bad kitty in the pumpkin patch

As a good "American," I decided not only to get ready for the Halloween season early this year, but I also designed a new table topper that everyone can make. You see, my husband is getting onto me every year that I don't decorate the house a little bit better for Halloween. He knows this is one of my favorite holidays, but I am a bit lazy when it comes to decorating for a specific season other than Christmas.

This whimsical table topper features two applique kitties, one on each side as well as four FPP bats, one intertwined pumpkin stem block and four log cabin pumpkins. I tell you, it is really fun to make something using all of your skills as a quilter. I am not too fond of applique, but this is the easiest way to make that kitty. It is all raw-edge applique, but you can just add 1/4 to the templates using two pencils taped together and outlinging the original shape to make your turned-applique templates. The kitty is truly made of minimal parts and the accent quilting is just gorgeous! A big thanks goes out to Sabine of Quilt-Oase in Nersingen, Germany who did the most specatcular job on the spider web, cat legs and dangling spider quilting!!

The new pattern consists of 12 pages with a handout of all FPP and applique templates scaled at 100%. Once again, there is no need for scaling on my patterns. You can find the new pattern in my Etsy Store (easypatchworkshop) or at your local German quilt shop. If you own a quilt shop anywhere in the world and would like to sell this pattern, please contact me directly. This pattern is available only in English.

I used fabrics from the Hocus Pocus collection from Sandy Gervais for Moday and Riley Blake Fabrics - Eek Boo Shriek Creme Dot for the background. The acid green eyes are actually Chartreuse from Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

Material Requirements:

1 yard background fabric
1 yard 2 1/2" strips various prints for pumpkins and border
1 yard black for cat, bats, stems and border
scraps of acid green and pink for the applique kitty nose and eyes
1/2 yard of each - fusible web and applique interfacing

This pattern is for intermediate quilters.

Have fun and thank you for stopping by!

customed designed quilt from recycled baby clothes

Happy New Year 2013!

And now I am finally allowed to share with you my very first customer quilt (not my first sale, but my first real paying big job).

I really enjoyed designing this quilt with the mother, Beate, who wanted to have a patchwork quilt made from her daughter's baby clothing. After working through a couple of sketches, I realized Beate wanted something "traditional" but also very bright and cheery - "modern."

That's the name I gave to the quilt - Trad Mod für Lilli!

It was very important to find a unity in the quilt. It isn't always easy taking old baby clothes and fitting them into a quilt. They are usually very different in color - some bright and some very soft. I found that it was simpler to use just the light colored & pink fabrics, mostly former onesies, and used stabilizer on the back so the fabric wouldn't pull when sewn together.

The best part about this quilt, is the fact that I was allowed to use really bright coordinating fabrics. I love color and found this really great fabric from Riley Blake called Apple of my Eye designed by the Quilted Fish. It has the pink in the main apple fabric and the rest is pulled from there. I simply love it. I secretly wished I could keep it myself. ;-) The backing is a cuddly flannel from Debbie Mumm called Love U Flannel for Moda. The striped binding is from the Sugar & Spice collection also from Riley Blake.

view all of the photos from TradMod for Lilli here.

Lastly, and most important, I have a very good long arm quilter, Brigitte Heitland of QD Service in Werther, Germany. She is honestly, the very best quilter I know! Her sense of style is impeccable. She came up with the the heart shaped designs which totally accentuates the theme of the quilt. She also created this really cool border quilting that does not "outline" the border strips as we typically do, but creates a new pattern.

I am always amazed to see what Brigitte can whip up with her long arm machine. Thank you so much!

If you are interested in having a quilt made from your children's clothing, please contact me. I would really love to make a boy's quilt.

TradMod für Lilli FERTIG!

I finished my very first customer quilt today and am very pleased with the results. My German customer, Beate, contacted me a couple of months ago to sew together a memory quilt for her daughter from her daughter's baby clothing. I was totally honored to create such a lovely quilt for Lilli. I will post more pictures after the family receives their quilt, so they are the first to be totally surprised.

Beate decided on a traditional on point pattern with a 4 x 5 layout. I showed her a couple of sketches with light pinks and grays, but she wanted something really bright and cheery. I found the main fabric "Apple of my Eye" from the Quilted Fish for Riley Blake and added fabrics that matched, one white with pink polka dots from Tilda. I found a really pretty pink flannel from Debbie Mumm for Moda and used as the cuddly backing.

I knew I needed about 20 pieces of clothing to make a nice quilt and sorted out mainly the light pastels and white fabrics. These were going to be the center of my blocks. I backed all of the baby clothing patches with a stabilizer to keep the jersey fabric from pulling. To really set the out baby clothing fabrics, I used the bright fabrics all around.

The quilt went together rather easy after everything was well planned and decided. We wanted to keep it simple (kiss) or simple, easy, practical (sep). I asked a good friend and long arm quilter, Brigitte to quilt it for me. She came up with a really beautiful design totally in line with the theme - apples and love. A picture of the quilting will have to wait a while though -  until my customer receives her quilt. I am really impressed with Brigitte's quilting. She always has the greatest ideas and is a true quilt artist and fabric designer if you don't already know that.

I finished off the quilt with a striped binding from the Sugar and Spice series from Riley Blake using my typical 3/8" width double fold binding and closed with a running stitch. Even though this takes the longest time, it is worth that tedious effort. The only other way to close the binding, that I like, I found via Pat Sloan using a buttonhole stitch to close from the front. I use this mostly on baby blankets or "Krabbeldecken."

So, this very bright and cheery memory quilt will find a new home over the holidays. Every one of my quilts is a piece of me and I am honored to give this one to a family who values handmade blankets.

Thank you for commenting on my post. It encourages me to continue, especially on those overwhelming overcast days. I love and need the sunshine!!

Yours truly,
Karen

TradMod for Lilli

This past week I finished up the top to a children's quilt and am really pleased with the results. My customer wanted to recycle the baby clothes from her daughter's first year into a bed quilt. We worked intensively together and came up up with with a bright and simple traditional pattern using "Apple of My Eye" from the Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs. I added a little "Sugar and Spice" for the binding and inner border.

 I really enjoyed working with Beate. At first I showed her very subdued pastel colors but was thrilled when she steered me back to my favorite color palette of red and turquoise! Riley Blake Designs has really fantastic fabric for children's quilts and you can basically mix and match fabric lines.

I fussy cut motifs from onesies and mostly jersey fabrics. I backed them with iron-on stabilizer which keeps the fabric from stretching when you sew it into another block.

The backing is made of cuddly flannel. Quite fitting to the apple theme is Debbie Mumms' Love U flannel from Moda. The entire quilt measures about 160 x 180 cm.

It is simply adorable!

I thought it only fitting to give this special blanket the full service, so I arranged for B. Heitland to quilt it for me. I strongly believe that Brigitte is one of the best long arm quilters here in Germany!! I can't wait to get it back and see her amazing quilting creativity.

I will post the finished quilt when everything in finished.