The finished Flying Geese

I would show you a mosaic of the quilts I made this year, but I am way to lazy to put that together.But what I can show you is the finished Flying Geese Quilt. 

I würde Euch ja ein Mosaik mit den Quilts zeigen, die ich diese Jahr genäht habe, aber ich bin viel zu faul das zusammenzubauen. Aber was ich Euch zeigen kann ist der fertige Flying Geese Quilt.

I am extremely proud of this one. It is so different from  the other quilts I made so far, and I love everything about it. There are the colours which perfectly suit my kitchen wall.

Ich bin sehr stolz auf diesen Quilt, der ist so anders als die anderen Quilts, die ich bis jetzt so gemacht habe und ich liebe alles an ihm. Da sind zum einen die Farben, die perfect zu der neuen Küchenwand passen.

The shot cottons are amazing to work with and have this special structure and when washed a little bit of "crinklyness" which I love. I also looove the 3D effect of these "one seem flying geese". To keep that I just quilted  straight lines with the machine through the geese, but I used a stich which is thicker and so looks a little bit like hand quilted.

Mit Shot Cottons zu arbeiten macht echt Spaß, sie haben diese spezielle Struktur und nach dem Waschen sind sie ein bißchen knitterig, diesen Look mag ich sher! Und ich finde den 3D  Effect der Flying Geese mit nur einer Naht ganz toll. Damit der Effekt auch bleibt habe ich nur mit einer Naht gequiltet es war ein spezielle Einstellung an meiner Maschine, und sieht jetzt fast handgequiltet aus.

  And also there is this litlle sprinkle of orange Hope Valley fabric which becomes my absolute favorite fabric line ever. I use little bits here and there and it always so special. The solid orange binding is the perfect finishing touch.

Und dann sind da noch ein paar "Spritzer" orangefarbenen Hope Valley Stoffs, diese Stofflinie entwickelt sich immer mehr zu meiner liebsten. Ich setze sie hier und da mal ein und es ist immer irgendwie speziell. Ich finde das orangefarbene Binding rundet das ganze perfekt ab.

So enough happiness about my quilt, now it is time to wish you all a happy New Year. I am going to meet some friends and again eat and drink and eat and drink and eat.....

So, jetzt habe ich aber genug von meinem Quilt geschwärmt, und es ist an der Zeit Euch allen einen guten Rutsch zu wünschen!. Ich werde mit ein paar Freunden zusammensitzen und essen und trinken und essen und trinken und essen....

Flying Geese Quilt Top

Flying Geese Quilt Top, a photo by berlinquilter on Flickr.

This is my "Christmas Quilt". I spent wonderful days at home alone (my family lives spread around Europe so we didn´t celebrate Christmas for about 12 years now...). But I didn´t mind. The time before Christmas is always so buisy and stressful, that I really enjoy being on my own. Most years I meet with friends for heavy eating (and some drinking, too;-))
This year was quite silent and so I used the time to relax, which meany clearing and cleaning up my appartement, sewing, sewing, baking, watching movies and just BE!
I also painted one wall in my kitchen, because I wanted a little change. And suddenly the quilt that I cover myself up with in the morning when I sit on my window sill having a huge cup of coffee, didn´t fit the new wall colour anymore. There had to be made a new quilt! This Flying geese "thing" is what I came up with. I absolutely love the look of it, thoughhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif it looks a bit too sophisticated to wrap somebody who just crawled out of bed...
Maybe it would better suit to a mondane woman sitting in front of a fire place drinking some grog in the swiss alps...
Well but because there is no fireplace and no alps here, it can be good old dirty Berlin.
I made the blocks with just one seem after I found this funny video on youtube.
The only question which is left is how do I quilt this one? I have a little idea, but would be grateful to hear what you think.
THANKS!

