Quilting Update

Ich bin ziemlich produktiv in letzter Zeit, manches kann ich momentan nicht zeigen, aber manches eben doch. Ich habe beschlossen etwas mehr auszuprobieren und nicht immer sofort einen ganzen Quilt zu produzieren, da ich so viele Quilts habe. Was macht Ihr denn mit den vielen Quilts? Das Nähen von Quilts ist so eine große Freude und erfüllt mich so sehr, aber irgendwann muß ich trotzdem die Bremse ziehen.
Deshalb, probiere ich mich momentan eben an kleineren Projekten und verschiedenen Blöcken. Trotzdem juckt es mich natürlich daraus etwas großes herzustellen.

I have been really productive in the past, some things I can´t show yet, but some I can.  I decided to try out some more things, rather than producing a finished quilt, because I already have so many quilt. What do you do with all these quilts? Quilting is such a good fun and fullfills me with such joy, but I really have to give it a break, honestly, really!!! This is why I work on little projects and try new blocks etc.  Allthough I am itching to turn these in bigger projects.

Neulich lud mich Faith ein der Flickr Gruppe Nancy Cabot made modern beizutreten.  Da es um die moderne Umsetzung von Quiltblöcken aus der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhundert geht und ich, wie Ihr ja vielleicht wisst, eine große Liebe zu allem Vintage habe, ist dieses Thema natürlich wie gemacht für mich.

Recently I got  an invitation for the flickr group Nancy Cabot made modern from Faith . This group is all about modernising Nancy Cabots quiltblocks from the first half of the 20th century. And as you might know, I am a huge vintage fan, so this theme is made for me.

Auf dieser Seite findet man unzählige dieser geometrischen Quiltblöcke. Leider ohne Anleitung, somit musste ich mir selbst ausrechnen wie groß welche Stücke sein müssen etc. Etwas kniffelig am Anfang, aber wenn das Ergebnis dann stimmt, macht das einen Riesenspaß.

On this page you can find many of these geometric blocks. Unfortunately without the measurements, so I had to do the maths. That was a little hard for me at the beginning, but when its done and the result is right, its such good fun.

Hier ist der erste Block, den ich genäht habe. Zugegebenermaßesn gleich ein etwas komplizierter, aber warum auch nicht und ich mochte die indianische Anmutung davon.Stellt Euch vor wie schön ein ganzer Quilt aus diesen Blöcken wäre...Er ist 24,5" groß.

This is the first block I sewed. I have to admit, it was one  a bit more complicated, but why not, and I loved the indian tribal look of it. Imagine a whole quilt made out of these blocks...It measures 24,5".

Desweiteren arbeite ich gerade an einem Selvage Project, ich denke es wird ein Kissen werden. Meine kleinen Webkanten Blöcke zu nähen macht richtig Spaß. Wenn ich mich nicht verrechnet habe brauche ich noch zwei davon und habe dann genug für ein schönes Kissen. Ich freue mich darüber wie ein Schnitzel, denn etwas so tolles aus "Müll" zu fertigen bring echt Spaß!

The other thing I am workign on is a little selvage project. Two more blocks and I will have enough for a nice pillow. I really think these blocks are addicitve and I absolutely love to make something so beautig out of "rubbish",

 

Tova Sewalong

Ich brauchte dringend eine neue Frühlingsgarderobe. Als Kerry ein Tova Sewalong ankündigte war ich sofort Feuer und Flamme, denn ich liebe Tunikas. Auf der Suche nach einem leichten Baumwollstoff bin ich auf diesen hier gestoßen und habe mich direkt an die Arbeit gemacht. Der Schnitt ist schön und gut beschrieben, obwohl ich beim Einsetzen der Passe so meine Probleme hatte. Da gab es wohl Schwierigkeiten aufgrund der Sprachunterschiede, denn die Anleitung ist auf Englisch und ein paar Fachbegriffe kannte ich nicht.
Nun ja es hat trotzdem geklappt und mir gefällt das Ergebnis sehr.
Das wird bestimmt nicht meine letzte Tova sein...

I urgently needed some new spring clothes. When Kerry announced the Tova Sewalong I jumped on the train, because I love tunics. I found this light cotton fabric and started rightaway. The pattern is beautiful and well explained, allthough I had some little problems with insetting the front panel. It worked out anyways and I love the result. I am sure this won´t be my last Tova...

The sound of quilting

I have a lot of CDs and when I say a lot I mean it. I am obsessed with music. While I was at university and had no money at all, CDs would have been the first thing I bought, when I had a little money left (which was not often), but who needs to eat when you have something to listen to, that was my credo. So it happens that I have so many CDs  that I don´t seem to know them all. A few years ago I threw away the plastic covers and sorted them into these albums, to save some room.

Now I started to listen to all of them, and this brings me to the question:
What is the best soundtrack for quilting?
Yesterday I stood at my ironing board, ironing the seam allowance of a little baby quilt I am working on and I noticed that  DE LA SOUL is absolutely not the right sound for ironing complicated things. I could´nt stop my feet and hips from moving, even when I tried. It was to hard to iron when you whole body is shaking,  so I had to put in another CD. I chose a Eurythmics CD and this was interesting because "Sweet Dreams" catapultud me back to my earlier teen years right away. I closed my eyes and saw me dancing in the "Nachtwerk", one of the hottest clubs in Munich in the early 90s.
But ironing with eyes closed? No good idea either.
Another story: Recently I was chain piecing for another quilt and the CD player was playing "The four seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi (see any music pattern here? I don´t!). I absolutely dug into the music and suddenly I was back in my childhoods house, sitting in my room with a friend  and my stepsister was playing the four seasons on her violine while we where listening to them from the Player (though we where these punky Hippiekids, we loved us some classical music...).  So while I was sewing and listening I suddenly broke into tears because I noticed that these times are gone. These funny afternoons, where we kids where doing things without any sense. We didn´t have to do a lot except going to school and doing our homework. Sometimes being a grown up sucks! I really felt sad, because so many years have passed and sometimes I think I gained nothing. Which is wrong obviously. But you may also now some irrational feelings sometimes, do you?
But the next thought was that I wasn´t that happy teenager all the time, and that I am quite happy know with the person I have become over the years. I think there are not many things I would have done differently.
So these little trips back in time are always a reminder that we are the sum of impressions of these many years. Like a quilt which is a sum of many pieces of fabric.
And in the end, that is a good feeling. Here we are, seen a lot, done a lot, cried and laughed a lot, loved a lot. Now we are what we are, and isn´t that a good thing?

By the way- this is the quilt for my mothers 70th birthday which is in a week. I really like the springy feeling about it, and as she was born on the 21st of march which is springs beginnig, this suits very good.

Have a nice spring time, you all!

 And what is your favorite quilt soundtrack?