Icky and sticky.

Please tell me that those of you with small children also know this sight:



My children (3 and 5 years old) seem to be unable to use paper napkins. Infact I am afraid that they are unable to use any kind of napkins. Their glasses are frightfully icky and sticky when they are done with their meals. Paper napkins often made the whole “wipe your mouth before you drink” affair worse because they were soon torn into pieces and the prettier paper napkins were kept as treasures instead of using them (o:

Solution: Fabric napkins. I used some light boy-ish prints and backed them with cotton chenille. I was happy to use some of my favourite backyard baby fabrics



I made a whole bunch of them and am delighted to report that they are loved and get lots of use. They even quarrel about their favourites.



Above is my youngest with the enourmous stack of fabric napkins.



And here you can see my favourite fish fabric napkin with our kiddo’s cutlery and cup (btw. how many unbreakable cups did your kids break?!).

Hoping for less icky and sticky meals from here on out (o:
Happy Sewing!
Christine

Modern Mosaic - A Quiet Quilt

My christmas gift for my mother.

You saw the work-in-progress here and it was also part of my Finish-A-Long Q4 List.

She asked for a quilt that matches their new sofa which is dark grey. The walls are beige and brown-beige and I wanted to make a quiet quilt – few colours, no complicated design, just one block to rest your eye upon.

So I took my fabric colour chart along and chose the colours that match the room perfectly. I pieced five mosaic blocks and put them together to one big cross and put it off-centre in a large dark grey space.

I free motion quilted within the white narrow stripes of the cross. Then I quilted some irregularily spaced straight lines in all four directions of the cross. I wanted the cross to “radiate”. The negative space that was left was filled by “cobblestones”: free motion quilted rectangles with rounded corners. I wanted to revisit the design of the mosaic though in a calmer way.

I used a lighter grey thread to let the quilting show a bit better. I did not want to let it blend in completetly with the background as the negative space takes such a great part in this quilt.

I finished the quilt with a beige binding and my favourite triple zig zag stitch.

And here is the picture that inspired me to make this quilt:

I saw this church flag during our summer holidays and wanted to turn the design into a quilt. We passed it several times during strong winds and I never stopped to take a photo. I alwas wanted to but never had my camera ready. Oh how I regret that! On our last day I remembered to take my camera – and there was nearly no wind at all )o: I had to wait several minutes for a gust of wind to take this picture.

Here’s hoping that next time I’ll remember to take photos of inspirations right away instead of waiting… At least they didn’t pull down the flag for good…

Happy Quilting!
Christine

bright-eyed boys

I hope you had a merry and very happy christmas with all your dearest ones.

Our kids were beyond excited. Christkind (the holy Christ child) came on Christmas Eve (as it is usual in most parts of Europe) right after we returned from church. Oh those nervous screams and squeaks and giggles. And their bright eyes! They behaved beautifully and unwrapped their gifts in turns without interrupting each other. They were asked to pay attention when it was someone else’s turn to unwrap a gift and they played along quite nice.

He unwrapped some long black lego sticks and immediately started constructing…

My youngest with his favourite gift: a Lego Duplo Pirates’ Sailing Ship:

And here are some fabric baskets I made for my sister:

There are several other gifts I made for friends that I did not meet yet so the revelation will have to wait some more days.

We had to go back to work today so the christmassy feeling is already gone – but the kids are playing enthusiastically with their new toys. I had managed to get all the laundry done right before christmas so I can now relax a bit while my boys are building knights’ castles…

Oh and did I mention that Christkind (aka my dad) promised to build me a drop-in sewing table?! And my husband consented to remove the giant sofa from my sewing room in the basement – I will have lots of additional sewing space pretty soon!!

Bright-eyed me (o:
Christine

Another quilted patchwork panel project

Confession: I’m addicted to quilted patchwork panel projects. I tried Elizabeth Hartman’s technique once (about 6 weeks ago) and made around 10 projects since (most of them are Santa’s Secrets for some more days…)

Here’s one I made for myself. (Btw. one of those things I want to do next year is to do more “selfish-sewing” – sewing for myself and my family).

When I saw Rachael’s blogpost about her craft book project, I knew I had to make a bath mat for our own bathroom. The bathroom is grey and white and I used red as the only other colour (for towels, paintings, kleenex box covers, etc.).

This is my quilted patchwork panel bath mat:

Once again finished with my favourite triple zig zag stitch:

Thank you very much, Elizabeth, for your great tutorial! I love my new addiction (o:

Happy Quilting everyone.
I hope you’ll all have a joyful christmas time!

Christine

Gift revelation

Some weeks ago I have shown you this quilted panel but could not reveal the completed project.

