A Very Special Swap

Aylin is hosting an awesome pillow swap. It is a swap within germany and german speaking countries only and it  is so exciting because  there are a lot new "faces" which I hadn´t seen in the community before that swap.

 I have the feeling that everybody tries her best to make the most beautiful and matching pillow for the secret partner. My partner has a bit different style then me, but I think I am on a good way.

  In fact I think I never had such a mess in my sewing space before. The pattern I chose for the pillow needs a lot of cutting and piecing and again cutting of tiny pieces. What I know now, is that I think I wouldn´t make a pillow like this for me, allthough the result is wonderful. I am just not that patient. I love me  a good chain piecing, big pieses of fabric, fast.
 
 But this is the wonderful thing of these swaps, that you have the possibility to chalenge yourself and learn new things.
So the top for the pillow is done, now its about the quilting but this has to wait, because there are still three quilts to be basted and quilted.

Have a wonderful rest of sunday,
Miriam
...and in the back the scrappy trip blocks... obligatory.

The post about me resisting

 When all these colourful beauties of scrappy trips around the world popped up all over blog- and flickrland, I said   "pfff....." I don´t need to make this I already made one!!! But then I caught myself coming back to the group more often then I wanted to. Next step was joining the group and then.... I thought, thank good I still need a belated christmas present for my mother.

 I could make a little trips quilt as a tablerunner.
It took me just a few hours and I was done. And I also could try this gorgeous quilting I wanted to try for months.

 But unfortunately my inner urge to tripalong wasn´t satisfied totally. This is why I have to admit, I finally started one myself. I didn´t take pictures of the five blocks I made yet. But I am sure I will drop some in the group pool soon. It is a really nice way to use scaps.
But so, here are some more pictures of the tableruner I made with some "antique treasures" fabrics I hoarded in my stash for a while.

I already used this line in a bee quilt which is still patiently waiting to be basted and quilted.

 I really don´t know when I will find the energy back to quilt all these quilts... But there is always a time for everything.

 Do you already tripalong?

A Finish

Happy New Year everyone!
I am a bit late. But its never too late to have good wishes, right?
I desperately waited for some sunshine in the last weeks to get some good photos, but here in Berlin the weather is grey and dirty for a while now.
I have a lot of quilttops waiting to be basted and quilted, but I somehow can´t get myself there. So I thought I wanted to have a finish - at least one. So why not making another pillow.

Nothing special, nothing oh so fancy, but I really like the easyness of it and I had to try this speedy flying geese sewing technique.

And I finally cleared up my sewing space, re-organized and already de-organized my fabric as I am working insanely on a new quilttop.
More about this another time. Until then, have a very nice day, everyone!

A Quilt but Different

There is this guy I am seeing for a while now ( whoo whoo me dating someone..;-)), he is an american living here in berlin. Well as christmas is appearing I wanted to make him a quilt. He likes my work but of course I needed a more maleish design. And as I know he loves pendleton blankets I thought something inspired by these would be nice.
This is what I came up with. So extremely different from my other stuff, but I fell in love with the possibilities, that I am definitively going to make something in that native american style again.

 It might be a little wrinkled because it was in the washing machine for too long, maybe I should give it a little press.

And I also love the back.

  In my work as a fashion designer I often make woolen trousers and skirts. I always kept the leftovers because I wanted to use them in a quilt eventually. Here I did. I just put them together randomly and I don´t know which side I prefer. The whole quilt feels so rustic...

Even the batting is "recycled". I once ordered a fabric online for the shop without seeing it in reality, which was mostly wool and alpaca wool. But when it arrived I was shocked because it felt terribly itchy and hard. I thought after I washed it it would be better, but no, it just wasn´t that hard anymore. So I decided to use ist in the quilt. And what shall I say, I also love the feeling of that. It is quite heavy but flowy.

