Few weeks / Šios kelios svaitės

Happy Friday! Finally some sewing time just for me. Or at least I had that this past weekend. My middle review was over and I decided to just relax and have fun sewing something, nothing in particular trying out blocks.

These two were in my history lesson notebooks. What do you do on the lectures? I draw quilt block. And most of all I love how both of them turned out, just no idea how to finish them.

Another one on my list was spiderweb block. Tried and realized that it need a lot of improvement. It's too thick, probably because I used the white fabric as an entire triangle. Need to try again and this time without full white fabric.

But in the end I love how it came together. It's such a fun way to use up scraps. In this block my intention was to make the middle web bright, cheerful colors and the ones in the back dark. After making it I thought it could be quite fun pillow, but still debating on that idea.

This one was completely improvisation. Had no idea what I was doing. Playing with my scraps and this is the results. Just latter I realized that it could turn out as quite the fun potholders.

My lectures are back this week, so not much sewing. Hopping to sit down for a few hours on the weekend. My hears is itching how it wants to finish something big.

Have fun,
Dovile

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Sveiki,

praeitą savaite buvo tarpinės peržiūros kolegijoj. Joms pasibaigus visa savaitgali ką nors siuvau. Tiksliau išbandžiau jau seniai planuotus blokus. Vieni buvo nupiešti per istorijos paskaitas. Labai patinka kas išėjo. Tik va dar nežinau ką iš jų padaryti. Voro tinklą jau seniai norėjau išbandyt, ne taip gerai išėjo kaip tikėjausi, bet klaidas supratau ir noriu dar kart pabandyti. Paskutinis darbas tai visiškai toks pažaidimas su mažytėm skiautelėm kurias turiu nuo buvusių darbų. Bedarant supratau kad būtų neblogi padėkliukai. Kas išeis pažiūrėsim. O kadangi jau šią savaitę studijos prasidėjo, tad vėl mažai prisėju prie savo medžiagų. Bet tikiuosi šį savaitgalį nors kiek prisėsti. Jau taip seniai rankutės virpa ir nori kokio didesnio darbo.

Linkėjimai,  
Dovile

Towards The Blue Dream / Mėlynos svajonės link

It's finally finished, I guess it took me some time to share, but when I found out that our exhibition was not in the spring, I put this quilt away. And I wanted to finish it in summer, while I had some free time, but like always I didn't, I just did some small details. And as soon as I put hanging sleeves on I had to take pictures. And in the end I was finishing it few weeks before exhibition. So I'm ready to introduce you to this quilt.

Pagaliau baigtas, truputį ilgokai užtrukau pasirodyti, bet kai sužinojau kad paroda bus dar ne pavasarį, jį padėjau į šalį. Norėjosi pabaigti vasarą, bet kaip visada vasaros grožis ir šiluma padarė savo. Sugebėjau tik sutvarkyti kelias mažas detales. Tačiau kai tik padariau pakabinimus iškart išsinešiau ir įamžinau. Bet visko gale, vistiek teko pabaiginėt jį kelios savaitės prieš parodą. Tad dabar ir noriu jį pristatyti. 

I've mentioned it quite often. First part, second part. This quilt brought me a lot of problems. I remember how long it took for me to realize that I can't possible put all of it under my machine and quilt it all together. But with every mistake I learned a lot.

Jau daug esu jį minėjusi ir rodžiusi. Pirma dalis, antra dalis. Šis skiautinys man sukėlė daug problemų, uoj kaip kankinausi kol supratau kad jo viso po mašina nepakišiu. Bet su kiekviena klaida vis kažko naujo išmokau. 

I called it second denim quilt, but I needed a name for the exhibition, and I managed to came up with "Towards the Blue Dream". And I love this name, it fits perfectly. Everything I make brings me closer to my dream, and those blocks even remind me about stairs and that you have to climb one step at a time.

Šiam tinklaraštyje daug kartų linksniavau kaip antrąjį džinsinį skiautinį, bet parodai teko sugalvoti jam pavadinimą, "Mėlynos svajonės link". Ir man jis taip patinka ir tinka. Kiekvienas mano žingsnis atneša mane arčiau mano svajonės, o šių blokų dizainas primena laiptus, ir tai kad link svajonės lipam po vieną laiptą iš eilės.

This quilt is nowhere near my wanted perfection, it's actually quite bulky and have a lot of imperfections, but that's okay. Because it's handmade and not mass product that are usually perfect in every seam. Because it's mine. Because I love it this way. Because it's just like a road to dreams, there are some mistakes on the way, but you always manage to climb up one stair more.

