Till's Quilt

Nephew Number 2 has now also turned 18 (... this starts to make me feel old). Like for nephew Number 1, I've made a large quilt as a birthday present. Nephew 2 wanted blue with batiks, so he got blue with batiks.

 I think the basic pattern is from a magazine (but I can't find it at the moment). I set the squares on point, though.
For the back I spelled his name in big letters, using scrappy fabric I've made using crazy mom quilts scrap vortex tutorial.

The i-dot. I went a bit crazy on the farbic selection. Basically I had no limit, so the result was pretty wild.

I did the quilting on my machine at home. On the background I quilted simple loop-de-loop, while on the batiks I made those 'orange peels'. All was done in free motion.

Christmas Menue

I've got the request to show this Christmas's menue (weird, I know)
Starters: We started out with a bit of rabbit pie I've made ahead. It's an older recipe, which we rediscoved a couple of years ago, and which I've been making for the last three years for Christmas.

 Main Course: The discussion on what to make for the main course starts in early November and the menue changes about five time before we finally settle on something. This year the winner was saddle of lamb with potato gratin, string beans and carottes.

 Dessert: This was prepared by my sister and is apple and puffy paste wrapped into a rose and backed in a muffin tin. Looks great and tastes even better.

Finally, nothing to eat, but a reminder on what Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Just a couple of little things I've finished last week.
Dekoration/name cards for the Christmas table. The letters are all the first letters of my family (well, at least the family that is here for the Christmas meal tomorrow). I've used up the scraps left over from the last table runner I did.

 One pair of plain socks using Regia's Pairfection yarn. Basically, pretty cool idea, as you get two complete runs of the color changes starting with a bright yellow bit of yarn as a marker. Personally, the shaft is a bit on the long side, though this is problably better if you knit the socks in larger sizes (this is a 39)

 Then, I cut up one of my old blue jeans and made some useful stuff from it. Using the pockets and bit of one leg I came up with this utensilo for my remote contols (there are two pockets, one on each side of the arm rest)

Last, but not least, a new pair of slippers. This is the third pair I've made following this pattern. The first two pairs are fairly worn out by now,so it was time for a new pair.

I still got one leg plus a few scraps left, so I'm thinking about some more stuff to do.

Merry Christmas to all and a Great New Year.

The Force Awakens

Less than 2 weeks until the next part in the Star Wars saga is coming to the movies. I can hardly wait.
As the movie starts in winter time, and, well, because I found this (free) pattern, I've made Star Wars hats.

 I first made the gray on (with 'The Force Awakens'). I then had enough left over for a second hat, so I made one more with switched colors (with 'May the Force be with You')

Never 100% happy with working in intarsia, but after washing and a bit of blocking it's not too bad. For added warmth and to prevent snagging in the floats, I lined both hats.

They will both end up as small Christmas presents.

Christmas Cookies 2015

It's this season again and so, naturally, I've made a batch of cookies like every year.
No real surprises this year. I've basically just made my standards plus one test run of Spekulatius (speculoos)
I never can quite remember which exact recipe I use for the 'Gebabbte', so for next year to remember: Friesenringe (meine Familie & ich 12/2011)

 My dad loves them as they contain jam (you stick two parts together with jam), but I'd think they would be just fine, only the top parts.

Group picture:

 From top clockwise:
- Orangen-Spekulatius (I used my cookie stamp, but you can barely make out the little cookie man)
- Walnusskonfekt (favorite of my mom ... and my brother in law)
- Gebabbte (most of those will go to my dad)
- Ingwer Heidesand (used a slightly different recipe than normally, but I think it turned out good - also, only half a batch. From the last time, I pretty much had some left in April)
Center left:
- Zimtsterne (used some of the left over walnuts from the Walnusskonfekt. Maybe not such a great idea, as they are more fatty than almonds. The dough was somehow not 100% right)
- Orangenstäbchen (basically candied orange peel covered in chocolate)

I think that's enough calories for this year.