Infact, I made two of them:

Here they are cut to shape… No more clues needed, I guess (o;

And this is the finished gift: A BBQ Glove for my friend Brigitte made from some scraps and a mini charm pack of COMMA and bound in a dark grey cotton print.

This is the end of my non-official COMMA series – I promise to turn to other projects for some weeks. But I will get back to this fabric line sooner or later – it is my absolute favourite and I can’t wait to get my hand on larger pieces (o:

Hoping to get back to you soon,
all theses christmassy preperations just beat me up…
Christine

The bright side of a sickly child…

This morning I received a call from our kindergarten. My youngest had been sick during breakfast. Aaaah! In those moments a film starts before my inner eye. “Child throws up on his clothes. On me. In the car. Special food for some days. He’ll pass the virus to his brother. And his father. And me. The weekend ahead will be spoiled.” Oh my. Do you know these “films”?

Luckily I have reason to hope that it won’t turn out that bad. He was lively and cheerful when I picked him up and he was eager to get home to play. I guess he just tried to swallow too much of his breakfast and I hope that it’s not a virus after all.

However I had to return from work immediately and have some hours at home that I wouldn’t have had normally. So while he is playing with his Lego Duplo I can finally show you some things I made during the last weeks but never blogged about them.

First up are the blocks I made for Lush when it was her month in our Sew-Euro-Bee-an group in Oktober.

And then I made some easy keyfobs for my friend’s birthday. She had asked for one some months ago and I had almost forgotten about it. I made them when I visited my parents and now my mother wants one as well (o: Can you hear a christmas jingle ?!

But the project that was most fun to make is Elizabeth Hartman’s Quilted Panel Technique. I first tried it on a little sample I prepared for Saturday’s Modern Quilt Guilt Bielefeld Meeting. I will turn it into a small birthday gift. Here is my panel sample and I’m going to show you the gift next week when it is safe to fully reveal it:

I used Brigitte’s fabrics again and will definitely have to stock up on her black, grey, yellow and white prints. Oh those barcodes and commas!!!

I had so much fun playing with Elizabeth’s technique that I made two other projects using it (christmas and birthday presents) and have started two more. (Needless to say that I won’t get my Finish-A-long list done this quarter (o: Too many temptations along the way…)

So much for my miscellaneous projects that are worth showing.
Have a nice week!
Christine

Houston flimsy

This is the quilt top I made for Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic for Fall Quilt Market in Houston. Her new fabric collection for moda is “Comma”. Using graphic designs with less depth then her first line.
I simply love this one!!!

It was so much fun to play with these great fabrics and the pattern was another beginner-friendly one (o:

Here’s a photo of the work in progress:

And here’s the cover of her pattern:

Her new fabrics are expected in stores in February 2013. I just long for those barcodes, tiny dots, circles and comma prints!!!

Happy Quilting!
Christine

There’s something I didn’t tell you…

Last spring, Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic had mentioned that she had to sew 6 quilts for Spring Quilt Market within 2 weeks. As she only lives 20 Minutes from my home, I offered my help (kind of expecting that she would graciously decline seeing that I told her that I had only started quilting some months ago. And am self-taught/ internet taught.) BUT she accepted. I made a quilt top for her and she quilted it on her longarm maschine. Fun! Fun! Fun!

We met twice during these two weeks and we dreamed of founding a local Modern Quilt Guilt. We met again when all that Quilt Market Stress was over and then again and again and again. We have become good friends and founded Modern Quilt Guilt Bielefeld.

Much of this is already known to those who follow my blog for some months but I think I have never shown you the quilt top I made from her debut fabric line for moda: Juggling Summer.

A picture from the work in process:

And a photo of the finished flimsy:

And this is the cover she made for her pattern: Isn’t it great how her quilting really matches the design?! And the composition of her cover adds such a modern touch to the quilt!

The pattern is super easy – even for beginners like me. Well explained and easy to follow. I had no problems whatsoever understanding her directions.

It was so much fun to help making something that traveled to Quilt Market while I was staying home, that I offered my help for Fall Quilt Market again. Tomorrow I’m going to show you the flimsy I made for Houston.

Happy Quilting!
Christine

Garments

I made more t-shirts for my boys. The ones I made some months ago were a huge success and are used quite often. Although I made them for my youngest they are worn by my eldest. They are a tight fit but as he is quite thin they look great on him. I am eyeing Rae’s Flashback skinny t-shirt pattern for a while and I think I should give it a try some time soon (when my handmade christmas items are done…).

I told my sons that they could choose the knits for their shirts and this is what we bought at our local fabric store.

