Nightingale Quilt Completed and Gifted

I finished this quilt at the end of last year, but I didn't have a chance to take a picture until recently. I am finally ready to share it!

I made this quilt for my second son as a "grown man quilt". As I was browsing for design ideas, this came to my mind. You can find the pattern at Lo and Behold Stitchery and the shop has other beautiful patterns you will fall in love with! I just changed up the colors to make it more for my son and he loved it. :)

Guess what? Shortly after I started making this quilt, my son got engaged. Their wedding is in less than a couple months! I am going to start making their wedding quilt. I gotta go!

North Star Wedding Quilt

Let me introduce you to my most recently finished quilt, "North Star".

I have always wanted to make a quilt for my children when they are getting married. Shortly after my oldest son got engaged, I started brainstorming quilt designs. I was going through the quilt books and patterns I already had. Then I came across the acrylic template by Jen Kingwell's "North Star". I love the meaning and sentiment North Star carries; Constant, guidance, direction, stability, etc. I thought it would be a perfect block to use to construct the quilt for the happy couple. I also asked his fiance's preference in design, then found out that she likes a simple, timeless and clean design. I combined his fiance's favorite color blue and my son's favorite color green. After making some sketches, I came up with this quilt.

I finished making it a couple nights before the wedding day (phew! That was cutting it close) and I was able to gift it to them. I asked them if we could do a photo shoot with the quilt later. Between their schedule and my health issues and all, it took a while to do the photo shoot, but it finally happened! They were such good sports about it and I had fun shooting their photos with the quilt.

Aren't they so cute?! Lastly, the quilt label I created in the back of the quilt reads:

Love is like the North Star. In a changing world, it's always constant. - Gorden B. Hinkley
May your life be filled with love and happiness.- Mom

Wensleydale Quilt for My Son

At the end of last year, I decided to make a quilt for my oldest son. Sure, I made several quilts and blankets for him in the past, but not as a grown man. The great thing is, I already had a pattern in mind. It was Wensleydale by Jen Kingwell. Jen came to town last August and I attended her trunk show with my friend. I enjoyed looking at all her quilts, but the Wensleydale quilt stuck out to me and I thought to myself; that would be perfect for my boys.

Jen Kingwell Halo Quilt Finished!

I finished piecing this quilt in September of last year (no I didn't remember this info, I just went back and saw my post on Instagram), and I finally finished hand quilting it last month. I have a good excuse for why it took so long... I was making two other quilts for my son who was getting married. That will be another post, but today, I am ready to share this one. The pattern is designed by one of my most favorite Aussie quilt designer Jen Kingwell and called Halo.

Not only do I love scrappy quilts, I just love her authentic design and warmth. To kick start this quilt, I went through all my fabrics from scrap bins to fat quarters to larger pieces. It was so fun to coordinate fabrics and unexpectedly to find great combinations. That is one of the thrills of quilt making in my opinion.

I started a quilt group over a year ago and we meet twice a month. I hand quilted this during those times and machine pieced other quilts when I was by myself. Oh, how I love the look of the stitches going through the quilt!

When people ask me who this quilt is for; my answer is, "For me!". I will have some posts soon about my son's quilt and his wedding quilt. Until then, Happy quilting!

First Time Ever Podcast Interview! ~ with Creative Japan

Emi of Emi & Ko Studio reached out to me a while ago to be a guest on her brand new podcast. To be honest, my initial thought was to decline, because I am usually terrified of public speaking and am insecure about speaking English as a second language. But, I thought to myself, "When am I going to have such an opportunity to try something like this?" It was a bit scary but exciting at the same time! Big thanks to Emi who made me feel very welcomed and I felt it was more like having a conversation rather than an interview. Surprised to say, I had a great time!

Please check out my episode. There are several places you can go to watch. Youtube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Emi's blog

Kantha Inspired Quilt with Sashiko Machine

Have you ever heard of Kantha? Kantha means "Patched cloth" and is a type of embroidery performed in the eastern regions of India and Bangladesh. It is often used to make simple quilts with a mix of old saris and other discarded pieces of fabric. The rich history of Kantha traces back to centuries ago! I have a Kantha quilt I purchased years ago and what I love about it is the bright colors and big stitches running through the quilt. Kantha does not have batting in them, but it is very soft and perfect for summer nights. The art of Kantha reminds me of Sashiko, which also has a very rich history of its own as a type of traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching used for the decorative and/or functional reinforcement of cloth and clothing.

Kantha and Sashiko were both created by people who were trying to be frugal; repurposing the old cloth, but at the same time those women created something beautiful to enrich their lives.

I marvel at how the human brain works and makes us innovative. India (and other parts of east asia) and Japan are separated by sea over thousands of miles. There was no TV, books, or internet to know these things centuries ago, but somehow we have similar beautiful crafts. Isn't that interesting?

I always wanted to make a Kantha quilt, but I have so many other projects I want to work on. I thought why not use modern technology (meaning my Baby Lock Sashiko machine to create a Kantha inspired quilt!

