SCRAPPY ANGEL QUILTS

MANY PICTURES OF MANY PROJECTS

2012-01-25T22:14:00.004+02:00

A lot of pictures to show what my mother and I have been busy with.

I finished machine quilting the baby quilt for my cousin´s daughter:

I must say, I am pleased with the result. The colours were a bit out of my comfort zone but I got used to them. So much that I made a bag to go with the quilt!

The bag is not big enough to store the quilt in ( it is 10" x 9") but maybe big enough to put some nappies.

When my mother was here over Christmas, I gave her bits of fabric from the baby quilt and that´s what she made with them.

It is a wall hanging with appliqué and hand quilting.

Now the little girl will have something to snuggle up and something to look at!

Still no snow around here, not that I complain but my DS would like to use the sledge he got at Christmas!

Keep busy and inspired.

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-29T21:25:00.004+02:00

Christmas came and went. All run well with nice company and mild weather.

In the meantime the recipient of this quilt is born (a very cute little girl named Lucie) so I ´d better hurry to get it finished.

The pictures are not great but they are the best I can manage with the winter sun.

I will machine quilt it with flowers and loops in a white thread.

I wish you all the best for 2012.
May you have a peaceful,rewarding and joyful year.

WALLS REQUIRE ART

2011-11-27T20:42:00.003+02:00

We have been living in our house for over 10 years now. That means some walls needed some fresh paint. I started with the toilet (I don´t think you want to see pictures of that!) and then I painted the entrance with a light linen colour.
The wall on one side looked naked and we needed a shelf anyway to put keys, letters,...or so I told my DH. He built a shelf which I painted with about 10 coats of satin white and then made a collage to put above:
It is made out of old and new magazine pages, pictures I found in discarded school books... I printed the cutlery on a tea bag! I added some scrap booking papers ( yes dear sister, I have some of them too!) and I called it done.
Even if I see things which I could have done differently, I like the colour scheme and the over all feeling. Can you guess? It won´t be my last collage.

I started yet another baby quilt (this time for a girl as you can guess) for someone in my family in France. I will add appliqué flowers on the white borders and see how it turns out.

This time last year I was complaining about the snow, well this year winter is taking its time. I won´t complain now, just that it could be colder to get rid of all the bugs still around!

Have a nice advent!

WELL, WELL, WELL

2011-10-18T21:31:00.004+02:00

Runs in cold mornings, pumpkins galore and less work than usual: that´s what it looks like around here at the moment.

My mother likes sewing and has a lot of time in winter so that she can finish a lot of tops. But she does not feel like quilting them all (she quilts only by hand) so from time to time she gives me one top to machine quilt.
This is one of them:

I was inspired by Fall and quilted leaves and pumpkins. I hope my mother likes it.

At our quilt group we have a haiku project going on. It was my turn and that is what I came up with. It says " forgotten dreams, whispered words, the pictures of the past have disappeared"

When the project is over (in february), we will have around 20 little quilts which will hang together. I will show more pictures then.

Till next time!

STILL THERE

2011-09-26T19:27:00.006+02:00

Yes, really, I am still there! After some relaxing sommer holidays, some gardening ( it felt like a lot!) and some renovating I am back to my hobbies:

I knitted some socks with left-over yarn. That´s why they are not very long.

But they are still nice enough to walk around the house and the garden and that´s less yarn in the basket.
I also got new glasses. And that was not funny at all. They are with progressive- addition lenses which are just a bother! After more than one week, I still have to move my head a lot to see clearly. It is getting slowly better though I think.

We are having a wonderful weather here at the moment. That means some more work in the garden but great walks and runs too.
Have a nice time!

CREAM AND BLUE

2011-07-08T20:58:00.003+02:00

Well, that was a quick finish. I quilted the baby throw on 2 afternoons in a meander pattern and I must say that I really like it!

The colours are muted but I tried to vary the textures for the baby. The quilt has linen, cotton, ...
and some "teddy bear" fabric!
Only 2 weeks til the holidays and I am really looking forward to them.

Have a nice time and enjoy your favorite hobbies.

ANGRY

2011-06-18T19:27:00.002+02:00

We stayed ELEVEN days with no telephone nor internet! I am really angry at our telephone company. I had to spend hours trying to get through with my mobile, I was sent to ten different departements where nobody knew nothing about nothing and just as I begun threatening them, did they react! What a bother...

Anyway now everything is back to normal, I hope.

I finished the top for the baby quilt. I am machine quilting it at the moment. It looks better in real because the colours are richer. And by the way I got the pattern there.

I have a lot of blogs to read so that´s all for today!

Bonne fête, Maman!

2011-05-29T19:41:00.005+02:00

Today is mother´s day in France and that is something which won´t happen to my mum tomorrow as she is on holiday in Turkey having a great time I hope. For those of you who don´t speak french, it says "Mother´s day, the day after" and on her apron "We love you, Mummy"!

After a very long stop, I started piecing patchwork again. This will become a baby boy quilt. The mother-to-be wants muted colours but I think I will still add some aqua blue like the blue in the right down corner block. Only 63 more blocks to go!

I am still busy filling up my art journal:

Unfortunately the garden wants some attention too so that I am not as creative as I would like to be but I am working on it.

Till next time!

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND!

2011-05-14T20:47:00.003+02:00

Well, actually just from my sister, who posts much more than I do.
So here are my art journal beginnings.
That´s the book I started with. It is a Christmas present from dear friends. The paper is really nice but the cover was a bit boring.

I changed that first with the help of gesso, acrylic paint and gel medium.

Then I started:

I enjoy the journey, the thoughts I put in this first journal, the colour combinations I try, the way it makes me look at things and people from a new angle.

Maybe I will add some fabric to it in the future. After all, I have some (sic!) shelves full of it!

I hope you enjoy your creative journey too. Be daring!

SEWING MACHINE HERE I COME!

2011-04-17T21:01:00.006+02:00

Gosh, it has been a long time! I am at the computer every day and still it takes me so long to post something. Just because of all the other interesting websites, blogs, videos,...
But as I am teaching a course on machine quilting soon, I spent some time with my sewing machine too. I tried new motives and I like them, especially the top left; it looks like coffee beans!

I knitted a small jacket for a sweet baby girl. Baby things get knitted so fast. It lasted me a bit longer to spin the wool first and dye it. The mother liked it and was glad the jacket was not pink!

As I said before I am trying to learn drawing and I started an art journal which is quite addictive. I will show more of that next time. Til then Happy Easter!

SUNNY TIME

2011-03-06T21:47:00.006+02:00

It is still very cold over here but the sun is shining a bit longer every day. Time to grab some tools and put some order in the garden.

Till then some pictures of my new projects.

First a top which did not cost me a cent: I had a shop bought jumper whose wool was too nice to throw away but which shape shout too much "I was made in the 90s and I am proud of it" (wide shoulders, too long,..). So I undid it and then plied the wool as it was very fine (machine knit). Then I made a pattern as I went along, being inspired by some other patterns from magazines.
I am very happy with the result and it is a piece very easy to wear.
I worked some more in my sketchbook:

Trying new things like acrylic paint, coloured pencils,...

I am having fun! I hope you too!

FEBRUARY RANDOM

2011-02-04T20:41:00.006+02:00

Winter lasting a bit longer than I like, I tried to bring some spring at home. Inspired by this lady, I sewed first a square to see how it goes. I am glad I made first a small quilt as I learned a few things in the process.

But I like it and I think I will make a table runner out of the rest of the fabric. I can imagine it will look good with some fresh flowers on top. Spring can arrive!

I made another sketchbook, this time for my favorite niece (mind you, I have just one at the moment!) as she is a keen sketcher.

I had fun playing with gesso and gel medium, making the green paper.
I made a drawing of a lady to send with the book and you can see there what my niece and her mother thought about it ( as I have said before I am just a beginner!)

I started a new jumper out of recycled wool which I hope to show next time.
Til then have a nice time.

RESOLUTIONS

2011-01-07T20:29:00.005+02:00

There have been some people wondering what I was doing ( for example in Brittany!).

We were just under snow, some renovations and work! But after 2 weeks of rest and snow melting I am back!

So first I wish you all a Happy New Year. May all your projects, resolutions and ideas come true.

My resolution this year is to learn to draw and water colour.
To this effect I made a sketchbook with some fabric a pupil brought me back from Indonesia.

It is made of different types of paper, some in colour to be able to try new things.

I haven´t started this sketchbook yet but I did draw a bit in my old one:

It can only get better! It is fun though.
So I will keep on trying.

Have you made any resolution this year?
I wish you a nice winter time.
Till next time

IF ONLY I DID NOT HAVE TO GO TO WORK

2010-11-02T21:42:00.004+02:00

Don´t get it wrong, I love my job! Teaching adults is a very rewarding activity I think.
BUT it takes time which I could spend sewing, spinning, knitting, drawing, painting,...
All of which I NEED to do it seems...
Anyway, I finished knitting this nice wrap. Said wrap will stay in my possession ( that´s for my dear sis!)

It is 100% merino and very soft, quite warm too.
Just the right thing for the coming winter.

I wish you a nice cosy warm time.

HALF-TERM ALREADY

2010-10-09T20:08:00.004+02:00

Still gorgeous weather, a perfect indian summer over here.

It is already half-term for my DS. We went to the library yesterday to get enough books to last 2 weeks (that means 2 backpacks full! One for him and one for me).

In the meanwhile I finished the top for my mum.
(modeled by me). I hope she likes it.

I will know next week-end as I will see my whole family then.
I have finished a lace wrap too but it needs blocking, so pictures will be only next time.

I wish you a nice week-end.

WOOLY BUSY

2010-09-22T20:37:00.004+03:00

We were lucky with the weather today, beautiful sunshine and mild temperatures.

And enjoying the weather were those funny flowers. I say funny because I remember buying bulbs which were supposed to give many small pink flowers. Instead I have these ones.

They are huge and last only one day! They make nice pictures though!

On the crafty side, I have been in wool up to the neck! I mentioned earlier on that my mother brought me a huge bag of raw wool from Ireland. She scoured it too which was very nice as it smelled a lot.

That´s a picture of the raw wool

which I carded

and then spun

before dyeing it.

I wanted to dye it purple but it turned out a kind of denim. I am knitting it now and I can already say that it is going to be a very warm garment.

I wish you a nice Indian summer.

A BIT CHILLY FOR AUGUST

2010-08-29T19:48:00.004+02:00

We are back from our holiday which was very nice and restful.
Here is a picture I painted of our holiday cottage.

