To do: mending my boys' jeans

Some rather less exciting sewing...

I procrastinated mending my boys' jeans for some weeks months now but they have more jeans with holes now than without :o) 

Look at that pile of torn jeans... 

Is it Murphy's Law that ALL Pants are torn at the right leg only?!

I started sorting them according to the way I'll use them: Some are going to get patches, others are going to be turned into shorts. I wondered if I should do a little tutorial about how I make my own patches and how I mend the jeans ?! What do you think?! Perhaps a bilingual tutorial this time ?!

I'm going to shoot tons of photos during the process, then let's see when I will have time enough to turn them into a coherend tutorial :o)

Happy sewing!

Christine

First Finish from FQSR London: Portholes Pillow

I finished one of the projects started on FQSR London Weekend! I made a sample block in Lucie Summers' class and turned it into a small pillow. It measures around 30 cm x 30 cm. In class I managed to sew on an envelope back and just had to make the binding at home. I used a 2,5'' solid strip and attached it to the top. I folded it over to the back and stitched in the ditch. I have to confess that I do love it very much and I'm sure I'll do more portholes in the near future. Thanks Lucie for the entertaining class :o)

Happy Sewing!

Christine

Quilt Cars 'n Dots

I finished this Babyquilt today...

When I started out with these fabrics (Ann Kelle and some dots from my local fabric store with no credits on the selvages), I  just wanted to make a patchwork quilt. No sashing, no borders. But IMO it looked too busy.

I sliced some of the dotty squares and framed them wonkily in white.

Huh. Still not happy.

Next I decided to give it a little more structure. I opted for regular layout instead of random. Better now.

I added a pieced backing... with leftover squares from the top. (I will one day do this one again - and use it as a top... like it veeeeeeeeeeery much...)

And free motion quilted some squares and rectangles...

Today, I added a srappy binding (with leftovers from the top). I attached the 2,5" binding to the front, folded it over to the back and used a decorative (circle) stitch of my sewing machine to finish the binding (stitching from the front side). 

What I liked best about making this quilt is that I made parts of it "open air": The first warm days at the beginning of May were turned into an "Ironing Outdoors Event"...

 ...and a really hot Whitsun made me take outdoors my sewing machine for the first time ever to FMQ on the porch. I actually finished FMQ on two quilts that day :o) 

Usually I don't even dare to sew when the kids are home. But give them some water to play with in the garden and they are happy and let me have my way all day long :o))) Yayyy!

And as this one didn't turn out the way I had planned it (all Patchwork), I guess I will have to re-add a "real Patchwork Quilt" to my to do list.

Happy Sewing everyone!

Christine

FQSR London 2012 in retrospect (2)

After a short night, Sunday began with Tacha's English Paper Piecing. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! When I was terrified facing Paper Piecing, I was nearly shaking with fear at the prospect of Handstitching. I had deliberately signed up for it because I would have never given it a try on my own. 



And although I really dislike handstitching I do appreciate the advantages of it now. It looks nice and neat and with summer approaching I might be tempted to take some hexies out on the porch when the kids are playing outside. BUT if there's a sewing machine close by I shall always prefer using one :o) I'm happy that I gave it a try and Tacha did a great  teaching job.


After lunch Katy taught us how to make framed purses. 
What a unique girl she is :o) Tons of fun! 
I doubt that I'll do a framed purse again though. 
Too much glue. Too sticky. Too fiddly ;o)))
But see what we came up with 
(mine is the one in the lower left corner).




It was an incredible weekend, I met great people, acquired new skills and had lots of fun. And to top it off, there was an impressive Goodie Bag!!! Just take a look at these generous goodies that the numerous sponsores gave to each and every one of us: 



Several Robert Kaufmann fabrics, Oakshot fabric, Moda 2,5" squares,

 
Aurifil thread, Coats thread, needles, zipper, Prym trickmarker, stickers, elastic, a pincussion, etc.We were incredibly spoiled!!!

There was just one downer this weekend: I was awefully sorry to hear that Liz was too ill to come to the Retreat. She was one of the girls I "met" on flickr and we were corresponding every other day. I was looking forward to finally meeting her in person and so disappointed (for her but also for me!) that she wouldn't be there. Hope you are better now, Liz! If you send me a pm with your adress, I'd love to send you the goodies I made for our private swap :o) Hope to see your next year, girl!

Thank you so much everyone who gave me a warm welcome and made me feel part of the gang throughout the weekend. And thank you FQ Team (and additional teachers) for this opportunity and great experience. Pretty please, let's do it again next year!!!

Happy Sewing!
Christine

P.S. Some off-topic pics of what I did on Friday and Monday...

FQSR London 2012 in retrospect (1)

Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat in London is over :o(

It was super great and an experience I will probably never ever forget.

So this is how it all came along...

