Trick or Treat?

Obviously a treat!

I'm dedicating this post to my good friend Kirsten, who lives in Canada with her lovely family! Although we have been mostly apart since we became friends, we are somehow connected. Thanks to facebook emal ect. we're staying connected, even more than we did when we actually lived in the same city!

Her first son somehow became my godson. I am still very touched thinking of it, because this came as a total surprise, being this far apart and her having a twin sister... I would have never ever guessed that!

Now she is close to her due date with her second son. A quilt is the best birth present, of course!
So since the due date was initially on Halloween, I chose this cute Halloween fabric, that you all saw in my Sunday Stash #2 post!

The quilt is done and I have a little parcel prepared with a few goodies and presents for my godson who will turn 2 in December. It will soon leave this continent with all my love and just the best for this cute little family! I really hope to see you soon!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Happy Crafting

Birthday Quilt is finished

Hi Everybody! 

Can you believe it? I finished a quilt! It seems  like forever since I last completed a quilt. I have several finished tops lying around (like the lovely Bloom Bloom Pow), but in between swaps, Quilt Alongs and BOMs I just don't get to set my machine to quilting mode ;-) Although freemotion quilting is really a great joy for me!

I had so much fun making this off set Log Cabin Pattern! The Blocks are so easy to make! I was using a jellyroll from Quilt et Textilkunst and several fat quarter pieces of Valori Wells Cocoon Line (I used those Butterflies for the backing, too, which was really hard to get!)

I love the colors and the fresh orange! But I just can't think of a proper name for this quilt? Any suggestions?

The Quilt lives now with my Mother in Law near Frankfurt. It was her birthday present. As you can see in the pictures, she really likes reds purples and oranges. And from her reaction I think she really likes the quilt. Right now I would just name it "to Irmgard". Unless you come up with a better name??

Enjoy the photos and Happy Crafting!

Oktoberfest has started

Over here in Munich, it is all about "Wiesn'" right now! This is what the people living in Munich call the Oktoberfest! Everybody is wearing their "Dirndl", traditional Dresses from beautiful cotton and linen fabrics!

So this would be the perfect occasion to show you my latest "Landmädel Blocks" The Blocks I'm making for the German hosted Farmer's Wife Quilt along, mostly in traditional Bavarian Fabrics,


More of my WIPs:
I'm quilting the Log Cabin Quilt for my Mother in Law
Sewing a pillow for the German Secret Pillow "Swap•pen"
And last but not least, I basted the Halloween Babyquilt!

All my Projects have a close deadline (for Birthday, Due Date and Mailing reasons)
So I'm leaving you after this short notice today!


I'm linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday over at freshlypieced! Check out what all the other crafty people out there are working on this week!

Happy Crafting!

My Farmer's Wife Blocks. Right now, they don't really match well... I'll wait and see what happens

My basted Quilts. As you can see, I have started to do some Straight line Quilting on the Scraps of the Log Cabin Quilt

This is the Design I chose for the orange parts in the Quilt

This is the design I pieced for the secret Pillow Swap. I hope my Partner likes it!

The Rain is pouring..

… and it is time to cuddle by the fireplace with a warm quilt.
AND spend time at the sewing machine! YAY

In my last post I showed you my new Halloween Stash - Too cute to spook by Riley Blake, that will become a Baby Quilt for my friend's baby that is due on Halloween. Since this fabric is just too cute and the little witches and monsters are not scary looking at all, I thought it would actually be apropriate for a babyquilt. Especially with THAT due date.

The quilt will have to go all the way over the sea to Canada, so I better get started!

After having a really good time working with my new 60° Ruler which I got for making the Bloom Bloom Pow Quilt, I decided that this is gonna be another 60° Quilt.

I want the Hexagons to have a scrappy look so I combine strips with 1,5", 2", 2,5" and 3", so the stripset ends up being 7,5" high. That should make a pretty good crib-size quilt!

So here is my Design and the first two Blocks! What do you think?

Wicked Sunday Stash #02

Welcome to my second Sunday Stash post. As I said before, I hardly ever have something to say about the fabric I buy (because I usually pick pink). This little stash though was bought for a reason which needs to be shared :-)
My good friend from Canada is pregnant with her second baby and the due date would be oct 31st. So what do YOU think I'm making from this stash? Take your guesses!

awefully cute Halloween Fabric by Riley Blake!

After being on summer vacation and not sewing for two weeks I was very happy to go to the Munich Modern Quilters Meeting a week ago! I enjoyed it a lot! These girls are wonderful! Quilters are wonderful people! We talked, sewed, talked, drank coffee and ate cake, sewed and talked. Thank you so much for letting me be part of this lovely group! Claudia brought some fabric to give away and here is part of the the backing she wanted to get rid of! I love it! The pink one will actually be used in my Log Cabin Quilt below. It needs another row to be my prefered size, so I need additional fabric to finish it!