Since I came back I made a stitchery for my sis. She wanted that phrase which I then put beside some design. I hope she likes it.

As it is raining a lot I can´t card a huge bag of raw wool my mother gave me. It is a messy job which I can do outside only. I hope to show some of that next time.
Tomorrow is school begin and my DS is starting in a new school. A bit excited and a bit afraid too. Let´s see what tomorrow will bring.

I wish you a nice summer end

GONE

2010-07-21T15:11:00.003+03:00

Tomorrow we are going away on holiday. We are looking forward to it.
Before we go, some pictures to keep you waiting until we are back!
My brown top is growing. The blocks won´t stay in that order but I like seeing them on my "design wall". I can check the size better that way.

And now for something completely different!
My DS likes drawing so some time ago we went to a great shop to get some material. The place was so inspiring that I had to buy things for me too. And then I discovered Danny Gregory and his books.
From then on there was no come back! I have started keeping an illustrated journal.
There is still a (very!) long road to go before I can achieve anything good but the way is the goal! It is fun, very rewarding I think and it makes me watch things in a different way.

Of course my son (10) doesn´t spare his critics but that´s ok. We both learn that way.

That´s it for now. I hope to draw more on holiday and to have lots to show when we come back.

Have a nice summer

NOTHING NEW!

2010-07-02T20:47:00.004+03:00

Work, hot weather and more work, that´s all there is here at the moment. Only 2 weeks til summer break and 4 weeks holiday!

On the commuter train I can do some knitting and I finished this Lady Kina quite quickly. The pattern is great and easy. The yarn I had chosen was a pain in the a*** though. It is a cotton/ bamboo blend not at all elastic and very difficult to unknit or to sew.

Still, I like the result!

At home I added a stitchery border to my confetti top.

I will start the quilting after the holidays. I am tending towards a machine quilting. But we will see.

I wish you a nice week-end with nice temperatures.

STRAWBERRIES FOREVER

2010-06-11T21:38:00.005+03:00

My Strawberries forever is finished.
I am very happy with it. It was a good opportunity to use repro fabrics that I had in my stash. Even the batting is pieced!
Thanks a lot to Lori for this quilt-along.

I will leave you with more pictures!

See you next time!

BONNE FÊTE MAMAN!

2010-05-29T22:20:00.007+03:00

Today is mother´s day in France. I thought the picture was very fitting as my mother is just back from Ireland where she got me (under adventurous circumstances) some raw wool for me to spin!

When Lori started her quilt along, I liked her pattern so much, I had to start a strawberry field straight away. The design is wonderful and her directions fun. I am quilting it now and as it is small, it should not take that much time to finish.

I wish you a nice sunday and a nice mother´s day whether you are in France or not!

COLD AND WET

2010-05-17T21:08:00.008+03:00

I was not gone on holidays! But still I have not posted for a while just because I was very busy. I gave 2 quilt courses where the students were great but it was a lot to organize. Before that I had a nasty cold and so on and on...

Anyway, as you can imagine I did not sew much but I can show small things that got finished.

First a picture my parents gave me from my grand father (the young man on the left).
As the picture is very small I added some bits and pieces to make it a bit bigger.
I am very pleased with the result and as I have some more pictures you know what will happen next!

Then I sewed a small picture inspired by Janet Bolton. I have had her wonderful book for some years now but I never had the idea to create something alike. This miniquilt won´t be the last either.

And as I hve found a great shop for frames, a 48hour day is the only thing missing!

And at last a picture of the cat frightening the birds! Don´t worry it did not catch any. The birds were too clever. Mice are not that clever though!
That´s it for today. Could you send some sun if you have any where you live. I think it has gone missing here and it is just cold and wet.
Till next time!

GREEN SPRING

2010-04-23T20:10:00.003+02:00

I can smell it. Spring is here! Although cold in the morning, the weather is getting sunnier and the garden is back to life after the dreadful long winter.
To make the garden look even more green, I hung the last shawl I knit!

I had dyed the wool some time ago, but a pattern still wanted to be found.
That´s done now. Apart from looking cheerful in my sewing room I don´t have any use for this piece at all. Maybe my mother would like it? Green looks great on her.
Although I have to prepare 2 quilt courses for may, I could not help starting another top. My excuse is that it is a very simple and fast pattern and fat quarter friendly.
I am using some of the dyed fabric I showed last time too. I don´t plan to buy any fabric for this quilt. Let see how big it will get!

I will spend the week-end in my garden looking the daisies, clover and moss taking over the lawn!
Have a nice week-end too!

FINISHED BEFORE EASTER

2010-03-29T20:09:00.009+02:00

It seems that the blog wants to cooperate today. I tried to post yesterday and it just would not work!
Anyway, one quilt finished!

I quilted it with a variegated cotton thread with tulip motives. I used a fusible batting for that one and it was a nice experience. I did not have to baste anything. I just ironed the top to the batting, turned it over and ironed the back to the batting. They all stuck all together long enough for me to machine quilt in the ditch.
The quilt has been washed and it feels like normal cotton batting now.

A friend of mine has her birthday soon. As I infected her with the knitting virus I sewed her a bag for putting her knitting needles in. I bought some needles too to put in the bag so she can have more projects on the go!

And this is what I made with the 80´s fabrics I STILL have around. I dyed them.
Here are the original colours:

That was the first batch with a mixture of several dyes I had at hand.
And the second batch with a brown dye.
It is very interesting to see how the different fabrics absorb the dye. They were all put together in the washing machine and still there are so many shades. I am very happy with the result and I am sure I can use those colours more easily than the original ones.

I wish you all an happy Easter!

BACK TO QUILTING

2010-03-10T21:05:00.005+02:00

Remember that top?! Well, I decided to finish the quilt which it was supposed to become sooner or later. As the top was an attempt to reduce my 80´s /90´s fabrics, I chose to piece the back too:

Then I added some prairie points (that uses up some fabric too!)

And now I am quilting it. I hope to finish it soon.

The problem is that I still have yards of that kind of fabrics. But I tried some experiment with some of it. More of that next time!

On my commuter train I can´t quilt so I knitted some more socks. These are made of my own spun yarn with that pattern.
They fit really well which is just perfect as it is freezing cold over here.

I wish you a nice time in early spring.

STILL SNOWING

2010-02-15T21:30:00.003+02:00

A long week-end was put to good use. Because of the snow, we can´t do much apart from sewing and knitting!

I finished the confetti top. The frame looks a bit boring right now, but I intend to do some machine quilting with variegated thread to bring more colour into it.

Then with the yarn I had spun and showed last time, I knitted a jacket and a hat for a friend of mine who is expecting. Actually the clothes are for her baby! They are the baby surprise jacket and the ganomy hat from Elisabeth Zimmermann. Fun patterns.

I even found the perfect vintage buttons in my stash:
I did some dyeing as well so that I can have something to spin for the next days.
More of that next time.

I wish you a warmer and nicer weather than we are having here!

A LOT OF SNOW

2010-01-24T20:37:00.007+02:00

I could say that I did not blog in the last 3 weeks because of the snow. But no, even if we have (had) a lot of it, the reason is just lack of time and more work than usual.

Anyway, I finished at last the center blocks for my confetti quilt, and a good thing too!

It should not take that long now to add the sashing but I still don´t have a clue what kind of border I will sew. We will just see how it develops itself.

Of course I spun a bit too. I MUST learn how to use that wheel, right?!
From some merino/alpaka top

I spun some thin yarn:
And from 2 different merino tops which I mixed,

I tried to spin some rustic (!) yarn. I mean that I wanted a yarn with some thinner and some thicker parts with character. At least it is a very soft squashy yarn and with 250 gr. I should be able to knit something bigger out of it.

That´s all for today. I will go and have a look outside now to see if the snow is still falling.
I can´t say I am a fan of snow!

Have a nice time and try to make the most of the weather!

Gwen

WISHES

2009-12-28T20:59:00.007+02:00

I wish you all a very happy new year 2010. May it bring you health, inspiration and joy!

For my part, my family and I had a very nice Christmas with my parents.
My DM brought her latest quilts for me to see and of course I show them here too.
The first one is a present for my aunt.

And the second one was a quilt along project in my DM´s quilt group.
My mum hand-appliquéed the border. I especially like the use of the purple/white fabric for the binding. It is just like another frame.

As it was freezing cold here lately, I decided to knit a cloche for myself ( after having knitted hundreds of hats for my sis!).

I like it so much, I knitted another one for my mum which she took away so sorry no picture!

P.S.: I bet my sis will make a comment and beg for another hat!

4 WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

2009-11-28T20:31:00.009+02:00

I know, the post title is not original! Just to remind you and me that we don´t have that much time left to make presents.
Today I will show all the steps from rovings to shawl.

First the two wool braids, dyed by me.The left one is blue faced leicester and the right plain German domestic sheep.

Then the one ply on the spinning wheel.
And then the finished object, a shawl with one detail below.
It was an enjoyable project and I learned a lot during the spinning.

Next is a small shawl I knitted from a sock yarn that I had dyed some time ago.

Maybe that one will become a Christmas present for someone (dear sis, don´t worry not for you!)
I will go back to my knitting now as I have had some special requests ( not only from my sis but from my niece too, like mother, like daughter I would say!)

I wish you a peaceful first Advent.

GWEN

7 WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

2009-11-07T21:20:00.004+02:00

Things are getting repetitive here:

Yet another picture of my confetti blocks. I want to add one more row and then I can start thinking about the border.

These are the second pair of mits I knitted for my sister as she lost the first ones!

And this afternoon I made some jam like last year at the same time. This is pumpkin, vanilla and caramel (that´s just because the sugar burnt a bit!). It tastes nice though.
I ordered some wool from the UK so that I can dye and spin more. So expect some colours in the next post!

I wish you a nice week.

KNITTING, KNITTING AND MORE ... KNITTING!

2009-10-20T21:01:00.004+02:00

It is mid-term over here and we used our free time to spend some days there.
It was fun, especially for my DS and we had wonderful sunny weather if only a bit too cold.
In the meantime, I knitted and knitted and ...
First I made a bolero thingy. It is very light (only a bit over 50 gr or 2 oz) and a nice blend of kid mohair and silk. Pure luxury!

