Blogger's Quilt Festival - Throw quilt

Do you remember my Kona squares quilt? 

It was my second quilt ever, made in the summer of 2011, but unfortunately it got put on the back burner when I got pregnant that fall.  It was inspired by the cover quilt in Cherri House's book, City Quilts.

I liked the idea of little squares, I just wanted to make them a little more colourful.  I grabbed a selection of fat quarters from my then recently purchased Kona box, cut up a ton of 2" squares, and started chain piecing.   

  

This winter, as Olivia got a bit older and I was able to get back to my sewing room, I decided it was time to finish it up and get it on my couch.  I wanted something warm to snuggle under while watching tv, so I experiemented with silk batting.  It turned out really well - super warm with a lovely drape.  I highly recommend it and will definitely be using it more in the future.  

I did simple straight line quilting, and backed it with a soft heather grey flannel sheet.  

With a few leftover squares I made a little detail in the binding.  

I love the shot of colour this quilt gives our aging grey couch.  

(My two favourite people)

It's also made a really nice background for some pictures of the baby...

(Olivia at 5 months)

I'm going to enter this quilt in the throw quilt category for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  This is the first time I've participated in the festival and I'm excited to show you all what I've been up to over on my side of the world!  Quilting is fairly rare in Italy, and it's easy to feel isolated when none of your friends understand your obsession for fabric and quilts.  I am SO envious of anyone who has a modern quilt guild in their city!  I started this blog two years ago to connect with the online blogging community, and I think this festival is a great way to connect with even more fellow quilters.  Thanks Amy!

Another AMH Voile Baby quilt!

This is another recent finish that I've decided to share - a baby quilt for a friend made with Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voiles.  

It is very similar to a quilt I made for Olivia last year.  When I was making that one I was thinking the colours were perfect for my friend Ilaria.  She is always wearing pinks and burgundies, and luckily she was having a girl!  

Simple line quilting again and backed with a single print from the collection

 I embroidered the baby's name and birthday - definitely my favourite part of baby quilts.  Did you see that little miss Giulia missed having an awesome birthday by a few hours?  I called her mom on the afternoon of the 12th and told her to push and get that baby out by midnight!!!  

Baby testing...

Ok that's enough - up mommy!

Last year when I did Olivia's quilt I fell in love with AMH's voile.  It is just the softest, most luxurious fabric ever!  If you haven't tried it I highly suggest you do!  A few months ago I bought a half yard bundle of Field Study from Fabricworm to make a big throw quilt just for me.  Hubby will be jealous, but I don't care.  I just love that lush tangerine print on top!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Wall hanging quilt!

Hi all!

I've been working on this little quilt for the last three weeks, just so I'd have something new to contribute to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'm so glad I can finally show it to you!

Since this is my first time participating in the festival, I wanted to create something special, totally improvisational, and from the heart.  It has been a long and rainy spring here in northern Italy, so I decided to go with some bright solids.  I started by chopping up half a Kona jelly roll, a charm pack, and then added in a few more colours pulling from my giant Kona box stash.  

Mixed 'em all up and just started arranging them and sewing them one row at a time.

Once it started to grow, I just tried to make sure there was a nice balance of colours without planning too much (as is my nature!)

I knew I wanted some super dense quilting, something different from anything I've done before...

I always feel a little sad when I have to throw out such pretty garbage...

 It is just under 24" square, and I quilted it with an Aurifil light yellow. 

I have to say, I'm really thrilled with how it turned out.  I love colourful squares in art (I find I do a lot in my own paintings), and I really love quilts made from solids.  This is definitely going to brighten up the entrance of our house!

I am also working away (very slowly) on a hand-quilted version... here's a little sneak peek:

And a picture of my lovely assistant... I managed to get the quilt done with despite her help!

Almost ready for the Blogger's Quilt Festival...

Full reveal tomorrow!

Working on a little something for the Blogger's Quilt Festival...

Wow, it's been a looooong time since I've blogged, but that doesn't mean I haven't been quietly sewing away after the baby goes to sleep.  I will have a few finishes from this year to show you soon, and will be participating the the Blogger's Quilt Festival next week as well.  I've also been keeping up on what everyone else has been doing, especially thanks to Feedly's app for my android phone - VERY handy for someone with a baby who might not always be able to get on the computer.  

Anyway, here's a little hint at the mini I'm getting read for the festival.  It's been such a long, rainy spring here I really needed this explosion of colour! 

Talk soon!

Happy Holidays to you all!

Welcome back!

Hello all!  Welcome back to my blog!  

Well, after an intense three months I have finally found my way back to the sewing room!    

Baby Liv is quite the spitter-upper, so I decided to make a few more bibs.  Only thing is they turned out so cute I hate to see them get dirty!

I always have a lot of fun when I dig around in my stash to find the perfect novelty fabric!  These were quilted with Aurifil, but my favourite is the ice cream cone one - quilted with gorgeous Aurifil 28.  

I apologize for the less than stellar cellphone picture, but here's my little model... ain't she cute?