picnic blanket makeover

I made this very simple and quick picnic blanket/ giant outdoor tablecloth almost a year ago and while we used it a few times as a tablecloth while camping, we never really used it as a blanket. So, I had a "brilliant" idea of giving it a makeover.

Since I used no batting and the two layers were tied together in the original blanket, it was pretty easy to rip it all apart and start from there. I never really liked the old curtains I used as backing, so I decided now was a good chance to make a new, matching one.

Not bad, right? I used some of my very precious Promenade by Denyse Schmidt as a jumping off point and raided my stash for more matching fabric.

I then decided to use very thin polyester batting to make it more cushy and comfortable - I think that was the main reason we were not using it, it simply was not comfy to sit on. 

Quilting this giant, I must say, was a nightmare. I don't think I ever did this much unpicking in my whole life. I first wanted to make some free motion loops but after a few rows of struggling I gave up. It looked bad and my stitches were not uniform at all. I tried another free motion pattern which looked even worse than the first one :(  so I finally switched to my trusty walking foot and did this sort of organic grid. I like how it looks and it was wonderful not to have to mark any lines (I don't like marking quilting lines at all).

 I think this makeover was totally worth all the extra work and I'm sure the blanket will get tons of use now. 

See? Not only will it make a lovely picnic blanket, it works great for rolling down the hills, too. We tried (like a gazillion times) already.

Thanks so much for reading.  Svetlana

Linking up to AmandaJean's Finish it up Friday.

this and that

Hello, happy Thursday to you all.

It's been pretty slow and quiet in the sewing area lately as the kids and I are trying to find the right schedule and activities for the summer.

I did, however, manage to make these two patchwork chair pads. Now I just need to make three more and our kitchen chairs will no longer have to go all "naked". Plus, they are so much more comfy to sit on.

I also did a little bit more swooning. Six blocks down, three more to go.

And I got my little peeps to sew, too. It took a little persuading to get my son to understand that : "Look mom, no hands!" is very cool for bike riding, but not sewing :)

Wishing you all a very lovely day.  Svetlana

scrapper's delight {a finished quilt}

I managed to finish my son's Scrapper's delight quilt over the weekend. 

We both love how it turned out and it's a perfect size for him, 60" x 60". 

I started off by using a Scrapper's Delight pattern from Sunday Morning Quilts, but I ended up changing the pattern a little - you can read about it here.

I backed it with blue minky (per my son's request) and quilted it in concentric squares (thank you, Jamie for the suggestion). I worried a little about this minky being so "bumpy" but at the end it gave me absolutely no trouble at all. Yay!!!

I love how fun yet unobtrusive this quilting turned out- it makes for an interesting backing while blending in with the quilt top very nicely. 

I finished the quilt off by using Kona Ash for the binding. I think it frames this busy quit so well and calms it down a little, too. 

This was such an interesting quilt to work and I absolutely love that middle square "popping out" of the quilt. Plus, this pattern lends itself so well to boyish colors (always a hard thing for me to do).

Thanks so much for reading. Svetlana

time to swoon

I bought Camille's Swoon pattern months ago but never felt like tackling this quilt even one bit. And then, a few days ago, I suddenly knew it was time to Swoon. I found my pattern, ordered some fabric (I'm using Sketch in mist grey for the background), and last night I made my first block.

I'm in love !!!! 

I think this will be a perfect quilt for our bed, I'm even planning on hand quilting it this summer.

What fun projects are you working on?

two grannies

Granny square block (tutorial here) is one of my very favorite blocks in quilting. I love how quickly it comes together and the potential for mix-and-matching fabric is simply fantastic. 

 See? Doesn't it look oh, so very lovely in both of these colorways? I know, I keep talking about using more saturated colors, but I could not help myself this time.

A while back I came across this image on Flickr and I knew I had to make similar pillow covers soon.

So, on Saturday I made this granny pillow cover using 3" squares framed with a 3" striped border. I even decided to miter my corners and I absolutely love the way it turned out.

I then quilted it in diagonal grid about 1" apart.

I used an invisible zipper to finish the pillow.

I couldn't make just one of these pillows, though. Once the blue one was finished, I decided to make a green one, too. Again, I used very similar fabric layout and even cut into my precious Suzuko Koseki striped fabric for the border.

 Both of these covers fit a 16" x 16" pillow form and are happily living in our bedroom now. They surely do brighten things up, and I'm all for that.

Hope you all have a very lovely week ahead of you. Svetlana

scrapper's delight {a finished quilt top}

I can hardly believe it, but last night I managed to finish this Scrapper's Delight quilt top (pattern from Sunday Morning Quits).

I started making this quilt for my son about two weeks ago but after getting these 8 - 12.5" blocks done I was stuck. I sort of liked how busy and crazy it was, and my son liked it too, yet there was something "not right" about it at the same time.

Here's where most of my dilemma came from. If I made all 36 blocks as planned, the finished quilt would finish at 72" square. I was not sure my seven year old son needed such a giant quilt. If, however, I decided to make one less row of blocks, the pattern would not match and I did not like that. So, it seemed I would either end up with a quilt that was too small (4 x 4 layout) or too big (6 x 6 layout).

And then it struck me. Why not make larger blocks (15.5" square), do a 4 x 4 layout, and end up with a 60" square quilt top?!?! So that's exactly what I did. And I like it :) 

I especially like the middle square sort of coming forward - a totally unintentional, but fun design element.

I'm linking this quilt up to Rachel's Festival of Strings. Hope you'll stop by to see all the beautiful stringy quilts already submitted.

sprucing things up

Our living/ dining/ family room is the most used room in the house. That's where we eat, read, play, watch TV, do homework, and I sew. I'm telling you, lots of action happening in that one room every single day. So, over the weekend, my husband and I decided to spruce things up a bit and splurged on a new dining table as well as a new couch. I know, happy day!

New couch, of course, needed some pretty pillows, because the ones it came with were simply boring. I decided to use a charm pack of Boho by Urban Chiks (this might be my most favorite fabric collection at the moment) to make new pillow covers.

They both are about 18" square and so wonderfully plump. I used home decor fabric from my stash for their backings and finished them both by installing invisible zippers. 

I love how they turned out and they definitely make our couch so much more cheerful and cozy. Lola thinks so too, as it's become our fluffy girl's favorite spot to nap.