Then I knitted a wrap out of wool which was given to me (always the best!)
It is the right thing to wear right now as it is very chilly in the mornings when I go to work and it fits well over a suit.
Then with the yarn I had shown last time (the thick one), I knitted a bowl which I felted. It is practical to put some more yarn and if the weather gets really cold I can wear it as a hat! ( it reminds me, my sister wanted a hat, I wonder if ...!)

In the two free days I still have, I intend to spin, to dye and to sew more confetti blocks. I wonder if I will manage all that.

I wish you nice autumn days with sun , sewing and knitting.

BACK TO THE SEWING MACHINE

2009-09-30T20:25:00.006+02:00

I stumbled on this the other day and as I love using bits and pieces I had to try a miniature too.

This is the result. It was fun! It was fast (one morning) and it won´t be the last.
I just need to find some more frames!

I did not stop spinning in between and I managed to get a thicker yarn. This one is VERY thick and is about 110 meters for 100 gr. I haven´t got a clue what I will knit with it ( there would not be a sister around here who has an idea per chance!)
That´s all for today as I have to get up at 5.00 tomorrow.

I wish you nice weather and time to enjoy your hobbies.

FINALLY!

2009-09-20T20:12:00.003+02:00

I have got one, I have got one!
And I find it really nice. It is small, silent and works wonderfully.
It is an Ashford Scholar, good for beginners they say.

Well, the beginnings were very funny as the lady who sold it to me, could not show me how it worked as she had forgotten. At her place we tried for one hour and only got very short pieces of rope like yarn out of the spinning wheel, all the while eating a lot of Haribo sweets because of the stress. I thought, well if it goes on like that at home, I will put on weight before I can achieve anything near a knitting yarn.
But I took the wheel home all the same.
And then, after fiddling with the tension, pushing the pedal for 30 minutes to get a feeling, that´s what I got:

Yarn! And a fine one at that!
I love it and I can´t stop now. I have filled 2 bobbins with a Blue faced leicester top which I had dyed before.

The only problem I see is that I thought I would make thicker yarn with the spinning wheel than with my spindle, but I can´t!
So I have to get back to it and spin some more and more and more,...

You know where to find me in the next few weeks!

I wish you a nice new week.

STILL NO SPINNING WHEEL

2009-09-04T21:10:00.006+02:00

Was I complaining 2 weeks ago that it was too hot?! Well it isn´t any more. Just the right weather to start thinking about socks, scarves, mittens (that´s for my sis!).

Although I still don´t have a wheel, I want to spin so I dyed that SW merino top,

I spun it on my spindle,

and made a 3ply out of it:

The last picture is most colour-true. It is very soft and a bit thicker than sock yarn.
I could make very comfy, thick socks out of it.

I dyed some merino yarn I received. I tried to go for fall colours and
fashion winter colours. Grey and purple are everywhere here in the shops.
To finish here is a link to a smart way to make cotton yarn. We all have tens of those in the cupboards so that´s a possibility to use at least the old ones. I could imagine one could knit the yarn into bathroom´s mats.

I wish you all a nice week-end.

HAS SOMEONE GOT A FAN?

2009-08-20T20:20:00.003+03:00

It is just hot here, too hot to do anything apart from gaping at the garden getting dry!

Fortunately the house is more or less cool (depends on the floors) so that we can still sleep and move around.
My confetti quilt is growing. I am thinking of adding 3 more rows of squares, add small white sashing in between and then ponder for a border.

As you can imagine I am not wearing these at the moment although they are very comfy and soft. I am proud to show my first ownmade handspun socks and I must say they won´t be the last!
I received some rovings from England and I started dyeing them (they dry so fast in the heat, it has to be good for something!) so that next time I will present some more homespun.

Till then I wish you a cool breeze and a nice refreshing drink on the patio.

BACK FROM A LONG HOLIDAY

2009-08-05T21:38:00.006+03:00

We have been back for a few days yet but it is only now that I find some time to post.
This is where we spent some of our time. My parents have a house there and even if the water was quite cold (so cold I did not get into it but my DH and DS did nearly everyday) and the weather on the wet side, it was a very nice holiday.

We did not do much apart from hanging around and sleeping but we still managed to visit a local fair where I had an interesting chat with these nice ladies. And before you ask, no, I have never worn such a costume myself!

I took a picture of my mum´s lattest work. It was a mystery quilt at her local quilt group.
Although my mum is not very fond of it, she was very brave and finished it!

No UFOs for her!

Since back I have been working on my confetti quilt and at some spinning.
Pictures of that will be next time.

Till then I wish you some nice time and hopefully warm weather.

SUMMER IN WOOL

2009-07-04T20:56:00.009+03:00

I am sorry to post so little in the recent past. Especially sorry for my dear sis who can write any silly comment!
Anyway, I have been working a lot in the last weeks and with the summer holidays approaching fast (in fact they have already started!) there was still a lot to organise.
But of course there is a life beside working and that´s what I have done with mine in the last 2 weeks.

I dyed sock yarn:

I spun some roving I had dyed before. I still don´t know what will become of that skein as the wool is not very soft.

I spun some more:

And I knitted bowls out of the yarn. They are felted after being knitted.

Next week we are going on holiday in France to see the family and to rest.

I hope you have a nice summer too.

GWEN

P.S.: I have not been commenting on other blogs lately. I am sorry about that. I still read your blogs though and I appreciate each comment you leave here. I hope to have more time after the holidays to resume the commenting.

TUTORIAL FOR CONFETTI BLOCKS

2009-06-13T21:02:00.005+03:00

As promised to some of you, here comes the tutorial for one confetti block.

You need stripes, all 6 1/2" x 1 1/2" and squares 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".
4 stripes for background fabric (in my case white), 4 stripes for biggest round, 3 stripes for next round, 2 stripes for again next round and yes 1 stripe for last round before center.
1 square for center and 4 squares for background.

Sew the stripes as shown below and iron the groups with the seam allowances for first group to the right, second group to the left and so on.
(if you do it the other way round it is not that important, just take care that they go on opposite direction, for group 1 and 3 in one and for group 2 and 4 in the other).

Cut each group into 4 stripes 1 1/2" wide. There will be some fabric over, just discard!

Then arrange as below with the center square in the middle.
Sew that center square to the stripe lying under it.

Then sew the stripes with one another ( the stripes from the above group with the stripes of the underneath group) without cutting the thread inbetween (kind of chain piecing). It is helpful to keep the stripes in the right order and it goes faster that way!

Then sew the stripes with one another. The seam allowances should lock everywhere but for half of the center stripe (the one with the center square). Add the last 2 background squares and iron.

Once all the blocks are done, you can square down the blocks (see first picture) to 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

Well that´s done. I hope it is clear enough and you will have fun sewing the blocks.
Questions are welcome!

Only 3 weeks to go before the holidays and a good thing too!
As there are still thousands of things needing to be done before, I expect time will fly.

In between work and other chores, I spin, knit and sew a bit.
I hope to show some of it next time.

I wish you a peaceful sunday.

MORE ... OF EVERYTHING!

2009-05-29T20:50:00.005+03:00

I am very glad this week is over. I am working more than usual at the moment and that involves getting up early ( between 5.00 and 6.00 PM) which makes me tired for the rest of the day.
But I am glad of the extra money of course!

Anyway, in between I sewed some more " confetti" blocks. I like very much sewing those. It is fun mixing scraps and seeing the effect. As usual I try adding some "difficult" fabrics to make it more interesting.
Yesterday I bought a new cutting mat, so the 40 blocks left to sew should go in a breeze!

Of course I spun some more yarn too. This skein is a 3-ply of Blue-faced Leicester mixed with some local breed and bits of colour wool. The BFL makes it very soft and fluffy. I have to fondle it every time I walk by!

And that is what I am spinning now. The roving was given to me by Selana (thanks a lot again!).
It is merino (I think) and I am trying to spin wool for socks out of it. It feels very soft and it easy to spin.

I can´t wait to finish it.
But at the week-end I plan to dye some yarn and cook some strawberry jam so I don´t know how far I will come.

I wish you a wonderful week-end too with nice weather (that we are having at the moment).

BACK TO SEWING

2009-05-13T20:55:00.004+03:00

I am back to my sewing machine and I can say that it feels good. I started a new scrap quilt after seeing some similar ones on some blogs. I devised a way of cutting and sewing stripes (probably not new to everybody else but me!) and it means that I can cut and piece a block in 30 minutes.
The squares are 1" finished. I don´t know how many I will make. When the top is big enough I will stop!

Of course I did not give up totally on wool! I dyed one roving and I finished plying the first yarn I am satisfied with. I got 370 meters out of 80 grams. That should be enough for a lacy scarf or something like that. My DH even found the perfect fitting name "Rhubarb"!
If only I had a spinning wheel....
Well in the meantime I will go back to my scrappy blocks and to my knitting.

I wish you a nice time with a lot of new projects.

TWO WEEKS!

2009-05-02T20:42:00.004+03:00

The time has been spinning around!
And spinning with a spindle takes its time too, I can tell you.
The two skeins are my first attempt at Navajo plying. Its is a three ply yarn, 60 gr of it for over 200 meters. It is much less itchy than my first yarn and fine enough to be included into some socks.

We are having an ideal weather for dyeing yarn so I enjoyed myself and mixed some more colours for yet some more sock yarn!

And because this blog is supposed to be about quilting too, I unearthed a UFO from at least 7 years ago which is waiting for some appliqué and machine quilting. As I looked at it again, I had the idea with the appliqué. I will add ragged edge flowers on the border. They will be out of the same fabric I used for the bricks: a brushed cotton maded in Germany. To make the patches I sewed samples from samples booklets I had bought at their factory outlet.

I don´t know yet when I will finish this UFO though as I have two knitting projects on the go and my DH made me a spindle which I have to try very soon!

I wish you a nice sunday and a healthy week.

WOOL, WOOL, WOOL

2009-04-18T20:16:00.004+02:00

We are enjoying the last days of our Easter break and we have been lucky with the weather, being able to spend a lot of time outside.
I managed quite a few wooly things too:
First I dyed some wool rovings that I intend to spin in the near future.

Then I spun and plyed. As you can see in the picture I am not really an expert at plying yet!

And this is the end result with the 2 rovings I used in the background. If the yarn was not so scratchy I would be very pleased with it!

With the help of my DS, I dyed some sock yarn as well. I tried this time to get some spring/summer colours to match the weather.

I wish you a nice week with some mild weather.

HAPPY EASTER!

2009-04-09T21:00:00.004+02:00

We have been having Easter school break for a week now and until today it has been very calm as my DS was away with the local youth group.
I managed to finish some projects and started some new ones!

