Hello every body!
Welcome to 2016!!! I wish you all the best for this new year.
I hope you have all survived the first days back at work. For me it was a bit of a shock to the system, ha ha! I think I could have done with a few more days off! 😉
In my last post of 2015 I spoke of finally finishing some half done projects, like the Christmas quilt and small Christmas pillows.
(My cat claimed ownership of the largest pillow!)
Tackling these W.I.P.s set me in motion and got me on the way of working on some more.
First project to be completed of this weekend is my fourth Soy Amado quilt, which I started in April 2015. I named it ” number 5″ in that post, but is the fourth that has now been completed. (read more about the Soy Amado charity project here)
To refresh your memories, here are some pictures of the first three.
It is quite possible that you have not seen the picture of the completely finished last one, it somehow got forgotten. The first blue and orange quilt was sent to the children’s home in Mexico City. The other two are waiting to be mailed off with some other ones to a children’s home in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Alright alright, let me show you some pictures from the fourth quilt!
A friend gave me lots of quilty scraps amongst which there was a load of flanel bits. I cut these up with my Sizzix die cutter and pieced some 12,5 inch blocks.
After a while I discovered that there were not enough scraps to create the necessary 20 blocks so I added some of my own remnants of flannel (solid light blue). Each 12,5 inch block was turned into a mini quilt with a backing fabric and a batting. And of course they got quilted with lush feathers and swirls.
As you can see, I had to use any size scrap to get my 20 blocks!
Here was in in-between assembly shot of the blocks. 
The blocks were joined using the Quilt As You Go technique. The threads, batting and fabric I needed for the strips and the binding was donated by costumers and owner of a local quilt shop in Brunssum! THANK YOU ALL!!!
I just finished it this Sunday.
All scrappy goodness!
I am already working on the next quilt which is actually a partially finished quilt donated by another local quilter! The fabrics are all lovely soft pinks and cremes. It gives of a distinct elegant French feel! Will show you later!!!
Hugs,
Esther
Linking up with:
- Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
- Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
- Scraptastic Tuesday @ She Can Quilt
ipatchandquilt 
Ooooooo………that is gorgeous!!! Your quilting is beyond ‘outstanding’!!!! Elegant, to say the least!! The feathers and “ribbon candy” work so well together. I can imagine the “jolt” to be returning to a non-quilting/work routine (I still have those vague memories!!! LOL!). Hugs and thanks so much for your inspiring post!!!!!
Thank you very much Doreen! I do hope to get more quilty things done this year compared to last year. The half-done projects kept piling up. So glad that I am able to get some finished and out the door. It feels like decluttering, ha ha!
All of the blocks for this quilt were quilted before my shoulder started acting up. Touching them again after 8 months rekindled my love for FMQ. YAY!!!
Hugs
Esther
It feels so good to finish things, doesn’t it? Lovely Soy Amado work, you will make some children very happy!
Hi Kate!
Yes, I hope the kids will love them! It is a joy to work on them!
Hugs
Esther
Hallo Esther, de beste wensen voor 2016. Leuk weer van je te horen. Je quilt is prachtig geworden. Geweldig al die mooie quiltpatronen.
Hoi Maartje!
Ik ben blij dat ik met al die gekke restjes toch een mooie quilt heb kunnen maken voor het goede doel.
Voor jou en je naasten een super mooi jaar toegewenst.
Esther
A Happy New Year to you too!
Every one of these is so gorgeous Esther and I’m sure they will all be treasured I bet the flannel one is soooo cosy.
I am hoping to use the QAYG method for joining my F2F blocks but have never done it before. Kate is trying to find a good (easy) tutorial for me to follow.
Hello Lynn,
I used the tutorial on this blog:
http://littleislandquilting.blogspot.nl/2014/02/how-to-qayg.html
I did place the strips backwards, so I am using the folded strip on the front and the single strip on the back. This way I can see where I am stitching much better.
I always press the stitches before folding the fabric over. Also I did add a liquid starch (applied with a brush) before folding the strips so got a nice crisp edge. This means you would have to wash your quilt afterwards, but that is what I plan anyway with the charity quilts and my f2f quilt.
Hugs
Esther
That looks like a good method – I’m going to add it to the two others I’m looking at and really think about which one to use before I commit! Did you use the same measurements for the strips as she has in the tutorial? Just one inch for the back in your version and one and three quarter inches folded in half for the top? That seems really skinny but looks great in the photos you have shown.
Yes I used the same measurements. I would be inclined to give myself a bit more wiggle room with thinnest strip. I will cut them to 1 1/8 ” next time.
really gorgeous
Thank you very much Claire!
Hugs,
Esther
Wat ben je superhoed bezig, well done! This will give others a very good 2016!
Happy new year tou you too
Dankjewel Betty!
I do hope that the quilts for the children’s home in Africa will turn out as beautiful as the ones for Mexico. I will try to get some more help from my students and some quilty buddies too!
Hugs
Esther
Beautiful quilts. It’s fantastic that you are sharing your talent and quilts.
Hello Claudia!
Thank you very much. There are so many people willing to donate fabric, quilt blocks and other things like thread and batting!!! It is really touching.
I do hope that I can assemble many more charity quilts like these.
Bye bye,
Esther
Hello Esther:
My very best wishes for a Healthy Happy New Year to you.
All your projects look so unique. They all have a different tone, mood and character… all equally impressive. Loved the one with the monkeys.
Every one is a beauty and your free motion quilting is gorgeous! Happy New Year 🙂
Thanks! You are so kind!
Hugs
Esthert
Beautiful quilting! I love the look of the finished QAYG quilt. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you too Stephanie!
B
Have a lovely day and thank you for leaving your lovely comment!
Esther
So glad you are helping Alison with her QAYG Soyamado quilts – such a worthy cause and I am marvelling at your FMQ skills! Thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday