In the hedgerow – a quilt finish

I recently finished the quilt that I made for my mother in law. It is (almost) a wholecloth quilt and quilting this one took forever.

My MIL loves nature, especially birds. But I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make a rather reduced quilt, not a “bold statement”. She has browns and blue-ish greens in her appartment and I didn’t want to add more colour.

Believe it or not: I tried some paper piecing! After Lynne’s class in London 2012, I only made on other block (during a Modern Quilt Guild Bielefeld Sew-in). And then I went crazy and chose this block:

A blue tit (pattern bought here). Let me just say, Lynne’s class helped a lot and despite of all those little bits and pieces, it came together rather smoothly. The seamripper came out once or twice but within three or four evenings I was able to complete the paper pieced block.

I later embroidered the eye in black DMC floss.

I “extended” that branch to both sides and added only white kona as background.

I then free-motion quilted leaves all over the background. I started with these easy leaves - until I ran out of this variegated (Aurifil) thread.

After some muttering and swearing, I chose another green-ish variegated thread and quilted some other leaves – a bit more difficult, I admit.

I am sorry, but I found it very hard to take photos of that “light-green and white variegated thread” on white fabric. Here’s another shot of both kinds of leaves together:

For good measure and to add some interest, I added a dragonfly (in a gree-blue variegated Aurifil)… (inspired by this book)

…and a caterpillar in the same colours.

I pondered on the bird’s quilting for a long time and in the end, I simply stitched in the ditch around all the larger pieces. That meant a lot of thread changes, though…

I am however happy with the result. The stitches are almost invisible and the bird is crisp and radiant compared to the (almost) white background.

I used some white-brown-blue large scale print for the back and machine-bound my quilt in more kona white, stitching the binding down with a triple zig zag stitch.

Here’s one last shot where you might be able to see the scale of the leaves. I did not want to quilt it too densely and it came out of the dryer very soft and fluffy.

I hope that this quilt brings some joy and comfort to my MIL who will have to undergo a major surgery in a few weeks. I am happy to report that she liked her quilt and I sincerely hope that she will use it often: she remarked that it was “too precious to use” (o:

Does that happen to you, too? And how do you persuade the presentee to actually use his/her new quilt?

Christine

DNA Quilt – a finish

This quilt was hand-delivered today and can now be revealed to you. It has been another long-term work in process. It began with a bunch of swap blocks from all over the world: In round 6 of the scrapbuster swap on flickr we made scrappy X blocks. I had to look it up, we made the blocks two (2!) years ago!!!

I began contemplating different layouts:

While I loved the above layout (photo taken before swapping, with my blocks only), the finished quilt would have been too small. And making 60 to 90 more blocks was out of the question.

I opted for some randomly stacked blocks but wasn’t convinced either.

Then I put the blocks together in one long row and found that the layout reminded me of a double helix. Hence the name DNA Quilt.

Once sewn together, I put it away because I didn’t have enough Kona Coal to finish the quilt. And time went by.

More Kona Coal arrived and was neatly folded. And put away. And time went by.

When in April 2013 Celine, our Queen Bee of Sew-Euro-bee-an asked for two scrappy X blocks, I seized the opportunity and made some more Scrappy X Blocks for this quilt. The additional blocks were safely stored with their sisters (brothers?).
And more time went by.

I finally finished it last December.

I echo quilted within those Xs…

…and straight line quilted the background by extending the diagonal lines of the Xs.

I backed it with grey and white leaves (I think it is from Moda’s Shades of Black) and bound it with a grey zig zag print.

All pictures a pre-washing and you can still see those chalk-marks I used to keep the lines straight.

I guess that quilt would still be an u.f.o. (unfinished object) if that stroke of fate had not happend.

A close friend (for more than 30 years) of my husband sufferd from two ruptured celebral aneurysms in October. Thanks to the quick reaction of her teenage daughter, the neurologists saved her life.

But her brain suffered from the hypertension and she was kept in an artificial coma for several weeks. She is almost hemiplegic ever since BUT her cognitive abilities are almost fully restored. Her longterm memories did all come back but her short-term memory does not work (yet). At first she conversed with pencil and paper, slowly writing down her thoughts and wishes. She is now able to speak and makes process with her movements. She really fights her way back into life.

My husband brought her this quilt today and came home shaken and very thoughtful. Our thoughts are with her family, especially with her three kids (her youngest is only eight years old). She still has a long way to go on her path back to (what we call) normality.

Hopefully my little quilt will bring some comfort and love to our friend and her family.

Christine

Gifts received

During the last months I received some handmade gifts that I want to share with you.

My friend and sewing pal Verena made this heat bag for my neck and shoulders. I made several to give away but never made one for my self. Thank you, Verena! Since I own one I use it almost daily!

I received this pincushion as a christmas present from Brigitte of Zen Chic. She used her newest fabric line for Moda: Sphere. Another fabric line I looooooove!

