My Favourite Quilts Part 1

Here are some of the photos of some of my favourite quilts I have kept over the years. Alexander and Cameron were very helpful holding them up! Japanese Blues (from a Judy Hooworth Seminar) Storm at Sea Quilt (from a Kaye England seminar...my favourite quilt and my favourite pattern) Zebra stripes on the Sahara (from a Judy Hooworth Seminar,learning to sew striped fabric) My favourite colours together...yellow and purple (from a Judy Hooworth seminar)

My favourite Quilts Part 2

A Quilt Sitter Challenge, "Bird's Nest"block. (this was a lot of work, and well worth the effort!) A Quilt Sitter Challenge, using whatever fabrics I took out of the stash. Gretchen (from a Kaye England workshop)....one of my favourite scrappy quilts A Round Robin Quilt (made with Quilt Sitters Group at Oatley Cottage - it is enormous, and it's the quilt the boys fight over to snuggle under when we watch a movie on Friday nights

#10 Angel complete...almost

Horray.....this is the 10th angel finished....well almost finished! When I was uploading the photo, I realised I had not completed the blue border between the angel's wings. 

My oldest quilting UFO

Stashbusters topic of the week was to admit to our oldest UFO. Actually I am not too embarrassed by this one, although at some stage in the near future I will actually get it finished and it will go on our bed. It is a double wedding ring quilt. I did a course with Oatley Cottage in Sydney, May 2001. When I originally told Phil I was going to do the course, I said it was the only double wedding ring quilt I will ever make, because I don't really like working with curves. His response was "Well, you should make a big one then" Why did I listen to that response? So, here is the bigger than king size quilt. I enjoyed making it, and enjoyed finishing the top. Then it sat as a top for a few years. When we decided to come to Germany, I asked my quilting friend Ellen to quilt it for me on her long arm machine. Ellen did an amazing job on it. This is only a quarter of the quilt. I don't have enough space to lay it out, and the photo wouldn't show the detail. Below is a more detailed picture. When I chose the 6 fabrics for the rings. I didn't realise they would all read as one fabric when you look from a distance. I know the idea of this pattern is to be able to read each piece as a single unit, but personally I'm not too fussed. Now I just have to bind it. I have the binding all cut out, ready to go, but somewhere in the move I lost the instructions on how to bind a curved edge....so this has been the reason it is still a UFO. I have tried to Google binding instructions to complete it...with no luck. I mentioned it to the stash buster girls, and someone came up with some detailed instructions on "scalloped edges"...I just needed a different word. So, perhaps this will get finished before our 12th Wedding Anniversary next February....or maybe not! The other UFO question was "How many UFO's do you have?" Well, I am not pulling them out of the box to check....'cause I don't want to feel guilty about it...but probably about 10. That is a vast improvement if you had have asked me back in 1999! :)

Green Scarf

This is the scarf I started while we were in Austria. In the afternoon when the boys were all skiing, I did a bit of knitting.

I had hoped to finish this while I was in Austria, but didn't get much of it done. I didn't go skiing in the afternoon, as my lessons were only in the morning. I was not confident to go by myself. My logic is that if I am with an instructor and I get in trouble, the instructor is obligated to get me down...somehow. If I am by myself, then it is up to me. I felt safer with my instructor. So, I was happy to drink coffee, and knit for a couple of hours.

I finally finished the scarf last week....and typically, the weather has changed, and I have put away the winter coat....and this scarf will be great for next Winter!

Hobby Day at School

Sorry no photos. Mr Day took some video, I told him strictly only to video quilts, not me!

I had a 20 minute talk with the Year 3,4 and 5's to talk about quilting. I took in about 7 of my quilts, some of the designs on graph paper, and a sample of wadding. Alexander and one of the Year 5 boys helped hold up the quilts for me as I talked about them.

