Tilkunviilaaja®

This Quilt studio diary post is about something that I’ve learned to appreciate: starting a quilting project slowly. Especially when I’m developing my own measurements for a quilt that I’ve seen in a picture, a thoughtful beginning can help me later on. Ever since I started to make quilts, I’ve drawn inspiration from the beautiful works of other people. I’ve always liked to look at a picture and then figure out the block or blocks that are needed, measurements and all. I’ve only ever bought a handful of patterns – probably fewer than I’ve created myself. My latest project has been inspired by Charisma Horton’s quilt “Positive Vibes”. Rather than using her pattern itself, I explored the design on my own and figured out measurements that looked good to me. Designing my own version I liked what I saw as a combination of X blocks and four-patch-in-a-square blocks. Because I’ve had experience in creating an X block, I wanted to figure out my own pattern and measurements. These were...

In an earlier post I confessed that I rarely plan my quilts very much. But that does not mean there is no design process at all. Over the years I have used two very different ways to design a quilt surface. Traditional quilt design For the longest time, I thought that this was the only possible process for designing and sewing a quilt: 1. Choose a block design, perhaps two different ones 2. Choose the colours (and fabrics) for the block/blocks, which will all be similar. Note that this usually meant an expensive trip to the fabric store. 3. Cut all the pieces for the blocks 4. Sew the blocks, organise the blocks into a surface according to your plan or pattern and sew them together. 5. Design done, quilt top done. Somehow, this felt rather demanding, but I still believed that this was the way quilts were supposed to be designed. And that’s how I sewed my first quilt, a twin-sized quilt for our newly renovated bedroom. Because we had done a bit of interior decorat...

Greetings from the Tilkunviilaaja studio! May I introduce to you my first quilt finish of 2026: Serious quilt (Totinen in Finnish). She is basking in the wintry sunshine on the snow that is full of children’s footprints. We were doing the photoshoot on the top of a small hill where children come to go down it on their sleds. I saw a quilt like this in completely different colours and decided to make a version with a very dark background. My 16-blocks would also feature certain coloured squares from corner to corner. I knew that I would find enough fabrics for this quilt in my stash. These were the first blocks sewn, early in October 2025. At this point, I was very inspired! Indeed, I had no shortage of suitable fabrics for the squares: And yet, even with a sizeable stash, I could not help but buy an exciting mystery bag from the local quilt shop Tilkkunen. I happened to see that a limited number of such bags was available and I just could not help myself. This is what the bag looke...

Greetings from my quilt studio (also called "the sewing table")! This is an unusually detailed description of how one of my zipper bags - the one called Opera / Ooppera came to life. A couple of weeks ago, I was going out to an evening do and noticed – again – that neither of my two trusted small purses went well with what I was wearing. I picked up one of my zipper bags, which was an ok choice. However, I felt that I should have a more unicoloured one. Already on the next day, I went through my smaller scraps and from one container, picked up the smallest ones. I made two stacks, one for deeper, another for lighter shades of red/pink. Then I cut a few shop receipts narrower and used them as guides to sew long-ish, scrappy rectangular pieces. My original idea was to build a bag with one darker side and one lighter side. Because I found two precious, long-saved pieces of Tula Pink fabrics, I ended up having a combination of darker and lighter pieces on both side pie...

This latest project of mine began with a tempting charm pack and no real plan, but a lot of hope! Here’s how my Kaffe Fassett squares quilt project started – and where it is now. Fabric bundles have always tempted me because they save me a lot of selecting and buying time. When I go to a fabric shop, it is easier to pick up a bundle of fat quarters, for example, than it is to pull the fabric I would like, then have the salesperson make the cuts. A bundle will also relieve me of the decision on how much to buy. Bundles are great that way, too! I’ve rarely bought charm packs or layer cakes though, and when I have, I’ve struggled to use them. I haven’t wanted to cut them up, nor have I figured how to use them whole. Until the recent purchase of a Kaffe Fassett charm pack. I came up with an idea of sorts for using the squares as they are, in scrappy blocks. And because all my fabrics and scraps are prewashed (because the not prewashed fabrics irritate my skin), I gave the squares a ...