Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k. handmade's HST Quilt

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today we've got a feature from Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k. handmade and I love it!  Two of my favorites, half-square triangles and the colors blue and green!  Svetlana has a really unique and original style, check out her quilt finishes and her tutorials...love this lunch tote.  Make sure to see her at s.o.t.a.k. handmade after you read about her finish!  And tomorrow Heather has a super cute Valentine's tutorial, make sure to stop by!


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a lot of fun, the weather was gorgeous, not a small thing for Chicago, so we got to spend lots of time outdoors with our kids.

Not only that, I also got a lot of sewing done and managed to GET MY HST QUILT FINISHED!!!! It feels wonderful to be able to say that. I have no idea why I was in such a rush to finish this quilt (since it has no specific purpose or recipient), I just HAD TO get it done. And I absolutely love how it turned out. 

This is what the quilt top looks like after being sandwiched, quilted, bound, washed, and finally dried. It is a pretty big quilt, 70 x 72 inches. I had my girls stand on chairs and hold it for me so I could take a picture - I think they did a pretty good job considering that the whole time they complained about their arms hurting. 


In my last post I was debating about what to do for the back, not wanting to make it just one plain color. I came up with this:

It almost looks like a skyline, doesn't it? No, it wasn't really a plan, the whole quilt back looked very different in my head when I started. I love that by cutting the fabric, sewing it together and arranging and rearranging pieces, adding more here, snipping away there, I ended up with my own unique design for the back.

I decided to go quite simple for quilting, I did horizontal and vertical straight lines (I'm going to try some more advanced quilting on a smaller quilt).

I made binding using one of Denyse Schmidt's fabrics available at JoAnn's. I think it frames the whole quilt rather nicely.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. And not only is it great for snuggling, it's also perfect for playing peek-a-boo with our cat who thoroughly enjoys my love of fabric.

It is the first quilt I designed from scratch all by myself and I enjoyed the whole process of making it a lot. But next time I will use my Go!cutter to get my triangles cut and thus eliminate all the crazy need for trimming. Yes, trimming was definitely the least enjoyable part for me.
Well, that's it from me for today, as I have piles of laundry and tons of housework that needs to be done.

Have a wonderful day.

Svetlana

Diamond memory quilt for a sweet baby girl...

Heidi from Boys, Buttons and butterflies lost her daughter to a fatal condition called Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Oct 14th, 2009. She decided to craft and create her way through her grief and pain. We are so sad for her loss, but love that she still creates!  Here is a sweet quilt she made in memory of Jamie Lynn. Read more of her story here.

On June 24^th, our lives were forever changed.  We received the worst news a parent could ever imagine to hear.  At our routine ultrasound, they discovered there might be something seriously wrong with the baby.  After an amniocentesis, a fetal MRI, numerous high level ultrasounds, countless appointments with doctors and specialists, the verdict was given.  Our baby had a lethal skeletal dysplasia, or in layman’s terms, a fatal dwarfism.

On October 14^th at 7:39am, Jamie Lynn entered this world with the tiniest cry. Like her brothers, she was nice and hefty at 5lbs, 4oz despite being four weeks early.  She was a mere 14.5 inches long from her perfect head to her perfect little toes.  With her too small limbs, and chest too tiny to survive this world long, Daddy quickly baptized her with the healing waters from Lourdes, France gifted to us by Father D___.  After a short snuggle with me, he swept her away to be introduced to her big brothers.  A short time later, which felt like an eternity, we were all reunited as a family.  We were able to dress her in clothes washed and smelling like home.  We exclaimed over her shocking full head of the whitest blonde hair.  The boys declared her “cute”.  We adored her tiny hands and her, oh so perfect, feet. Daddy was enthralled with his sweet baby girl. 

We were together as a family, as she drifted away, her perfect little footprints etched on our hearts forever at 8:54am.

Hellooooo Diamonds.......

I am so happy with this new quilt!  

Last year, we put a pool in our backyard.  After living in the Houston area for 8 years, we realized we could no longer survive one more year in the abominable heat without one!  When we designed it, we included a special tile in memory of our daughter, Jamie Lynn. 

This spring, I was sitting on the "beach" with our newest addition thinking of her as I looked at her "feet" on Mother's Day and discovered that I really loved the color that the blue portion of our pool is.  

I have been rattling color ideas for our backyard furniture and it all of a sudden hit me!  I would emphasize the already orange accents (see the orange/rust colored cushion?) with the blue color of our pool!! 

  Of course, my inspiration portion of my brain kicked in and immediately thought of a making quilt.  I wandered into my studio and discovered that I had Jelly Rolls in the colors I wanted to do.  How convenient that I would think of this in time for the Festival!  Don't you love when things just fall into place!

So I went to work this past weekend and finished the top.    In true Heidi-fashion, I finished this late last night burning the midnight oil. Not my best quilting job, but it will do.

And I swear, the quilt just looks wonky from this angle.  It really isn't THAT bad.  Perfect, NO!  The fence is actually lower than where I was standing.  I hate when a photo makes something worse!

Why do I love this quilt?  I love it because I was able to actually do it on my boys' sewing machine (only has straight and zigzag stitch) while my sewing machine is in the shop again.  I love that I was challenged that way!  I love that it was made from fabric I already had on hand.  I love that it will be the springboard for the rest of my outdoor furniture fabrics.  

And I love that every time I see it or use it, it will remind me of my darling daughter!  I have been having trouble sewing off and on anything since the fatal diagnosis of our daughter.  But I had  a realization that I could either sit around and waste the rest of my life in a pile of grief, or I could do what she can't...LIVE!  And sewing and crafting give my life zest!  I couldn't think of a better reason to love this quilt!!!