I love the fabrics and can't wait to use them! Thank you so much Claudia

one more row and I can finally put this top together!

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash @ Heidi's Fabric Mutt
Go ahead and share your latest addition to your stash, too!



Happy Crafting!

Sunday Stash #01 !!! Woot Woot!

I hardly ever have something to say about the fabric I buy. I shop online if i have a certain line in mind, or I buy what speaks to me (my language is pink) This time though, my fabric shop was quite an event! At least for me.

After being part of the quilt community only online for the past year since I started, I have finally arrived in the real world and been to Germany's Main Quiltfestival in the beautiful historic town of Aschaffenburg. What an awesome, creative and inspiring weekend! Besides classes and workshops they had a market with many small shops and a few lovely exhibitions!

This is where I got excited and did some shopping. Special about this buy:

I tried to break my usual fabric color and style preferences and try new colors! 

So the greens on the right are a fresh break out from my usual pinks :-) (well you see the pinks talked to me again, I just couldn't resist. But I really love the blues, too!)

So here you go: a great addition to my little stash!

I'm linking up with finding fifth for this Sunday Stash!

If you got some lovely pieces to share! Go ahead! 

Happy sharing and happy crafting!

Lovely week with my WIPs

Oh what a wonderful week!!!

I finally met the Munich Modern Quilters! I am so excited and happy I was invited to their meeting! And it was a blast! I got a lot of sewing done: I'm working on an off centered log cabin quilt for my mother in laws birthday! And I think I might even finish it on time! Thank you for that lovely afternoon Andrea & Dorothee

This is my WIP at the meeting! I finished 4 Blocks and started another set of 8! I will need twenty to finish the top and had already 4 done.

This will be the layout for the Quilt. I will have 5 rows of 4 Blocks. I could just eat up this picture, the colors look so fresh and juice. No ideas for a name yet, but I'm sure it will include Manderine or Orange. What do you think?

The gals were so nice and it was a joy sewing with them, sometimes quietly and sometimes chatting away! 

My preparation for my class on Saturday with Rita Schaffer at the Main Quiltfestival are going well and I have cut my jeans and found two choices of coordinating fabric! What do you think? Pink or Torquoise?

Last but not least I finished my churn dash for the Landmädel QAL!

My Churn Dash for the German Farmer's Wife QAL

Have a great week and don't miss on checking out all those lovely links on freshlypieced's WIP Wednesday!

Happy Crafting

Exploring Gee's Bend

Hi everybody and welcome to my WIPs this week!

I have been working on my first blocks for the Landmädel QAL and am quite satisfied of how the traditional fabrics look in the blocks:

The real challange with the Whirlpool block were the little HST and I had a hard time matching the corners up in the end... So the Whirlpool is kinda odd in the center. I might have to give it another try.
These are the moments where I wish I had a modern Machine with a 1/4'' foot... Although I mark my quater on the fabrics with a marker...

Whirlpool Block for the German Farmer's Wife QAL. Sorry about the bad pictures, I took them with the iphone and it was late... I'll try to get better with taking decent pictures with my camera!

The Calico Puzzle Block turned out just fine! Actually I'd say it is the most precise block I've ever made ;-)

Calico Puzzle Block for the German Farmer's Wife QAL

The past days I have also calculated my fabric needs for the Quilt et Textilkunst Challange and had to resize the blocks to adjust the pattern to the 60x60 cm they require. Puh.. I'll have to work with little 1,5'' squares to make my 9patches... Talking about "Challanges...." Also I have picked the kona-colors that I will use for the quilt.

A couple of days ago, I signed up for a class at the German Quilt Festival: Main Quilt-Festival. After browsing through the classes there was only one project that caught my eye: Free cutting Techniques by Rita Schaffer, who is kind of a famous quilter over here.. I love her last name, because the word is the German for "worker", as in a creative meaning. So I think that name really suites her. Anyways, after getting the course materials she added links on "Gee's Bend Quilts". I have read a short article about them in quilty magazine, but after browsing through links and actually seeing the quilts online I was stunned by their beauty. I cannot believe, after studying art, illustration and graphics for several years and having been in the business for over 7 yrs I have not come across these designs! The colors and patterns are so creative and graphic! Wow wow wow!

I have been researching about Gee's Bend Quilts over the past days and am so happy I will join Rita's class and getting to make a quilt that style! So I'll cut up my husband's and my old jeans to make a crazy quilt :-) So I will start rippin' up  jeans and find coordinating fabric to go with them.

I couldn't resist buying this art-book on the Gee's Bend Quilts! It is beautiful and sure it will inspire me for a long time!