This is my Thermal jumper. The part I like most about it (apart from the fit) is that the yarn cost me only 8 Euro ( about 10$) at a local clearance shop.

I sewed the top of a challenge my mother talked me into. We were given a small piece of the brown dot fabric and had to make something related to nine and/or eggs (in french neuf and oeuf sound quite alike). I picked the nine theme and sewed some nine patch of different sizes, the smallest being 3x3 cm, that´s 1x1 cm (3/8 x 3/8) for a square. The top measures 40x40 cm (16"x16").

Now I am waiting for some inspiration to get it quilted. Maybe something eggy (it is Easter after all!)

Anyway I wish you all an happy Easter with your family.

A NEW HOBBY ?

2009-03-29T20:11:00.005+02:00

During the last five days, the big craft fair was in town.
On Friday I spent some time demonstrating machine quilting while others were demonstrating hand quilting at the frame at our guild booth:

It was very interesting, just busy enough so that I could spend time with each interested person.
Of course I visited our LQS which had a booth as well but I did not buy anything there this time as...
I was looking for the place where they were selling spindles and it looks like I found it!
I spent time yesterday and today trying to get the hook of it. I spun some yarn and made some 2-ply.

And you know what, I love it! Even if I still have a lot of progress to do before I can spin some sock yarn (my aim!) it is not that difficult and very calming.

Now I will dye the good wool I bought and see if I get a finer and more regular yarn.

I wish you a very nice week with maybe something new to try?!

WORKSHOP RESULTS

2009-03-22T20:31:00.006+02:00

Here are the results of last week´s workshop on scrap quilts:

One student decided to stick to one block and nearly managed to finish a top:

I like that one a lot and I hope I can see it when finished.

At the moment I am knitting that sweater on very fine needles (for a sweater!) and it is taking its time. I want to finish it soon because we have just the right weather for it now; sunny and chilly.

Next week the local huge hand craft fair is in town for 5 days. Our patchwok guild will be there too and I will demonstrate on friday morning machine quilting in the hall nr. 7 from 9.00 to 1.00.

Do please come and say hello (this especially for those of you overseas, come on I know you can make it!!)

I wish you a nice week with a lot of sunshine.

BUSY, BUSY

2009-03-13T21:08:00.001+02:00

I don´t have much time this week for blogging.

My workshop on scrap quilts is tomorrow and I made some more blocks to show. I don´t intend to make a quilt out of those ones, they are only to show the students the construction of the blocks and the importance of colour placement or the lack of it!

I hope we will have fun!

On the knitting front I made a scarf and nearly finished the socks to match.
This was the first time I knitted the NORO yarn and I like it a lot. To knit the scarf and the socks I only used two skeins ( one multicoloured and one brownish). The yarn is a bit pricey but the results are very nice I think.

If the weather stays so mild, I will have no excuse on Sunday not to go in the garden and say hello to the lovely (!) bunches of nettle growing busily in every corner!

Have a nice week.

FIRST SIGNS OF ..........SPRING!

2009-03-04T20:59:00.005+02:00

The daffodils in the garden are growing, today I saw some blue sky, I think spring is not far!

I am busy preparing my workshop on scrap quilts for saturday in a week.
These are the blocks I have made so far. As you notice, I chose my best looking fabrics!

I want to show the participants that even with challenging fabrics, one can sew a nice looking top.

I must mention Bonnie´s site which inspired me a lot to prepare the workshop.

I also dyed some more yarn: the first two are lace yarns and the third is merino/linen. The others are normal sock yarns
Tomorrow we have our monthly quilt group meeting. Something I am looking forward to.

I wish you a nice time too looking out of the window for more signs of spring ( or for autumn for the ones down under!)

STILL WINTER

2009-02-23T20:41:00.003+02:00

I won´t bore you anymore about the murky weather we are still having here! You know how it goes by now: snow, ice, ...

So I tried to do something against it: I knitted a beret for me ( my DH has already got one) and my DS does not want one!
That´s the Relm Tam from Knit.1. I knitted it with the left-overs from the cardigan I showed last week.

And I finished my Marlene socks from the same magazine as mentioned above.

The yarn is 100% Merino wool and very warm.

Yesterday my DS and I dyed some more sock yarn. This is a great way to learn a bit about colour theory. Take yellow and blue to get green is simple enough but it becomes a bit more complicated when it goes to how to transform a yukky brown into a warm caramel brown!

Pictures of the results next time.

I learned today that I will teach a workshop on scrap quilts in two weeks time. So now I have to sew some sampler blocks and work on the course of events, busy week ahead!

I wish you a nice week with a lot of time for crafty projects.

WOOLY TIME

2009-02-14T20:47:00.010+02:00

This week has been quite busy and that´s why I did not post earlier.

In between I could squeeze some sewing and I made a little purse/pouch for my mum. She wanted one for a project at her quilt group. I hope she likes it.

As the weather is still so cold (see the snow in the background!) I did some knitting too. Another top-down cardigan with no sewing involved, apart from the buttons. I found the pattern in a knitting magazine called knit.1. I have some yarn left and so I am knitting a slouch out of it from the same issue. I am knitting some socks too from that magazine so you could say it was worth the buy!

I will show pictures of those 2 projects next time.

I dyed some more yarn too. I tryed to get more masculine colours this time, except of course for the purple/orange one!

Tomorrow I will give a workshop on machine quilting and I hope to show the results next time too.

In the meanwhile I wish you all a nice week-end.

LUCKY WINNER

2009-02-04T11:50:00.009+02:00

We have a lucky winner: Joyce! My DS put his hand in the bag and out came this piece of paper.

I will send Joyce some fabric as it seems that she loves them!

I want to thank you all for the nice comments you left on the last post. I hope to keep on sewing, knitting and reading lots of blogs for many years to come!

Last week I went to Ursel´s LQS. It moved to a bigger, brighter, nicer location with lots of big windows. If only I did not have to go to work, I think I could visit the shop everyday!

Anyway, of course I did not leave the shop empty-handed. I plan to make a it-bag (!) out of that lovely fabric.

Tomorrow is our monthly quilt group meeting. I hope to see many nice works there.

If only the snow would stop! You know what, I think I am getting allergic to snow! And in Australia it is much too hot. I wish I could send Carol some snow flakes with her yarn!

I wish you a nice week with mild weather!

SECOND BLOG ANNIVERSARY

2009-01-26T21:24:00.006+02:00

It is already 2 years ago that I started the blog. And my 100th post was 2 weeks ago. Time flies.

If I look back at what I did this year, I notice that my interest has a bit shifted. More wool, less fabric. It does not mean that I don´t like quilting anymore, I do! But knitting and dyeing yarn have come on top of that. Where do I ask to have more than 24 hours in a day?!

Anyway, to thank you all out there who are reading my blog and leaving nice comments (it is just my sis who leaves silly comments and she won´t take part in the draw because she would not know what to do with what there is to win!) I will organize a give-away.

But first I would like to thank the first 2 persons who commented on my blog: Bea and Carol. Both of them are still regular readers and don`t appear to get fed up of my quilting and knitting ramblings.

I knitted Bea some socks and she seemed to like them. Carol, I will mail you for the details.

For the rest of you, you have one week to leave a comment to take part in the give-away. I won´t show you what there is to win as I don´t know yet! I will decide according to who wins, wether she likes more wooly things or more fabricy (!) things or both.

This week some more yarn got colours. I had ordered new dyes and I had to try them as soon as I could.
I stitched one more block of Bea´s BOM. I have now 12 of them and I think that´s enough.

I will ponder a bit longer to see if I get more ideas to sew them together. At the moment I am thinking of some kind of off-centered log cabin blocks.

I wish you a nice week and I keep my fingers crossed for the draw.

AARRGGHH!

2009-01-18T20:25:00.006+02:00

I was quilting along with quite a lot of pushing and pulling as the backing is a coarse old bed sheet when I had a look at the back!

AARRGGHH!

After 2 hours of ripping and some of these (well quite a lot actually!) to calm my nerves,

the quilting is finished.

I will send the quilt back to my mum for her to put the binding on.

Even the back does not look that bad anymore!

This week the temperatures are back to normal, the snow is gone. No more mopping the floor twice a day to get rid of all the dirt. That means more time left to quilt and knit!

I wish you a nice week. I will ignore the comments on the nice weather on some other parts of the world, they would only make me jealous!

IT IS FREEEEZING!

2009-01-10T21:47:00.006+02:00

It snowed last monday and the snow is still here and it is freezing cold!

Fortunately I had knitted a tam for my DH for Christmas.

The children are having fun with their slides but can´t stay outside too long as it is freezing cold.

This week I did not have to go to work everyday. Instead I enjoyed dyeing some sock yarn.

I could not go outside as it is so cold ( oh I have already told you that, well never mind!).

Do go and have a look at the new BOM Bea is having. It looks very promising. I wonder when or if that woman sleeps!

Next thursday we are having our monthly quilt group meeting and I plan to machine quilt my mother´s top. Some things to look forward to instead of that **** freezing cold weather!

I wish you some warm place for this week.

P.S. : I think I forgot to say that the temperatures were playing crazy here and that I have to put on 5 layers of clothes when I go outside!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-12-31T15:56:00.008+02:00

This was a very, very cold week and it seems that tonight will be just the same. That means we won´t stay very long outside at 24.00 to fire and watch the fire works!

My parents spent some days at our place and my mother brought along her last works to show me.

I thought it would be the right thing to share these nice works with you to give you inspiration for next year.

The apple core quilt is hand-sewed, hand- appliquéd and hand-quilted. I love the colour combination.

The second quilt is machine-sewed and is being hand-quilted. My mother was inspired by a pattern at Quiltville.

I wish you a very happy new year and a lot of finished works (wether they are sewed, quilted or knitted)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-23T20:46:00.005+02:00

I wish you all a peaceful and very happy Christmas.

NEW TEMPTATIONS

2008-12-14T20:44:00.008+02:00

How is it that Christmas is already in 10 days and I haven´t seen anything of December yet?! What with bad weather, ill family members (DS and DH both sick with fever and heavy coughing), getting and/or making presents,...

Anyway, yesterday I took some time off to get some quality time going with a good friend of mine to the opening of a new yarn and quilt shop.

Christiane has made it! She now has a very nice shop with gorgeous yarn and fabric.

Of course I did some retail therapy but could not take any picture yet.

