The last posting of 2016

Almost two weeks after moving in we have more or less settled here in the Northern Beaches. It such a beautiful area - the beach is only a 20-minute walk from our house, and the views from the Plateau are fabulous:



All the boxes are unpacked, the quilts have come out and it's starting to feel like home!



Len's Quilt (The Log Cabin with a Lens, original pattern here) used to hang at my husband's workplace. Since he is not starting his new job until February, we can enjoy it at home now for a while:



My middle son's Dragon quilt is up on the wall again:



Yesterday I finally got to sew at my machine again - the first time in almost three months! I whipped up a zipper pouch, using a bit of leftover Marimekko fabric from my Modern Lone Star Quilt:



Today is for blogging, and reflecting on the year that is almost over. Like many people I am happy to say goodbye to 2016 - it was a rather horrible year, not just globally but on a personal level as well. I lost the job I loved, my husband's work contract ended and his new job meant we had to move 1000 km away from our home. We had to leave our rental house six weeks before the move and spent those weeks in a one-room apartment... Not fun. In the midst of all this our youngest son fell and broke his right elbow, a horrible complicated fracture which luckily is healing well, although he still hasn't fully regained the nerve function in his (dominant) right hand.

However, as the year is ending, things are looking up again for us. We love our new surroundings and enjoy life near the beach. The boys are a bit apprehensive about starting at new schools, but they have another four weeks of summer holidays first. I started running back in October as a way of dealing with all the stress, and although I have been struggling with injuries (Achilles tendonitis, shin splint) I am enjoying it, feeling better and losing weight.

Looking at the quilty side of things, it has been a productive and quite successful year. My Calendar was juried into the travelling exhibition a matter of time and Colourful Pencils was selected for the 2016 Modern Quilt Show Australia. My quilts for the SAQA Benefit Auction and Quilt Alliance Auction both sold. Being asked to judge at the Auckland Festival of Quilts was one of the highlights of 2016.



After losing my day job in February, selling my patterns on Etsy has become an important source of income. Luckily they are doing quite well! Here are all patterns currently for sale (ranked according to popularity - click to enlarge) - I hope to add a few more in the coming year:



Last but not least, I rediscovered knitting in 2016 - to the delight of my family! Here are a few of my finished projects (you can see them all, plus my works in progress, on Ravelry):



I am definitely planning to do more knitting in 2017, and hope to publish more knitting patterns after my first one, the Wine Bottle Cover!

I would also like to make more art quilts, and add some work to my sports quilts series.

And my final goal for 2017 is to design more patchwork quilts in Adobe Illustrator - I used it first when writing up the pattern for my Lone Star Baby Quilt and quite enjoyed the process.

I hope you will continue to follow this blog and leave the occasional comment. Thank you for coming along on the ride so far!

I would like to wish all my readers a happy, healthy, and creative 2017!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2016: Starimekko

It's that time of year again: the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2016 is on, hosted by Amy Ellis from Amy's Creative Side. I am entering my quilt Starimekko in the Large Quilt Category (it is 67'' square).



I love making Lone Star quilts, and in July 2015, when I had finished my red and white Lone Star (which was one of my entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015), I decided to make a more modern version. For that version I used the iconic Unikko (Poppy) design by Maija Isola for the famous Finnish company Marimekko in nine different colourways. I had been collecting these fabrics for quite a while - I bought most of them at the Finnish Etsy shop OttaShop.



I used large diamond shapes to showcase the fabrics, and added white 1'' sashing strips. The binding is yet another Unikko print.



For the back I used a large Marimekko print called Hetkiä (Moments), designed by Maija Louekari:



I quilted this modern Lone Star in straight lines through the diamonds, ½” from the seams, continuing in the white spaces outside the star, using a walking foot and white Aurifil 40wt thread. It has a thin cotton batting, so it's perfect for early spring nights here in subtropical Queensland.



After I showed this quilt on my blog and on Instagram, quite a few people asked about the pattern. It took me more than a year to write it down (much longer than it took to make the quilt!), but it is now available in my pattern shop on Etsy.




Don't forget to check out the other quilts in the Festival and stay tuned for my second entry!

Pattern Modern Lone Star Quilt now on Etsy

Last year I made a Modern Lone Star quilt using the iconic Unikko (Poppy) print in nine different colourways. Unikko was designed by Marija Isola for the famous Finnish company Marimekko and became one of their most succesful fabrics - even though Marimekko's founder had sworn never to print floral fabrics!

After showing the quilt on my blog and on Instagram, quite a few people asked if I could publish the pattern. It took me a while, but I am happy to announce that it is now available for sale in my Etsy shop.

The back of the quilt is another gorgeous Marimekko print called Hetkiä (Moments), designed by Maija Louekari:



I quilted this Modern Lone Star (affectionately known as Starimekko) in straight lines through the diamonds, ½” from the seams, continuing in the white spaces outside the star, using a walking foot and white Aurifil 40wt thread:



It has a thin cotton batting, so it's a spring quilt - not warm enough in winter. Here it is on our bed last year - oh, I do love this quilt!

Starimekko

You may remember that a while ago I mentioned that I was making a quilt using Marimekko fabrics - more specifically the iconic Unikko (Poppy) design in different colourways. Well, here it is!



As you can see, it's another Lone Star - I loved making the red and white one and I'm not done yet with Lone Stars! For this quilt I used much larger diamonds to showcase the fabrics, and I added 1 inch white sashing strips.



While working on it I jokingly called the quilt Starimekko, and the name stuck...



I quilted it in a similar way to the other Lone Star quilt, using straight lines, although this time not in the ditch but about 1 inch from the seams on each side. Quilting most certainly is not my favourite part of the quiltmaking process...



The binding is made from yet another Unikko fabric (as shown here):



The back of the quilt is a large-scale Marimekko fabric called Hetkiä (Moments), designed by Maija Louekari. I like it almost as much as the front!

Starimekko is 68 inch /172.5 cm square. Here it is on our bed - such a happy and colourful quilt, don't you think?



I am planning to make a small wall hanging with the scraps and the selvedges of the Marimekko fabrics, so stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

Marimekko binding

This is the binding for my Marimekko quilt. Today I finished the top, but now it'll have to wait a while - we are moving to a new house next week, so I will be busy packing and unpacking, not quilting sadly!

However, the new house is larger than the current one so the boys will each have their own room and I will still have my sewing room! It's also on a very quiet street near the Kedron Brook. We're all really happy about that - the street we live on now is very busy with lots of traffic noise.

I hope to be back soon but it may be a bit quiet here for a while...