Wild Animals playmat finished

I finished the Wild Animals playmat which I started last week. It's a lovely panel of Robert Kaufman with wild animals pictures.


It's not patchwork, and not original, but I fell in love with this panel, and I needed to whip up something quickly for three years old Y, who had a new baby sister last week (she will get her own baby quilt).



For the backing I used a blue Wamsutta fabric from my stash, thinking that the back of the playmat should rather be dark (forgetting that the picture itself has a white background, not for long...)





I quilted around the pictures and a minimal quilting in between. I used the curved line of my Bernina sewing machine .




For the binding I used light green fabric with small white dots, I wanted something that will not distract from the panel itself. This is cotton fabrics for sheets, very wide, bought at the local fabric store.

I'm really happy with the way this playmat turned out, and I'm sure Y will also love it.

I'm linking to Fabric Tuesday of Quiltstory

Kaleidoscope QAL #1 - fabrics

I'm very excited and can't wait to start working on the Kaleidoscope quilt-along organized by Elizabeth. I think it will give me the kind of discipline and a framework that I really need.

These are the fabrics for the quilt:



I actually pulled out these fabrics for another project about 6 weeks ago, started cutting the fabrics, and wasn't very happy with the result. It would be good to use these lovely fabrics for the Kaleidoscope quilt along. This is a mix of It's a Hoot by MoMo for moda, some Anne Kelle, and more new fabrics, all purchased a couple of months ago in New York (City Quilter - great store!).
As usual I'm sure I'll change the fabrics selection quite a lot, delete some and add others. The quilt is meant to be green-blue, by maybe I'll add some red


For the background I think I'll use light printes fabrics instead of solid.

Can't wait to start!

My very first quilt along

I decided to join Elizabeth's of Don't Call Me Betsy kaleidoscope quilt along. I never participated in a QAL before, and this looks like a great challenge. I like the design, and can't wait start choosing fabrics for it.
I think it would be great to be a part of a group of accomplished quilters all working on the same design, and each bringing her own interpretation and color scheme. It's very inspiring and motivating. Thanks, Elizabeth, for organizing this QAL!

Welcome baby girl & WIP Wednesday #3

The last week was very busy and very happy. Graduation, two big birthdays, and to top it all , a new baby girl in our family! My son and daughter in law had a lovely little girl, Mazal Tov (congratulations in Hebrew) and welcome to the world, may you have a long and happy life!

Now I really have to move on with my "secret projects" which are not secret anymore. I have two days to start and finish a baby quilt and I already started a small play mat for Y the big brother (he's 3).
A while back I fell in love with this cute panel - Wild Friends by lesley grainger for Robert Kaufman.

I decided to use it as is and free quilt around the pictures. For this I had to learn free motion quilting, and I must say I much prefer straight quilting. As you can see I have to improve a lot, maybe with experience.



I still need to quilt between the pictures, I haven't decide whether to do straight line or stippling (which I never done before). What do you think?

Except for the quilt for the baby girl, for which I didn't even pull out fabrics, I have another WIP. I want to make two pillow cases from the leftover blocks of the Sunshine and Candy quilt.




I decided to shelve the pillow case from last week, and this was a big move forward (I got unstuck!). I think it's very important to learn how to cut your loses and move ahead, in quilting and in life as well.

I'm linking to Betsy's blog, thanks for hosting this week, and to Lee from Freshly Pieced the great organizer. May you all have a great week.

WIP Wednesday #2

It's been 2 weeks since my last WIP post, and I did almost nothing. Life happens (very good!)

WIP:

I'm still stuck with the same star pillow case. I decided to use a white background instead of the black, and add some red and yellow stripes


I'm still not happy with the way it looks. Maybe change the black stripes with blue?


I think it's time to shelve this project, it started as an exercise and it takes too much of my attention. Do you also get stuck sometimes with an undeserved project? Time to move on.

New project:

I'm starting two new projects which have to be secret. This are the fabrics for one of them:


Finished project:

The Sunshine and Candy quilt, which was finished a couple of weeks ago was waiting for labeling. I finally labeled it this week, and gave the quilt to my grandson. I'm sure he'll enjoy it for many many happy years. The label is in Hebrew, in case you wondered what's this strange script



Here is the link to Lee from Freshly Pieced who's hosting this, thank you!

Bloggers’ Quilt Festival :: Spring 2011

I'm so excited to join the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. What a great idea! Thank you, Amy, for bringing us together.



I decided to share the Sunshine and Candy quilt I finished recently. I'm a new quilter, and this is only my second full size quilt. I made it for my lovely 2 years old grandson.

I got the inspiration of the quilt from a tutorial by Kathie of Sew Kathie Did (thank you, Kathie, for this great tutorial!), and I fell in love with the endless possibilities of play with value and color.

I got introduced to quilting back in the 90s in Los Angeles. I loved the fabrics, color and creativity, but managed to do very little, and abandoned quilting entirely when we went back to Israel in 1994. Since I started quilting seriously a few months ago I saw all these bright beautiful fabrics, so different from my old stash, and decided that this quilt will be colorful and bright as well. I tried to used many boys' fabrics, some new and some from my old stash.



I pulled out many fabrics, divided them to light, medium and dark, and made half triangles. Arranging the blocks on the design wall was great fun, I enjoyed it immenesly.

The back is also pieced. I used “Marbleous” by Robert Kaufman for the background, and added some of the leftover blocks. I used cotton batting, very soft and supple, gives the quilt a wonderful drape. I kept the quilting minimal, just straight lines along the big dark and light diamonds.




The binding is "its a hoot" eggs in marshmallow cherry by MoMo for Moda.
All together I used more than 40 different fabrics.

My grandson loves the quilt. He plays "I spy" with the different pictures on the fabrics, great fun for all.

It was a great pleasure working on this quilt. I loved organizing the HTS on the design wall, it really gave me joy seeing the quilt taking shape, just looking at my work made me happy. I love this quilt. Thanks to you wonderful quilters sharing your work and giving me so much inspiration, and sepacial thanks again to Kathie. Thank you Amy for the opportunity to share my quilt with this great community, here is the link:

Noga

WIP Wednesday

I decided to join the Work-In-Progress Wednesday link-up of Lee from Freshly Pieced. I think it's a great idea to stop and review my projects - what's progressing, what is stuck, what needs to "lie low" for a while. At the moment I have two projects going:

1. This one is almost finished. It is a pillow case of Somerset patchwork (folded star). I started it as a study at my quilting group. It's not really my style and way out my comfort zone, but I decided to do it as a creative exercise. At the moment I'm struggling with the zipper - also a good exercise!

I have to decide how to finish this block, should I add some strips of color, or not? What do you think?




2. Quilt for my son - here I'm really stuck. I chose the fabrics, started cutting, and that's it. Holidays, family, many excuses... I will start again seriously now that all distractions are gone.



Here's another link to Lee's Freshly Pieced - great idea!

Noga