Before Easter Wishes...

... I will update Oh, my stars - quilt.

 Four 4" blocks - diamond and basic sawtooth stars...

 ... and 8" patchwork star.

It seems that my starry quilt is over half way now ;o)

46 stars done, 38 ahead.

Little by little we 'calm down' and begin to celebrate Easter...

STILL friends, Bunny?

to you all, our friends!!!

Sunday Drive

... but before we start the engine, I show you one more star.

If the Patchwork star was one of my favorite stars, I think the Nested star is the other.

 Oh, I love this star pattern!!!

Except I did not remember to pay enough attention to the direction of a lighter green fabric. Damn...Simpura sentään! Oh well, no one is perfect...

Now... Are you ready for 'a drive'? It's only a short one...

... but looks very curvy and complex! 

What do you think, did I handle it?

 Wov! So many crossings on the way!

Have to be careful with the direction of the pressings...

Luckily I have my own ironing-inspector ;o)... Fenix, advice me immediately, if I press the seams wrong!

FeNIX! FENIX!

Oh no, he has fallen asleep!!! Well, I need to cope alone...

After a few hours of 'hard' work... öhöm... drive ;o)

I saw it finished...

It's a block called 'Sunday Drive', 

designed by Polly Minick & Laurie Simpson.

The block is tenth block of the 2012 Designer Mystery BOM. This mystery ends in May and a new mystery begins in June. More of these Designer mysteries you can read here.

I'm glad, if YOU were with me to the end of this drive...

as opposed to the one inspector ;o)

JOYFUL WEEK, but drive carefully!!!

Stars...

... but first other things.

Now all the Mill Girl's blocks are sewed...

(if you remember my all is 16 blocks)

... and we are thinking of a quilt assembly - sashing and border.

Last Wednesday was a special day for me ;o)

and I got a special delivery from Germany.

In these cutely wrapped parcel was...

a very useful sewing bag

(look! handy pockets outside of the bag)

and

a cutest embroidered heart ever!

THANK YOU, my friend Katrin! You are a treasure too!!

And then... the newest stars!

Two new stars for the Oh, my Stars quilt...

... the bigger star is 12" Woven Star, the smaller is 4" Quattro Stagioni Star.

I sewed them both by following the instructions carefully and this time I didn't find errors...

Yesterday Virtual Quilting Bee continued and we got a new block pattern .

 Block #2 is named 'Origami Star' and it's designed by Amy Newbold. 

You'll find the tutorial of  'Origami Star' by clicking the link above.

Until next time...

Happy Sewing!

About the Bright

When I 'cleaned' the closets last week I found several UFOs, for example some Mill Girls blocks.
Do you remember last Friday's Bright one?

I started to sew the MG blocks in October 2011 with quilt along group, but as usual my interest didn't last long :o( 

Perhaps October, so close to the end of year, is NOT a good place or time to start a new quilt with a busy schedule... you know, then there is much other projects... at least I'm always dreaming of make many Christmas presents and so on... ;o)

Now I'm going to sew more MG blocks, but I'm not quite sure about the quilt size...

I have now nine blocks (finished block size is 12" x 12")

... with wider (over 2") sashing they are enough for the lap quilt.

But I have cut the pieces for all the blocks (= 20)... and now the bright colors fascinates me...

so how it sounds if I'll sew at least seven more?

4 x 4 blocks is much more bigger lap quilt...

If you are interested in sewing your own Mill Girls quilt you find the pattern for the block HERE. It's funny and quite easy block... and there is plenty of possibilities to play with the fabrics!
Mill Girls pattern is from Jennifer Chiaverini's book called More Elm Creek Quilts.


The 'Summer Bunny' is cross-stitched now. It was also UFO, started few years ago.

The fabric is 16 count = 6 stitches / cm aida. The dimensions are (approx.) 7" x 10" = 18 x 25 cm. The pattern belongs to DMC's Somebunny to love -collection.

I counted it as completed now (OPAM), although I have a plan to add some fabrics to it... and make it into some kind of wall decoration with the pockets... perhaps?

There's many cute details on the pattern...

... bees, butterflies, mouse, little bunny...

Cross-stitch works will not stop there... even those I have dozens of unfinished... 

oh, maybe not so many...

My next cross-stitch project is this small tablecloth with poppies and daisies and grains...

Happy Stitching Week!

On Friday...

... something BRIGHT

... something ROMANTISCH

AND something GREEN!

This Patchwork star (12") is one of my favorite stars.

I can imagine that a whole quilt would have been made of them...

Wishing you a wonderful WeekEND!

Härdelli!

... näytti tältä tänä aamuna...

From the Oh, My Stars tutorial I chose Woven Star to be the star of my week.

For the 8" star I cut the pieces just like it is said... in the instructions....

BUT after middle parts, I had troubles...