Šis skiautinys man labai neprimena mano išsvajotos tobulybės, jis turi tikrai nemažai klaidų, bet tai yra gerai. Tai tik parodo kad šis darbas padarytas rankomis o ne pramoninėmis mašinom,kur viskas būna tiesu ir idealu. Ir tai kad jis mano. Ir tai kad aš jį myliu. Ir tai kad tai primena kelią link svajonės, yra daug sunkumų, klaidų kelyje, bet visada jas įveiki ir palypėji vienu laipteliu arčiau savo svajonės.

I'm so glad to have it off my back. It has been a WIP for so long. But I loved working with denim, so much that I already started planing one more denim quilt with this technique.

Taip džiaugiuosi pagaliau nusimetusi jį nuo savo pečių. Jau senokai pradėtas ir norėjosi greičiau pabaigti. Bet man taip patiko dirbti su džinsu, kad jau pradėjau planuot kitą panašų darbą šia technika.

It's size is 257 x 176 cm. Or 101 x 70 inches. Long but, not wide. I love quilts that are about 200 x 200 cm (80 x 80 inches). Just like my picnic quilt. But this one was made especially for the bed. And it fits perfectly (minus it being too long, sometimes you have to do sacrifices for the design).

Jo dydis 257 x 176 cm. Ilgas, bet ne platus. Man labiau patinka 2 ant 2 metrų skiautiniai. Toks kaip mano pikniko. Bet šis buvo specialiai gaminamas sesės lovai. Ir jis telpa nuostabiai ( nepaisant kad per ilgas ir galus tenka užlenkt, bet kartais dėl dizaino tenka aukotis).

I made this quilt with intention to lay it down on my sisters bed, on mine is my first denim quilt. It's quite big on the end part, but the composition was so perfect that I wanted to keep it like that. And I just fold the end when I want to put it on the bed. And my denim pillow and hexie denim pillow look perfect all together.

Pagaminau su idėja apkloti sesės lova, ant mano yra mano pirmasis džinsinis užtiestas. Per ilgas šiai lovai, bet kraštus įmanoma užlenkti, o pilno dizainas išlieka geras. Ir mano džinsinė pagalvė ir šešiakampių pagalvytė puikiai tinka kartu.

Thanks for visiting,
Dovile

Ačiū kad esat, 
Dovilė

Catch Up!

Like always I'm gone for a long time, and I'm not sorry about that. When I'n not on the computer I'm probably doing some sewing or reading a book. So today a quick jump in to tell you what's going on.

First is that I have no internet at home, I'll get it only in the upcoming few weeks, it really is uncomfortable to live without it.

Good news is that I finished my a mini for my IG handpieced mini quilt swap. I left my camera at home so before sending it I only took them with my phone camera. And I didn't downloaded them to my pc. But here is the process of the mini.

Recently I turned 20. And the best surprise was these flowers, I have the best cousin.

And one more amazing thing I finished is a painting for my teacher, but I want to write a separate post for it, so only a peek from it.

Have a nice, sunny summer.

Dovile :)

Picnic quilt / Iškylos skiautinys

I went through my blog and noticed I haven't introduced you to any of my finished quilts. Just showing off whats in progress. So I went through my photos and found this one quilt I finished long time ago. 

Aš peržiūrėjau savo tinklaraštį ir pastebėjau, kad dar nesu pristačius savo užbaigto skiautinio. Tik vis rodau ką darau. Todėl peržiūrėjau savo nuotraukas ir radau šį senai jau užbaigtą skiautinį.

A picnic quilt, using Jeni Bakers tutorial. But since I use centimeters not inches I calculated about the size that I needed and went with 15 cm squares. I wanted it to be a big one, and it definitely turned out to be. Size: 210 x 190 cm.

Iškylos skiautinys, naudojant Jeni Baker instrukcijas. Bet pas ja viskas coliais, o aš naudoju centimetrus, todėl po kelių apskaičiavimų nusprendžiau daryti iš 15 cm kvadratų. Labai norėjau didelio skiautinio, ir toks tikrai išėjo. Baigto dydis yra 210 x 190 cm.

It was my first quilt at this size. And of course living in an apartment I hardly found any place to lie it down. The top piecing went fast, I loved working with simple squares. But then there was a time that I needed to baste it, there was no place so wide at my home. So I event went to my aunt just to baste the quit. And of course it was my first time pin basting, turned out quite nice, and a lot faster, I imagine.

