Tuesday 23 June 2015

Which photos do you like better?

Hello all,

I could use some advice. I have just uploaded a lot of new quilts in the shop and this time I tried to change the way I photograph them. So the whole first page in the shop shows the new quilts and new photos while the second page shows the way I used to photograph my quilts.

I really can't decide which photos I like better. On one hand I think the white background on the second page looks really good and makes the colors and designs stand out. On the other hand maybe the new photos are better as they show the quilts in a more tactile way.

What do you think?


New photos:

Old photos: 




Wednesday 17 June 2015

Two more quilts in Quilt Now!

Hello everyone,

I do apologize for keeping you in the dark lately but as a lot of my quilting projects are for publication I can't really share my secret sewing with you, yet.

But 2 recently finished quilt shave now been shown in Quilt Now and I am so excited I can finally share them with you.

My Flee Market Fancy Stars quilt was published in issue 11.




And the Crosses Quilt was published in issue 12. This is the quilt I was raving about in my Kona Solids WiP post recently. I hope you like it.



I absolutely love how both of them were photographed and displayed in the magazine. I absolutely love the crosses quilt, it is so modern and vibrant and I can't wait to ge tit back and use it around the house.

There are several other quilts coming up soon so keep your eyes on the magazine. I have also finished a number of projects for the shop and will share those with you very soon.

Lots of love,
Nadine


Saturday 7 March 2015

I'm a quilting machine


I know, SHOCKING, isn't it. I can't believe I have neglected this blog yet again. I suppose when I need to decide between the fabric that is calling for me to cut it up and the computer calling for me to write a blog post, well it's obvious which call I tend to follow.

But I did finish another 12 baby quilts (2 have not been listed yet). I have been trying to use up some stash to make room for new collections, so I made some baby quilts for the shops. 2 quilts have already sold, you see I really left it too late and I am very embarrassed. I should have shown these to you sooner.

But if you are not too mad at me for not blogging more often please have a look at these quilts and let me know what you think of the photos (the links take you to all the other photos in the shop listings, I did not want to include all of those here).

I have treated myself to a new camera, a Canon powershot G16, and I am still trying to figur eit out. My greatest problem is asalways lighting and thse photos were all taken indoors in fairly bad lighting conditions and on an overcast day. I still have to lighten them in photoshop, no camera is going to change that, but I am still eager to improve them.

I love my quilts dearly and always find the photos never do them justice. So any advice is welcome.

I hope you like these.
Lots of love,
Nadine




Thursday 12 February 2015

Kona solids WiP


Hello everyone, 

oh I can't tell you how excited I am about this quilt. It is actually finished now and not a WiP but when I took these photos it obviously wasn't. And it looks like this quilt will also be featured in Quilt Now at some point so I decided not to show you the end result. YET. Just wait for the magazine and see it there. :)

But even these progress shots are just gorgeous, no? I can't tell you how much I love Konas and black and white fabrics together. There is something about that look that really appeals to me.

 
 Auditioning fabrics and cutting them is one of my favorite steps. Although I have a real problem cutting into my most precious collections and if you follow this blog (or Facebook, Flickr, Instagram etc.) you might have noticed that I tend to use collections that are now a few years old as it took me so long to actually get them out, stop drooling over them and use some.


It is a pretty simple design, nothing special really. But most of my quilts are not too complicated designs, I prefer modern quilts that let the fabrics shine. I still haven't done any curves, nor have I tried paper piecing yet. But it is all on my to do list.



And some fabric porn at the very end. Aren't these colors lovely? I have some Kona bundles that I just can't cut into at all as they look so perfect bundled up.

So keep your eyes peeled (what a strange expression?) and I will share the finished quilt with you once it has been published in Quilt Now.

Lots of love,
Nadine



Saturday 7 February 2015

English Country Garden Quilt in Quilt Now


... and tada, my latest quilt in the previous issue of Quilt Now. I think this is actually my favorite of the quilts published so far. I love how it was shot and how the colors come across in the pictures.