I talked about how I had been quilting for about 17 years, and how I went from a simple drawing from a sheet, to the final product. The kids asked some really great questions, and I really enjoyed talking about my quilts. One of the teachers later asked me if I would teach her to quilt, and she said some of the other teachers would be interested as well. So, I need to think about this one a bit more, and see how many would be really serious about it. Below is one of the quilts that I did take along with me. As a thank you gift, I was given a box of Quality Street Chocolates...yum! :)

Learning to knit socks on 4 needles

Knitting socks is a trendy thing to do in Germany. I strive to be trendy (although it doesn't seem to work). Anyway, I like the idea of knitting with 4 needles, and have to give it a try.

This is what I have done so far....not quite looking like a sock yet. I have to continue this knitting until it is about 8 inches long, then I can start on the heel.

I like knitting with 4 needles. I am glad I wear glasses, otherwise I think I would have lost an eye by now!

#9 Angel Beauty

Here is the angel I finished tonight.  Here is a picture of the entire piece so far.... Next week I can hopefully do a bit of knitting, I bought some wool for a scarf, and I am also going to try a pair of socks....it is the "thing" to make at the moment! :) I have never worked on 4 needles before....the challenge intrigues me!

Wicked Easy Quilt with Pinwheels

Here is a picture of the blocks so far for the purple "Wicked Easy Quilt" I am trying to work out how to put some pinwheels into the pattern, and then decide which colour...I am leaning towards orange! :)

Project Spectrum Strips

Project Spectrum colours for February & March are blue, white and grey. I pulled the 1 1/4 and 1 1/2" strip boxes out. This afternoon I sewed the blue strips and got 12 x 10" blocks sewn, and used up all the blue strips. I thought I would get 8 blocks, so I was not too far off the mark! I think they look quite good when they are laid out like this! Here are the cream ones I did a few weeks ago. These are sewn directly onto the wadding, so I can try some reversible quilts (see 19th Jan post). I have thought of a block to use on the other side of the wadding, but I want to get all the strips sewn on first, to see which colours I will group together!

Berlin- Brandenburg Quilters Meeting

A few weeks ago I joined a Yahoo German Quilt group...it is helping me with my German. I can write my messages in German, and practice a bit more...on a topic I love!

Marga, a member, who lives close by, sent me a private email to invite me to the above group. I bundled up my nerves and went along.

The yahoo quilt group I belong to in Australia calls meeting people from the internet, "meeting axe murderers".

When I arrived I introduced myself at the doors, and was asked who told me about the group.

I say "Marga, but I don't know her last name, I talked to her on the internet"

She replies "Ahh Marga.....yes, I will introduce her to you"

So, I met Marga, and a few other ladies at her table. There was some talk about new exhibitions, a big quilt show coming up in June, and other stuff. It was spoken in normal German speed, which I am not terrific at....so I missed a lot of it, but that will all come in time. There was show and tell, with some divine quilting and lovely quilts, wall hangings, bags. Marga wanted to know if I had bought anything for Show and Tell....no not this time....perhaps next meeting (they meet once a month). 

We watched a short film about a weaver in Southern Germany....he was 88, and travels to peoples homes. The owner supplies all the wool, and he weaves these amazing pieces of cloth, which the owner then makes into clothing. He made a piece that was about 1 metre wide, and just over 7 metres long. It took him 3 days in total to complete, the woman paid him 80 DeutscheMark....about 40 Euros in today's currency! Man....so much work for such a small amount of money. The accents were very thick, and even Marga had trouble understanding some of it.....and some of the film had German subtitles.

So, I joined the group, bought a pin, and a CD with all the show and tell from May 2005 -Dec 2006.

