Category Archives: blocks

butterfly, thread and fmq

There was no spectacular sunrise this morning to take photos, but instead I found a butterfly on the street. He looked like that he is having a rest. But he wasn’t – what I found was just a colorful dead body of a butterfly.

butterfly on the pavement

As I am going to Prague this Saturday I was finishing my last pieces that I want to take with me. I made more Christmas Tree Blocks – original design by Christen from Love By Hand. Each block is on its own and makes a nice table decoration or a wall hanging. I have used (as before) Kaffe Fassett fabric designs. Once I had made the quilt sandwich I realized that I do not have any of my “neutral” thicker quilting thread. But I had the exact hue in Aurifil Mako 50/2 as I have pieced the blocks with this thread. I just wasn’t sure if I can take it also for quilting. After some research on the web ( a nicer expression for google ) about threads I decided to stick with this lighter weight thread also for free-motion quilting. According to the motto : learning by doing. Over the years I found out that there are no strict rules in quilting. Each quilter can find its own way, own technique that they prefer, threads that they love. I have also done some experimenting with threads and I always  go back to Aurifil Mako 50/2 for piecing and Sulky from Gutermann for quilting.

aurifil mako 50/2

aurifil mako 50/2 thread - skalabara.com

Here a close up of my meander design free-motion quilting:

meander fmq - skalabara.com

And the 2 Christmas Tree Blocks:

red and blue - skalabara.com

Happy sewing, I am over to have a look on Bloggers’ Quilt festival at Amy’s Creative Side. Next time hopefully with one of my quilts!

Barbora

 

 

christmas in summer

First working week is now behind me and I still trying to get back into my old rhythm. One more week and I shall be back to normal. Anyway, I finished quilting the Christmas table runner. I have quilted the trees in free-motion with a loop design. For the background I took out my walking foot and followed the tree contours with a straight line.

christmas table runner - skalabara.com

christmas table runner - skalabara.com

I really enjoyed piecing the top and it was so much fun to quilt it, so I decided to carry on and prepare some Christmas presents for my family. This is the first time that I am so early in the year with Christmas gifts. For a change I decided to make the next lot with my Kaffe Fassett stash and choose some vibrant colors. I pieced a tree and a wonky star top. Hope I have today enough time to make the sandwiches so that I can quilt both of them sometimes next week.

xmas table runners

Happy sewing and thanks for stopping, Barbora

new stash and getting back to work

We are back at home from Germany where we visited my husband’s family and friends. We had a wonderful time, the weather was cool yet not rainy. Before leaving for Germany I looked on the web to find some quilting shops in the Bonn area. The very first one I found was just in the next village. So Monday was my day and with my sister-in-law we went to the shop. It was amazing to see so many Kaffe Fassett fabrics at one place!! It took me some time to choose which fabrics I desperately need to get on my stock. At the end I went for 9 pattern fabrics and 2 Kona Solids – canary yellow and bright pink.

stash kaffe fassett - www.skalabara.com

Here some pictures when we all went walking the dog on the outskirts of Bonn.

bonn 0813 - www.skalabara.comA few weeks ago I came across this Christmas runner from Love By Hand and I just loved the block design. I have finished piecing the blocks and over the weekend I want to quilt and bind this pretty little runner.

love by hand design of xmas table runner

My free days are slowly coming to an end – Monday is my first working day after the summer break.

Thanks for stopping and happy sewing, Barbora

new quilt, 4 blocks and the design wall

Even though I haven’t posted for some time, I have done some homework.

  • I have finally decided on the design of my next quilt using the wonderful Bella collection from Lotta Jansdotter. I have had the fabric in my sewing room for some time and now I know exactly what to make with it.

bella collection by lotta jansdotter

  • My other project  (at the moment just on my computer) was inspired by 4 basic blocks on my design wall :

block games

Here are some quilt designs based on the blocks :

quilt designs

Each of the 9 quilt designs transmits a totally different atmosphere. I have used just 2 colors to underline the diverse block layout. I only need to decide which design approaches me the most, think about the color palette and start sewing!

So there is lot to do and no time to get bored, thanks for stopping,

Barbora

getting back to quilting

It has been nearly a month since my last post. Don´t know where the time has gone, but it was a busy time for me : my Mum was with us, had some challenging work at my daytime job and sorted out the garden before the summer heat arrives. Last Thursday (13th!) we have experienced 2 fairly strong earthquakes. One got me out of bed early in the morning at about 5:30 and the other one when I had my siesta after lunch. As our house is build on a rocky hill, we could really hear and feel the earth moving. Luckily nothing serious happened, only a few pictures in the house were hanging crooked.

The spring has come to an end : the first crop of figs is ripe on the tree (have to eat them before the birds spot them) and my favorite pot plants are in blossom – Agapanthus africanus alias African Lily or Lily Of The Nile. I just love the wonderful blue flowers. What a pity that they do not flower for a longer time.

agapanthus

fig (breva)

Also all of my orchids on the windowsill are full with flowers. They are so easy-growing plants and give so much joy with their long-lasting flowers in all the different colors.

orchids

Talking about WIP : I have finally finished the “Squirrel” quilt that I started last year in November. The collection I have used is “The Birds and The Bees” by Tula Pink and some solids I had in my stock. The quilt size is 48″ x 60″, I have pieced nine patch and log cabin blocks together. Quilted straight line with the walking foot in diagonal. There are 2 panels with squirrels that gave the quilt its name : Meet the Squirrels.

sq 1

My new project is with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Somehow I can not resist his fabric designs and colors. Both packages have 20 different fabrics cut into 6″ strips – Happy and Blue; purchased at the Fat Quarter Shop. I have a quilt design on my mind, just need to do some calculating and hopefully I can start cutting later today.

kafee fassett fabrics

That’s for now, thanks for stopping, Barbora

As it is Monday I am linking up with Lucy over at Charm About You for Plum and June’s Let’s Get Acquainted Link Up!