This week I knitted some presents for my dear sis: some mitts (modified version of Evangeline) and knee socks (my own pattern).

I just hope that they arrive on time in England. It is supposed to be so cold there (especially inside the house, isn´t it Sis? ) (Private joke!).

Now my DH has discovered a tam he would like to have for Christmas too so you know what I will be knitting next week!

I wish you all a nice third Advent.

WINTER AT HOME

2008-11-29T21:43:00.005+02:00

The weather forecast was right, this is what it looked like here at the beginning of the week. Now the snow is gone and it is only cold.

I finished another of Bea´s BOM this week, only two to go and this year´s stitchery project will be complete. Now to sew these cutties together in a top will last some time as I am still pondering which setting will enhance them the best.

In the meantime I have something else to do, not that I would get bored or something!

My mother sent me a top to machine quilt. I like it very much, very scrappy, just my colours. It will be a pleasure to quilt as it isn´t too big and my mother had already put the batting and the back to it. I just have to switch on my sewing machine and off I go!

This picture shows a detail. It is a very easy block made of 2 squares and one rectangle. Either one dark square with one light square and rectangle or one light square with one dark square and rectangle. The squares are 1,5" finished.

During the week, I dyed some more sock yarn. It seems the color combos turned out nice as some skeins are already gone to become Christmas presents.

Tomorrow night will be the time to prepare my DS´s advent calendar. Fortunately Playmobil and Lego exist!

I wish you a very nice first advent sunday and a agreable week.

IT IS GETTING COLD

2008-11-18T13:26:00.008+02:00

The weather forecast said we were going to have some snow this week. Time to snuggle under quilts!

For our guild meeting, Bea designed some stitchery and here is what I made of mine. A little bag and a note book cover.

As always, Bea´s designs are fun and look good.

I am knitting quite a lot these days but I still did not have a knitting needle holder and they (the needles) were all stuffed together in a drawer. This is the end of that!

I sewed a needle holder for all my needles and there is still space for more to come! When I was in England to visist my sis, we went to a yarn shop where I bought one skein of a silk blend yarn. I knitted the prismatic scarf out of it.

The yarn is really nice, very warm, soft and I like the color combo a lot.

I can wear it straight away as it is murky here outside.

I wish you a nice week.

GUILD MEETING

2008-11-09T21:31:00.013+02:00

At last some quilt pictures again!

Last saturday was our regional guild meeting organized by our group. Over 160 persons turned up and the main theme was redwork. We had a great time, met a lot of friends, made new ones, had a nice lunch, and infected some new women with the quilting bug!

Here are some impressions:

The stage being prepared before the arrival of the crowd.

( the quilt on the front right handside is from my mum.)

The board in front of which Dorothea and I showed some hand stitchery live!

Some of the quilts hanging there.

I particularly like that one!

And the show and tell!

This week is going to be very busy for me: a new course, a lot of appointements,... I hope to be able to squeeze some knitting and/or sewing in between.

I wish you a nice week.

SHE DID IT AGAIN!

2008-10-27T21:36:00.004+02:00

Yes, you see well, I did some more Kool-Aid, food-colouring dyeing at the week-end!
The big ball is lace yarn and is a bit too pale to my taste and the second is sock yarn and looks like fun!

Winter is coming and my son´s head has grown, it seems. So what is a mum to do, a new skull hat of course. I would not have chosen that pattern myself, but better he likes it and WEARS it as goes bare head and catches a cold!
I finished the socks for my DH too. I like the colours but did not have enough( he has BIG feet!) so I had to mix in some dark grey yarn at the toes.And finally, I sewed a little bag. It is for a surprise project at our quilt group and that´s why I can´t show the stitchery on it at the moment.

That´s it for today. Still not much quilting going on but I am thinking about it!

Have a nice time.

NICE AUTUMN

2008-10-19T20:37:00.005+02:00

Nothing much going on this week. Running errands, doctor´s appointements,...
I had time to admire some trees in the neighbourhood and I hope to get inspired from their colours for some future projects.
Last week´s workshop on machine quilting went very well and we had much fun. So much fun that I forgot to take pictures!
Anyway I have finished Bea´s 9th BOM. I changed it a bit. I hope Bea won´t mind!

As I have a growing stash of scrap sock yarns, I started using them. First for a pair of
booties for a student of mine who is expecting. ( Don´t worry, I teach adults!)

Then some preemies´ hats and socks for a local hospital.
When I have more I intend to visit the hospital with my DS to bring them the socks. My DS was born there 8 years ago and he was a preemie too, so I thought that would be a nice idea to thank them for their care.

Now I am knitting some socks for my DH, who is quite a bit larger than a preemie and the socks are taking a bit more time.
After that I intend to go back to sewing and quilting. I still have some projects ( others would say UFOs!) which need looking after.

I wish you a nice autumn week.

END OF FALL BREAK

2008-10-10T19:59:00.005+02:00

We are back after a great time at my sister´s in Great Britain. She liked her socks (main thing!) and we did a lot (like shopping at the interknit café, going to the cinema to watch Mamma Mia, or spending a day in London).
All that time I could not sew nor knit so I haven´t much to show this week.

I had finished quilting that piece before going. The blocks were friendship blocks from allover the world. I machine quilted it and then washed it to get the antique look.

While in Great Britain, I bought some food colouring to try some more yarn dyeing. And this time I am very pleased with the results:

The three skeins were dyed with a mixture of Kool Aid and food colouring. Now when am I going to knit all those socks and/or scarves?!

Not tomorrow as I will give a workshop on machine quilting! I will show the result of the course next time.

I wish you a nice week end with a lot of sun (as we had today).

RUNNING NOSE

2008-09-27T19:51:00.010+02:00

Two weeks without posting! I had a reason: a nasty bad cold, with my head feeling like a pumpkin most of the time.

The week before I had started quilting my siggy swap blocks quilt and I hope to show a picture of the finished quilt soon.
This week I received the last lot of my yarn subscription. That was something I could drool over. Quite easy with a running nose! I can see some nice socks or scarves there.

As my dear son and I are flying next week to the UK to see my dear sis, I had to finish her socks. And here they are. The pattern is called Clessidra from Knitty.

She wanted some flaps to fold over boots and there are still some buttons missing at the outside sides.

I hope she will like them, if not they are coming back with me!

This afternoon we had a gorgeous weather and so I spent some time dyeing more sock yarn with Kool Aid.

Pictures will be in the next post too.

I want to thank you all for your nice comments on the scrappy star quilt. They went down like honey, which was just what I needed this week.

Well enough whinging! I wish you a nice week with pumpkin in your gardens or on your plates!

QUILTED!

2008-09-15T19:23:00.009+02:00

One less Ufo on the shelves (or rather on the pile on the floor beside the shelves!).

Last week I finished quilting my scrappy star quilt and sewing on the binding.

And the result is an autumn quilt ready on time for some afternoons on the terrace.

Last thursday was our monthly quilt group meeting and we were lucky to have one of the authors of that book as guest. She had plenty to show us and we went home full of ideas.

At the moment I am knitting socks for my dear sis (yes, the one who said "knitted socks, no thank you, never!). Well, she changed her mind and wants some knee socks in cream with a lot of fancy stitches. I can tell you, knie socks are VERY long! Let´s see what I will manage this week apart from that.

I wish you a nice week.

COLOURS

2008-09-08T20:08:00.002+02:00

I was lucky this week and managed to have some time to sew things for me! I could finish this wall-hanging. I had made the stitchery back in spring I think and I had bought the fabric for the border. Well here it is at last and in time before Christmas!

I had told you that I wanted to dye some yarn with food coloring, well I did. With a friend we had a nice afternoon in the garden and dyed three skeins.
I will show you what the yarns looked like before dying, some baby blue ( I must have bought that colour about 8 years ago as my son was still a baby), white and cream.
And this is the result, first as skeins and then as balls. The colours are quite true apart from the green which is a bit brighter in real.
Not too bad but we had to use up all the food coloring (2 packs with 4 colours each) and I think the colours are not as dark as with Kool Aid. My friend got hooked I think, so it won´t be the last dying taking place in our garden!

I have been machine quilting my scrappy star quilt and it is coming out fast! Some pictures next week.

I wish you a nice week.

STILL NO TIME !

2008-08-31T20:04:00.011+02:00

Days just fly by at the moment and I can´t seem to find time to sew something quilty.

When I have 5 minutes to spare I just sit and knit and that is the result: my version of the "February lady sweater".

The pattern is really good. No sewing at all (apart from the buttons!). The yarn I bought in France is gorgeous. It is 100 % Alpaca and it was so cheap I had to have it.
I finished (at last!) the two thingies for my sis. They are for early foreign language learning. The fish and the flowers are attached with Velcro srips to the mats. I DO hope that she will use them.

You don´t know my sis, I do!

I hope now that I will have time to finish some quilt projects, like quilting my scrappy star top which is still hanging on my design wall or some Christmas wall hanging.

Tomorrow I want to dye some sock yarn with food coloring. I will show next time the results, whatever they look like!

I wish you a nice week.

NO TIME TO QUILT

2008-08-18T21:23:00.007+03:00

Last week was so busy, I had to pass on quilting!

These are 3 more blocks from Bea´s BOM. I love them all!

The design is fun and allows for personal changes if you feel like it!

I did not have time to sew but I managed to knit a scraf in public transport and waiting for my DS at different sport activities.
The model is called "Morning Surf Scraf" from Spin.Off magazine.
I don´t think I will be able to do much quilting next week either as my Dear Sis ordered some fun accessories for kids. What would I do without her, I would be bored to death!

I am happy to report that my 4SSQ made it to Jeanne in good shape. This swap is now over. Thanks to Margaret, last 4 seasons have been rich in new contacts, beautiful projects shared, goodies received,...

Thanks a lot Margaret for your work and your commitment!

I wish you all a nice week.

SOME GOODIES!

2008-08-10T21:31:00.005+03:00

Some parcels arrived this week.
First the beautiful summer quilt from Wendy. I am very lucky that I was her partner this season. The quilt is very, very nice. The piecing, the appliqué and the quilting are perfect. I love it and it hangs already in my sewing room. Funny that the summer quilt I made has nearly the same color scheme.