The CD has over 350 photos to look at...I had a quick look this morning, and there is some lovely things on the CD. Above is the logo of the group, that is part of a friendship quilt. It looks like each member made a star, and signed their name on their block, and it was all sewn together. It is a lovely quilt! Marga is an amazing applique quilter...she thinks she will be able to turn my into a hand quilter.....my Sydney quilting group will be howling with laughter with this one.....usually I don't even use the "A" word....we will see!!!! :) Marga invited me to her place on Tuesday for a sewing day. Unfortunately I have already agreed to help out at Alexander's school trip to the Egyptian Museum, but I will try to go to the next one. I wish I had have met this group when I first got to Berlin. I think this would really have helped with my quilting, and my German, and getting to know where the quilt shops in Berlin are...and internet shopping a lot earlier! (Although I think this is a bonus to the credit card) See, the internet really can be a helpful resource!

2007 Quilt #4

This one is for Lisa who lives downstairs, who is expecting a baby boy in June. Wicked Easy Quilt, link below. http://www.byannie.com/free_patterns.html Right, now to try the same pattern with some pinwheels! I am also going to sew up the blue strips, like I did with the beige/neutral strips. I am going to guess that I will get 8 squares out of my blue strips. I will see how that goes!

2007 Quilt #3

The Japanese fabric quilt complete. This one is for me...lots of Japanese fabrics that I have collected over the years... Alexander held this quilt up for me to take a quick photo of the quilt...It is a little bit taller than him. The pattern is a very simple one from Wicked Easy Quilt..I have a few more ideas with this pattern, and hope to make a few more. I want to try to add some pinwheels in there as well. Wicked Easy Quilt, link below. http://www.byannie.com/free_patterns.html

Floral Bouquet 1 & 2

Finally, this one is complete...it was great to remove it from the frame. The designs are by Lauren Tucker from Twilleys of Stanford. I won them in from a cross stitching magazine. I wrote a letter to them with a photo of a piece I had made from the magazine. Floral is not my "thing". Here is a photo of the matching one that I finished last year!

Wicked Easy Quilts progress

It has been a good day for sewing. Cameron is at Mohammed's, Alexander is at Martin's, and Phil is asleep on the couch. So, I am being left alone to sew. Here is what I did today. Sorted strips into the right boxes...I have been lazy and not putting them away. It only took 20 minutes to do the whole lot. So my sewing space is looking neater...for the moment! Sewed the borders on to the Japanese fabric quilt. Pulled out appropriate strips for Lisa's baby quilt....all from the scrap boxes. I only had to pull 2 fabrics out of the stash to add to it. It is the same pattern as the Japanese quilt. But I decided to colour co-ordinate it a bit more. I think it can be used as an "I Spy" quilt. Lots of things in there to point out. If I can get it sewn and bordered tonight, I can pin both quilts tomorrow afternoon, ready to quilt!

Wicked Easy Quilt in Japanese fabrics

I pulled out the Japanese fabrics to start something new. Here is a really quick pattern to use stash, and it doesn't take long to sew up at all. Wicked Easy Quilt, link below. http://www.byannie.com/free_patterns.html It will be lap size by the time it is finished. Today we found out the young lady in the bottom floor of our apartment building is pregnant. She is having a boy, so I will pull out some fun fabric and use this pattern to make a cot quilt for her baby. She is due in June, so I have heaps of time, but I would like to get it finished this week as well. Another great way to use up some of that "boy" fabric that I bought so much of when the kids were smaller. Right, Phil has taken the boys ice skating, then Cameron goes to Mohammed's for a play date, and Alexander is off to Martin's party...I have plenty of "me" time to sew.

Reversible Quilt blocks

In a previous post about these strippy blocks from the Reversible Quilting book (see 19th & 28th Jan post), I thought I had enough fabric strips to make 8 of these blocks. Today, I decided to sew all the beige strips before I begin sewing the next quilt. I completed 15 blocks! Almost enough for a lap size quilt....just from my 1 1/4 and 1 1/2" strips. I can't even imagine how many quilts I can make out of the 2' strip box! This weekend, I hope to start a quilt with Japanese fabrics, and try and work on some blue strip blocks as well. P.S. Family is all well. Boys are at school and happy and Phil is busy at work...seems to be a lot of quilting going on, and not much else! :)

2007 Quilt #2

I stitched the binding on this tonight. I love how this quilt turned out. I read a quote the other day that was sent on the bottom of an email, but I do not know who originally said it. "Don't wait for inspiration to do something; do something, and you will be inspired!!" This is so true for my quilting. As I was pinning and quilting this quilt, I was already thinking of 3 more quilts I want to make! This morning I hope to cut out some more of the stash to try another quick and easy pattern to use the stash, and see results quickly!

