Yay!

Time for next round. Time for fun! I am in! Yay!

I kept this post for after my birthday to have e lovely kick off of the new year.

It is something special for me. I have explained why so many times… still – the loveliest quilts and the most talented quilters make it a great adventure. Thank you Mamas!

Dear partner,

If you happen to be my partner looking for some clues, hints, ideas…

I will make a mosaic in a day or two to add to these pictures here, you can see what I have already written about the swap /it will take some time so I would skip it/ or just keep it simple:

Enjoy the process, have fun, make something that can be washed /as it will be proudly displayed/, be carefully if you love black and give another colour a try then please /love colours/ and something odd: do not pack with black ribbon please.

Simple? I bet you think I am crazy, if i really think this is simple. LOL. Enjoy the process! The quilt will be loved.

If you feel like spoiling me… It is easy. Fabric is a great way to do it – designer, local, reproduction, batiks, I spy… or dragons.

Not enough? I doubt but I felt helpless once, so I will make another try… Love modern crisp designs, modern-twisted classic designs, cute designs, unexpected, improvisational or collaborative inspired design, any technique, as long as it is washable. Love all colours, not necessarily bright, but definitely not muddy or camouflage. Black is OK, but like pepper, I do not consider it a colour technically.

Hope this helps for a happy start. Visit me here /my blog/ from time to time.
Happy drawing, piecing, quilting, taking pictures, guessing which quilt could be for you…

Happy Doll Quilt Swap!

I can happily state now I am happy with half of the swap and anxiously waiting for the other half – a post delivery. LOL

I can now show what I have made.

I already wrote it was fun to make this little quilty and I  am waiting for some spare time to make more similar little ones.

This was my first quilt in this traditional pattern. Mixing classic patterns with modern fabrics is definitely my piece of quilting LOL. Love the mixing process!

Adding linen in this one was so beautiful detail too.
It was something from my partners’ likes and something I wanted to try for a long time. This is one of the best things in this lovely swap – trying new things!

They are so beautiful, so definitely they have something in common! But they are all so unique. Each is special in different way. Different styles, techniques, stories and talents…
I love them all!
Thank you!

Will add links to talented quilters’ blogs tomorrow!

It is gorgeous! Beautiful fabrics and colours make me happy, adding great design and even better craftsmanship make it all a little master piece. I am so happy I received it! It was made for me by a talented quilter and look terrific. I love the clean lines, chatty prints and brilliant quilting and the way they all come together. Look at the pictures below and you can find more on my Flickr.

I wrote already how good it feels to see this early in the morning heading for a cup of tes before a long day had began. Thank you!

It is some kind of Doll Quilt Swap magic that each and every quilt is special and beautiful and the four, I have received are so different and all fantastic. I will show them all together next week.

Make sure you visit Mrs Schmenkman Quilts blog to see the beautiful quilts she makes!

I am looking forward to Doll Quilt Swap 8!

I promised you a glimpse at them and the lovely quilt I received. And here are the extras first. The quilt is even better of course!

My partner – Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts sent me the loveliest little button tin, a stamp ring, fabrics! and magazine! , lovely postcard, buttons and handmade wallet!… I am totally spoiled now…. and I will add new pictures as soon as my camera baterries are charged.

When I got the package I had not sent my quilt yet, I had a custom order to do and lots of school things to do with my little pupil. So… when I opened the big box and felt the Christmas spirit with all this Christmas colours strips on lovely tissue paper… I opened just the quilt. You will see it soon and I am pretty sure you will know why it was enough and I had the strength not to open all the little striped packages all at once…

So I saw all the extras yesterday. And I love them all. Thank you, Amy!

I made another entirely handcrafted quilt. I used just needle and thread. No rotary cutting and no scissors either. I used the little thread cutter instead for some tiny cuts… I love the vintage feel it gives. And the fact I used some of my favorite colours and favorite combinations. My sense of colour is a little bit exotic but it seems this quilt colours got some approval on the Flickr group.

Do you like red and fuchsia or hot pink together? I do. My mother used to think its too crazy to be stylish. It was about 2 days before we watched together a documentary for Lady Diana visiting Paris and wearing a red-hot pink suit. Same feel is orange and pink. I like exploring around the limits of good taste and shouting random colours.

