kantha quilting

i discovered a fabulous quilt while surfing on etsy one day... it was not a patchworked quilt, but a simple quilt with one fabric on the back and a different fabric on the front.  i fell in love.  i needed to make one of these!  soooo... for christmas i decided to make my daughter one.

a modern twist on a kantha quilt...

i really liked the fun colors of the fabrics i picked out.  she loves orange, so that needed to be a prominent color in the quilt... i used fabrics from the 'oh, deer' collection by momo. man, do i love this fabric collection!  (i have 2 other fabrics from this collection sitting on my table now, waiting to be made into the next kantha style quilt!) 

the bright colors just make me smile!

it did take me longer than i had planned. (doesn't everything?? always??)  she got a half done quilt for christmas.  i did however complete it in january and now she has it to snuggle with at her home.

as i was glancing at a book in the  fabric shop where i am now working part-time (sew to speak), i discovered that this type of quilt is called a kantha quilt and was orginally made in bangladesh and used light colored solid fabric with single or multiple colored thread and/or on used saris.  it was exciting to learn more about this technique and the different designs where made through the hand-stitched quilting. if you are interested, you can find many online sold through fair trade practices.

the front of anna's kantha style quilt.

my quilt is a modern version of the kantha style quilt which is beginning to be found more in 'the west'.  i truly adore the look and feel of this new (to me) technique!  find lots more info on kantha quilts here and here.

the back of anna's kantha style quilt

have you ever done this type of quilting?  did you find it worth the time invested?  have you bought an original one from bangledesh or india?  please, leave a comment below about your thoughts about these quilts.

have a great week with whatever projects you might be working on!

happy monday!

~ julie 

willow wondering when we will
go out and play...

chicks & a puppy!

wow... seems like it was not too long ago when i was posting about moving in to our new home... but, in reality it was 3 MONTHS ago.  and i can't believe it has been that long. 

it has been busy around our house.  painting, updating, thanksgiving, our son graduated & lived with us for a little over a month, christmas, a new puppy, chicks, a special quilt, pillows, and other projects... so much excitement! 

let's start with the cute animals... (more updates of the other events in future posts)

first are the chicks... they are about 1 week old in this video.  they are now 4+ weeks, so new pictures will be included in future posts. we are in the process of building their coop.  they are supposed to be put outside in their new abode at 8 weeks... so, we have to get our act together and get it built.  we did set the footers monday before the temperature dropped to 12*F!  more building will have to wait until it warms up a little more.  (let's hope that is sooner than later, too.  or these birds will be taking over the basement!)

willow is 8 months old now, so she is not so little.  she is as sweet as can be!  we... (ok, so my husband would say this was all my doings, but he agreed with it all! i love that man!)... decided that our dog needed a friend now that we moved out away from the suburbs.  and when i looked at the dog shelter pictures... this one just looked so cute!  why not add some more chaos to our lives, right?  at least it is cute chaos.

willow, our new puppy, is on the left...
cooper, our 'old' dog, is on the right

and just some photos of around our house.  some of these are actually of lots beside our house... but while no one else is living on them, we will just act as if they are ours. *smile*

a little collage of pictures around 'the farm' on a very lovely morning.

happy wednesday!  (and it is nice to be back!)

~ julie