veni vidi vicky

#tagged [baby quilt]

July 31, 2015baby quilt34 Comments

A while back I shared some progress snaps of this quilt on Instagram. I remember it was the first heat wave of the summer and I was happy to sew with berry and fruit coloured fabric.

I actually finished it a while back, but it took a bit to get pictures and to gift it to its new little owner. Now that all of this is done, here are some impressions:

#tagged, because it’s such an obvious name, which stuck with me, once it implanted in my brain as a working title. I made this pattern up using blocks consisting of hourglasses (one of my favs) and rectangle pieces. I hope to get this into published/written form at some point.

The pretty large pieces within each block offer the chance to really show different prints off. When I make baby quilts I try to make them bold, colourful and I usually include stimulating patterns or prints for the baby to explore.

So happy I found the orange striped fabric in my stash, it made for the perfect binding. The fabrics I used making this quilt are of various origin. There’s an IKEA print, Tula Pink, Cotton + Steel and some that I don’t even know what they are. The background is from Jeni Baker’s Dreamin’ Vintage collection and was the perfect find for this.

Have a great weekend everyone =)

this post is linked up with Finish it up Friday at crazy mom
quilts, Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts, Fabric
Tuesday at Quiltstory, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

fruity coasters [tutorial] summer blog party

July 17, 2015small projects, tutorial27 Comments

Hey friends, today it’s my turn at the Summer Blog Party – a blog hop based in Germany, delivering a summer-themed tutorial every day for the course of two weeks. Andrea of Quiltmanufaktur and Susanne of Stoffbreite are hosting. Yesterday, Katharina of greenfietsen shared a tutorial for a wonderful bag, that closes with a knot! Check out the list of all the participants at the bottom of this post! It’s Verena’s (zeit für patchwork) turn tomorrow, I can’t wait to see what she makes. I usually write my posts in English, but today I’m sharing in German, too.

My contribution is a fruity set of coasters. It comes with a pattern and tutorial.

Hallo zusammen, heute ist mein Tag der Sommer Blog Party. Der deutsche Blog-Hop wird von Andrea (Quiltmanufaktur) und Susanne (Quilt it Out) organisiert. Am Ende dieses Posts sind alle Teilnehmner aufgelistet. Diese Woche gab es schon ganz tolle und nützliche Anleitungen für den Sommer. Habt ihr gestern die tolle geknotete Tasche von Katharina (greenfietsen) gesehen? Morgen ist dann Verena (zeit für patchwork) an der Reihe. Ich bin schon gespannt was sie vorbereitet hat!

Mein kleiner Beitrag ist ein fruchtiges Set Glasuntersetzer. Hier kommt die Anleitung inklusiver Vorlage.

MATERIALS for 5 coasters:
* fabric in pink, orange and citron, about a Fat Quarter of Each
(generous measure!)
* print outs of the pattern
(please note you need a sheet for each citron and orange block)
* muslin fabric for the background
(super cheap and has a lovely natural look to it) scraps of batting

MATERIAL für 5 Untersetzer:
* Stoff in pink, orange und zitronengelb, je circa ein Fat Quarter
(das ist aber großzügig bemessen)
* Nesselstoff als Hintergrund
(sehr preiswert und hat einen schönen ‘Naturlook’)
* Die bei 100% ausgedruckte Anleitung
(bitte beachten: bei Zitrone und Orange wird pro Block ein Ausdruck gebraucht!)
* Ein bisschen Volumenvlies (prima Resteverwertung!)

First print the pattern / Zuerst die Vorlage ausdrucken

For the first step, piece the (circular) blocks according to the pattern. Part of the process calls for foundation piecing. If you’re new to this or need a little reminder, take a look at this video.

Zunächst solltet ihr die (runden) Blöcke laut der Vorlage zusammensetzen. Dafür müsst ihr teilweise die Foundation Paper Piecing Methode anwenden. Wenn ihr das noch nie gemacht habt, oder eine kleine Wissensauffrischung braucht, empfiele ich dieses Video.

After you have your blocks ready, quilt them. In order to do so cut a small piece of batting and place it under your fruit block – no backing or pinning needed. Quilt as desired. (I’m a straight-line-quilting devotee!)

Wenn ihr die Blöcke fertig genäht habt, werden sie gequiltet. Schneidet dazu ein passendes Stück Vlies aus, legt es unter den Block und fangt an abzusteppen. Eine Rückseite oder voriges Pinnen ist hier nicht nötig. Quiltet die Blöcke so wie ihr mögt (Ich bin ein großer Straight-Line-Quilting Fan!)

