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Showing posts from May, 2026

My most memorable quilt portraits (and the stories behind them)

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When you've been blogging about quilts for as long as I have, some photographs stay with you long after the quilts themselves have moved on. Since November 2009, I've shared nearly two thousand blog posts and taken at least ten times as many photos of my quilts, scraps, quilted items, and my scrappy quilting process. This collection of most memorable quilt portraits is not a list of my best quilts. Instead, these are the five quilt photos that earn a special place in my memory. And then there's one photograph that doesn't feature a quilt, but a series of luggage tags that I make of scraps. I can’t tell why I like this photo so much! Consider it a bonus photo on my list. Here are the 5 quilt portraits and one surprise favourite photo of quilted items, and the stories behind them. 1 – “Heading North” on a pier For more than 20 years, my family has had a favourite holiday place – a rented cottage on a Finnish lake. Many summers, we’ve stayed there for a week or two, ...

Splendid colour tips for quilting: Using black 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 black in quilts What to watch out for, and ways to use black to effect in quilting Practical examples from my own quilts and quilted items  Black is categorised as an achromatic colour together with grey and white. They are void of colour, and we quilters usually call them “neutrals”. Psychologically, black represents power, luxury, sophistication and elegance. Luxury brands use black to convey an image of professionalism, strength, and precision. An interesting possibility to consider: since black projects an image of professionalism, a stylishly black quilt might be a smart choice for a professional quilter’s advertisement. What to watch out for when using black Contrast does the work in quilts even though colour gets the credit. One might think t...

Meet my new quilted zipper bag called Tribal

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Happy Saturday, and welcome to meet the latest make from my sewing studio! This is a modern quilting blog focused on patchwork, scrappy quilts, zipper pouches, quilted bags, colour theory, and practical quilting tutorials. Today’s entry in the quilt studio diary introduces a finished project: a quilted zipper bag called Tribal. Dear Daughter suggested the name because she saw in something tribal-like in the pattern in the narrow strip just below the half-square triangles on this side: I can also share two process pictures. First, the surfaces just after I’d put them together. You can see that they aren’t even properly pressed yet: All of the half-square triangles in the surfaces must be leftovers from making the Busy quilt, for which I’ve also released a pattern. A week after taking that photo, I had quilted the surfaces and trimmed them to size. I chose intersecting curves for quilting pattern. I got the pattern idea originally from my IG friend Alfhild @alborve and it is ...

The latest finish: May Day quilted zipper bag

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Happy Thursday, and it’s time to have a look at my sewing studio! This is a modern quilting blog focused on patchwork, scrappy quilts, zipper pouches, quilted bags, colour theory, and practical quilting tutorials. Today, I’ll share a recently finished project: a quilted zipper bag called May Day. This zipper bag got that name because I finished it in time to enjoy the May Day celebrations which are a big thing in Finland. I love the spring! Since I started blogging, I’ve grown to love the months that offer a lot of daylight even more than I used to because my makes look so much nicer in well-lit photos. Before looking at the other side of the May Day zipper bag, let’s go back in time to the moment when I’d built a small, rectangular surface and realised that I could make it more interesting. I found a large half-square triangle, sewn goodness knows when, and cut it mercilessly in half. The pieces looked good for making new corners for my original surface: In the photo, you ma...