Check out the links hidden in my Text about the collection! They are really worth a look! Still I just have to share this quote from the article on this page cause it is just so sweet and made me smile!

"Collector William Arnett was working on a history of African-American vernacular art in 1998 when he came across a photograph of Young’s work-clothes quilt draped over a woodpile. He was so knocked out by its originality, he set out to find it. A couple of phone calls and some creative research later, he and his son Matt tracked Young down to Gee's Bend, then showed up unannounced at her door late one evening. Young had burned some quilts the week before (smoke from burning cotton drives off mosquitoes), and at first she thought the quilt in the photograph had been among them. But the next day, after scouring closets and searching under beds, she found it and offered it to Arnett for free. Arnett, however, insisted on writing her a check for a few thousand dollars for that quilt and several others. (Young took the check straight to the bank.) Soon the word spread through Gee's Bend that there was a crazy white man in town paying good money for raggedy old quilts."

- Amei Wallach for Smithsonian magazine, October 2006

Last but not least I have joined my first swap! YEAH I'm so excited and have started to make fabric choices for the Triple Zip Pouch that I think my secret partner might like!

Linking up with freshlypieced this Wednesday!

Have a wonderful rest of the week and

Happy Crafting

My WIP this wednesday

I have a few projects on the go not mentioning the concepts still in my head. But I will start 2 of these virtual projects for real soon!

I am preparing to participate the Landmädel QAL, hosted by the German Quilting Community. It is based on the Farmer's Wife QAL. My Idea is to make it all from traditional bavarian fabric (more or less). Can't wait to make my first block

These are a few of my fabrics, that I chose for the Landmädel QAL

One of my long term projects is making my sewing room prettier. Now it is more a chaotic "throw everything in the way in there" room. But at least I got the walls painted a few weeks ago. No matter if rain or shine, my room is always bright :-)

My little four year old makes sure my sewing room looks pretty :-)

Every month a new Block. I loved the June Block of the craftsy Block of the Month by Laura Nownes. I thought that I would mess up with the corners, but they are almost all just fine. Only one has a little bulk. Now I'm getting ready for the July Block...

This is my LeMoyne Star

I am getting started on a challange by my local Quilt Shop, Quilt et Textilkunst. They are Celebrating their 15th Year and I will participate with a pixelquilt. Since I may talk about it, but not show it on my blog, I still decided to give you a blurred peak of my design :-) Have fun guessing!

Secret few of my Design for my very first pixel quilt

And last but not least: I finally adjusted my pattern of the Sassy Librarian Blouse by Christine Haynes. I will make a quick muslin to check if it fits!

ready for my muslin

So I'm linking up today on freshlypieced's WIP Wednesday with this post! What are you working on these days? Check all the cool bloggers linking up to and

Happy Crafting

Short Trip

It seems like my last post has been a year ago, so much has happend!

I had planned to show you an update on my Bloom Bloom Pow! Quilt, which is a finished Top by now and also several projects that I have started. Like, "whatever happend to my first project".. well I ripped it apart to join a Block of the Month.

Finished Bloom Bloom Pow! Quilt Top

Recognize these Fabrics? Here a few of my blocks from the BOM. I'll put on more pictures soon

Also I have tried to sew my first garment. A beautiful blouse by Christine Haynes. I enrolled at craftsy for a few Projects and totally love the platform! You get personal guidance by the online teacher. So I made a testpiece and it does not fit well, so Christine informed me about adjusting the pattern to a mixed size. Awesome. I hope I can start the blouse with the awesome Liberty of London Fabric that I bought soon enough.

The Neck and Shoulders, also the bust are way to big! So I'll make a muslin 2 sizes smaller and just adjust the waist and length, which were just fine. Although this is Ikea Fabric and quite cheap, I like the look of the blouse. It's kinda cute..

One of these Fabrics will become the Blouse. I like the left one a lot, which is a Liberty of London Fabric.

I'm not going to talk much about my bags, although I had a lot of fun sewing them. I seriously thought it would be a lot more difficult! So I made myself a large cosmetic bag for our oversea trip. My old one just was never big anough. Check out my flickr account for more photos!

This is the Bag with little pouch for make up

Now what I really want to talk about in this post is my recent trip to California! Yes! It was awesome. My husband was on a business trip and I got to join him! How cool is that? So we left the kids with the grandparents and flew over the ocean.

Wonderful view of the Golden Gate. Just love the colors

Besides visiting friends and having a great time with my husband I really enjoyed the time with myself. Once we arrived in San Francisco I strolled around town, the Pier and took a boat trip, visited museums and, what else? I did some shopping:

I visited the awesome BRITEX Fabrics store at uUnion Square, which was amazing. And, after a Daytrip to San Jose, visiting my Sister in Law and my niece there, I drove by this cool Quilt Shop in Milpitas called "The intrepid Thread". Someone from the Modern Quilt Guild refered to the store, after I asked for a modern Shop in the Bay Area! It was small but beautiful. The owner, Julie was wonderful and I left the store with a smile and a pile of fabric!

