QUILT BACKS

As promised, here is a picture of the 4 seasons quilt´s back. The green is much more olive green in reality and I think it depicts well autumn in the south of France. I still haven´t done the label, I am waiting for inspiration!







Some of you had asked previously if I machine quilted on a long-arm. Nope! I quilt on my dear Bernina and without a stitch regulator either.

Here is where I am so far with this blue sampler. I will put some borders and then it will be done. I hope I will finish it this week as I want to start some stitchery.

I feel like doing a hand project after all this machine sewing and quilting.

On the back one can see some of the quilting and the quilt-as-you-go sashing.

You see from the lush green in the garden that we don´t really lack water this year! I am still waiting for the summer!

I wish you a happy start in the new week.

SWAP QUILT

My 4 seasons swap quilt is done! I enjoyed a lot making it because it is not exactly the kind I usually make and also because I used fabrics I had always planed to use but never had (till now!). The quilt is machine sewed and machine quilted in a variegated thread from "Superior Thread". I used for the back a piece of a Provence fabric in yellow, orange and olive to remind the recipient where I come from. Sorry I forgot to take a picture but I promise I will in the next post. I still need to design the label and sew it on.


Rosalie tagged me about listing 6 weird things about me: so here I go
although I find myself quite plain and not weird at all.

- I don´t have a driving licence. I don´t like being in a car much and I am always afraid of an accident. My DH is a very good driver fortunately! I am lucky to live in a big town in Germany where public transport works very well so I don´t suffer much for not being able to drive.

- I walk very fast. Even my DH has problems keeping up with me. I don´t seem to be able to stroll about. When I go shopping I know where I want to go and hurry from one place to the other.

- I can´t stand being in the middle of a crowd with people pushing at me and bumping into me.

- I am an hypochondriac. It seems I got that from my Gran who is famous in the family for that too!

- I don´t have a full day if I can´t drink a mug of green tea and eat some very dark chocolate!

- Last year (at 39) I started sport (I can´t even say "again" as I had never practiced sport before and I had always claimed loud that I thought sport was a waste of time and energy!). I jog twice a week for 30 minutes and I row on a rowing machine at home twice a week as well for 35 to 40 minutes. At the beginning it was hard but now I feel much better. It is still not my favorite passtime and I have to push myself each time but it is worth it. I have lost weight, I discover I have developped muscles where I didn´t even know I had some! Only stupid people never change their mind! (a french saying)

So maybe I am weird after all! I should tag 6 people to do the same list now but I won´t as I have seen this list on quite a lot of other blogs
already. If YOU feel like listing 6 weird things about you, please do.

MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

I received the name of my 4 seasons swap recipient! And here is a peek of the first cuting. There are a lot of self-dyed fabrics in it and I hope the result will meet the expectations of the recipient.

Then the picture of a favorite bag of mine. I found the pattern in a japanese book on bags and it is the just the right size to hold a quilt for when I go to show-and-tells. The hexagons are hand-sewed and hand-quilted, as the cover (or lap?) and the rest is machine-sewed and machine-quilted.

The inside is made out of a Laura Aschley fabric, which I had bought for the back of a quilt but which turned out too small to be used.

The leather handles are from a second-hand bag I bought at a flea market for very little money. I love going to flea-markets to find things like that. When I was in France this summer I bought some more ugly bags with nice handles but I still have to sew the bags!

I wonder where this summer is gone. We are having very unusual weather here, some kind of monsoon! One day cold, the next heavy rain, then very hot and humid,... Well I CAN´T work in the garden with a wind like that, can I?! I can only stay inside sewing and quilting, what a shame!

Thank you very much for the nice comments on my two old quilts.

Have a nice time!

OLDER QUILTS

As promised before my holidays, I made some pictures of quilts I made which are now in France at my parents´summer house.
But first 2 more little pouches for 2 nice ladies from our quilt group, who organize, keep lists, challenge us, ... I thought they deserved some goodies!

The 2 following quilts were made more than 10 years ago ( just have a look at the fabrics!). I sewed them with the machine and quilted them by hand.

Could that be that this one needs a wash?! It lies on a child´s bed hence the dirt!

I found the pattern on the book cover of a patchwork book ( "short cuts to great tops" or something like that) and I added the appliqué borders by hand.

For the second one, the rings are sewed with the paper-piecing method which I don´t like that much but which was much faster in this case.

I would choose much stronger colours if I were to sew that quilt again. But then I don´t think I WILL sew one like that again.!

As you can see from the side bar, I am taking part in the "4 seasons swap". We are already more than 25 from all over the world. It is going to be fun! The deadline is August the 18th, so if you want, feel free to join. I had a look at what the other participants do and what I find interesting is that all the styles are there.

It is raining cats and dogs here, so this week-end will be a quilty one.

I wish you better weather!

BLUE

Today, only blue things, well nearly! First a zucchini bread from a recipe from Connie. It was delicious. The mixture of zucchini, cinnamon and vanilla is a bit curious but it tasted great. Although I would not call it a bread but rather a cake and a rich one at that!

I received the lovely postcard from Britta after I had lent her a book. Thanks a lot again Britta. Maybe I shoud lend my books more often!

Then some pictures of my quilt-as-you-go sampler. I am coming along and the quilting is much easier with one block at a time. I am trying to improve my machine-quilting on that one and I am having fun trying a lot of different designs.

I hope to finish that quilt before september (the new course starts then) so that I can show it to the students who made the same blocks in the last course session.

It seems the weather is getting better at last so I am off to enjoy the last week-end before school starts!

Have a nice week-end too!