Stripes and a badge for my eldest:

Cars for my youngest:

Have you ever shrieked with excitement when you found something beautiful in a store?! I did. When I saw this:

A patchwork-y winter jacket for my eldest. (THE perfect design of my next quilt.) Don’t you just love it? I do. And what is best: he does as well (o:

Have a nice week!
Christine

Quilted Christmas Pillow Cover

I finished my Christmas Pillow Cover that I started during our last Modern Quilt Guild Bielefeld meeting. Every 4 or 5 weeks we meet for an entire day to sew together. Each time we have a different workshop for the first 2 or 3 hours and afterwards there’s free sewing and chatting time. Last meeting’s topic was christmas paper piecing.

Using this free tutorial each of us made a wonky star block. I turned mine into a pillow cover for christmas.

I used some off-white linnen as the background and a deep orange for the star.
I quilted around that star with matching orange thread using a triple straight stitch. Then I changed threads and quilted stars on the background with matching thread using my walking foot.

Those stars are connected at some edges so I didn’t have to break thread.

For the backing I used a matching cotton fabric as I didn’t have enough linnen left.

I added a covered zipper that turned out much better than I would have dreamed. Seeing that I kind of made it up myself. Trial and error. This time without the error part (o:

I really love that little cussion. It does not scream “CHRISTMAS” at me every time I look at it and it matches our sofa beautifully. First christmas object that matches that deep orange. I’d never buy that sofa again though. It is too hard to find matching decoration. Aaah! With my Kona Colour Card on hand I might now be able to sew up more matching decoration. If ever I find time enough to sew for myself.

I tend to sew for others rather than for myself. Do you, too?

I fully intend to change that. I made a start with this cussion and my lunch bag. Now I still need two or three throw quilts. But that may take some time… I think I’ll ask the Sew-Euro-Bee-an Ladies to help me with that.

Have a nice week!
Christine

It might end in addiction

I made more bags and fabric baskets.
It might seriously become an addiction.

Some of these days, I found myself going to work with my lunchbox in my hands. The next day, I took some yoghurt and fruits and was juggling them to work. Why had I never made a lunch bag for myself? It was due time to sew one.

Say lunch bag. Think Ayumi.
I downloaded her fabulous tutorial and after having cut all my pieces when the kids were playing together, I sewed it up in one evening.

Front:

Cover:

And Back:

The lining is a piece of a coated and washable tablecloth I once bought in a dollar store. I forgot to take a photo but it isn’t worth seeing anyhow.

I kind of messed up the second seam at the top but I’m too lazy to unpick the stitches. I like it anyway. I like the fabrics and the size is perfect. I’m going to take it proudly with me to the office (o:

And then I made another fabric basket for my friend (infact I promised to make her one 1,5 years ago). I learned the hard way that it is better to stick to the instructions of the tutorial. Even if it is your own. There was a lot of unpicking and swearing involved )o:

But it turned out great and very fall-ish.

Enjoy your Friday!
Christine

Halloween Bags

There is no Halloween tradition in Germany, and there are no trick-or-treat walks. So I didn’t have to sew costumes for this event (o:. However we do celebrate Saint Martin on November, 11th when the kids carry their lanterns from house to house and sing and get some sweets.

Yesterday we were invited to a small Halloween party at our friend’s little arbour in the woods. They made a super tasty pumpkin soup and we went out for a nightwalk in the woods for 45 minutes. We were curious to see how our boys would like it – if they would be frightened in the pitch dark. But to our surprise (and slight disappointment) they were holding tight to their torch lights and were chatting ceaselessly. Neither afraid when we had to climb over logs nor when they had to crawl underneath a fence. They didn’t mind giant spiders nor a frog that came hopping through the leaves. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves anyway – that is until our youngest was too tired to walk and we had to carry him in turns. AH!

I made two fabric baskets and matching totes as gifts for our hosts:

When we headed home to put our boys to bed (completely exhausted btw.) our friends had more guests for the night. I had made more treat bags for them all and stuffed them with sweets:

Hope you had a jolly Halloween!
Christine

Another Finish

Another project to scratch off my FAL Q4 List: I finally finished a purse for my sewing notions that I started 1,5 years ago. It was an UFO that sat on my shelf almost finished. It just needed another hour or two and it was done…

I can’t remember the name of the fabrics I used but I guess they were from our Local Fabric Store.

This is the interior…

A pocket for scissors and rotary cutter and some elastic for pens and a seam ripper.

The pincussions can be attached by velcro.

And there is another pocket for more notions like thread spools and bias-tape-maker.

Eventually I would have liked it better with a bias binding. But it is too late now. And I’m not going to turn a finished project back into an UFO, am I? (o;

Have a nice sewing week!
Christine