My Sewing Room

I used to have a guest room. The room had a bed couch, a dresser and some stuff that somehow ended up there and never left.
Over the last two years the guest room turned into a sewing room. One day the bed couch left (guest can sleep on the inflatable bed, right?), the content of the dresser was replaced by fabric and fabric related stuff, and eventually I moved the IKEA shelf and the table from the Dresden apartment in.

The transformation is now complete.

I'm currently quilting a large quilt for my nephew, but to get something finished quickly (once in a while I need the satisfaction of a finished project - even my knitting stuff is currently mostly long term) I made another x-mas table runner.

It's the same princible as the one I made in July, but bigger, with more fancy fabrics (I picked 8 matching fat eights at the Kreative Messe in Frankfurt beginning of the month), and wonky stars.

I machine quilted the runner with straight lines in the ditch, and hand quilted around the stars with golden thread. It ended up as 150 cm x 40 cm, which is way too big for my dining table. But then I already know where it's going to end up.

Nuernberg

I've had a couple of days off and as I was heading in that direction anway, I decided to make a short trip to Nürnberg.
Nürnberg is the second largest city in Bavaria and was pretty important in the late Middle Ages. It has a large imperial castle and several emperors of the Holy Roman Empire used it for their center.

The Sinwell Tower gives a great view all over the city.

 Of course, you first has to climb the 113 steps all the way to the top

 The crown (The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire) has been used between the 11th century and 1806. Sadly the one housed in the castle is a copy, as the original is in Vienna.

 There are plenty of large churches in Nürnberg. Here details of the Frauenkirche.

 The river Pegnitz devides the old town in two.

 I really lucked out with the weather and liked the town a lot. Of course, I had to eat some 'Nürnberger Rostbratwürstchen' *yummy* and 'Nürnberger Lebkuchen' *also yummy*

More Green

My sister is getting a new kitchen and I've got some Dresden plates left over from when I experimented with the technique. So, Dresden plate potholder.

Nothing too fancy, they have been quick to make. I hope she likes them.

Green, so green

The baby of one of my friends is going to be one year this week. So I made a little cardigan for her.
And then I made it again, because the first one was too small.

The pattern is called Jubilee Cardigan and it's from one of the Interweave Knits magazine (Christmas 2010, I think). As yarn I used Unisono from Zitron. I just had enough, with less than one metre left over.

I also have to show you two pairs of socks I've finished a while ago. First is the Hagrid Motocycle socks (free pattern) in Drachenwolle Sock Yarn. The socks are more green than blue, though the photo insists on making them look blue.

 Finally, a pair of starry socks. The pattern is called 'Sternenhimmel' and is from the book 'Jeans! Socken!' The yarn is cheapy Aldi yarn

X and O

I've got the fabric for this tablerunner last year at the Kreativ-Messe in Frankfurt, but for the longest time I couldn't decide on what to do with it. Eventually I decided on a fairly simple trip around the world pattern, gradiating the x's and the o's from one side to the other.

For the back I tried some free form cutting and sewing.

 The quilting was also fairly simple, just some wavey lines using my walking foot.

I'm also making progress on the Tula Pink City Sampler. A few weeks ago I've already finished the section on rectangulars.

 And today I finished the section on triangles

I've now got 55 out of 100 blocks.

Settlers of Catan

The game 'Settlers of Catan' is a bit of a dividing line in my gaming group. Some love it, some hate it. The friend I've made this pillow for does love it (else it would make little sense to make it for her birthday ...)

 

I started out with sewing (by hand) 18 hexagons for the water and 19 hexies for the land using the quilt-as-you-go technique. I then used my machine to sew them to a darker blue background using a blanket stitch. The number markers, the roads and the houses are felt I cut to size. For the numbers I used a permament marker.

 For the pillow case I sewed a zipper to the back center, so taking out the inlet is easy. I used a normal, square 50x50cm pillow inlet and just stuffed it into the corners to give the pillow it's form.

Sew Together No2

I've heard it's impossible to sew just one Sew Together Bag.
So here's no.2 in blue.