I got the autumn delivery from my yarn suscribtion with a nice extra skein (the blue one). All the colors are so yummy, I could start straight away some new socks or a scraf. I could ... if I didn´t have around 50 (!) other projects on my queue.
I finished the socks, which yarn I had dyed with Kool Aid. This time it was grape flavor.
I found the pattern at Ravelry which has around 1500 free sock pattern so it was hard to choose only one. But with the new yarn I got this week, I should be able to have a go at some more patterns.
I knitted the socks for my mum if she wants them.

School starts tomorrow after the summer break. Today we have been packing my DS´s school back pack with new exercice books, pencils,... but still enthousiasm has not appeared yet! Let´s see what the first week will bring.

I wish you a nice week too.

FLIMSIES, TOPS, QUILTS, ...

2008-08-02T21:09:00.003+03:00

As promised last week, here are some of my mum´s latest works.
The first one is a flimsy (but not for long, I know my mum!).

The second one is being quilted.
And the third one is finished. This one was a mystey from her quilt group. That means she did not know how it would look like at the end before she started. I think she did a good job with the color choices without having a clue of the end result.

Then this week, I finished my version of summer for the 4SQS. It is now on its way to ... far away!
We renovated my DS´s room this week so that I didn´t have much time for quilting. I did sew some curtains though so that I could spend some time in my sewing room! Next week should be calmer and I plan to machine quilt my scrappy stars top.

I wish you a nice week too!

BACK AND RESTED

2008-07-25T21:59:00.008+03:00

After 3 weeks of that (see above), it was time to come back home. We had a wonderful time, lots of time without kid (he was at my parents´), nice food and even some sunny weather!

In Brittany I managed to find an original fabric for the summer 4SQS and that is what I have sewed with it so far. My partner likes bright colours so I hope it is to her taste. I hope I can finish it over the week-end so that it is on the way to ... before the deadline!
On holiday I had a few magazines to read. Some I bought in Paris and some my DS and my Mum brought back from the USA. I love magazines, the only problem is that I want to start a least 2 or 3 projects per issue at once and as I did not have any sewing stuff with me, it was difficult!
At least I knitted a bit: the socks are made for my Mum (and modeled by her). We had some fun dying wool yarn with Kool Aid (here orange flavor) and I am quite happy with the result.

We dyed the other yarn with grape flavor and it turned out pale purple. I will show pictures when the socks are finished.

Next time I will show pictures of my Mum´s latest quilt works.

TIME FLIES

2008-06-27T21:07:00.007+03:00

Already more than one week since last entry! Time flies as we are busy getting ready for the holidays.

I have not been doing so much sewing but still I have something to show that I made some while ago.

FRENCH QUILTING: this is a typical bed spread for the south of France. Young women in the 19th century had to sew 12 of these per hand and a white wholecloth before getting married!

I sewed mine with the machine though and I stopped after the first one! I tried to quilt a typical pattern in the border.

For some more information on french quilting, have a look at that book.

I saved some time to sew this small purse for my DS who wanted one after seeing the first one I had made.

Last week, 3 ladies from my quilting group came round to prepare our big meeting in November.
They didn´t come empty-handed, see how lucky I am: Petra brought me some yarn and the color combination looked so intriguing, I had to start some socks right away. Martina and Bea brought me (among other goodies) the very nice knitting book and I LOVE the original title: "Never knit your man a sweater unless you´ve got the ring"!

I don´t think I will post again before going on holiday and I don´t know if I will be able to post from France.

So see you at the end of July if not. Enjoy the summer!

SOON ON HOLIDAY

2008-06-16T20:56:00.007+03:00

Only 2 weeks and my family and I will be going on holiday in my home country: Brittany!

In the meantime I finished some projects.

The 6th BOM from Bea, as usual the design is lovely and it was a pleasure to stitch.

Then I completed my scrappy stars top. The colors are not really true as the weather was quite wretched over the week-end. That was my excuse for not working in the garden and spend my time sewing!

After a discussion with Angela about sock patterns, she gave me the idea of knitting some Monkey socks.
These are knitted with a cotton/wool yarn and are not as springy as pure wool but warm enough for this time of year!

On Thursday, 3 friends from my quilting group are coming to visit and to discuss and organize our regional meeting in November. Not only work but some laughting and giggling will be taking place I am sure!

At the moment, whole Europe is in soccer fever. Tonight is a game Germany against ??? and although it only starts in 30 minutes, there is nobody anymore on the streets! Just to show...

Anyway I wish you a nice week, with or without soccer.

ANOTHER WEEK GONE BY

2008-06-09T20:15:00.011+03:00

Time seems to fly by at the moment. I have been busy at work and did some extra at the week-end (like sewing 8 pairs of trousers for a circus show at my DS´s school). That means there was not much time for quilting.

To show you something nonetheless, I took a picture (or rather my DH took the picture!) of my Picovoli I finished one month ago. I like that pattern because there is no sewing at the seams (there are no seams!).

Last week I received some goodies from my family too. My mother sent me a pouch, a self-made card, a pin-cushion and some japanese fabrics. Everything lovely. My sister, having heard of my battle against slugs sent me a very funny book with some good ideas (like put a cabbage leave upside down in the garden and all the slugs will gather underneath) and some weird ideas (once you have picked up the slugs, put them in the mixer and give that to the cat!!).

Speaking of cats, look at the cuttie! This is the daughter of the "cat which has adopted us". It was born on the first of May at the neighbours´. The proud mother (she only got one kitten) brought her along for us to have a look at.

The young boy next door decided to keep it. And as you can see on the second picture, the kitten already likes shoes (girls!!!) .

This week I will try to finish sewing the scrappy star blocks and try some ideas for my 4SSQ.

Have a nice week too!

P.S.: Margit, konntest Du mir Deine Email geben, so daß ich auf Deine Frage antworten kann?

QUIET WEEK-END

2008-06-01T20:50:00.007+03:00

After a busy week and nothing much going on the sewing and knitting front, I spent a quiet week-end.

I started by making some strawberry jam. My recipe is with black pepper and fresh mint from the garden!

Then I managed to sew some more blocks for the scrappy star quilt. I like to see that I (will)use up some fat quarters to finish the top. Only 4 more rows to go!
Then I finished a very boring knit: the circular shrug. It is a very easy construction but with nothing much to make it interesting to knit. Now I need to find a brooch or another king of pin to hold it closed.

I received the name of my 4SQS partner and now I have to think of something to match her taste. She just gave a few restrictions so I am free to make what I want. I was thinking of something provençal but we will see.

I wish you a nice week with some nice weather (like we had today but it won´t last it seems!).

FETE DES MERES

2008-05-24T21:06:00.007+03:00

Bonne fête Maman!

Sunday is mother´s day in France, so here are some flowers for my dear mum.

I discovered that place through my yahoo quilt group and I found it so inspiring that I had to make a cup of tea straight away! Next time I make one, I will change (read: try to improve!) some details like the size or the fitting of the zipper.

I started a new project too! Yes I know, I need a new project like a hole in the head but I have to try to get rid of some of my fabric before it gets bad!

The blocks are 6" x 6" and easy made. My plan is to make a 8 x 12 blocks. I am just over the half now.

I will finish it before I buy the batting for my scrappy delectable mountains quilt so that I can purchase 2 packs at once, hence saving on shipment costs. That is what I told myself anyway for starting a new project!

I still haven´t heard of Margaret about my new 4SQS. I hope I will receive the name soon so that I can start.

Oh no, yet a new project!

I wish you a nice sunday, wether it is mother´s day for you or not!

SUN, RAIN: SRING!

2008-05-17T21:35:00.007+03:00

The weather was so nice last week and now it is only rain, rain, rain and snails!
This week I have been busy sewing some hearts for my DS. It is her birthday soon. She wants some hearts to hang at door knobs and at bed posters. Let´s hope it is shabby chic enough to her taste.

I have been hand-quilting on my scrap basket quilt. I wonder wether I will finish it one day. Each time I start quilting on that one, another project appears which has to be finished before it!

I have registered for the last round of the 4SQS. I wonder who will be my partners this time. The picture shows the mini-quilt wall in my sewing room. The summer swap quilt (when I receive it) will hang where the black quilt hangs now. This quilt was my first attempt at free machine quilting and does not have to be on show all the time!
And finally, the socks I have finished this week too. They are the Leyburn socks which I knitted from the top down with some of the handpainted yarn from my spring parcel.

I like that pattern a lot and it looks nice on variegated yarn I think.

That is all for today. Snails and slugs here I come!

SPRING SWAP QUILT

2008-05-10T21:18:00.009+03:00

My Spring Swap quilt is here! Margy sent it to me from from Belgium.

I like it very much. It conveys very well the idea of spring and I like the quilting.
The back is lovely too. Margy also sent me a lovely card and a needle holder full of needles. Thank you again Margy for the nice parcel.
I heard as well that my partner has received my quilt so everything is for the best.
Now to the last round. The Summer Swap.

Here is a sneak peek of what I will show next time.

The weather is wonderful and so I spend a lot of time in the garden, just a shame that my DH has such a bad hay fever.

I wish you a nice week-end.

SOME FINISHED PROJECTS

2008-05-05T20:32:00.005+03:00

Last week-end we had a bank holiday and we stayed at home as my DH is ill (heavy cold with some bad cough due to allergies) and so I had time to finish some projects while my DS played outside with friends.

First the Bea´s BOM for May. I am still pondering heavily how to set these cute blocks so that they come out at their best.

Then I machine- quilted my nine-patch. It was the first time that I used cotton thread for machine-quilting and I am very happy with the result. I washed the quilt and it came out lovely: a bit shrunk and not at all stiff as is often the case with machine-quilted tops.
Here a detail of the border. I love quilting feathers!

Then I finished yet another shawl, this time the Swallowtail shawl from Interweave Knits. I used for it my left-over yarn from my Icarus shawl.

It is not very big but still large enough to wrap around my shoulders.

I still haven´t heard anything from my swap partner. I hope that she received the quilt and that everything is allright at her place.

I haven´t received mine either but that is not a big surprise as the postal service is on strike here.

I wish you a nice week.

MACHINE QUILTING

2008-04-27T20:44:00.004+03:00

On saturday, I gave a workshop on machine-quilting. It was fun and we all (I think!) enjoyed ourselves even if some had aching shoulders at the end of the day.
For the course I made the pink sampler and the students made the samples in white.

It is not always easy to adjust all the machines for machine-quilting and we had some problems at the beginning with the tension of some machines. I am so glad my Bernina sews everything with only some adjustments.

Anyway, the students had to draw on paper first so as to learn the movements and then sew without thread to get a feeling of using the machine without feed dogs.

