cushion covers and a placemat

Before starting to work on my UFOs and giving it a go to finish them, I have decided to piece a few smaller projects. What could be better to work on than a cushion cover or a placemat?! I have promised my colleague to make two cushion covers with the Bunny block from the Fancy Forest quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. It is not the first time I have worked with this pattern. The cutting and piecing of the individual blocks is explained very well and easy to follow. I have a quilt top with one section of the Fancy Forest ready to quilt. I checked what sizes of cushion inserts are available and found the right size for the Bunny cushion covers : 30 x 40 cm / 12″ x 16″. The actual block has a finished size 8″ x 11″ and by adding the borders I got the desired cushion size.

fancy forest bunny cushion cover 1 - skalabara quilts

 

 

I have quilted the cushion covers in a wavy pattern with the walking foot. My favourite quilting pattern at the moment! Thread used is Gutermann Sulky 30 cotton in light grey #1328, wadding is Quilters Dream Cotton Natural Select.fancy forest bunny cushion cover detail - skalabara quilts

 

Both cushion covers  have a zipper closure on the back.

fancy forest bunny cushion cover back - skalabara quilts

 

The next cushion cover is knitted and it is for a charity auction. I have used one 100g ball of Aura yarn by Sirdar and the knitting pattern is called Chevron Seed Stitch. As I have mentioned before, I do like to knit, but only basic patterns. This is why I look for knitting patterns that use only knit and purl stitches. The cushion size is 16″ x 16″. The back is in a coordinated burgundy fabric and has a zipper closure.

knitted chevron seed cushion cover 1 - skalabara quilts

 

The Chevron Seed knitting pattern in detail.

knitted chevron seed cushion cover detail - skalabara quilts

 

My last project over the weekend was a placemat inspired by Tomomi from Slaney HandCraft. This is and ideal project using fabrics from the scrap basket. The size is approx. 12″ x 18″.

placemat leave 1 - skalabara quilts

 

The photo of the back shows well the quilting – straight lines with the walking foot following the seams. Thread is Mettler Quilting 40 #0959 in fuchsia.

placemat leave back - skalabara quilts

 

And a close up of the quilting.

placemat leave detail - skalabara quilts

 

Well, hope you all have a good week,

barbora flower small skalabara quilts

a year of finishes – horizon quilt

When going through my blog posts I found out that the Horizon quilt sat more than a year on the shelve. On Friday I made the last stitches to attach the binding. And here is the Horizon quilt:

horizon quilt - skalabara

Quilted with the walking foot in straight lines following the block pattern in vertical, horizontal and diagonal directions. Once more I have used machine quilting thread from Mettler no. 40 in color natural 04. I have pieced the back with two different fabrics : a green-blue plain and a colorful pattern fabric Cocoon in Sapphire by Valori Wells for Free Spirit. For the backing I have used 2 yards from each fabric.

horizon quilt backing - skalabara

The binding is a plain fabric in light lavender and stitched to the Horizon quilt entirely with the sewing machine.

horizon quilt binding - skalabara

Details piecing and quilting.

horizon quilt detail 2 - skalabara

horizon quilt detail 4 - skalabara

horizon quilt detail 1 - skalabara

horizon quilt detail 3 - skalabrara

Horizon Quilt

quilt size : 66″ x 77 ” / 168 x 195 cm

blocks : 42 pieces x and cross blocks

finished block size : 11″ x 11″,

wadding : Quilters Dream Cotton in select natural quality

quilting thread : Mettler Quilting No. 40, col. nat.-4

I have made the Horizon quilt with 4 charm packs, a jelly roll and 10 coordinating plains. Here cutting details for the x and cross block :

block x and cross charm pack

Here the first and second post about the Horizon quilt. From the rest of the jelly roll fabric I made this baby quilt with bentobox blocks.

Thanks for visiting my blog, have a wonderful week and happy quilting,

Barbora

luxor throw basted and FMQ with meanders

Finally I had enough time to finish the quilt top, select the backing fabric, prepare the quilt sandwich and get down on my knees to do the pinning. You can’t really see the basting pins on the photo, but believe you me, they are there!!

luxor sandwich

Whilst walking the dog I did some thinking about how to finish this throw. Should I stick to the walking foot and follow the ziggy zaggy pattern or should I get out the quilting foot and do some FMQ? After considering all pros and cons with both techniques I decided to quilt with a meander pattern in FMQ. Looking through my “quilting thread stock” I picked up a light pink Mettler 40wt quilting thread. This the result of my quilting session this afternoon (a quarter done) :

luxor meanders

luxor back

More quilting tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow and the day after …. Anyway looking forward to do the binding.

Thanks for stopping, have a wonderful Sunday,

Barbora

New Stash in the Old Year

Not only have I bought new fresh and modern fabrics in Prague but also a few colourful machine quilting threads from Gutermann and Mettler.

Look at these dots – aren’t they beautiful? And the tasty cakes, and the colourful cats!!

The Mettler thread is made in Spain, but I cannot find a place to buy it local. So made in Spain it travels to the Czech Republic and then back with me to Alicante in Spain. What a crazy world – or is this called GLOBAL ?!

Just before Christmas a thick envelope arrived from the States. Thanks for the good and quick service at Hawthorne Threads I have received a full fat quarter bundle from the Echo Collection by Lotta Jansdotter. I just love the golden-yellow shades as well as the grey ones. Cannot wait to start a new quilt.

And the matching quilting threads (once more brought from Prague) :

Keep on dreaming of new ideas, new work and new projects – it is all worth it!

Barbora