I also received the quilt made for me. This is the other great thing about this magical swap. I opened the big box and hang the quilt. It is in my kitchen – a bright beauty to have a look at in the dark busy early mornings of a new first grade pupil’s mom… I have not opened the adorably packed little treasures that arrived with the quilt. I will go and see them now. I promise I will make pictures and show you all beauties soon! I just need some good light. It is a gloomy autumn afternoon now. This quilt and the package that came along deserve a post of their own here!

first of all

I like lots of things and I am pretty sure it is impossible that anyone can incorporate all of the things, listed below in one quilt. I hope you can get an idea instead, so you can make something you would like making and feel confident too.

patterns and style

I prefer it modern – clean, serene, crisp and stylish. But also like traditional with a wonky or modern colours/placement twist, free cut patchwork or applique, etc.

colours

I love them all, but I do not consider some to be colours at all too LOL.
I like bright /not neon/, vibrant or serene, matured or clear colours. White is OK, off-white and ecru liked, but black and grey…I like them only like pepper and salt – not too much. All brownish and earthy tones are OK with some cold tones, but I do not like the brownish, washed out grey style. Modern colours and combinations make feel good – orange and fuchsia, red and fuchsia, sky blue and brown, aqua and green, etc…

prints

I like solids, polka dots, stripes, modern prints – designer, zakka, japan, or cute and any combinations of these. No fur prints or hunting, country style /unless it is the warm and serene North European style/ please. Some print will be loved by my kid – orange, dragons, penguins and orange colours.

final notes

… as it really gets big LOL… it will be liked, loved and hung, so please make it washable if possible, please. And have fun making it!

List оf the inspirations above:
1. All done., 2. Doll Quilt Swap 6, 3. Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabric, 4. dqs5 completed, 5. Kaffe’s flower garden, 6. Table Topper close up, 7. dqs6 front, 8. DSCN0632, 9. swap quilt sent to helen/mini millie, 10. scraps quilt #1, 11. red and aqua quilt, 12. Squares, 13. “Postcards from Hawaii” Quilt, 14. DQS5front, 15. Wedges!, 16. DQS5 received from Mimi Park!

It is a warm, lovingly made and lovingly-worn-looking one, all colours being a little bit subtle, all the prints with the delicate soft look of an antique quilt. The colour combination is not usual – almost bright solids with delicate floras in romantic beige and pink. It matches the biggest quilt I have made so far, one that I keep at home and is yellow and blue – all squares. A perfect match!

The quilting is delicate feather machine stitch. The texture makes me think of a lady / at least my age or even double my age/ who has used it to make her dolls warm in a cold winter evening.

It is all made with lots of love and it shows. It is made by Rachel.
Thank you!

And the quilt I made for this round was received too. It is this one – now I can tell it was a Doll Quilt Swap quilt. You can read Tina’s comments there to see how it was received – swap magic!

So it was easy to make it different – white to replace the colours, scissors to be the cutting tool, needle to replace the machine /no options really here/. I have being keeping some yo-yos for a year so I really wanted to use some of them.

I like the clean and simple look of it. It appears to have some serene qualities and I do like serene style in quilts.

I call it a successful experiment and have already planed some new ones to match.

It is my first quilt made by hand – no single machine stitch here, nor any rotary cutting or any other “modern” help.

I used Perle cotton for the quilting and did not quilted too much as I was trying to make it all as as simple as possible. I am still not sure if it would look better with some white quilting on the background. I decided not to add it to keep the texture of the ovals.

The quilting is in three different shades of green. Oh, and the label is in orange /of course/.

The whole magical choosing, sharing and discussing have begun again! Can you believe I have already saw two! quilts-to-be that look like designed for me? The secret part adds so much to the swap.

Back to the practical things now… If you are my partner, you have to know I really appreciate your time and your talent as well as the fun involved in making your quilts, so make me a quilt you enjoy making and I will surely love it.

Here are my latest favorites, though these are only few of them. Click on the image to see who has made these beauties. You can check these two mosaics and posts here and the shipping notes and I do hope you will find something to start from. It is easier after the start. At least for me it is much more easier to make it – choosing is the slower part. Keep in mind I may like colours, or design, or a detail, or every single bit of these… so no limits for your creativity!

I am going to read as much as possible on the blog/flickr of my partner now. So I could make my choices and start making the quilt.