrics and colours for your quilts with more confidence. In this post, I’ll share My thoughts and helpful tips about using pink colour in quilts What to watch out for, and ways to use pink to effect in quilting Practical examples from my own quilts and quilted items Pink represents femininity, sweetness, innocence, fertility, and romance. Pink is often used when marketing services and products for women and girls. Pink is an interesting colour and word for me as a Finn. When I was younger, the word “pinkki” was not part of our vocabulary. Even now, we call pale pink “light red” and Pink Panther isn’t “Pinkki pantteri,” but “Light Red Panther”. Also, not having used the word makes it harder for me to recognise (or name) it with confidence. What to watch out for when using pink Some people cannot abide pink; I once heard a male colleague say that he would never, ever wear a pink sh...
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