quilter's favorites

The amazingly talented Geta Grama over at Geta's quilting studio had a fantastic idea for a linky party.

 

The idea is for bloggers to share their quilting favorites as well as some tools, tips, and helpful tricks. Anyone is welcome to join in and I've even seen quite a few links to free tutorials, too. Hope you'll join in the fun :)

Here are my answers to some of the questions Geta provided.

Any advice for a successful color scheme of a quilt?

Mix things up. Follow your instincts. Don't stick with just one fabric collection for the whole quilt. Use many shades of the same color to achieve more depth and movement in your quilts.

Remember, you can always change your mind. I keep constantly adding and taking away fabrics throughout the whole process of making a quilt.

Tips for easy piecing?

I find the most important thing is the consistency in my seam allowance. This way once it's time to match up the seams everything should fall in place without trouble. 

Hand quilting tips? 

I love big, chunky hand stitches so I'm usually using perle cotton or embroidery thread for hand quilting. I don't use any quilting frames or loops as I find them very cumbersome and uncomfortable. I just sit on the couch with the quilt in my lap and go for it. Most of all, have fun.

Other tips related to quilting?

If you can, get a design wall. I does not have to be anything fancy, even a piece of batting tacked to the wall will do. Having a design wall will make it possible for you to step back and evaluate your blocks/ quilt in a much better way.

 I made my design wall using this tutorial. It was pretty cheap and easy to make. Since I don't have a sewing room, my design wall has a permanent place in our living room and functions as an ever changing art constellation :)

Do you have free tutorials on your blog? Share the link.

Yes, here's the link to my tutorial page.

Do you have a favorite quilt designer ? 

It would have to be the amazing Denyse Schmidt. Her quilts are so wonderfully modern yet they all have that little nod to traditional, too.

Would you like to share one of your favorite quilts, made by you ? 

My Single Girl is by far my most favorite quilt up to date. 

What would be the perfect gift for your best quilting friend ? 

Books, definitely books. And they don't have to be only quilting ones. I find a lot of inspiration for my quilts and especially for combining colors in beautifully staged home decor books.

Don't Do Like Me!

When something doesn't feel right, stop and rethink. I tend to ignore my instincts and end up paying for it later.

See how different these two blocks look? The first one has barely any contrast in fabrics used and lacks the graphic boldness that drew me to this block. I questioned my fabric choices from the very beginning, but kept going on until the block was almost finished when I finally accepted the defeat, pulled another stack of fabric and made the second block which I love so much better.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you'll hop on over to Geta's and check out other helpful tips and tricks shared by many talented quilters.

And a big thank you to Geta for organizing this blog hop. 

Hope you all have a very lovely and creative rest of the day. Svetlana