When I had sewn two little 'envelopes', I noticed they are not 3 3/8" wide as they should be! Krr!

What shall I do? Shall I stretch them a bit or what? Or do I use narrower seam allowances?

No way... I had to cut new triangles... larger this time.

Onneksi palasia oli leikattuna myös tutun turvallista perustähteä varten, joten pahimmat höyryt pääsi ulos sitä ommellessa.

At the same time I sewed the other star too...

and it was easier to sew causing less gray hairs;o)

Basic Sawtooth star... for a change on the green background.

The following picture you will see the changes, which I made...

... white squares are now 2 5/8" instead of 2 1/2",

the largest triangle pieces are now 3 3/4" instead of  3 5/8" (diagonally cutted square).

My Woven Star is a bit wonky and bigger than 8", but it's easy to 'repair' ... only tiny trimming;o)

My star quilt 'Tähtisirpaleita nurmikolla' is progressing nicely...

 The half of the 8" stars = 10 blocks is now ready.

I have sewn six different stars...

maybe I'll double or triple some of them and do at least one Patchwork Star in size 8" too.

Lopuksi vielä muuta 'härdelliä'...

eli totaalinen kaaos - aina - ompeluhuoneessani ,o)

ILOISTA LOPPUVIIKKOA!

Happy End of this week!

Saturday With HSTs

Yesterday when I read the blog posts I came across this Virtual Quilting Bee post.
Yesterday was also the first block tutorial of that bee at Sherri's place.
When I woke up this morning I saw few fat quarters of  'Beach House' on the shelf in my bedroom. Yes, it was not a dream, I really have fabrics in my bedroom too...
Before I notice I had cut fabric pieces for two blocks, which are based on - more or less - half square triangles (=HSTs).

So let this be a HST day...

I followed quite closely Sherri's tutorial...

except I draw two lines on the back of all 6 background squares. 

The drawn lines are at the distance of seam allowance from the both side of the corner. I sewed right beside the drawn lines. Thereby the final miniblock is the most accurate. I learnt this method, when I have sewed those green STARS...

Viime aikoina olen huomannut, että saan tarkimmat kolmioiksi puolitetut neliöt aikaiseksi, kun piirrän kaksi viivaa, joista kumpainenkin on saumanvaran etäisyydellä kulmasta. Ja sitten ompelen aivan viivojen vierestä niiden sisäpuolelta.

8" Star Block made of HSTs.
Well, almost... the middle square is just square...
The print fabrics are Blackbird Design's 'Beach House' line...
a few years ago, so it's not a new line.

The second HST based block is...

... the 2012 Designer Mystery Block 'Lakeside Retreat'.
It's the ninth block... three more ahead...

Finally...
 Fenix is showing you all the blocks together...

... Oh, except one...

Happy stitching(?) Sunday to You!!!!

Iloista naistenpäivää!

Happy Women's Day!

t. Satu & Fenix

Demanten på marssnön / The Boxer

As you see I can't stay away from the sewing room;o)

Jeni Baker from In Color Order is the designer of March at Aurifil. 

Her block is called "The Boxer", inspired by Simon & Garfunkel's song.

 If you remember, I decided to use some kind of diamond theme for the color of my blocks.

If you have wondered, why diamond? 

The truth is that Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses and because of that 'Breakfast at Tiffany' is one of my favorite movies. 

In March my diamond is aquamarine, which color varies from the light blue-green to dark blue. In astrology aquamarine is the power stone of Aquarius and Pisces. For the Boxer -block I found some delicious turquoise fabrics from my stash.

And one other thing, which inspired me choosing the diamond theme, is Jean Sibelius' song 'Demanten på marssnön'.

  Hm... quite far away from rock'n roll music, which is needed to inspire Aurifil BOM designers;o)

That idea became to me, when I choosed the fabrics for the first block (emerald).

So här är...

På drivans snö där glimmar

en diamant så klar.

Ej fanns en tår, en pärla,

som högre skimrat har.

On the drifted snow

a bright diamond glistens, 

more radiant than any

tear or pearl.

'Diamonds' on the March snow.

I'm happy that you stopped by here...

roliga veckan;o)

Testing

This morning I tested my sewing 'condition' with Oh, my Stars.

I planned to sew three stars, but after two 4" stars, I had to give up. 

The feeling was not so bad or either so nice... but I'll have plenty of time to sew later... and I have plenty of other projects to continue;o)

Here's the newest stars...

 ... basic sawtooth star and chevron star. (Sorry, the colors are very odd! I'm still using the white-off background fabric and different shades of greens for the stars.)

As I told you earlier, I have plenty of other works to choose...

so I won't be bored ;o)

...hm.. should I do cross-stitches... or piece english paper STARS!... or knit a second sock....

Choices... choices;o)

See you!