Now I really hope that he likes it (and that he doesn´t read my blog).
Have a wonderful week everyone. Berlin is covered in snow and I love it.

laKattun Fabrics

 A few months ago I met the uncredibly talented fabric designer Eva Reisinger and her label laKattun. When I visited here Studio I was amazed by all the wonderful handprinted fabric and the cute things she had made out of them. Eva gave me a set of her fabric to play with. I knew immediately that I didn´t want to cut the fabric into to small pieces, so that you could still see the wonderful prints. 
Here you can see the quilt I made. I love it, it reminds me of the fun and freshness of summer.
On the laKattun website you can find more information about Eva, or you visit the Etsy or Dawanda Shop an find more incredibly awesome products.

Vor ein paar Monaten traf ich im Zuge einer Recherche die Stoffdesignerin Eva Reisinger.

 Bei einem Besuch in Ihrem Atelier durfte ich Ihre Arbeiten bewundern und mir den Entstehungsprozess Ihrer tollen Stoffe und Werke erklären lassen.

  Ihr Arbeitsplatz verströmte eine so wunderbare, feine und kreative Atmosphäre, daß es mich überhaupt nicht wundert, daß dort solche hübschen Stoffe enstehen.

 Ich war sehr beeindruckt und noch mehr natürlich, als ich glücklich mit einem Päckchen voller handbedruckter Kostbarkeiten nachhause ging um ein bißchen damit zu spielen.
Mir war sofort klar, daß ich die verschiedenen Stoffe nicht zu klein zerschneiden wollte, damit man die unterschiedlichen Designs noch gut erkennen kann und sie voll zur Geltung kommen.

Dies ist der Quilt, der dabei herausgekommen ist.

  Ich finde er verströmt eine Frische und Fröhlichkeit und man wünscht sich augenblicklich den Sommer zurück. 

 Auf Eva´s Webseite könnt Ihr mehr über  laKattun erfahren, weitere wunderbare Stoffe bewundern und natürlich auch in ihrem Dawanda Shop stöbern.

Ausserdem hat sie auch einen Etsy Shop den Ihr hier findet.

Coloured Pavement Quilt

I think it is pretty amazing what can be done with a pattern. I mean you change the fabrics and the idea of it and it is a totally different thing. So to see here:

Do you remember the last quilt I showed you? It was inspired by  something I once fotographed...
A friend of mine (who is actually a guy from the US) said he liked the quilt a lot, but the pattern itself reminded him a little of the crooked cross. That scared me so much, that I started a survey. Fortunately most of the people I asked told me that they rather see a pinweel or a plus sign.

Anyway I really wanted to make a more colourful version, so I deceided on a neutral backround and some fun fabrics for the pinweels.
Here you can see how it looks like in this version.
I would really be interested in what you think about it. I like it, I just see a fun quilt and I really try to get that other strange idea out of my head...
The quilt is backed with a fun fabric from stoff und Stil and the binding is one of my favorite from the Botany line..

By the way I tried a new quilting pattern. It is like a drop on a string pattern inspired by the prince charming fabric with the drops.
 
Now I gotta go, try to finish some project for christmas... I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.
Take care guys and have fun!

Finally....

Finally- I finished a quilt which I was working on for a while. It is quite different from other ones I have done. And I can say I love lot. First of all I made the pattern myself.

 When I took a picture of this piece of pavement about a year ago, I knew this eventually has to be quilt pattern. And then I transformed it.
And this is the quilt I made with this inspiration.

 I used a grey a bit shiny cotton fabric with a very light pinstripe in it. Because I changed the front and back side accidentially there is also a slightly difference between in value. The patterned fabric are all some cute prints I bought in Birmingham last year at the festival of quilts.

 I think this matches perfectly.
So the all over look is quite nice I think. I will soon try it in another fabric composition.

Finally- I got back my sewing machine. I can´t wait to try and find out how perfect it sews now...

Finally- I dived into my fabrics and started to sort them. For that I still have to buy some more shelfes. For my very limited space I think the Ikea Benno CD Shelfes are perfect. Fat Quarters and half yards fit in there perfectly. This is just a start.

Finally- I got rid of the nasty cold and sinusitis I seem to have every fall, just in time to practice for our big fall Gospel Concerts in two weeks. I can´t wait. It is always such a good fun!!