Dies ist mein Weihnachtsquilt. Ich habe wundervolle Tage alleine zuhause verbracht (meine Familie wohnt in Europa verstreut deshalb feiern wir seit 12 Jahren keine Weihnachten mehr zusammen). Aber mir macht das nichts aus.Die Weihnachtszeit ist immer so voll und stressig,daß ich es dann ganz schön genieße allein zu sein.Meistens treffe ich Freunde für einen Abend und es wird heftig gegessen (und getrunken) Aber diese Jahr ist auch das eher ruhig ausgefallen und so hatte ich Zeit zum entspannen, das da hieß die Wohnung aufräumen und putzen, nähen, nähen, backen, Filme gucken und einfach nur SEIN. Ich habe sogar eine Wand in der Küche gestrichen, weil ich eine Veränderung wollte. Und plötzlich passte der Quilt nicht mehr, in den ich mich normalerweise zum Morgenkaffe auf der Fensterbank einwickle. Also mußte ein neuer Quilt her! Heraus kam dieses Flying Geese "Teil". Ich finde den super schön, aber fast ein bißchen zu edel um mich einzuwickeln, die ich gerade aus dem Bett gekrochen bin. Viel besser würde er zu einer mondänen Frau vor einem brenenden Kamin in den Schweizer Alpen passen in der Hand einen dampfenden Grog...
Nun ja aber, da ich hier keinen Kamin und keine Alpen habe, da muß es wohl das gute alte, dreckige Berlin sein. Die Blöcke habe ich mit nur einer NAht genäht, nachdem ich diese lustige Video auf youtube gefunden habe. So und dnun bleibt nur die Frage, wie quilte ich dieses hübsche Teil, ich habe zwar ein leise Idee, aber wäre gespannt auf Eure Ideen. DANKE!

Huhu I am so organized/ Wat bin ich organisiert...

I have tried to get my fabric chaos organized recently. Well didn´t work. I found out that I have to go to Ikea and buy a new shelf or something. Unfortunately I think there is no more place in my appartement where I could put one.
At least I went through (part of) my scraps and cut them in strips or squares. Now it is really tidy, and I am itching to make a scrap quilt project.
But maybe I should finish the christmas gifts before that. There is a quilt for my sister and I have to start one for my mother though I think this one will be late.

Ah did I mention that there is another HUGE box of scraps which has to be organized?

Ich habe kürzlich versucht meinem Stoffchaos Herr zu werden. Nja das hat nicht funktioniert. Ich habe eingeehen, daß ich wohl zu Ikea fahren muß, um mir ein neues Regal oder Ähnliches zu kaufen.Leider finde ich daß ich in meiner Wohnung keinen Platz für ein solches habe.
Tja wenigstens bin ich meine Stoffreste durchgegangen und habe sie alle in Streifen oder Quadrate geschnitten. Das ist jetzt richtig ordentlich und ich hätte ziemlich Lust ein Restequiltproject zu machen. Aber vielleicht sollte ich vorher noch meine Weihnachtsgeschenke fertig machen. 1. einen Quilt für meine Schwester und 2. einen Quilt für meine Mutter, welcher noch nicht einmal begonnen ist, geschweige denn, daß ich eine Idee dafür hätte... Vermutlich wird das ein verspätetes Weihnachtsgeschenk werden...
Ach ja, hatte ich erwähnt, daß es da noch eine große Kiste mit Resten gibt?

Some News.../Neuigkeiten

After a very stressful, but successful weekend at a Christmas Crafts Fair I am back at home and I luckily have two days off. I am sure there will be some sewing, but not yet. And so it comes that I have no pictures today, but some news for you.
Our Berlin Modern Quilt Guild site had a little makeover, hop over and have a look. I hope you like it.

The ginger monkey Katy is having a giveaway on her blog and to be honest I would do everything to win this!!! ;-) The prices are extreme, look at this line "Happy Home" isn´t it supercute?

Have a nice week, you all!

Nach einem stressigen aber sehr erfolgreichen Wochenende auf einem Weihnachts Design Markt bin ich zurück zuhause und habe glücklicherweise zwei Tage frei. Sicherlich werde ich wieder nähen, aber noch nicht,und so kommt es daß ich keine Bilder heute habe, aber ein paar Neuigkeiten.
Unsere Seite von der Berlin Modern Quilt Guild hat ein neues Gesicht bekommen, schaut doch mal rein, ich hoffe es gefällt Euch.

Ja und dann gibt es noch ein großartiges Giveaway auf dem Blog von Katy dem Ginger Monkey. Ehrlich gesagt würde ich (fast) alles tun um dieses Giveaway zu gewinnen. Die Gewinne sind so supertoll, schaut Euch allein diese Linie "Happy Home" an, so was von entzückend!

Nun ja, jetzt wünsche ich Euch erst mal eine schöne Woche!

Miriam

Thank You Pillow/ Dankeschön Kissen

I had some very troubled times this year
My whole life I had problems asking for help. So I´d rather struggle and drown, than ask for help. This year a friend, who isn´t even that close, offered me some financial help for what I didn´t ask. The moment he offered it, it was such a relief, and I also noticed, that it is no failure to need help. No failure to ask for help. It was such a good learning lesson for me.