And then there was a pincushion swap at our Modern Quilt Guild Bielefeld. I drew a wonky stars pincushion made by Verena. I love how she combined the colourful Kaffe Fasset fabrics with the blue solid. Makes the colours stand out even more!

As a bonus, she gave me this little elephant that she didn’t think good enough for the swap. Whaaaaaat? I think it is the cutest pincushion I have ever seen. Next time she comes round for a nighttime sewing session, we plan to write down the pattern for this cutie. She made it up all by herself!!

And here comes another favourite of mine: A handstitched hexie pouch from Brigitte of Zen Chic.

Made from my all time favourite fabric line “Comma” AND in my favourite colours: grey, white and mustard-y yellow.

And last but not least, a pillow that is perfect for reading. It was made by another friend and sewing pal. Thank you, Meike!!!

Thank you so much for spoiling me, dear friends!

Have a great new week!
Christine

Gifts made

Although I have not been blogging much lately, I managed to get some little things done over the last months. Here’s some of my secret sewing:

A fabric basket for my neighbor (she asked for berry as the main fabric):

A keychain for my colleague:

A tote bag for our little neighbor turning 5 who is a huge fan of firefighters:

A coaster/ mugrug than can double up as potholder - for our friend’s birthday (Pattern from Sarah Fielke’s “All that and the hatter”)

Fabric baskets for my friends… (free tutorial here)

 

4 Coasters for my friends in Québec, Canada, who love cats. (The free pattern was part of Elizabeth Hartman’s “Catventalong”). So much fun. One day I might make an entire cat-quilt.

And last but not least, I made another tote bag. This one is for my sister’s MIL:

That variegated aurifil thread is my new favourite!!! And those FMQ Stars are way easier than I feared. I shouldn’t have procrastinated quilting that tote for so long…

If I can find a minute or two this afternoon, I might get a blog post ready for tomorrow with all the handmade gifts I received (o:

Have a great sunday!
Christine

Why you shouldn’t leave your kids unattended…

Answer: they might swallow an entire lollipop. Stick and everything. Even at the age of 6.

We went to see our doctor and he confirmed what my eldest said: there is a lollipop in his stomach. Aprox. 7,5 cm long and 0,38 cm thick.

We were sent to the pediatric clinic were the removed the lollipop by gastroscopy.

Our big boy was so brave. He didn’t cry once (well except when he told me he had swallowed the lollipop and he didn’t want someone to cut up his belly.)

Here he is, waiting for his anesthesia:

We had to stay one night:

When he woke up from his anesthesia he said “Mom, this is not only cool, this is exciting, too”. Smiling from ear to ear. I am glad his first hospital experience wasn’t too bad.

He was allowed to take the lollipop stick home, so here’s the culprit before and after a visit to this stomach:

So, keep an eye (even on your elder) kids!
Christine

Upcycling denim into bags for boys

While in many anglophone countries kids go trick or treating on All Hallow’s Eve, in Germany the kids take lanterns on St Martin’s day and walk around the neighborhood, stopping at every door and singing songs. They are usually rewarded with candy.

I decided to make two new little bags for them to collect candy.

I browsed the internet and found this awesome tutorial. It was easy to follow and I finished the bag in two evenings. The only thing I changed is that I used a pair of old denim jeans instead of fleece.

It would have been easier if the legs had been wider but with some squeezing and twisting I managed to make do.

I showed the shark bag to my sons and my youngest adopted him at once. I told my eldest that I’d make him another one. But he asked for a dinosaur bag. Duh. No online tutorial available ): So I had to come up with something myself.

I upcycled more denim, combined it with felt and some cotton fabric and tada: this is the dinosaur bag:

After much tweaking, swearing and seam ripping it was done. And I won’t do it again. No wonder there are no tutorials for dinosaur bags. The construction was a real pain in the butt…

But it was worth the effort. My kids love their new bags and they were a huge success on St Martin’s day:

And now they take them to kindergarten every day.

Happy upcycling!
Christine

Thank you!!!

A special thanks to everyone

• who visited my little blog during Blogger’s Quilt Festival.
• who left me a comment. I never received so many lovely and encouraging coments before. You all made my day week month!
• who voted for my little Elmer Quilt!

I am still in awe that my little quilt won I prize! When I received Amy’s email I first thought that I had won a random prize. When I realized my quilt had won the Scrappy Quilt Category, I was so happy that I giggled and danced around the house like a mad woman (o;

Oh wait, there are more people to thank:

• Amy – for organizing this Festival. I am sure you put much energy and time into this online gathering of Quilty Bloggers.
• The Sponsors – for all the generous prizes you offer for winners and readers.
• Pinners – thank you for pinning and re-pinning my little Elmer on Pinterest.

Congratulations to all the other winners (Button below links to list of winners)!

Happy Quilting!
Christine