Neck Bean Bag – A free tutorial

Before life turned wild, I had shot some photos of the Neck-Heat-Bag that I made as a birthday present for my mom. Sarah asked for a tutorial and here it is:

Download the free pattern (handdrawn, nothing fancy…), print it at 100%, tape it together and cut it out.

You’ll need:

• 45cm x 70cm cover fabric (100% cotton)
• 45cm x 70cm inner fabric for the bean bag (100% cotton)
• some cm of velcro
• beans (I used rapeseed/canola but you could also use Wheat, Rice or Oatmeal)
• basic sewing supplies

Cut out the fabric TWICE (following the mark for the FRONT) and ONCE on the fold (using the inner mark for the BACK as your guide)

Fold in the straight edges twice…

… like so. Topstitch along the edge.

Lay out the fabric left sides together with the straight edges overlapping.

Pin the two pieces of velcro in place.

And stitch them down.

Close the velcro and lay out the pieces right sides together:

Pin to secure from shifting. Stitch all around the edges TWICE. Once with a straight line stitch and another time using a zig zag stitch. Or use a serger.

Cut out the inner fabric TWICE on the fold. Just a bit smaller than the outer fabric.

Place the fabric right sides together and sew all around using a narrow straight line stitch. Leave a small opening:

Turn inside out.

Fill with beans and close opening. Afterwards sew some straight lines thereby forming even segments to prevent the beans from shifting.

Slide into the cover, step back and admire.

Now go heat it up* and relax =)

Have a lovely week!!!
Christine

*Be careful and never leave your heat bag/ bean bag unattended in your microwave. I set mine at 350W max. And please: don’t burn yourself, always check the heat of your bean bag before applying to your body (o;

Opt Art Mini

When I confessed myself a Slow Blogger I had not foreseen how slow things would be over here. Life has struck with full force again and my daytime job needs all my time and energy now. I hope it won’t last very long.

Sewing time has been scarce and almost the only thing I managed to finish is a Mini Quilt for the Challenge over at Ellison Lane Quilts.

My newest inspiration comes for the art of the Sixties. “Optical Art” or “Opt Art” is something that drew my attention already in school when we visited an Exhibition called “Sixties Design”. I rediscovered my knack for bicolor geometry when flipping through this book (found at my Doctor’s waiting room):

I started browsing the web and found so many designs I want to turn into quilts. Seeing my limited sewing time I started with a super simple one (squint your eyes a bit, it makes me dizzy (o: )

I quilted it with a centrical spiral design – which was quite difficult. I admire all those quilters out there who quilt giant spirals on large quilt tops!

Infact, I made a matching one that still needs a binding. These are going to be ultra-modern mug rugs.

Thanks for visiting!
Christine

P.S. Next week I might get my free tutorial for a “Neck Bean Bag” done and up. If I happen to find enough time and energy.

Visiting the beasts

First of all, let me say THANK YOU for all your nice comments on my first blogiversary. You made my week! And congratulations to lucky number 6:

Comment number six was written by Kathleen:

Thank you very much, Kathleen! I’ll send you an email to get your fabric in the post asap (o: And thank you again, Brigitte for sharing your COMMA strips with us!

 

Vacation: Visiting the beasts.

During our vacation we visited these Dinosaur footprints in one of the world’s largest outdoor Dino Museums. The Original footprints are kept (under roof) in their original places.

The hall is surrounded by a park with more than 200 Dinosaur Models…

Life-Sized Models…

The kids were excited beyond comparison and even we parents were impressed by the number of models and the amount of detail… and the size of those beasts!

At the end of the loop road the kids played paleontologist: They excavated Dino Claws out of sandstone blocks.

There are many more things to try and we are sure to drive over again soon.

Wishing you a lovely new week!
Christine

One year in blogland–a giveaway

Last year, on May 18th, I started blogging. Even if it soaks up much of my sewing time, I have never regretted that decision.

This last year brought some great changes.

• I visited the Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat in London.
• Brigitte and I founded Modern Quilt Guild Bielefeld.
• Our MQG is slowly growing and our meetings (twice per month) are very inspiring.
• I entered an Online Bee (Sew-Euro—bee-an) and the list of blogs that I follow gets longer and longer.
• some stats: I wrote 82 blog posts with 20463 views and 55 followers/ subscribers.
• And the best is: I made some wonderful new acquaintances in blogland. In far-away-countries that I’ll probably never visit… in many parts of Europe… and even in Germany. Before I started blogging I only knew one other quilter in person. It is so much more fun sharing this passion with others than sewing alone.

The (online) quilting community is quite awesome, thanks for letting me join in the fun!