Sudoku Quilt progress

This is so much fun to put together (well, if you like doing Suduko's, it is!) I used Phil's Suduko board and puzzle book to find a puzzle, and completed it. Then in groups of 9, I sorted and started to sew. It took less than 1 1/2 hours (including stopping for lunch) to get the 9 blocks sewn together to form the quilt top. Now I just have to sew the 9 large blocks together, and border, quilt and bind! This is great fun, and I can see other quilts being made this way!

Sudoku Quilt and colour blocks

Here are the blocks I have made for my Sudoku quilt. I have the 9 blocks sewn, now I need work out a Sudoku puzzle to work out the placement of each block. Here are the strippy 10" squares I have been sewing in between. Phil did a great job sorting all the strips into colour groups for me, and it has made it a lot easier to continue stitching. This week, I am concentrating on the light brown pile, and see if I can get all the strips sewn on to wadding. I have no idea how many 10" blocks I will end up with. I am going to guess and say 8..I will let you know how I go by the end of the week!

Floral Bouquet #2 progress

Gail's tip of having the thread ready for the next stitching session has been working well. I am more inclined to work on it in the evening!

2007 Quilt #1

My blue project for Project Spectrum is finished!. I know I am supposed to work on it in February/March, but I didn't realise how quick it would all come together. Once I started I couldn't stop...a good sign I know! This pattern is called Weed Whacker from Quiltville. A great way to use up 2" strips. (Although you wouldn't even know I have been able to make an entire quilt from the way the box is still over flowing...how many quilts can I make from that box?)

Sonia's 2nd quilt

This is Sonia's 2nd quilt. Sorry for the quality of the photo, and Sonia refused to show her face in the picture. Do you like her socks? They have sheep faces on them! I love the way Sonia fussy cut the cats on part of the border. She is really pleased with it. Sonia is already cutting out the fabric for her 3rd quilt. She is confident to try some triangles. Sonia is now cutting fabric for the Weed Whacker quilt pattern as well! (the blue quilt I am currently working on)

Sudoku Puzzle Inspired Quilt

Once I started sewing, all these ideas came into my head, and I can't just sew one quilt at a time. So while the other quilt is being pinned, I started to sew these batik pieces together. I have made 2 groups of 9 squares so far. This block, comes from something I tried to do last year, and made a mistake with my sewing, and ended up with this block. I liked the look of it and kept one aside to use as a future project. When I was sorting out my stash, I found it again, and thought I would use it with some batik prints. I am going to make 9 different groups, and then try and arrange the blocks into a Sudoku puzzle quilt.

Reversible Quilts

I pulled this book from the shelf the other day, and reread it. Reversible Quilts, by Sharon Pederson.  I think it will be a great way to use up all those strips of wadding that are too narrow to use in a quilt (I don't like to join wadding, unless I absolutely have to). Also a great way to use up some of the 1 1/4, and 1 1/2" strips that I keep in boxes, that I cannot bear to throw out. So, I cut out lots of 10" square pieces of wadding, also 5x7" wadding squares for Artist Trading Cards (to be done at a much later date), and got the strips out,ready to sew. Phil watched the soccer the other night, and sorted out all the strips into colour groups for me! Thanks Phil! I have started to sew some up, when I only have 20 minutes, and I don't want to start the next part of the current quilt I have going. So far, I have these squares hanging on my curtains. These will be on one side of the quilt, and I am going to piece blocks, then quilt then on the other side of the block. I am still working on what to do on the other side, but for the time being, this is therapeutic, and I can relax whilst still sewing something! Once they are complete, I will cut then down to 9" squares,and work out how I am going to arrange them. Looking at how many strips I have got, this looks like an on going yearly project!