Ir tai buvo mano pirmasis skiautinys tokių didelių išmatavimų. Aišku gyvenant mažam bute aš vos radau vietą kurioj galėčiau išsidėlioti skiautinio viršų. Viršų susiuvau tikrai greitai, tikriausiai todėl kad labai patiko dirbti su paprastais kvadratais. Turint viršų atėjo laikas padaryti sumuštinį. Bet pas mane namie nebuvo tiek vietos ir su visa įranga keliavau pas Tetą. Su šiuo skiautiniu pirmą kart išbandžiau dygsniavimą sąvaržėlėm, išėjo visai neblogai ir tikrai manau daug greičiau.

Next was quilting. Such big quilt on my small domestic machine. Let's give it a try, but actually I really had a hard time quilting it, I rested a lot and so it took me about two days to fully quilt it, I did simple diagonal lines.

Atėjo laikas dygsniavimui, toks milžiniškas skiautinys ant tokios mažos, naminės siuvimo mašinos. Na pabandyt nieks nedraudžia, bet tikrai turėjau vargo. Su labai daug pertraukų užtrukau dvi dienas, dariau paprastas įstrižas linijas.

I decided to try machine binding, of course form Jeni Bakers tutorials. And I fell in love with this way, so simple, fast and looks amazing.

O kantavimą dariau su mašina, aišku iš Jeni Bakers instrukcijų. Ir tiesiog pamilau šį būdą, paprasta, greita ir atrodo nuostabiai.

When I was finished I fell in love with this quilt, it's not so pretty or amazing, it has no pretty patterns, but for me, it's one of my most loved quilts. 

Kai pabaigiau skiautinį, tiesiog negalėjau atsižavėti, pamilau jį. Nors jis neatrodo toks nuostabus ar labai gražus, ar kažkoks įspūdingas, bet tai mano labiausiai mylimas skiautinys.

And let me tell you a secret, I actually never used it for a picnic. I never have been on a picnic, but I really want to. So I couldn't just keep it hidden and waiting, so I used it around my house, mostly on my bed, and even after leaving for Vilnius I still use it on my bed, and sometimes I even sleep under it, so much warmness.

Ir pasakysiu paslaptį, šis mano kūrinys dar nebuvo naudotas pagal paskirtį, tai yra jis dar nebuvo iškyloj, ir aš nebuvau, bet labai noriu. Bet negalėjau laikyti jo paslėpus ir laukt tos progos, tad išsitraukiau ir naudoju. Dažniausiai kaip lovatiesė namuose, nors į Vilnių išvažiavau ir vistiek kartu atsivežiau kaip lovatiesę, bet labai mėgstu ir pasnausti po šita šiluma. 

Thanks for wisiting, have a nive weekend,
Dovile

Ačiū, kad užsukat, geros savaitgalio pradžios, 
Dovile

Recently

Recently I have been buying fabric. I understood my fabric stash is a total disaster. Why? Probably because the fabric I use are mostly thrifted or second-life. So wanting to use good quality fabric I had to say goodbye to the bad ones, but did you think I could throw it away? Nope. So now I'm making 3 picnic quilts. And these fabric here are my first additions to the future awesome fabric stash.

One more recent finish is zigzag quilt. Today I managed to baste it. And it took less time than expected. Next is free motion quilting. So scary. Such big quilt, but I believe I can do it. I still wonder around what thread to use, but once I get that, few practice squares and come here my big awesome quilt.

Another recent ongoing project I remembered to revisit is my shelf runner, I've mentioned it here before. And I basted it and even managed to quilt it, now only binding left. But I put it until I figure out what kind of binding I want.

Have a nice weekend,
Dovile

More WIPs

Who doesn't have few WIPs in their shelves. And what always keeps happening is that more WIPs keeps adding to that pile. So here are my new WIPs.

Warm - Cool quilt top is finished, I used chain piecing and it came together so fast. At first I was hesitant about my fabric choice and I wasn't sure of something will come out of it. But the present view makes me happy. It turned out better than expected. Can't wait to finish, but it'll have to wait. Because...

I started more projects. I have so much unusable fabric, so I decided to use it up for something simple, and so I want with picnic quilts. I am cutting my fabric in 15, 20, 25, 30 centimeter squares. And then I'll decide on some design. One of them will probably be a simple patchwork quilt. And one is already requested by my cousin, so that one will be with some stars.

And of course I have to finish some swaps, this one is from Instagram. #handpiecedminiswap. I know my partner loves hexies and hand stitches. Hexies - easy, hand stitching - scary. I have never hand stitched. But that's what swaps are for, to try something new. So my hexies are finished, they turned quite small, but I love how mini they are.

How about you? Do you finish your WIPs before starting new?