And here are the results:

from Sigrid

from Monika

from Barbara

from Iris

and from Jutta

Well done, ladies!

Friday was the dutch fabric market in town and guess what I did! I just bought a few fat quarters and some buttons. Mind you next week there is a wonderful textile market in a town nearby so I guess my purchases won´t stop here!
I wish you a wonderful beginning of May.

A GREAT DAY

2008-04-19T19:54:00.003+02:00

Today was our region guild meeting and it was great: over 100 women who had a nice time, showing, explaining, meeting new faces and recognizing others, eating yummy food and spending some money (just a little!) on nice fabrics. Next time in november, our group will organize the meeting and I am looking forward to it.

This week I received the second season of my socks yarn suscribtion.
I would like to start knitting straight away to see how the patterns will come out but I have other things to do too (unfortunately!). The dandelions in the garden are calling!

I want to thank you all for having given your opinions on the borders of my nine-patch. Indeed most of you chose my favorite! It was very nice to have such a great feed-back.
On monday I will post my 4 seasons swap quilt, so keep a look on your letter box, you ...over there!
I wish you a peaceful sunny sunday.

WHAT A WEEK!

2008-04-11T11:12:00.004+02:00

I am glad this week is over. It was very busy: new courses have started, a few appointements, and a workshop on machine-quilting to prepare.

Last week-end I managed to squeaze in some sewing and I made a 9patch center. I have seen so many of these blocks on blogland lately that I had to have a go at it too. On top of that I think I had never made one before so here you go. But now I can´t seem to decide which border I will put around. Your opinions are wanted! I won´t tell you which one is my favorite so that you are not influenced. If you don´t like any of them, feel free to say so too!

For my workshop on machine-quilting, I bought some (more!) Valdani quilt thread. I like the variegated ones as they blend so nicely.

And this is the pin-cushion I made at our last quilting group meeting.

It was easy and much fun to make thanks to the clear explanations (thanks Martina!).
I am expecting the new socks yarn delivery at the beginning of next week, let´s see what yummy colors I will get this time!

I wish you a nice week-end.

STASH ENHANCEMENT? NEVER!

2008-04-02T20:36:00.007+02:00

Look at what was in my garden this afternoon! Being french, I would have prefered it in my cooking pot! Still it is not that often that one can see a pheasant in a big city so I had to take a picture.
I finished my "Back to school" jumper from "Fitted Knits" last week and I like it as much as the other jumper I made from the book. Now that the weather is getting better (at least it is not snowing anymore!), I will have occasions to wear it. AND I have already casted on new cotton yarn on my needles to make a summer top.
Those wonderful fabrics came to my stash in an unusual way. After the Creativa fair, I had been moaning that I could not find any repro fabrics there. Well Christiane contacted me telling me that she was trying to reduce her repro stash and that I was welcome to come and have a look. No need to tell me that twice! And she has some more, so if you want to get some, do contact her.
My fourth Bea´s BOM is finished too. The design is as cute as the other 3.

Tomorrow is our monthly meeting with our patchwork group and we will be making a pin cushion. I will post a picture of the result next week.

Till then I wish you a nice beginning of spring.

MOTHER`S WORK

2008-03-25T20:37:00.013+02:00

Hello from Winterland! It keeps on snowing here since Easter. All the best to keep inside and sew and/or knit.

The quilt is my mother´s work for a new baby boy she knows of.

My mother added some trapunto to some of the quilting and I think it turned out very fine. (well she is not MY mother for nothing!!)

This week I finished the first pullover for me for a long time. It seems that after some socks and 2 Icarus shawls, the knitting bug came back to me!

The sweater is the "cosy V-neck pullover with deep ribbing" from the book "Fitted Knits" by Stefanie Japel.

I like it very much! It is very warm (which is good as I am always cold) and the yarn (organic sheep wool) is very soft, not at all scrachy. Plus it only cost me 25 Euro! It is knitted from the top-down and I love the fact that it has no seam on the side.

Now I am making the next one from the book. As I said the knitting bug is back!

For those of you who like stitchery and patchwork, Jutta has started a kind of mystery stitchery to download. Please enjoy!

I wish you some nice weather to sew.

SPRING SWAP

2008-03-19T21:01:00.008+02:00

My 4SSQ is finished. It is quite lush and bright and now I wonder what I will sew then for summer. (In real it is a true rectangle, my photographic capabilities are still to be improved!)

This week I also knitted some Primavera socks. I had the yarn from my spring suscribtion and it looked much lighter unknitted. I would not say that these are my favorite colour combination but they don´t look that bad with denim.

I started a jumper from the "Fitted Knits" book and so far it fits! More pictures next week.

I wish you all a Happy Easter with a lot of chocolate bunnies and ladybirds (what we have in Germany) or chocolate church bells (what we have in France). I will eat them all as long as it is dark chocolate!

SOME PICTURES

2008-03-13T20:35:00.010+02:00

Today, I got up at 5.00 AM to go to work and after that I went to the market I was talking about in the last post. But before I go to bed I wanted to show what I bought and some other pictures.

This is my second Icarus shawl. It is plain wool and so a bit scrachier than the first but I like the colour. I wonder if I will keep it or give it away and knit yet another one for me with space dyed yarn. We will see. It is not as if I didn´t have any other project on the go!

The next picture is of the lottery quilt top in my students quilt group.

Monika N. was the very happy (you should have seen her!) winner of it. I gave her enough fabric to add at least two borders.

Then my students made a lot of bag packs! Sorry the picture is blurred. Too many excited women on one spot, I reckon!

From left to right and from top to bottom: Helga, Lisa (made a tote), Lisl, Waltraud, Inge (could not stop and made 2!), Monika and Jutta.

What I liked with that project is that each made her pack out of different fabrics, there are upholstery, corduroy, silk, denim and curtain fabrics here!

Then what I bought at the market. I didn´t buy any fabric! I tried to but they did not seem to have any repro fabric. It seems they are not so popular in Germany.So instead I got some embroidery floss for my Bea´s BOM project and for some future ones.

I also got some ribbons from my favorite ribbon weave mill and some cute buttons (which were reduced!).Finally I purchased some knitting bamboo needles as I could not find any Knit Picks.

This year the hit was pearls, beads and home made juwelery. They were everywhere. But I don´t need to start a new hobby so I avoided them!

That´s all for today. I won´t stay much longer up. I can hear my bed calling me!

I wish you a nice evening and an inspiring week-end.

THIRD BOM

2008-03-05T20:18:00.004+02:00

Bea´s third BOM is finished! I have run out of embroidery floss, but fortunately we have next week our yearly CREATIVA where this kind of floss is sold.

I am thinking of a few other items to put on the list like batting, knitting needles, maybe some yarn and of course 2 or 3 (sic!) fat quarters. I can´t spend so much this year because of the last repair on my sewing machine. Still it is usually fun and I can spend a nice day with a dear friend of mine.

At the beginning of the week I received the name of my partner for my 4SQS for spring. As you can see the center of the top is done. I made it with a charm pack from Moda called "chez moi", very fitting for a french woman like me!

Although I would not have bought bigger pieces of those fabrics (not really my usual colour choice) I see now the potential of the design. I think it has something from "Blended Quilts". Maybe my shopping list for the CREATIVA is growing afterall!

I will frame the center with a fresh green fabric and then hand-quilt it with some variegated embroidery floss.

My second Icarus shawl is growing too. I am on the last 25 rows with more than 400 stitches per row. I hope to finish it this week-end.

I am off now going to look at the blogs taking part in the 4SQS and get an idea of spring! Have a nice time!

TAGGED AND AN AWARD

2008-02-27T20:19:00.010+02:00

Lil and Ila tagged me some time ago to tell 7 things about me. I have already listed 7 weird things about me (see the labels) and so I will tell you 7 random things which come to my with-a-bad-flu-fogged mind!

- I don´t like coffee, I only drink tea (any kind), water and fruit juice.
- I don´t like alcohol either, which restricts my choices of beverage (see first point) .
- I walk very fast. A lot of people have problems keeping up with me (even my DH who is bigger than I) .
- I don´t like big full shopping streets. It is not that I don´t like a crowd, I don´t have any problem at the theater or the cinema. It is just that as I walk fast, I feel like most of the people are blocking my way and I want to push them aside!
- At school, I hated sewing!
- My DH and I met in England. He didn´t speak french, I didn´t speak german so the lingua franca in the first 3 years (as we lived apart) was english.
- I introduced my DM to patchwork and quilting and now she can´t stop!

Britta and Brigitte gave me an award, how nice. Thank you very much.
I give the award to all the people reading my blog and if you feel like telling us 7 things about you, feel tagged by me!

No, this is not my 4SSQ for spring! It is a crib quilt I made some time ago to show how to get curves with folded fabric. And yet another attempt at getting rid of the flowery fabrics!

Last week-end, I had a cold and was feeling very unwell so I spent as much time as I could on the couch and I managed to finish the Icarus shawl. The blocking was a bit of an adventure as it was the first time but I like this first version so much that I have started another one in a grey-blue yarn.

My sewing machine is back! Of course I had to sew something to see how it goes. it is much quieter than before and it is all shiny because of the oil. I hope now that I can sew without problems for at least the next 10 years!
I made a key-holder with a ribbon and a button I had in my stash.

Don´t forget that in 2 days, Bea will post the 3rd stitchery BOM.

I wish you inspiration and a nice week.

FRUSTRATION KNITTING

2008-02-19T20:17:00.010+02:00

Yesterday I got a phone from the sewing-machine repairman. The electronic is broken and it will cost about 230 Euro (nearly 350 $) to repair it! GREAT, great, great. Do you see how much fabric or yarn that is?! Apparently it does not happen that often (well that´s nice to hear!) and of course after 5 years my machine is not under warrenty anymore. Zut,zut, zut! (french cursing)

Anyway, on the brighter front I finished my pair of Jaywalker socks with the wonderful wool from Handgefaerbt.com. It is mentioned on few blogs that these socks are not elastic compare to ribbing and I can only agree! Still I like the pattern.

Last week some books arrived from Amazon:

The Virginia Quilt book is very nice, full of wonderful quilts (some with 23 stitches per inch quilting!) and interesting stories. I find only that some of the pictures are a bit small but then if each quilt had been one page, it would have been an very thick book!
I have seen so many inspirational knits from the Fitted Knits on blogs that I had to have that book too and indeed there are two or three projects that I intend to make.
I was lucky too to get the Interweave Knits on Ebay as I wanted to make the Icarus shawl.
After the above-mentioned call I was so frustrated that I had to do some retail therapy and the Icarus shawl was just the right thing to calm me down. I bought some nice merino lace wool for very little (under 4 Euro, under 6$ for 150 g) and I started straight away. It is the first time that I am knitting lace and fortunately the beginning is easy.

