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Looking back: the Gone with the Wind quilt from 2013

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Today, it’s time again to share some of my “quilt thinking” and reflections on one of my earlier quilts, and today’s quilt is Gone with the Wind / Tuulen viemää from 2013. When I look at Gone with the Wind now, I notice immediately that quite a few blocks repeat the same fabrics. My present-day me would probably pick more fabric variety! A larger selection of fabrics might make the quilt even more interesting to the eye, and in that sense, the quilt might be “better”. But I’m very happy with the choices that I made back then. Though I was inspired by a quilt image, I figured out the actual block measurements myself because I was still working with a centimeter ruler! I never even tested the original tutorial by Coriander Quilts, so I don’t know if there is a big difference between my measurements and theirs. Though I always wanted quick progress back then, but I still took the time to make t est blocks. I made four versions before I was happy with the proportions. These were t...
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Three quilting projects on my sewing table (Quilt studio diary)

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My quilt studio has been unusually quiet since mid-August. First, I spent a relaxing summer vacation at a cottage/villa by a small lake, then had a short mini-break in a hotel, and then my first working week included a lot of activity and a few long days. The first quilting project by the lake was a hand-sewing one. I made hexagons out of scraps using the English paper piecing method and cardboard shapes that I've made many years ago. Though most hexies don't have a specific role yet, some are already attached together into small pieces that I’ll later use as details on my zipper bags. Here’s one example: Of course many of the hexies will become the end pieces for the zippers in pouches that I make for my Open series. Second quilting project. Back at home, when I finally had the energy and opportunity, I worked tenaciously to finish all the nine-patch blocks that I still needed for the quilt surface. I cut squares, sewed nine-patches and pressed. Here are the last 16 bl...
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Splendid colour tips for quilters: Using multicoloured, patterned fabrics

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There are quilters who avoid using many multicoloured, patterned fabrics together because combining them feels daunting. Many address this challenge by purchasing curated sets of multicoloured fabrics because the designer has already done the matching. However, combining a variety of fabrics from a variety of designers does not have to be a problem. In this splendid colour tips post, you will find my quilt thinking on the topic of multicoloured, patterned fabrics: what to watch out for when using many such fabrics together and how to use them successfully. What to watch out for when using multicoloured, patterned fabrics Your worst enemy is chaos – unless you are looking for a chaotic effect. My process when making the Goodwill Among Neighbours quilt is an example of how multicoloured patterned fabrics may not always want to play together just like that. I deliberately chose pretty strange combinations of fabrics to some of the blocks thinking that a simple, geometric block wil...
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They can’t all be winners: 5 quilting projects I wouldn’t make again

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A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post where a quilter shared a finish. She mentioned being vaguely unhappy with it even though there wasn’t anything wrong with the blocks and the design. I’m pretty sure that most of us have experienced something similar. Looking at a quilty finish and thinking “this may be okay, but I am so done with this: never again”! Of my around 640 quilting projects, these are five that I would not re-make. I’ve analysed the core reasons and shared my learnings. Spectrolite: Problems all along Many years ago, I enjoyed a fun sew-together Saturday with my quilting guild. One of us shared a clever sew-and-cut method for creating a quilt block. I’d seen a quilt that she had made and oh, it looked so good! I wanted to make something as nice as that one! Because I didn’t quite understand value contrast back then, many blocks had too much of it while others didn’t have enough. I used patterned fabrics which read darker than I thought. But the begi...
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