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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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Finished: Community Garden – a scrappy, quilted wall textile

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This is a modern quilting blog focused on patchwork, scrappy quilts, zipper pouches, quilted bags, colour theory, and practical quilting tutorials. 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. Today’s finished creation is Community Garden / Siirtolapuutarha, a square, scrappy, quilted wall textile that features beautiful Kaffe Fassett precuts: Let’s go back in time to February, when I was still working on the quilt top. I shared photos of the whole process in my How it started – and how it’s going post back then. The post closed with an image of the completed scrappy centre piece, which reminded me of Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition,” which Emerson, Lake and Palmer adapted and recorded as well. In that post, I also promised to update you on my idea for the surroundings for the centre piece “soon”. I could have done so because I finished th...
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