A good exercice to calm down was iron-folding the prairie points for my Delectable mountains too! That´s boring and it takes very long. I hope I have enough now. As soon as my Bernina is back ( even better than new I hope) I will sew them to the border.

I wish you a serene time without bad surprises!

4SSQ ARRIVED!

2008-02-13T20:54:00.008+02:00

Today was this cuttie in my letter box. It was sent from Melinda. Melinda is a professional long-arm quilter and you can see it! This cheerful quilt is hanging now in my sewing room, beside the other miniquilts I have received and made so far.

Last week-end the weather was wonderful here and I was having some quality time with my sewing machine finishing that top.

I opened the window of my sewing room and went to fetch the camera to take a picture.

Then I sarted sewing again to finish zigzaging the border of the quilt when suddenly my dear Bernina switched itself off!
It is BROKEN. I could not switch it on again.

It doesn´t like an opened window or being taken the picture of or what?!

Of course I went to the repair shop first thing on Monday but still haven´t heard anything.

And what am I supposed to do in the meantime? I could hand-quilt, I could knit, I could stitch, well I just have to wait patiently and hope for a not too high bill.

I wish you a nice weather AND a working sewing-machine!

A RELAXED LONG WEEK-END

2008-02-06T20:18:00.000+02:00

Last week-end was a long one here because of Carnival. As I don´t like being in a crowd, I stayed at home. My DS and I baked some crêpes though (a tradition in France before Lent begins).

My second Bea´s BOM is finished. I can already see that it will make a nice quilt when the 12 blocks are done!

My first yarn parcel arrived! My DH gave me a yarn suscribtion for Christmas. It means that I will become 4 times during the year 4 different yarns according to the season. Here you see the spring pack. The wool is very nice and so yummy that I had to start something straight away of course. I took the one on the far right and I started knitting some socks. The yarn is finer than normal sock wool I think and I knit with needles Nr. 2 (US 0).

I will show some pictures in the next post!

I sewed all the blocks of my "Delectable Mountains" and it turned out BIG! It is over 2 meters x 2 metres (80" x 80"). I wonder what I will do with that one!

I started sewing the top together so I hope to have it finished next week. Then I only (sic!) have to make about 120 prairie points.

My 4SSQ arrived at Julie´s and she told me that she liked it. I haven´t heard anything from Margaret telling me that the quilt for me was on the way so I hope nothing bad happened to the maker.

I wish you a nice time and a lot of inspiration.

AND YET ANOTHER ATTEMPT

2008-01-30T21:21:00.000+02:00

I have started yet another attempt at reducing my stash of old, flowery, 80´s fabric. I got the pattern for the "Delectable mountains" at Bonnie´s and I just add the small triangles at each side of one mountain. I am planning of doing 4 or 5 rows and adding a string star in the middle. I am so serious about that reducing attempt that I want to add prairie points all around the top. Lots of fabric there!

This week I also sewed a coaster to go with a mug for a friend´s birthday.

I had the right fabric in my stash! It is the first coaster I made but I am very happy with it and it won´t be the last.

One of my students, Monika N. finished her sampler. Congratulations Monika!
I like it because of its scrappiness and because of the nice quilting.
Today I borrowed some quilt books at our guild librairy. One on the Nebraska quilt documentation project. I like the quilt doc. project books as they tell the stories of the women who made the quilts and present the state where the survey took place. It is like applied history.

So now I am off to my settee with a big book on my lap full of beautiful quilts!

I wish you a nice week-end.

P.S.: Don´t forget, tomorrow Bea posts a new BOM!

1 YEAR BLOG ANNIVERSARY

2008-01-23T11:14:00.002+02:00

Today is my first year blog anniversary! Time flies. I have enjoyed this first year very much thanks to all of you out there. I want to thank you all for your comments, your inspiration, your advices,... I am looking forward to many more years of sharing, swaps, BOM, ...

Today I will show your a red and white quilt I made in 2004. It was my second or third attempt at machine quilting as you can see in the last border! If I were to make this quilt again I think I would quilt feathers in the border.

Another problem with that quilt is that I had used some swatches of fabric samples which were too small to wash and so it bled when I put some water on it to withdraw the marking. Now I am afraid of washing it at all!

My first socks from the toe up are finished! Here they are modelled by their owner, my DH. He seems quite happy with them and said they were very comfy.

Well he´d better or he won´t get any more!

I found the pattern for the Diamond waffle socks at KNITTY. The heel was a bit tricky but now the penny had droped and I can imagine knitting more socks that way.

I am off to my quilting group! I wish you a very nice end of the week.

TRADITIONAL BLOCKS, LIBERATED BLOCKS

2008-01-18T21:42:00.000+02:00

A new session started with my quilt students and as the tradition goes, I showed them a new block. I saw that pattern on a blog but I am very sorry I can´t find it back. I had a look around the blogs I usually visit but it was not there.
Anyway, all the fabrics are from my stash and my students sewed them together. We decided that we will add two rows and then the top will be won at a lottery by one of the students.

That way, I can get rid of some of my older fabrics (and have a excuse to buy some more!).

The second quilt is an older quilt I started at a retreat where we were supposed to sew something free cut. The retreat was a lot of fun (sorry no picture there as it was way before digital camera time!) and I tried some new to me colour combinations. The top came very fast together but the quilting lasted a bit longer!

I am especially happy about the purple as it brings some warmth although it is not my sort of colour at all!
The quilt hangs now in our staircase.

I could not help starting on a new pair of socks, this time for my DH with a new method from the toe up. The first one has a few mistakes. The explanations were in english (or should I say english abbreviations!) which I have some problems to understand and a lot of stitches were new to me too. But I think the second one will turn better. Pictures next week!

I wish you a restful creative week-end!

AWARD!

2008-01-11T20:31:00.001+02:00

I was lucky this week to receive twice the same award! Once from Marcie and once from Pamina. How nice! Thank you very much,
I am very honored and will try to keep up with the expectations during the whole year.

I enjoy reading a lot of blogs and I do get inspiration from a lot of them too and so I will give the award to some new to me blogs and to some "classical" (to me!).

Christine

Angela

Kathie

Katja

I haven´t been doing much on the quilting side this week. (the laundry baskets were overflowing after the holidays!) and work started again.

I am still hand-quilting on my basket quilt. I plan to finish that one at least this year!

I finished the socks for my uncle. As you can see they are a bit too big for me!
And I finished the cushion cover for my dear sis (sorry no picture).

Next Thursday I will go to our monthly meeting where I will meet Bea (you know the one with the hard-to-resist stitchery BOM), so if you want me to hug her for you, or scold her for tempting you to yet another project, let me know!

I wish you all a very nice week-end!

NICE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR

2008-01-04T20:54:00.000+02:00

Comes the new year, come new projects! Here the stitchery BOM from Bea.
My version of it is stitched on tea dyed fabric with "Wildflowers" by Caron in colour "bark". The squares are small and it goes fast so come on, have a go!

And if you don´t feel like sewing the 12 blocks, here is what you can make with one block. I was inspired by that to make this backpack.

I will show it to one of my quilt groups. It is easy to make and would look good with jeans as well I think. I sewed mine with furnishing fabric (just the right thing to make it a bit sturdier). The shoulder strap zipper is a nice feature too.

There is a pocket under the stitchery.

At the moment I am knitting socks for my dear uncle and I have to make one more cushion cover for guess who?! Yes, my dear sis!

I wish you a nice week-end.

WINTER TRIP AROUND THE WORLD

2007-12-29T21:09:00.000+02:00

My 4SSQ is finished! I need to wash it and then I will post it in about 2 weeks´time. So I still have 2 weeks to enjoy it. I hand-quilted it as my parents were here and we had some fun deciding on the binding. We tried red, yellow, light grey, dark grey, etc ... each time with one of us not agreeing with the others!

At the end, I chose one we had not thought about! I will put the label on with the title " Winter trip around the world" ( how original!).

It is very interesting to see what the others are coming up with in the winter swap and I am very impatient to receive my quilt!

In the meanwhile, I want to wish you all

a happy new year !

P.S.: There has been very many visitors on my blog the last two days from some yahoo quilt list it seems. Could any of these visitors please tell me who recommended my blog and why. I am curious! And if they have any question, I will be very pleased to answer.

WINTER SWAP

2007-12-18T20:47:00.000+02:00

Winter is here at last and it is COLD! Maybe we will have a white Christmas if we are lucky.

The top for the Winter Swap is finished. I chose Trip around the world as the quilt will have to travel a long way before reaching THE RECIPIENT!
I have started hand-quilting it and so far I like it so much, I will probably make it once more for me to keep. The colours reflect my feeling in winter, a bit melancolic, the days are short, the sun rare but there are still nice days (hence the yellow) and the warmth of my home (the red).

I finished stitching this funny stitchery too and today I went to my LQS to get some red fabric to frame it. I wanted to have it finished before Christmas!

At the LQS, I bought some nice stuff for my Mum (sorry no picture there, it is for Christmas!) and I met a reader of my blog who I didn´t know. It was very nice to get some feed-back and encourages me to post on.

My parents are coming over to spend next week with us and so I don´t think I will have much time to post next week and that´s why I wish you all now

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS QUILT

2007-12-12T20:48:00.001+02:00

It seems on the quilt blog world that everybody is busy sewing hundreds of wonderful presents! I can hear the sewing machines purring!

This quilt hangs at Christmas time in our living-room. In real the colours are warmer and the wall is vanilla. It is machine sewed and hand quilted.
I got the pattern from there. It is in german but the drawings are easy to understand. If problems, please contact me!

Then I have been making some Christmas decoration:

They are made out of felt and hand stitched. They are great small presents to thank special persons and also they are nice bring-alongs to Advent coffees.

Then I made some bags to put presents in. I won the panel fabric at Nadine´s and I thought it would be just right to use it that way. I even used the border pattern as a ribbon! These bags will prevent having to wrap up to many presents and save on paper too!

Last week my DS was sick with a cold and now I have it. So for the next week, or the next 7 days with medicine (saying at our place!), I will go around with a running nose.

I wish you a nice third Advent.