I don’t post regularly and sometimes I’d rather sew than write. So it might happen that you don’t read a syllable about me in weeks. I guess today is an appropiate moment to declare myself a Slow Blogger.

Thanks for bearing with me, dear friends and followers! I appreciate it very much that you still stop by and take your time to drop me a lovely comment.

 

Now it’s time for a little giveaway.

I have often told you that COMMA by Zen Chic for Moda is my favourite fabric line of all times. To celebrate my 1-year-blogiversary I am giving away a large bag full of strips (as many as I can get into one big envelope). The strips are all 42” long and about 2,5” wide.

Here’s another sneak peek (Thank you, Brigitte Heitland for sharing your COMMA strips with us!!!). They would make a great addition to your stash of strips if I dare say so…

This is a giveaway for followers only (New followers, you are welcome, too). I want to thank you for your visits, your nice comments and the lovely way you welcomed me to blogland.

Let’s keep it simple. All you need to do is leave me a comment. Please make sure I have a way to contact you. I’ll draw a random winner on June 1st.

Good luck and thank you again!
Christine

Baby Party Traditions

My entry for Blogger’s Quilt Festival Spring 2013 is this Paper Pieced Baby Quilt:

 

I made it for a friend who was expecting her second baby – another girl.

I used these orphan Paper Pieced Blocks (my first ever!) that I made at Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat in London last year…

… and turned them into a simple baby quilt top by sashing the blocks in white.

I basted the quilt sandwich and drew a 2” grid with a watersoluble pen.

Afterwards I used a free motion foot and some white thread to quilt dogwood petals all over the negative space.

In between and around the blocks I quilted some organic (aka: free motion) straight lines and bound it in matching stripes.

If it hadn’t been intended for my friend’s newborn girl, I would have kept if for myself. I love this little quilt best of all quilts that I made – even if it is not flawless.

The baby arrived around mid-April, I gave her the quilt two weeks ago and I am happy to report that she loves it. Why so late? you may ask, my anglophone friends. Well, in Germany we don’t celebrate a “Baby Shower”. Celebrating a Baby before its birth is superstitiously believed to bring bad luck.

Traditionally a german baby-birth-party (aka “Pinkelparty”) was thrown by the Baby’s father (while mother and baby are still at the hospital) for Dad’s (male) friends and (male) neighbours.

Nowadays, these parties are often attended by men and women alike and they are usually postponed until 10-20 days after baby’s birth so that the baby and its mother can attend, too. Nevertheless, these parties are still quite informal and casual. Beyond comparision to all those beautiful “baby showers” that pop up in blogland.

Is there a “baby-party-tradition” in your country/region/family? Please do share, it will be fun to compare superstitions and/or (silly) traditions!

Thank you very much for visiting and reading.
Have a nice festival week!
Christine

New Zen Chic Quilt Patterns

I have been guest blogging again over at Brigitte’s Blog. I wrote a blog post introducing her seven brand new Zen Chic Patterns that she designed for her fabric collection “Barcelona” for MODA (due in stores Fall 2013).

Hop over to see the beautiful quilts she made for Portland and photos of her little elves who helped piecing the quilt tops.

Here’s a sneak peek of “my” quilt top(in wip state):

Happy Quilting!
Christine

A Jersey Obsession

It all began with this magazine:

I fell in love with the included pattern for a pair of one-sized baby pants (size 1-4 yrs). I made these baby pants for a baby shower:

Aren’t these the cutest little pants ever?! They were so much fun to make!

And then I went a little overboard. I digged through my stash of knits/ jerseys and found some pieces that were big enough to make some more… seven more…

I love those little cuties!

Now I just have to find some babies for them. Dear friends, go make some babies, I am looking forward to give these pants away!

Yesterday I received this beautiful stack of Architextures Fat Quarters that I had won in a giveaway. Thank you so much, Jess of The Elven Garden and Peg of Sew Fresh Fabrics!

I can’t decide which one is my favourite… I guess the green fabric on top. With the black texty one as a close second…

I forgot to show you the Sew-Euro-bee-an blocks I made in April for Celine: I love these blocks and even made some more for myself. I want to get that DNA Quilt done (see my blog header…)! Unfortunately I ran out of Kona white and had to order some more.

I made a giant beanbag for my youngest but seem to be unable to take a decent photo of it. Will have to bribe the kids to assist me…

We’re heading out for a little vacation that we are all in need of (did I mention the kids brought home streps last week? They are on antibiotics for ten days…).

My first blogiversary is fast approaching, we are going to have a little giveaway once we are back, shall we?!

Thanks for stopping by,
have a great week!
Christine