Best wishes,
Dovile

Zig Zag Quilt Top

It's been so quite around here. It seems summer is coming and asking me to go outside more often. So now I need to find a way to get my sewing machine outside.

Anyways, now I wanna show you a quilt. This one is sitting on my neck for a long time. I fell in love with Jeni Bakers' blog. And  I found her quilts and pictures so inspiring, so making something from there was no surprise. This one is from this tutorial. It's Patchwork Chevron Quilt. But I did some remodeling, I tried doing it in rainbow color combo.

Choosing fabric was my favorite part.

Cutting it was definitely not.

But I fell in love with that pile of rainbow squares.

It was really fun trying to find the perfect color combo.

And the best part was hanging it on my window and drinking tea and admiring the view.

But of course it needs to be finished. Hope to do it this summer and probably by free motion quilting.

Best wishes,
Dovile

Catch up!

Well since my spring review is over I can concentrate on finishing some quilt and starting new. Warm- Cool quilt is coming great, I have already made the HST's, cut them, pressed the seams and even started playing with the layout. And today I am almost finished with trimming them.

Also one more quite recent finish is a present for a friend. I was in a hurry, but still wanted to do something crafty for her. And I decided to go with simple drawstring bag and fill it up with some awesome stuff. I used ,my favorite, Jeni Bakers tutorial. And it turned out great, my friend also liked it so that makes me happy.

And yesterday I heard some not good news, until 1st of August we have to move out of this apartment. I am excited to move to a new place, but somehow I already got attached to this one, I love the view by the window, and the apartment is great, but well life happens and so I can't wait to decorate my new place.

Best wishes,
Dovile

Side Braid Quilt

Well the biggest part of my collage work is over, so to celebrate that let me share a quilt. Actually it's one hell of a WIP. I made the top quite fast, but quilting it was a problem, I still can't birng myself to start it. Probably because there is only one big quilt that I have quilted with my machine, so I'm afraid it might be difficult for me.

But anyways, here it is:

My Side Braid Quilt from Jeni Bakers patterns. This is one of my favorite quilts from her patterns, it's so easy to piece and looks so fun. Of course small Side Braid Quilt is awesome too, and that one is in my list too.

I made a mistake choosing the fabrics. I think this pattern would look a lot more awesome with brighter colors. Since I don't have a lot of experience I tried not to go overboard with color combo and that was my mistake, it all looks same. But I hope to fix that while I'll do the quilting.

The best thing about this quilt is how fast it came together and the finished look is quite amazing (not considering my fabric choosing).

I made this quilt in twin size, but I plan to give it to my mom to use it as a lap quilt. But we'll see, because first I have to finish this one old WIP.

I will be traveling to my home town today and guess what that means. Well I'll get to work on my warm-cool quilt. I plan to piece the triangles on these few days that I'll be there.

Best wishes,
Dovile

A "bed" for my sewing machine

Well, I have really disappeared. And what's worse is that nothing crafty is happening behind the scenes. Only collage work and more collage work. But there are good news, two weeks and my finals and then, I'll have much more time to myself.

Today I want to share a really mini quilt, I made this especially for my sewing machine. Because it also needs a "bed".

I already had some cutted strips. Just trimmed them down to my needed size and put them together. Added batting (to be more comfortable for my machine). And quilted it with straight lines. Fast and simple project to enjoy in the evening.

I received some not quilty fabric for free. I have no idea how this king of fabric is called, I know that I got it free from furniture salon. So this was one of the projects I used it for, the second is bean bag. But I plan to do a lot more mini quilts from these scrapy fabric.

Even though I have a lot of collage work I'll still try to jump in twice in a week to show you more of my finished projects. Don't worry I still have many more left.

Best wishes,
Dovile

HST pilows

It's always nice to remember your old projects, especially the ones that are not with you anymore.

These pillows were a gift for my brothers girlfriend. He wanted to give her some nice decorative pillows and so I could not refuse making them.

And it was actually my first try at quilty pillows. Confession time: I got addiction. They are so simple to make but looks so nice and this is quite a fast project.

Also this was my first time working with HST, but since I had a reference and some nice inspiration I immediately decided on the pattern. I was inspired by Jeni Bakers Half-Square Triangle Block of the Month, it's an old post, but I love this quilt and I dream of making it completely, but for these pillow I used

February

and August blocks.

As soon as they were made I had to give them away, so glad I snapped few pictures while I could.

After this project I fell in love with HST, they have so much perspective in quilt projects. And have you heard? Jeni Baker is publishing a book on HSTs. Since I don't really have a way to get them in my countrys bookstore, I still plan to get it some way, because I do believe this book is going to be great!

Have a nice HST time,
Dovile