I have a stash of beautiful fabrics (Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Tula Pink and Sandi Hendersen!) but some of them are big scale fabrics and kind of difficult to incorporate to some quilt projects. I love the fabric design so much that I hate to cut them into small pieces and lose their original beauty. You should see me in my sewing room pulling them out, admiring them, petting them and putting them back on my shelf. Haha. I bet many of you have the same problem as me. I know that this project is perfect for those fabrics waiting to be used and shine!

* You will need ~ finished quilt size 63"x 75"

Several large scale fabrics with bold colors and designs, Several fat quarters and cut by the yard fabrics
Batting ~ Actual Kantha quilt doesn't have batting, I decided to use batting
Fabrics for backing ~ I pieced my fabrics for backing
Thread for piecing and quilting

* How to
1. Some of you may not want to hear this, but to piece this quilt, I just went with the flow. To start off, I cut several of my fat quarters in half to create rectangles and lay them out on the floor to see the placement of the colors and scale balance. The wider rectangles are about the width of the fabric which is about 42" to 44"wide. They are about 7" to 17" high. I pieced narrow columns and wide columns separately, then pieced the two columns together.

2. Baste the top, batting and backing together. I wanted to use the Sashiko machine, so I went with pin basting. If you are machine quilting with your regular sewing machine, this step is the same. If you are hand quilting, I recommend hand basting the quilt with large stitches.

3. I set both the stitch length and stitch spacing to 5 on my Sashiko.

4. I used 4 different colors of Aurifil threads. I love Aurifil threads for quilting, they don't break like my other threads and I can always depend on them. The space between the quilting is 5/8".

5. Cut the excess.

6. Sew bias tape around the quilt. I normally sew the bias by machine and hand sew in the back, but I finished it off with the machine this time.

Time to enjoy!

I pieced the backing.

I love looking at gorgeous stitchings

Now the Kantha inspired quilt is all ready to be enjoyed. It is almost winter, but I love bright colors and bold floral design. I could imagine myself, wrapped up in this quilt with good books in front of the fireplace and dreaming of a warm spring day.

Dresden Plate Quilt from the Past

I was going to post this quilt last year when I finished appliqueing all around the border, but I didn't. I guess I started working on the other quilt while I started hand quilting this one and kind of forgot to post it. Let me tell you a little bit about this quilt...

Why is the title "Dresden Plate Quilt from the past"; you might ask? I actually started making this quilt over 22 years ago. Sometime in my 2nd or 3rd trimester of my first pregnancy, for some reason, I thought I was going to have a baby girl. Please don't ask me why, I don't even remember. I jumped into this quilt project and appliqued all the main blocks and pieced them. Then at my ultrasound, I found out that I was being blessed with a boy! I put away the quilt top deep into my craft bin and forgot about it. I made lots of boy quilts for my boys and time went by... every time we moved, I would reencountered the unfinished quilt top, but then I would put it away again. A couple years ago, I had an impression that I needed to finish all the projects I started in the past; well, I have no strict time limits, but I decided that I shouldn't neglect them anymore. I pulled out this quilt top and designed the whole border applique and worked on it.

It was a lot of work, but I love how it turned out!

I started hand quilting it last year and I am still working on it. I usually have multiple projects going on at once, so I only hand-quilt whenever I feel like it. The process is slow, but I enjoy the time. I guess I could give it to my daughter, or one of my future granddaughters.
It is never too late to finish a quilt from the past.

Scrappy Strip/String Quilt

I remembered that I didn't get around to posting this quilt I finished in November. I used the same method that I used to make strip pillows in October. I used 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" tissue papers for the pillow, but I used 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" papers for this quilt, that's it! It is done by exact same technique, just bigger. If you are in interested in the tutorial you can click the link.

After I finished piecing, I wondered how I wanted to quilt it. The options are:

A. Ask someone with a longarm to quilt it for me.
B. Quilt it myself with my machine. I am not that good at it, but it will be good practice.
C. Hand quilt it.

I tossed and turned... well, maybe not that much, but I finally decided to hand quilt it with thick thread and big stitches. I was second guessing myself while I was working on it, but I actually love how it turned out!

I like using pieced fabric for the back of the quilt. It is more work, but I love the small surprize when you turn the quilt over. It adds more interest and character. The hand quilting is more visible on the back side and I love it!

If you have lots of scraps, this quilt is perfect for them. It is easy, quick and fun! Do you want to add it to your "to make" list for this year?

Christmas Tree Wall Hanging Tutorial

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree... every year I see fun Christmas tree quilt ideas online and want to make one, but a year passes by so quickly and poof! It is already December. I tried coming up with my own pattern around October. I was sketching and experimenting with fabrics. After a few tries, I came up with this tree pattern. Wouldn't it be so pretty if I made 300 plus blocks and made a quilt with these cute trees? I was looking at several projects on my table and decided not to do that this year. Instead, I made a small wall hanging!