Now take a compass or a round object of the right size (a diameter about 3/4″ shorter than your block) and mark on the muslin. This will be the backside of the coaster. Mark another smaller circle 1/4″ from the edge. Put the quilted block and the backside right sides together and sew round on the marked line. It’s important to leave about 1/5th of the circle open. Backstitch at start and finish to secure your seam.

Nun schnappt euch einen Zirkel, oder auch einen passend großen runden Gegenstand (ungefähr 2cm kleiner als der Block im Durchmesser) als Vorlage für die kreisförmige Nessel-Rückseite des Untersetzers. Markiert 1/4″ vom Rand die Nahtlinie. Legt den gequilteten Block und den Kreis auf rechts zusammen und näht entlang der gekennzeichneten Linie. Dabei muss circa ein Fünftel des Kreises “offen” bleiben. Die Naht am Anfang und Ende kurz vernähen.

After sewing trim with a 1/8″ seam allowance. Turn your coaster inside out, press the opening closed and sew near the edge to finish your coaster. Bury the threads on the backside.

Nach dem Nähen, schneidet auf die richtige Größe zu. Am besten mit einer sehr knappen Nahtzugabe von 1/8″. Nun dreht das Genähte von Innen nach Außen, bügelt die Öffnung zu und näht erneut dicht entlang des Randes. Am Ende müssen noch die Fadenenden verknotet und abgeschnitten werden (am Besten auf der Rückseite).

These little coasters are pretty quick to make and could make a nice little gift for a friend, just because =) Last year I sewed up a storm of coaster sets to bring to various weddings. I love to give personal things, but there isn’t always time to make a whole quilt.

Die Untersetzer sind ein schnell zu nähendes Projekt, und lassen sich gut verschenken. Letztes Jahr habe ich einige Untersetzer Sets als Hochzeitsgeschenke verschenkt. Das war eine ziemlich einfache Art einem unpersönlichen Geldgeschenk einen persönlichen Touch zu geben, ohne gleich ein ganzes Quilt nähen zu müssen.

Fabrics used are from Cotton + Steel, Lotta Jansdotter and Carolyn Friedlander. That’s a pretty precise representation of designs I love!

Die verwendeten Stoffe stammen aus Cotton + Steel, Lotta Jansdotter und Carolyn Friedlander Kollektionen. Eine ziemlich gute Repräsentation meiner Lieblingsdesigner!

The citron and the orange blocks are a little tricky as a lot of seams are meeting at the center point. I could have done better ;-)

Die Zitronen- und Orangenblöcke sind etwas trickreich, weil sich mittig sehr viele Nähte treffen. Bei mir besteht da noch Steigerungspotential.

The melon is quite a bit easier, even just a set of varisou “melon-sections” could be nice.

Der Melonenblock ist deutlich einfacher. Man könnte auch ein Set aus nur verschiedenen Melonenschnitzen nähen.

Follow me on bloglovin‘ and stay tuned for more projects.

Folgt mir einfach auf bloglovin’ und verpasst keines meiner neuen Projekte =)

We’re now 5 days into our blog hop and there are even more great projects to follow. So stay tuned =)

Seit 5 Tagen läuft der Blog Hop nun, und es folgen noch viele tolle Projekte. Bleibt gespannt!

This post is linked up with TGIFF this week at Quilt Matters, 
Finish it Up Friday at crazymomquilts, Freebie Freitag, 
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts, Fabric Tuesday
at Quiltstory, Tips and Tutorials Tuesday at Late Night
Quilter, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts and Needle
and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

coasters cotton and steel easy sewing foundation piecing paper piecing quilted gifts tutorial

create your own sewing tags [tutorial]

July 13, 2015small projects, tutorial19 Comments

Spoonflower is offering free (worldwide) shipping for 24 hours today. This is the perfect chance to order your personalized sewing tags and pay very little money for it, especially if you’re based outside of the US like I am.

So here’s my tutorial I originally contributed to The Cozy Pumpkin’s Tuesday Tips installment. Check out the wonderful tips and tricks Amanda has been collecting in this series!

Maybe you’re like me and have been meaning to get personal sewing tags for a long time? After some research I found I couldn’t justify ordering 500 at a time or spending a fortune on a small amount with an uneconomic ratio. Since I had my logo ready, all that I needed was someone to print it on the right textile for me. The layout and even the cutting I could do myself.

What you need:
digital layout program (can be Creative Suite or any other)
Spoonflower account
fusible interfacing
fabric scissors

Spoonflower offers any 8” x 8” test swatch for 5$ each. This is a good start for a test run of tags and will be the canvas (in the true sense of the word) for our digital layout.