I hatte wirklich ein paar schlimme Zeiten in diesem Jahr.
Mein ganzes Leben über hatte ich Problem damit um Hilfe zu bitten. Lieber würde ich kämpfen und untergehen als um Hilfe zu bitten. In diesem Jahr hat mir ein Freund, dem ich nicht einmal besonders nahe stehe, finanzielle Hilfe angeboten, ohne daß ich danach gefragt habe. Der Moment als er mir das anbot, war so eine Erleichterung und ich stellte fest, daß es kein Versagen ist Hilfe zu brauchen. Und auch kein Versagen um Hilfe zu bitten. Das war ein großes Lerngeschenk für mich.
When I found some leftovers of this quilt in my sewing chaos, I wanted to make a pillow out of them. And while I was making it, I knew it would be great for that friehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnd who had helped me that much. So here it is the Leftover aka Thank you pillow.

Als ich kürzlich in meinem Näh Chaos ein paar Reste diese Quilts fand wollte ich gerne ein Kissen daraus machen und während des Nähens stellte ich fest, daß es perfekt für diesen Freund passte, der mir so sehr geholfen hat. So Bitteschön: Das Reste aka Dankeschön Kissen:

Babylove Quilt

Eine liebe Freundin erwartet im Januar einen kleinen Jungen. Natürlich wollte ich ihr ein gequiltetes Geschenk machen.Dieser kleine Babyquilt ist entstanden. Die "Auflage" war, ihn nicht zu bunt zu machen. Also habe ich ein paar Streifen einer Joel Dewberry Jelly Roll verwendet und einen einzigen Log Cabin Block gemacht. Die historische Bedeutung von Log Cabin Block gefällt mir sehr , demnach stellt der Block die Blockhütte (das Zuhause) dar, und das Zentrum ist traditionell in rot gehalten, es symbolisiert das Feuer, daß immer brennen mag, um das Zuhause zu wärmen. Ich habe diese Zentrum etwas modifiziert und um das erweitert, was in keinem Zuhause und in keiner Familie fehlen sollte: Die Liebe.

A good friend of mine is having a babyboy in january. Ofcourse I wanted to make her a quilted gift. This is what I came up with. My friend asked me not to make it too colourful. So I used some Jelly roll strips from Joel Dewberry modern Meadow line and created one big log cabin block. I really like this historic idea that this block symbolizes the Log cabin (the home) and that traditionally the center is red and means the fire which shall always burn in the chimney, to warm the family. I added the most importand thing for a family and a home: LOVE
Diesen Quilt zu machen hat mir großen Spaß gemacht, angefangen vom Paperpiecing des LIEBE blocks über das straight line quilting bis hin zu ein wenig Handquilten in der Mitte. Ich habe mir ein paar Youtube Videos angeschaut und zum erstenmal versucht so richtig mit der Hand zu quilten. Leider hatte ich keinen Fingerhut, so daß meine Finger nach dem kleinen Stück schon ziemlich schmerzten.

I really enjoyed making this quilt from the paperpiecing of the love block, over the straight line quilting to the handquilting, which I tried for the first time (I watched some youtube videos to learn how it is done correctly...). Unfortunately I didn´t have a thimble so my fingers hurt quite soon.

Überhaupt finde ich youtube eine wunderbare Quelle für Anleitungen und Hilfestellungen. Ich liebe es, mir auf diese Art und Weise neue Dinge beizubringen und inspiriert zu werden.

Anyway, I think youtube is a very good source for tutorials an help. I love it to learn some new tings and be inspired this way...

How do you learn (quilting)things that you don´t know?

Wie lernt Ihr (Quilt) Dinge, die Ihr nicht wißt?

Miriam

Ein fröhlicher Sonntag/ Happy Sunday

Langsam muß ich den Tagen wirklich mit Sarkasmus begegnen, denn meine fiese Erkältung geht in die dritte Woche. Ich würde so gerne mal wieder ausgehen, mit Freunden ein Bier trinken, lange ausgiebige Spaziergänge machen etc. Am Freitag war nochmal ein Konzert unseres Gospelchors (an dem ich natürlich nicht mitsingen konnte, buhu...) und ich wollte es mir dann wenigstens anhören. Danach war ich noch mit einer Freundin in einer Kneipe. Nach einer halben Stunde mußte ich abbrechen und sofort nachhause gehen, weils mir so übel ging. Also muß ich wohl noch eine Weile ruhiger treten.
Tja auf jedenfall wollte ich Euch den Denyse Schmidt DS Collections Quilt nicht vorenthalten, den ich vor wenigen Wochen endlich fertiggestellt habe:
Well slowly I have to become a little sarcastic, because my cold is going in the third week now. I would so love to go out again, meet some friends for a beer,taking long walks...
On friday, there was a concert of our Gospel Choir again, (of course I couldn´t sing, buhu...) but at least I wanted to listen. Afterwards I went for a little beer with a friend, but after half an hour, I had to cancel and go home right away, I felt terrible. It seems like I have to be calmer for a little more time.
Anyways, I wanted to show you the Denyse Schmidt DS Collection Quilt, that I finally finished a few weeks ago:
You all have a lovely sunday!
Miriam