When I arrived at the hotel in London around 2 pm the hotel bar was already filled with chatter, excitement and laughter (and maybe even a beer or two). 

B.t.w. I'm very thankful for Katy's tattoos. Easily recognizable :o) 

But I'm even more thankful for the warm reception everyone there gave me. 

We had burgers and fries for a late lunch/ early dinner...

... and instead of joining the Tikki group, Laura-Jane, Justine, Amanda and I went to visit Regent Street and Liberty. 

Great evening, Ladies, thanks for taking me along!!!

Next morning, first day of FQSR: the Main Hall of Baden Powell House Conference Centre was humming as 105 sewists were greeting each other, double checking blog names, hometowns/ -countries, comparing class schedules,...

I finally met Vicky with whom I swapped name tags privately :o)

She made this super nice name tag for me 

(look at all this incredible hand stitching!!! 

She even stitched grapes and hearts for me!)

John (aka Quiltdad) kicked the FQSR off on behalf of the FQ Team

... and classes began. My first was portholes with Lucie Summers.

Funny, entertaining and a new skill learned.

Altough a video of her making faces would have been more appropriate than pictures :o)

Above you can see the pillow I made from the sample block (envelope back was done in class, binding still needs to be sewn on).

Before lunch we swapped our samples 

(Thank you Trash for organizing this blast!!!)

And look at these incredible goodies I received from these awesome Ladies above that were drawn by number to "my" group: An embroidered hoop with Rufus the Fox by Jo "Bearpaw", a purse by Tammy, a survival London lunchbag filled with numerous stuff (sellotape, candle, battery, eraser etc.) made by Amy and a selvage flower pin by Mary. Thank you very much for these lovely samples!

After lunch, I took Lynne's Paper Pieced Pillows class and she managed to kick my skills up from "terrified" to "confident beginner". I will definitely try this again and will probably aim at a more complex block next time! Below you can see the blocks I made during her class:

To be honest, I was quite overwhelmed by then. So many new faces, new techniques and the foreign language were fairly trying. Though in a good, exciting and cheery way. I had such a great day until then and it got even better. Before we left for dinner, John started the raffle. A big trunk seemed to bursting with goodies: books, patterns, thread, jelly rolls, fat quarter bundles, charm packs, layer cakes... you name it. And lucky me won an oakshot fabric bundle in my favourite colour line (grey-ish neutrals). Yayyyy! Thanks to all the generous sponsors, there were screams, squeals and applause everywhere!

It was burgers and fries again for dinner though with different people. This is Vicky, Caroline, Gemma, Helen and me.

There was more sewing and chatting and snacking at BPHCC throughout the evening 

(scheduled until 11 pm including Jelly Roll Race and the Iron Man Competition. I wasn't able to complete my Jelly Roll Quilttop - due to too much chat ;o) - so no pictures yet)...

... and more chatting, laughing and drinking at the hotel bar afterwards.

And all that fun was just Day One!!!

I hope to see you soon for a recap of Day Two.

Happy Sewing!

Christine

King of Frogs

Sew Happy Geek is hosting a Mini Quilt Competition called PLAY.



Participants are asked to interpret one standard playing card using fabric and thread. Now here's mine...

I read about the competition only on Monday. And thought I'd never be able to whip up something to participate.But when I was preparing for London (sorting and organizing fabrics, threads and notions), my eyes fell on a fabric featuring little frogs. And then I knew what I wanted to do...
The mini quilt is going to be a gift for my "canadian dad" who collects playing card decks.
And now there is some laundry to be done :o(
Happy Sewing!Christine

FQSR Blog Hop

Today I take part in Fat Quarterly's Blog Hop as a warm up for the Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat in London next weekend (eeeek!). By hopping around each other's blogs we get to know one other a bit.

So if this is your first visit here: Welcome to my little blog!My name is Christine and I'm 32 years old. I live with my husband and two little sons (2 and 4 years) in Germany. In real life I'm an office worker (part time) and I try to squeeze in as much sewing time as possible (that often implies that I do neglect my household duties - who cares for ironing sweaters and trousers when one can iron quilt blocks?!).
I began sewing 2 years ago - together with my best friend. And one year ago the quilting bug has bitten - and left a serious addiction. It was no other than Mr. Quiltdad himself (or rather: his blog) who inspired me to try my first quilt block. That's why I'm even more thrilled to go to London and meet John in person :o)

I like to use bold and bright colours in my sewing/ quilting projects and I return to combine the fabrics myself instead of using complete fabric lines.



I've never tried English Paper Piecing and I'm still afraid of Half Square Triangles. But both techniques are on my to do list for this year. We'll see :o)

I'd be happy if you stay for a while and FOLLOW my (future) struggles in sewing, quilting and real life. I'm quite excited to meet you in London next weekend!

Happy Sewing! Christine