All of my Quilting-related Shopping items :-)))

One of the highlights of the trip though, was meeting up with my host family in LA and handing my Host Mom the new Block for our Quilt. I totally forgot to take a picture of her with the block. I wanted to, but I just forgot under excitement. So you'll have to put up with this picture of all the blocks.

My latest Block in the front is called "Card Trick", Cheryl's latest Block is the one next to the Flower Block

Well, that was a lot of projects. I'm so sorry I haven't posted for such a long time. But I had the best time over in the States. Sometimes you have to go far to appreciate home. Coming back I reallized how blessed we are and how beautiful our home is. The other day I went downtown Munich and strolled over the Market and had that "Home" Feeling. To me Munich is the best place on earth. The Lakes, the Alps, the Forests and best of all our Beergardens, and the wonderfull traditions.

The German Quilting Community has started a Quilt-Along. It's Called "Landmädel QAL" and is based on the "Farmer's Wife" Quilt Blocks. Since I am going to join in soon, I have decided to make this Quilt Along from Bavarian "Dirndl" Fabric, which I have used in the Scrappy Heart Block (see picture above) before and really liked the idea. So this time the inspiration didn't come from the trip over sea, but from coming back home!

Summer has finally arrived over here. I will definately try to be more frequent with my posts.
I hope you enjoy the summer as well! But still...

Happy Crafting

WIP Wednesday

Hello Everybody! Here are my WIP pieces! Enjoy!

Finally I held my first workshop as a Teacher! IT WAS A BLAST!!! It felt like I've always been doing this! I enjoyed the teaching so much! So next Semester I will be offering even more workshops and a class! Also I have decided I will join the German Patchwork-Guild! Maybe I can get more jobs for teaching patchwork through them!
I am pretty sure the students had a great time! It felt good sharing my excitement in person, not only digitally ;-)
So half of the class made the large pillow case, I showed you in this post, and the other half, including me, made the little one with this pattern:

This is the pillow I made for presentation. I had to finish it at home, though. Of course I was to busy helping my students!

Next - and I've been dying to post these - are the pictures of the quilt along I have started, hosted by freshly pieced! I loved the design from the moment I found the page and knew I needed to make this quilt! After chatting with my friend Sarah, who has wanted me to make her a quilt for a while now, but couldn't decide on a pattern we came to the conclusion, that this was going to be her quilt! I'm telling you: Both of us are thrilled! So making this quilt for my friend gives me the chance to try out this new (and awesome) technique AND not having to pay for fabric :-)
Lee, from freshly pieced is doing such a great job on hosting this quilt along! All the steps are explained so even I as a non native speaker understands the instructions very well and the picture tutorials are very clear!

So this is the fabric we have decided on (the bundel is placed on the grey kona solid fabric, which is the background!)

This is the Fat Quarter Bundle of Kona Solids I orderd for the QAL

These are my cut strips and blocks, sorted by block

This is how they look like when sewn together. Kinda odd, but once they're cut in triangels they make the following pattern:

This is how the triangles look like when cut out and layed into the petals!

Now after preparing the workshop and getting ready for a few other projects (stay tuned for that) - AND besides having to work as a freelance Graphics Designer, I am a little behind now with my quilt. I still need to sew all the pieces together and cut them before I can start designing my quilt! I hope I can finish sometime in May! Wait until you see the fabric Sarah and I have chosen for the Backing! It is a blast!!!

Last, but not least I can reveal the April-Block I sent over the sea for my Block-Swap with my US-mom. I chose a flower block and scribbeld the pattern on graph paper because we decided it would be neat to have the instructions for the blocks we make this year. So with my last letter I had to send her 3 patterns with my block. The first one was easy, because it is the Star-Block by Sheila's Oh my Stars QAL. The second one, the Scrappy Heart Block from Frebruary, was out of my 5500 Patchwork-Blocks Book, and I drafted it myself the size I needed it (all are 12'' finished Blocks).

I really enjoy the process of drafting and calculating the patterns to my needs. Although I do make mistakes. But that just makes me smarter, right? ;-)

So for the next block I will make the pattern right away so I have it ready for mailing!

Next post, I will tell you a bit about my experiences of makeing my first bags! I'm sewing prototypes for my workshop in Fall and need to make photos for advertising. This might become another obsession. I never thought sewing a bag would be so easy!

Post to you soon!

Happy Crafting!

These are all the blocks we made by now. We're getting there and it's lookin' gooooood!

This is the Block with my drafting-sketches