I used 2 inch squares to make the outside, making the bag a little wider than the pattern asks for.

For the inside I used lighter blues for the large pockets and darker blue for the zippered pockets.

Hmmm, what to do for no.3?

Cutting Mat Bag

When sewing a project I sometimes have a block or two left. Sometimes because that block doesn't fit the overall look of a given project, or sometimes because I've made too many blocks (like with the 'Oh My Stars!' quilt, where I decided the quilt top was simply too big and removed a couple of rows before I made the sandwich)
Or sometimes I try something out, not so much because I need it, but because I want to see how it works.
Which means I always have a couple of blocks or patchworked stuff I don't really have a home for.
I call those lonely blocks 'Orphans'.
A while back I stitched a couple of them together in two pieces 70 x 55 cm, planning to eventually make a bag for my cutting mat and maybe with a couple of extra pockets for various rulers.
I didn't have a pattern (I did look at quite a few bags on the 'net but didn't find anything I really liked) so in the end I made something up that works for me.
This is the front containing blocks from an abondond drunkard path project, a test patch from my light house wall hanging (ticker tape), some 'Oh My Stars!' blocks and one of the blocks I did two years ago on the quilting cruise (Nordic Star).

 The other front has the other half of the drunkard path project, a New York City Beauty block (again from the cruise), more stars, some weaving I did and a bit from a scrappy strings quilt, that never got past four blocks or so.

 The bag is plenty big to hold my cutting mat and has four additional pockets on the other side for rulers or other stuff. I put in two zippers so the bag closes in the top center (with a tiny gap)

The handles are long enough to carry the bag comfortable over my shoulder.
Maybe it's not the most profesional bag in the world, but for the purpose it's intended for it's perfect.
And I found a good home for at least some of my poor orphans blocks.

Sew Together

Sometimes there are patterns too strong for me to resist.
Case in point: the Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented.
I've seen the bag all over the internet and eventually I caved in and bought the pattern.

For the outside I've used black and white scraps with a dash of red (using the scrap vortex quilt tutorial by Crazy Mom Quilts)

Inside I made the inner pockets bright and colorful (with matching zippers)

It's a bit fiddly to do in places and the sew along by the Quilt Barn was invaluable.

I'm super happy with the outcome. 

The color selection for bag number two is already in progress. And maybe for bag number three ...

And then there's another project that's all the rage on the 'net (well, at least it was last year - I'm a bit behind with things like this). 

The Tula Pink City Sampler. I've bought the book a couple of months ago and I'm using blue and green solids (I've got a FQ pack last year in the US) plus my blue and green batics. 

Those are the first 15 (out of 100) blocks: I'm now done with the crosses and will start next with rectangles.

I'm going to link to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday.

Dresden Sunflowers

Another quilting technique I always wanted to try are the so-called Dresden Plates. With Dresden plates you cut wedges from you fabrics, sew them into a circle and applique the plate then on some background fabric. The number of wedges you use depend on the angle of your wedges, i.e. if you cut at an 20deg angle, you get 18 wedges.
 The first two plates I just used to play aound with the technique (i.e. how big do they turn out? How much to I need to / can remove from the center? ...)
Then I made two plates in white and yellow.

I appliqued them on a green background and added a brown circle for the center.

Some flower stems and a couple of leave.

Tata! Dresden Sunflowers (and doesn't the name give me a little giggle fit every single time, as I do spend so much time in Dresden)

Clam Shells

It's currently way too hot for quilting. It's not the sewing itself that's the issue, it's the thought of going near a hot iron that's soooo not appealing.

Still, last weekend I pulled a late night (aka hey, look it's finally less than 30deg C in my appartment) ironing session to shape the clam shells, and the rest of the sewing is blessedly ironing free (or nearly so), so putting the pillow together was an option. 

The pillow is 50 x 50 cm (20 inches). I did some spiral quilting (which was super fun to do.  I see more of that in my future)

Not sure if I want to do the clam shell technique again (don't see a whole quilt of that, that's sure), but at least I did it once, so for now it's out of the system.