Testing “Lifesaver quilt” pattern for Zarkadia

Hello dear friends,

Long time no see, no blog, no..sew…hold on, that’s not true, I have been sewing, yes, and truth be told one of the best so far was testing a brand new quilt pattern for my Greek friend Zafira, owner of Zarkadia.com.

Prior to launching her first pattern, Zafira asked her quilting friends if we could help testing the pattern. I did say yes, and i received the pattern, having a deadline for the 30th March 2019. The pattern is based on the bowtie block and the 16-patch block. Our notes included – apart from precisely written instructions – multiple colored high quality images showing different options of color combinations of the bowtie block, the 16-patch block, the rows, the background fabric, showing us so many different options, the only thing we had to do is pick up fabric and start sewing.

Before I started, I took a week off work and made a trip to my hometown Patras, to visit family and friends. I had made plans to take my sewing machine with me for its annual service before I begin the new quilt. The weekend prior to returning from the trip, I had also arranged to go to Athens for a couple of days with my mum. First road trip with my mum on my car.

On Saturday March 16th, we arrived at the quilt fabric shop of my friend Kiki, owner of Yfasmatakia.gr, where I bought the fabrics below, in order to make the throw size of the Lifesaver quilt. I kept the fabric codes in case I needed more of the same fabric.

Such beautiful combination, isn’t it? Needless to say I washed the purple and black together with 10 color catchers, and they came out purple!!!

After leaving Kiki and her beautiful shop, I had scheduled another visit to Mania’s shop Marmalena.gr in another part of Athens. There I found Mania and Sandra and Prokopi , Mania’s husband, and after buying the foldable cutting mat Prym Love and the Olfa rotating cutting mat that I had longed for months

we took this beautiful picture with my girls!!!

Mania , me and Sandra ❤

It was the first time I ever physically visited these shops, and I was so happy I managed to see my friends, well and in their workplace (the “fabric shrines” as I call them!). You can see behind Mania her hand died fabric collection, which I have used for another quilt that I will post soon.

Anyhow, back to the #lifesaverquilt pattern testing, I started on March 21st to make the first bow tie block, mostly going through the instructions, cutting, assembling and sewing. My first thought was “oh my, how many times do I need to draw a diagonal line behind the black squares??”, but later on, when I started to make each step in bulk, it wasn’t actually that time consuming, especially with coffee on the side and some music on…

 

So after sewing the first row together, I made the second one and attathed it to the first and they looked so great!!

Then I only had to make two more rows, so that’s when I started cutting and sewing in bulk, and it came together easier on the final weekend before the deadline. I cannot remember if i did any of the house chores or cooking that weekend, but it doesn’t matter!!!

Είχα και την Κλαίρη για βοηθό!!

When I finished sewing and ironed the completed top and layed it on my bed, that’s when it hit me! I want to keep this for me and in order to cover the bed I need to add one or two colums and a couple of rows at the bottom (thank God I kept the fabric codes from Kiki!!!) and here is what it looks like!!!

Isn’t it gorgeous? I totally love it!! The blocks are so easy to make, when you sew the first one, it is a piece of cake after that. Sometimes you don’t have to make a complex design in order to have a great quilt. That is the magic of patterns and different fabrics.  If you use instagram, search for #lifesaverquilt you will see so many different combinations from fellow quilters, such great pieces of work!!! And Zafira’s quilt with the peaches and yellows and mustard colors in her page, I want to make one in this color combo too!!!

Overall, it is a great design, very beginner friendly, tons of color combinations and of course the quilting at the end makes each one of them unique.

Zafira my dear, thank you from my heart, it has been my pleasure to work on your pattern!!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Will post update when I sew the extra columns and rows, and of course after quilting too!!! Stay tuned!

Thank you for your visit, hope you have a great weekend!! Stay safe, well and happy!!

Love,

Eleni