The Cold /Erkältung

I have a terrible cold for ten days now. I hardly can remember beeing ill for so long in my whole life. Though I have the feeling that it is getting better slowly, I just do this on my days off:

Ich habe jetzt schon zehn Tage lange eine fiese Erkältung.Ich kann mich nicht erinnern jemals so lange krank gewesen zu sein. Obwohl ich das Gefühl habe, daß es so langsam besser wird mache ich an meinen freien Tagen nicht viel anderes als dies:

Even watching series and reading blogs is getting boring (sorry no offence...;-) I am still enjoying all your posts).
I also do a little quilting, but the sewing mojo is not in the house right now. I hope I will be over it at the weekend.
You all have a nice day!

Sogar Serien glotzen und Blogs lesen wird langsam langweilig ( entschuldigung, nicht falsch verstehen...;-) natürlich lese ich all Eure Posts noch gerne!)
Ich quilte auch ein bißchen, aber so richtig will der Drive nicht einkehren... I hoffe das ändert sich dann am Wochenende.
Euch allen einen wunderschonen Tag!

Miriam

More finished projects

I had such a wonderful weekend. We celebrated two amazing gospel concerts with the Modern Gospel Choir in one of Berlins most beautiful churches. It was so much fun and I can say... we where really good. So now I am husky, but I still can write and sew. So here is the plan:
-show you more finished projects
-take pictures of more finished projects
-finish projects
-go to the Berlin Modern Quilt Guild this afternoon( Yeah!!!), maybe I finish the projects there ;-)

Here you can see the finally finished Kaleidoscope Quilt. I slept under it for about a week now and I can tell, I had the sweetest dreams. It feels wonderful, cosy and happy. It took me so long to finish it, because I couldn´t decide what to do with the back. Finally I just took some simple very soft solids, pieced it together and voila! I also quilted it quite simple. Just echoed around some Kaleidoscopes, and tied it here and there.

These are some pillows which I started maybe half a year ago. I like the results of these log cabin block pillows, I guess they make some nice christmas presents (for all of my friends, who don´t read my blog, or don´t even know that I have one...;-)

So this is the the little DS collection Picnic Quilt which took me a terrible while also, but now it is finsihed, and I didn´t wait until I can go to a picnic again (next summer), but cover me on my couch while I am writing this.
You will get to see a picture of the finished result soon.

So I guess today at the BMQG meeting, I will think about how to put together the blocks from the bee Germany. I made a mistake with telling about the size of the blocks, and now the block are so different, that I don´t know how to put them together... I will try to figure that out later. Wish me luck!

So much to catch up...

Wow, more than one month without blogging. How could that happen? I will tell you.
For the last two months I was in absolute chaotic and panicing stress.
I renovated two shops,moved from the old one to the new one, had to do some craft fairs, to earn some money while no shop was open, and finally last saturday, we opened our new shop which is called "Liebling Neukölln" (Liebling = Darling and Neukölln=the area in Berlin where our shop is). I am really proud, we made it a little gem.



So now lets hope that people come and buy our lovely stuff.
Since saturday I am sewing (private things) like crazy. I want to finish some projects so I can start new things. I have so many ideas in my head, but I promised myself to have nothing to finish left before I start something new. And wow there was a lot.
I finsihed some pillows, here is a picture of the most simple one, there are three more to come, I am waiting for the right light to take some pictures.
There were also three Bee Blocks, I was not too late, but it felt terrible to have them lying around undone... This one is for Johanna from the Bee Europa 2011 Bee. She asked for some kind of tree block for a quilt for her brother. This is what I came up with, it is quite abstract but somehow I like it.
This one is for Julia from Little Girls Quilts for the bee Germany 2011 and as we speak I notice that I screwed it up!!! She wanted a 16,5" Block and I made mine 12,5". Damned... I absolutely hope she can use it somehow...
Ok well...
The third block is for Ulrike from "Lieblingdecke" also for the Bee Europa 2011 for the month November ( now I am ahead...) She asked for any kind of star, and I made her a little lone star block. Although this took a while, I really loved making this. Maybe someday I will do alone star Quilt for myself..
Last but not least I finished the Many trips around the world quilt top made out of Denyse Schmidts picnic and fairground collection. That was fun, too, but I have a little of a problem to find the right fabric for the Back... I can´t decide. Well this one and the back for the Kaleidcope quilt are the only projects which are left, before I am "allowed" to start something new. Lets see if this works. This is it for now. You all have a wonderful sunday!!!
Miriam

A very productive sunday...

