0 yet another poofy comforter

Yes, I made yet another poofy comforter and I absolutely love how super soft and comfy it is. And squishy, so very squishy :).

I started off with these fabrics from my stash but I soon realized I had to do some editing.  I decided to cut my patchwork squares at 12" instead of the original 6" squares and some of my fabric pieces were not large enough. I ended up using mostly low volume prints, some novelty prints and some regular "grown up" patterns, and I quite like how it all worked out.

I so love that alphabet fabric I used for the backing. It was originally a duvet cover I bought a while back at Ikea, I simply took it apart and used one layer for this comforter. The fabric felt a little bit rough at first but became a lot softer after I washed it. Plus, can you really beat two twin sized backings for just $19.99?

I followed my original tutorial and did little "tacks" where my patchwork squares met and then I hand quilted through the middle of my squares.

I prefer to hand quilt my comforters as the stitches don't squash the batting as much as the machine stitches would ( I usually use 3/4" high loft polyester batting). And no binding, of course.

As you can see, it's been put to good use already. Makes me want to bury myself in all these blankets and sleep all afternoon long :).

Thanks for reading, friends. Svetlana

Detail: yet another poofy comforter

0 tone it down {starting a new quilt}

Somehow, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle to get things ready for Christmas, I started a new quilt. How could I not, though?

As soon as I came across Tone it Down quilt pattern by Lisa Alexander (pattern can be found in February 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine) I knew I had to give it a try. This is a low volume quilt with an instant vintage charm which I love very, very much these days.

The blocks are a little time consuming but that's perfectly fine with me as I'm in no rush with this quilt and enjoy working on each block immensely.

There's a quilt along going on in blogland and lots of amazingly talented peeps are making their own versions of Tone it Down. Want to see? Click here.

Off I go, more Christmas prep to be done. Talk to you soon. Svetlana

Detail: tone it down {starting a new quilt}

0 low volume quilt {finished}

Hello, happy Monday!

I hope your weekend was good. Ours was rainy and dark, perfect for staying inside and quilting all day long (well, I actually could not just quilt for two days straight, but I got a few good hours of uninterrupted sewing, and that felt great). Fortunately sun managed to peek in from time to time, too and I was able to get some decent pictures of my low volume quilt.

I love this quilt. I've wanted to make a strip quilt for a while now and I think all this low volume fabric was perfect for such a simple, not fussy at all design. I wrote more about how I made this quilt top here.

I was also planning on doing some very minimal straight line quilting. I just wanted to machine quilt it along the horizontal lines and be done. Well, I did that and hated the way it looked. My idea of "minimalist" quilting made it look very blah! Out came the trusty seam ripper and after what felt like a very, very long time I was back to a plain quilt sandwich and no idea what to do. 

I've done a lot of hand quilting lately, so naturally, when I felt stuck, I just started hand quilting using 2 strands of light blue embroidery thread. I quilted in straight lines about 3" apart. I liked it so. much. better!!!

The quilting goes really well with the backing, too - I used Bari J.'s Garden Rocket in turquoise. I adore this fabric, it's so beautiful and has such a wonderful feel.

This was my first time cutting the binding on bias, I love the look of it and I'm happy to say that it was not that scary at all. Plus, it adds just the right amount of interest and frames the whole quilt very nicely.

Finished size of the quilt is 50" x 57" and it's going to live in our family room. It will be perfect for snuggling while reading or watching TV.

Linking up to 

Detail: low volume quilt {finished}

0 low volume

So, I'm officially on the low volume quilt band wagon. I simply could not resist. All those lovely low volume quilts kept popping up all over the blogland and even though going so muted is not my usual route, I'm really glad I went for it.

Plus, I've wanted to give this simple strip quilt design a try for some time. I used different width of fabric (2" - 3.5"), all of them cut at 11" long. I sewed these strips into blocks which I then trimmed into 3 different sizes- 17" x 10.5", 18" x 10.5", and 19" x 10.5" blocks. Confusing? Let me explain.

Since my strips were different width, I did not have to worry about matching any seams at all which was so wonderfully freeing and quick to sew, too. But, the fact that I worked with blocks meant that I would end up with two visible precise seam lines going down my quilt where the blocks met. To avoid that, I decided to cut my blocks 3 different sizes and each row has one of each size. I made sure not to put a 17" block under another 17" block, and so on. This way it all seems quite random and I can't even tell where one block ended and another one started.

I really love how it all worked out and I would not be surprised at all if I made another strip quilt, just in much brighter colors, soon.

Before I go, I hope you won't mind if I toot my own horn a little. You see, I was featured in my local newspaper the other day. Eeeeek! So, so exciting! You can read the full article here, if you'd like.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday. Svetlana

Detail: low volume

0 patchwork bucket/ tote bag

Ever since I made this patchwork bucket using Chase's tutorial, I wanted to make a larger bucket. So, I pulled out some of my scraps the other night and a few hours later I had this my new bucket/ tote bag.

It turned out just the way I imagined (don't you love when that happens?), and I'm totally loving all these low volume fabrics with just a touch of color here and there. Now I really want to make a quilt using this color scheme, I think it will look fantastic.

I changed the design of this bucket a bit and went with an oval base instead of the circle one. This way I can also use it as a large tote bag. And I mean large, I can even fit a regular sized quilt in there, yay!

I wanted this bucket to be quite sturdy and stand on its own. This meant lots of layers of fabric as well as batting. The outside of the bucket is sort of a quilt sandwich made of three layers - regular patchwork, batting, and some really sturdy home dec weight fabric. I then used another thick home dec fabric for the lining. I must say, all these layers really do make a difference.

 All I need to do now is to baste my Vintage Holiday quilt. I know it will enjoy living in this fun, spacious bucket while I take my time slowly hand quilting it.

Wishing you all a wonderfully crafty day. Svetlana

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish it up Friday.

Detail: patchwork bucket/ tote bag