Project Spectrum

From Lolly Girl, she runs Project Spectrum. A way of using up some stash with some colour guidance. This year she has chosen 3 colours every 2 months to make something in those colours. Lolly Girl is a knitter, but many people used the Project Spectrum for quilting, cross stitching, photography, card making and so much more. I have decided to use her colour themes, as inspiration to use up some of my stash. The colours for February/March are Blue, White and Grey (she says Gray, but I changed it to the correct spelling ;) ) Here is the beginning of my Project Spectrum quilt for Feb/Mar. Embarrassingly, I didn't even need to get any fabric from the shelves, I managed to find all the blues and white/creams I needed in my boxes of strips. This pattern is called Weed Whacker, from Quiltville on the internet  A no brainer pattern, where I don't have to think too much...so far so good, and only a little bit of unpicking where I must have dozed off and sewed the triangles to the wrong side on a few strips. 9" blocks equals a quick sew. At this rate, I may even get 2 quilts made for this period, and may even get to use some of the blue fabrics on my shelves....just need to find another simple pattern!

Expanding Stash

Well, I don't know how, but somehow that fabric stash is multiplying by itself in those shelves. I sorted through it this weekend, and there are fabrics there that I cannot remember buying? Here is a photo from Jan 2006. Here is a photo from Jan 2007. It has multiplied by itself so much that I have had to turn some of the piles to their sides, and double stack! Right....time to work on some quilts this year. I got all the batiks out (they are not even in this photo), and I have a block ready to start this week.

Floral Bouquet # 2 progress

Slowly this Xstitch is being worked on. I am trying a new technique from a fellow X stitcher Gail. She suggests before you put your stitching away for the evening, thread the next colour, and leave it in your piece ready for the next stitching session. This might help get me pick it up more frequently. Sometimes I think it is all too hard to get the pattern out, work out where I am up to, find the colour that I next want to work on...etc. So far this is working out really well! Thanks Gail, I may actually finish this sometime this year!

Scarves

I finished Alexander's teacher's scarf a few days before the end of term. It was the Australian Mohair loopy wool that I love knitting with. The hand dyed wool was in shades of blue, very pretty. Damn it, I forgot to take a photo! By the time we leave this international school, half the teachers will be wearing Australian hand dyed woolen scarves! Next was Alexander's red scarf, the same wool as Cameron's green scarf (see 11th December 2006 post) , and of course a scarf for his Qantas koala, and Stitch. Alexander wearing his scarf, with his toys. Elmo and Kanga are wearing Emily's. Next was the multi coloured pink/orange scarf for Alexander's friend Emily, and Isaiah, in black and orange, and one for his toy. That is the end of my knitting for sometime now! Unless, Cameron wants some for his friends. He hasn't asked! Sonia knitted one for Bradley, and she knitted one for Meghan. Time to get back into the Xstitch and the quilting.

Scarves

Seems crazy to knitting scarves over here...while everyone in Melbourne and Sydney are sweating it out with tempretures over 35, and breathing in smoke from the bushfires.
But here I am knitting scarves while the tempreture plummets to single digit numbers, and we are wearing coats, gloves and hats.
So, here are the ones I have finished so far...with 2 to go. The rainbow coloured scarf is a belated birthday present for my friend, Michelle. The other one in the photo is a teacher present. Then there is Cameron with his new green scarf. His friend Bradley has one in the same wool, and he wanted one too....but green! I had enough wool left over to make Simba and Cheetah a scarf too.
Trying hard to finish the other teacher scarf, and Alexander has put in an order for a red scarf out of the same wool for him...and left over wool, a scarf for Stitch and Koala....

Question for knitters....how do I take a decent photo of a scarf when I do not have the person to model it? I laid these ones on the floor...any other ideas?