Cutting the fabric might be a little tedious, but once you get the hang of it, this project goes quickly. It is not too late to whip this up to be part of your Christmas decorations.

* YOU NEED

4 different kinds of green fabrics
5 different kinds of red fabrics
White fabric

* HOW TO

1. Cut fabrics. The picture shows the parts you need to construct a block and the measurements are written in the picture. I only listed the measurements on one side because it is symmetrical.

2. Start from the bottom row. Lay green fabric down right side up and lay white 1 ½" x 1 ½" square on both ends right side down. Draw a diagonal line and sew on the line. Trim the excess and open the white fabric. Press with iron.

3. For the rest of the three rows, repeat the same process and add extra rectangle pieces to the sides.

4. Sew all four rows together and trim the block. The block should be 4" x 4 ½". 8 more blocks to go!

5. Cut 24 pieces of 1 ¼" x 4" strips from white fabrics and 16 pieces of 1 ¼" x 1 ¼" squares from red and green fabrics. Piece the strips with the tree blocks as shown in the picture; make the rows first.

Then, make the "skinny rows" with the white strips and colored squares.

6. Piece the tree row and skinny row together. Press with iron.

7. From the white fabric, cut 2 pieces of 2" x 15 ½" for the side borders and cut 2 pieces of 2" x 17" for the top and the bottom borders. Sew them on, press with iron.

8. It is totally up to you on how you want to finish the quilt. I have been doing machine quilting on my last few quilts, so I decided to do hand quilting on this one. I used white, red and green thread. It was a lot of fun deciding which color to use where. One of my dream sewing machines is Sashiko from Babylock. I know; it is a one letter difference from my name. When I first glanced at the machine, I thought, "Wow! The machine has same name as me!" haha. Sashiko machine stitches are uniform and consistent, making it easier and faster to finish your quilting projects (there are many other ways to use this machine, too). You can achieve a hand quilted look with this machine! I LOVE doing hand quilting, but when I am older and it gets harder to hand quilt, there is still hope. :)

I hope you will have a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for visiting!

My Mom's 70th Birthday ~ Purple Quilt

Before we can talk about the purple quilt, let me tell you a little bit about a red quilt I made 10 years ago... 10 years ago, when my mom turned 60 years old, to celebrate her special birthday, I made her a red quilt. There is an old tradition in Japan that when you celebrate your 60th birthday you wear a red vest and hat with your family and friends. My mom didn't want to wear them AT ALL, so I made her a red quilt instead. Even though I was born and raised in Japan, I had no clue about this tradition, how it started, and the meaning behind it. So I did a quick search and I wrote about that in my blog post 10 years ago, if you are interested, you can read it here.

During the research, I found out that there is a theme color for each decade and the color for 70 is purple. I told her that when she turns 70, I will make her a purple quilt. 10 years passed so quickly... and to tell you the truth, I had forgotten about the promise I made. One Sunday, I was facetiming with my mom and she was using the red quilt I made. Talk about divine timing!! I was thinking to myself "Thank you God SO MUCH!!" I definitely want to keep my promise to her. The last couple years were very hard for her and I wanted to do something special.

I made the red quilt with only solid fabrics to play with color gradients. For the purple quilt, I thought it would be fun to use prints and make it scrappy. I had most of the fabrics on my shelf, but I added some new ones to them. I used Half Square Triangles to create this quilt and I will show you how to make 8 of them very quickly. There are MANY tutorial posts and videos out there if you want to explore.

* Purple Quilt How to

Finished quilt size 64 1/2" x 80 1/2"

1. Cut 40 pieces of 9 3/4" x 9 3/4" squares from dark fabrics and 40 pieces of 9 3/4" x 9 3/4" squares form light fabrics.

2. Combine a dark and a light square, right sides together. Draw diagonal lines on the square.

3. Sew 1/4" seam on each side of each diagonal line. I had my 1/4" Quilting Foot with Guide on my Baby lock machine, so I just use that as a guide to sew 1/4" seam from the diagonal line. You could draw the lines next to the diagonal line before you sew too. Draw a vertical and a horizontal line in the middle of the square.

4. Cut in the middle of the sewed diagonal lines, on the vertical and horizontal lines to make 8 triangles.

5. Open them up and press them with an iron!

6. I didn't have a specific design idea in mind. After I made all the HSTs, I sat in front of my design wall and moved them around for a few days. I thought about doing a more unified look at first, but then I changed my mind to do a more scrappy look. I pieced squares first, then pieced them to make rows and sewed the rows together. Once I finished with the quilt top, I was going to take pictures and like always, my little dog came and joined the photoshoot. He was too cute to dismiss...

I machine quilted it myself, added the label and packaged it. Now the quilt is on its way to Japan and I hope my mom will receive it before her birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!!

P.S. In case you are curious... The theme color for 80 is yellow. I normally don't use many yellow fabrics, but I better start thinking about what to do!