First think about what kind of tag you want. What size should it be? Do you want to sew it in on the short or on the long side? What kind of info (besides) your logo would you like on it?

Open a new document with the exact dimensions of 8″ x 8″ in your layout program. Draw a rectangle of the desired size of your (flat) sewing tag. Don’t forget to add at least 1/4” seam allowance on either side where the tag will be sewn in later. Mark the middle of the rectangle as well as the seam allowances with reference lines (delete these later or turn them off). Place your logo and everything else you want on the little rectangle. Be very precise with the placements and directions in which your items face (see pic below!)

When you’re happy with your layout, group all items, copy, paste. Now start arranging the tags on your canvas. Leave a printing and cutting allowance of about 1/4” around the entire edge of the canvas and leave a little cutting space of about 1/4” in between all tags (this is pretty important for later!).
Once you’re done save as TIFF/JPG with a recommended resolution of 300 dpi. When uploading to Spoonflower it is important to remember which resolution you chose, so maybe write that down.

Now that you have your file it’s time to upload it to Spoonflower. For that it must be smaller than 40MB, which shouldn’t be much of a problem unless you picked a super high resolution (go back and tune it down). Once the site is done uploading (it takes a while…) select test swatch (size) and linen-cotton canvas (material).
Type your resolution number in the box and click ‘change’ to adjust it from the default 150 dpi. Check if everything looks like your layout (same amount of tags?) and nothing’s cut off. Then put the item in your shopping cart and check out.

Fast forward to your labels having been delivered to you. Take your swatch and cut one of the labels out using your fabric scissors. Important: Don’t cut on the lines but cut in the blank space, roughly in the middle of two tags on all of the sides!

Cut a piece of interfacing a little larger than the tag you just cut out. Add it to the back of said tag with your iron very thoroughly. Follow the instructions that come with the interfacing. Wait a little while to let the whole thing cool down. Then cut the tag out precisely on the line of your marked rectangle.

Now you hold that tag in your hand, ready to be sewn in! Consider securing the open ends of your tag using a dot of glue or a simple stitch. You could prepare all your tags at once and store them so you have one on hand whenever you need it! I Hope you have fun with your personal tags for only about 0.2$ a piece =)

So, be quick and go get yourself some tags with your logo on it today!

This post is linked up with Sew Cute Tuesday at 
Blossom Heart Quilts and Let's Bee Social at
Sew Fresh Quilts and Tips and Tutorials Tuesday at
Late Night Quilter.

sewing tags tutorial

SAIL / STARS pillow

June 26, 2015small projects30 Comments

After recently figuring out how to make a proper quilted pillow, I was on a bit of a pillow roll. I’m going to show them one after another as I get them photographed in a reasonable setting (as in, not in my poorly lit flat)

The SAIL / STARS pillow was a gift to one of my best friends. She is a serious lover of colour, so that was my starting point. I toyed with some ideas and tossed them all before I remembered her love for everything nautical. From there things went quick. After a simple sketch and rough measurements I sewed a sailboat up as a I went. No pattern, little math. Probably not the most economical way when it comes to fabric usage, but it was fun to do it this way.

The rainbow stripe background was decided upon after I remembered Rashida Coleman Hale’s airplane mini quilt. Sailboats, airplanes – just a different form of transportation. I guess that’s why it sprang to my mind.

For the back I pieced some small hourglass blocks and arranged them pretty randomly. After adding all the navy background (c+s match fabric), I found it to look like a constellation of stars in the night sky. Just like I had hoped it would! I’m in love with the little story of the sailboat sailing from sunset into the night.

This sailboat marks another item on my list of things I one day might make into a pattern, if the timing is ever right.

Fabrics I used are mainly from 2014’s Cotton + Steel collections. I loved using up some of the navy match fabric, because I never found it to fit into any of my projects before. The pink is from Tula Pink (how fitting, I know). The mustard is one of my favourite solids ever, I probably overuse it.

The pillow case was made for a 20×20” filling. You can read how I zipper-finish my pillows in this tutorial. I’ve gotten really fast at this and it’s oddly satisfying to have clean and sharp corners.

I hope you all will have a lovely weekend, I will spend it with my siblings ♥

This post is linked up with TGIFF this week at 
Qhezzetcock Quilts, Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts,
Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, Let's Bee Social
at Sew Fresh Quilts and Needle and Thread Thursday at
My Quilt Infatuation.

cotton and steel pillow quilted gifts quilted pillow