Patchwork Frames Quilt: Finished

Happy Labor Day! I hope you had a nice weekend and enjoyed the holiday. It was nice to stay home one extra day and catch up on things around the house. I finished my 

Patchwork Frames Quilt

. The pattern is by the very talented Beth 

@ Plum and June

. You can find her tutorial for the block and the quilt pattern 

here

. It is a beautiful pattern and it comes together really easy. And they fussy cut in the center of each block is a great opportunity to showcase pieces of your most treasured fabric pieces. I used some of my beloved Alexander Henry Paris Flea Market. I have been saving it for something special and I thought this was it. Specially because I decided that this quilt was going to be for me. lol.

While the quilt top came together quite fast it felt like it took me a while to finish this quilt. The quilting really took me a long time. I decided to do Free Motion Quilting all over and  I hit a few bumps along the way. One time I forgot to set the stitch length to zero and the thread kept breaking and I had to do a lot of unpicking (not fun). I checked and checked and everything seemed right with my machine, but the thread kept breaking. I was so frustrated (I even cursed my machine a few times), and when I was ready to give up I realized that "little detail" about the stitch length. I felt so silly afterwards. But after that incident the quilting was a smooth sail. And the whole experience made me feel more confident about FMQ.  I really love the way it turned out with lots of crinkles all over. I backed the quilt with flannel. This is my fist time I use flannel for a quilt backing: it feels so soft and cozy! 

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 54.5"X74"

Fabrics: Alexander Henry, Glimma Kite Tail, Glimma Trees, Moda Comma, Kona Steel, Legacy Studio Natural and Joann's Quilter's Showcase.

Quilted by me.

XX

Martha.

Slowly...

I finally finished the quilt top for the Frames Quilt I have been working on and I started to quilt it. Since my last attempt to Free Motion Quilting was somewhat successful I decided to to try FMQ for this quilt. But it is going very slowly.  It seem like if this quilt doesn't want to get finished:)

I hope next week I'm more successful and I finally finish it.

Have a wonderful week!

XX

Martha. 

Remember These?

My fabric covered coffee cans that I made a while ago to store my fabric scraps. Well I'm super excited because they got featured in the current issue of Quilt it Today Magazine. Super fun magazine filled with quilty inspiration and great patterns.

If you would to make your own you can find my tutorial for covering tin cans here.

XX

Martha.

Currently Working On...

I had a very productive sewing weekend (I wanted to do more, but there are just not enough hour in the day). I've been working on a new quilt using the Patchwork Frames Pattern from my dear friend Beth @ Plum and June. When she asked me if I would like to test the pattern for her I didn't think it twice. The pattern is fantastic and immediately fell in love with it. I thought it was the perfect pattern to showcase the last bits of my beloved Alexander Henry Flea Market Friends fabric. I have been holding on to that fabric for a while using just bits here and there afraid  to run out. Does that happen to you too? Do you have a favorite fabric and find it difficult to cut into it?

I'm absolutely thrilled about how this quilt is looking; I'm really looking forward to getting back to it next weekend and hopefully finish it.

Have a great week!

XX

Martha.

A Mini Quilt for Home

A few days ago Kristy @ 

Quiet Play

 was looking for pattern testers for her latest design. I've been so busy, but I couldn't help myself  and jumped at the opportunity. Kristy's designs are fantastic and this one is not the exception. The pattern is called Teeny Houses and consists of  9 different 6" blocks. Every little house is a bit different from the other and they are adorable. I had the pleasure of testing one the blocks. My experience with paper piecing is still limited, but the pattern is very well written and easy to follow. It comes together very quickly.  

Anyway, after I finished testing the pattern I decided to make my little block into a wall hanging to decorate my sewing room.  The words on the mini quilt are embroidered with DMC embroidery floss on natural linen (linen is my absolute favorite fabric).  The quilting is free motion quilting  with single loops all over. Yes you heard it right, free motion quilting! I finally tried free motion quilting for the first time and I am so pleased with the results. I still need to practice a lot more, but thank goodness the linen is very forgiving and it doesn't show much my mistakes.

XX

Martha.

Giveaway!

It is has been a while since a had giveaway, so I thought it was time for one. A way to show my appreciation to all of you, my lovely readers who week after week come back and visit my little blog.
It is a charm pack of Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille.

So to participate: You must be a follower of my blog (old or new).  Leave me a comment (and to make things more interesting) in your comment tell me something random about yourself.
The giveaway will be open until Friday July 26 and will announce the winner on Saturday July 27. I'm happy to ship internationally, so anyone can participate.

Good Luck!

XX
Martha

Slow Bloggers Linky Party

Hello and welcome to the July edition of the Slow Bloggers linky party. The Slow Bloggers Linky party is organized by the lovely Catherine @Knotted Cotton to celebrate our achievements during the month big or small. I'm so pleased to be hosting the link up this month and in honor of that I wanted to share with you my slow project. A few months ago I started The Framer's Wife Sampler Quilt, but after a couple of blocks I put it away and didn't work on it for a while. This weekend I decided to start again and made this three blocks. However, I have developed a love hate relationship with this quilt. I don't know if I'm ever going to finish it... I'll keep you posted about where this relationship goes, lol. 

In the mean time tell us what you have been up to. 

Superheroes Quilt

Happy Friday! I hope you had a lovely week. I finished the Superheroes quilt I have been

working on

 for my four-year-old nephew. This was an interesting project and a little out of my comfort zone from beginning  to end. Improv piecing is not my strong suit, but I had this idea of the superheros flying over the city landscape so I thought  imrov piecing was they way to go. Surprisingly it was easier than I had thought and the quilt top came together rather quick.

I chose to quilt it with random lines all over. The lines left by the impov piecing on the negative space gave me the inspiration to choose this quilting style. I think it really works with the overall playful look of the quilt. 

I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. The gray background provides the perfect background for the brightly colored characters and signs and at the same time it tones them down a bit. I just love it!

I can go on and on telling you about how much I love this little quilt, but the important thing is: did my nephew like it?... Oh yes he did! He was really excited... even though the day I gave it to him was a super hot day, he wrapped the quilt around him and told me -"thank you Tia, it is so cozy"- Oh that just melted my heart. Best thank you ever!

XX

Martha.