It is actually a super simple design, but I think it is quite effective. And as far the fabric, well, if you've been following the blog you know I love all the Rowan, Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, Phillip Jacobs I can get.

I think these colors go really well together and believe it or not, but I still have some more of these fabrics. So you'll see another quilt made with these fabrics at some point.


This quilt is actually about the largest size I can baste in my craft room and I hate basting (you might have noticed in other posts or on Instagram :). The one thing about quilting I can't stand at all and basting this quilt was, well, as usual with larger quilts, a nightmare. And I have just finished a quilt top that is actually too large to baste in my craft room. I will have to find a solution for that or else it will remain a quilt top only.

I hope you like this quilt and maybe you have even seen it in Quilt Now. Oh, and if you haven't yet you should get a subscription, and gte it soon as you receive a free Aurifil Thread Set of Priory Square Threads by Katy Jones with your subscrition. They are gorgeous and it's a very good offer.

Lots of love,
Nadine


Thursday 29 January 2015

Tula Pink Fabric Gallery Quilt in Quilt Now

Hello everyone,

I have some more exciting news (you might have seen already), but I had 2 yes TWO quilts published in the latest issue of Quilt Now. I didn't even know they were both going to be in that issue. How exciting to find out when I opened the mag.

I'll show you the english Country Garden Quilt some other time but first the Tula Pink Fabric Gallery. I am sure many of us hoard fabric, buy much more than we can possibly use, and then we can spend hours just drooling over our fabric. I personally find it really hard to cut into my precious collections. I buy fabric in Fat Quarter bundles and keep them that way. I don't sort by color or anything (although maybe I should). So taking that first cut into a collection I have been treasuring for ages, knowing I only have a fat quarter of each fabric to begin with, well that first cut is really hard.

So I try to use only a little bit of those fabrics when the point comes that I feel I need to make something with them. The same goes for my Tula Pink stash. I have been hoarding them forever, my Birds and the Bees, Acacia, Foxfield and Moonshine. But by using only a little strip from each fabric I still have enough left to make some more quilts with it.

That was the idea behind the Fabric Gallery Quilt. It is a really simple pattern when you think of it and it is fairly easy to assemble.


Once again I only quilted the negative space in a tight stippling pattern and I really like it. I have some strips left from those fabrics (I always cut one 2.5" strip) and will make another quilt with them. I absolutel love those fabrics, the colots are devine, and those little foxes and rabbits, sooo cute.

I hope you like this. I will show you the next one very soon.
Lots of love,
Nadine


Saturday 3 January 2015

My first published quilt, hurrah





Hello all,
I hope you had a lovely holiday and a good start to the new year. I am currently quilting like crazy, or binding rather, but I wanted to show you my Orange Teach Quilt which has been published in the latest issue of Quilt Now. You can imagine how chuffed I am with that. 

I do have to apologize though, I have to say, describing the steps of making a quilt in words is so hard. I personally never read quilt patterns or instructions. I might look at some pictures for inspiration but never bother with quilt maths or verbal instructions. So naturally, writing them is a nightmare for me. Thanks to Katy for editing the things I write and getting them into a more accurate English, it's not my first language after all.

But on to the quilt, I absolutely love this one. I just grabbed a bunch of fabrics and cut into them (hence the problems with then writing instructions AFTERWARDS, duh). I wanted to make a slightly larger quilt compared to my usual baby quilts and I wanted the blocks to be quite large too. It ended up quite random and scrappy in the end and I really like that. It was not a traditional block design and the overall pattern developed more organically.

Well, you can see the result. I did use my quiltography when I planned this quilt. I use it a lot these days and absolutely love it. I can spend hours on the app playing with the designs and fabrics.

Some progress shots. I varied the quilting on this quilt with some of the shapes in the middle being quilted in 1/4" apart straight lines and others in lines that are 1 inch apart.

Ok, now back to my binding. I am determined to use up some fabrics to make room for new additions to the stash in 2015. So have yourselves a lovely crafty weekend.

Nadine