... lies behind me. I had a long weekend which means that I took the whole sunday as a sewing day. It was a perfect day for that as it was raining cats and dogs for hours. I started with a huge latte sitting in my pj on the kitchen window sill putting the last hexies together for the pillow which is going to go with my kaleidoscope quilt.I appliqued the whole thing to a brown linenish fabric attached a Tula Pinks "Flutterby" binding and here it is- the finished pillow.

I absolutely love it!!! I can´t wait to see it with the quilt. Uhhh, this is not nearly finished... Waiting to be basted and then quilted...
But I can tell you I finished another quilt which was in line. The x and + modified quilt for a friends birthday which was in august. But here it is, beautiful and finished, I quite like it and I hope she will, too.

The last thing I want to show you today are the wonky houses which I made for Monaw in the Bee Germany this months, she sent out some beautiful colourful fabric and we could play with them a little bit. Here they are Monaw I hope you like them.
Have anice week everyone,
yours Miriam

I Jumped on...

...the hexie train finally.
In Birmingham I participated in a nice hexie workshop, at least half of it. On my way to the exibition center I took the train in the wrong direction so I saw some nice landscape of England while I was driving one and a half hours. I was so angry and sad that I would miss half of the workshop. But when I finally arrived, I could totally embrace the hexie feel and learn something. And here I am. Making little, tiny hexies. I will "hex" a nice pillow matching my kaleidoscope quilt, which is waiting patiently to be (hand-)quilted(?). Well, very ambitious plans, I know. I never handquilted anything and now it has to be the King Sized Quilt.
We will see if it is going to be finished this year, maybe I set christmas as a timeline.
Have a nice day everyone!

Some Goodies...

When I was at the Quilt Festival in Birmingham I told myself that I am "allowed" to spend some money on fabrics and stuff. On my first day I was just so overwelmed by the quilts, the people and of course the massive amount of wonderful fabrics, that I could´nt buy anything. And then on the second day I said "buy something... just do it". Nothing happened, then after a while I bought a little something and as if I opened a gate, suddenly I shopped, shopped as if there was no tomorrow. Here you can see some of the beautiful fabrics I bought. I am absolutely looking forward doing something nice with them.

A wonderful bundle from Mandy by simplysolids.


An absolutely cool find: three fat quarters of Katie Jump Rope


Some cute fabrics (which are not Liberty, allthough they could be)


And two half yards of Antique Treasures (I love the vintage feel of these! I already ordered some from the same line, this will become a wonderful quilt...)

Featured...

I have to say I am really proud of beeing featured on Amy´s creative Side Quilt Blog.
Thank you Amy!

Here I try to update!

It has been an unbelievably busy summer this year. And I wish I could have told you all the amazing things that happened earlier. But unfortunately the lack of energy made me decide to let the blog sleep for a little while. I hope you don´t mind.
What can I tell you? Where to begin? Well the business first:
Why I was so busy was the fact that I am going to move with my little shop here within Berlin. A friend of mine is this amazing crocheted jewelry artist, and we decided to make a shop together. The move will be at the end of september and therefor there is still a lot to do.
The new place is a sunny shop in a litlle different area and I am very exited, though a little scared, too.

Well another cool thing was my trip to Birmingham to the festival of quilts. When Tacha, one of the amazing girls from the Fat Quarterly Quilting magazine, told me about the festival a few months ago, I knew I wanted to go. I can tell you, I had a really good time. I saw amazing quilts, here are just a few of the hundrets of pictures I took,


and besides that I met Tacha, Katy and Brioni and had a blast at their stand of Fat Quarterly giving out there cards.



The next good(or bad) thing was the fabric which could be bought at many many booths. For sure I could not resist and bought some nice little cuties. For example this wonderful fatquarter set from Simply Solids, Mandy the owner is a really nice and funny person!!! And at the end I learned how to make hexies in a very nice workshop.
This is it for now, but I will go on updating you in the next days, I hope.
Take care,
Miriam