Tilkunviilaaja®

Today, I will share some of my “quilt thinking” and reflections on one of my earlier quilts. This is one of my first quilts, and it’s called Winter Apples / Talviomenoita: I was inspired by a quilt-along that Crazy Mom Quilts started in the spring of 2009. The quilt-along made me wonder if I could make a quilt if I followed her lead and sewed one block per day until I had enough for a quilt top? Turns out that I did! Though I did not sew one block per day along the quilt-along. This is the first picture of this quilt project, and one of the few that I took: I didn’t have a blog or a proper digital camera, and quilt photos were thus a rare thing for me back then. When I look at the quilt blocks now, I would like to re-do some of my nine-patch blocks so that they would all have enough value contrast. Especially the ones that look more like a “square-in-a-square" blocks! The centers of the nine-patches are of an extremely long piece of fabric that I bought in 200...

Are you planning to make your first quilt – or perhaps dream of making one? Go for it, but please don’t make the three mistakes that I made! When I decided to sew my first proper-sized quilt in the mid-1990s, I made three big mistakes - but I was able to finish the quilt: Be smarter than I was and learn from my early experiences! Mistake 1: Cutting with scissors. In the mid-1990's, quilting became visible in the sewing magazines that I subscribed to. I fell in love with the modern, colourful look and decided to make a quilt for our new bedroom. But because I wasn’t sure if quilting was going to be a lasting thing for me, I also decided NOT to buy any special tools. They were expensive, and I already had the cost of fabric to consider. And anyway, what was the use of investing in tools that I might only use for one project? So, what did I end up doing? I’d selected a relatively quick pattern based on strips. Meaning, it would have been a quick make if I’d had pr...

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...