Three Blue Fellows

Two moments preceded the birth of these three blue pillows.

The first one happened, when I saw a preview of the fabric collection by French General called Bleue De France.  I´m not what you would call „classical“ quilter, nevertheless I fell immediately in love with the fabrics and ordered a pack of fatquarters. Having the fabrics at home, I wasn´t able to cut into them, it was such a beauty…

The second moment came in March of this year when my friend Darja brought three pillows to a tell-and-show event, three classical beauties, hand-sewn and hand-quilted. I immediately knew this would be the right use for my blue cotton darlings. 

The first step was that I had to learn a different hand-sewing method than EPP, sewing along a line without any paper templates. It was a little bit tricky in the beginning, but step by step I got used to it, and voila - The Y-seams were not difficult at all!  I fell in love with this sewing method, it´s such a great opportunity to slow down!

I made plastic templates for fussy cutting and spent many happy moments choosing the motifs for the pieces.

Once the pieces were cut I could start sewing. I took sewing everywhere with me and enjoyed it very much.

 

I added borders on the sewing machine and quilted on my Baby Lock Sashiko machine. (It´s a pity, but my hands protest very hard against hand-quilting of projects bigger than a zipper pouch.)

I´m really proud of the three pillows. My very first „classical“ hand-sewn patchwork project!

Happy stitching!

Michaela

Backpacks for Cat Lovers

A couple of months ago, sewing of a disappearing nine-patch block was on the programme of our Ladies Club. I joined sewing just for the fun, without any particular plan for using it. I enjoyed the simple and effective sewing method, the two blocks were very cute, but I couldn´t decide what to do with them. I´m not a fan of placemats, especially when a nice picture is right in the middle, where a mug or plate should be placed. For a zipper pouch they were too big, for a tote bag too small… I feared that they would end up as a kind of UFO. But no! Finally, an idea came into my mind and I used the two blocks as eye catchers on two small back packs. I quilted on my Japanese Baby Lock sashiko and I like the outcome very much. 

Happy stitching!

Michaela

Summary of Summer 2024

The summer was very hot indeed and somehow, I couldn´t find the energy for writing blog posts. But the sewing machine and my hands were still working, so this is the overview of the small summer projects I was able to finish.

A small shoulder bag for carrying books on a train or tram.

And a bigger one...

And two small bags for two small ladies

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

More Boro!

After finishing the upcycling of the bag for Anna, which was very satisfying and nice work, I had a small pile of Japanese fabric scraps left. I immediately decided to go on sewing. The result was two small projects in boro style – a simple backpack and a book cover. Both are now in the good and loving hands of our neighbor girl, who loves everything Japanese.

The backpack was originally a simple white cotton backpack from an art supplies shop. I didn´t like the colour, therefore it got a good bath in black tea to create a nice warm vintage look. 

I played with the picture and fabric scraps (actually, I tore some new ones), creating a collage. I used the sashiko thread again and enjoyed the simple running stitches.

Being back home from holiday, I started a cover for an art journal of our neighbor, a nice girl of 14 who loves everything Japanese. 

The background for the collage is not a Japanese fabric, nevertheless, there are the Japanese carps koi on it! I quite like the outcome and so does the new owner, I hope. 

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

Upcycling a Bag in Boro Style

It´s unbelievable how time is flying. In 2016 I made a small series of „book bags“ for the exhibition in our town library. My daughter fell in love with one of them and has been carrying it since then. This is how the bag looked in 2016.

In 2022, the truly beloved bag had to be repaired. I made a new binding and covered the bottom with new fabric. (You can read the whole story here).

Nevertheless, after two more years, the bag wasn´t wearable anymore.

The outer part of the bag was in a horrible state, but surprisingly the inner side, made from canvas, was completely fine. Then I said to myself: I covered the bottom of the bag with new fabric two years ago already, which was fine, so why not cover the whole bag with new fabrics? I liked the idea very much and it was clear, that I found my hand-sewing project for the summer holiday. 

I covered the whole bag with patches of different Japanese fabrics and quilted with white and blue sashiko thread. 

And  this is how the beauty looks today

Isn´t it beautiful again?

Happy sewing!

Michaela 

 

 

 

Two Owls

 

In January, I posted pictures of wonky stars with golden fish in the centre. As my favourite projects are zipper bags, I used the two blocks to make two zipper bags. Since the golden fish by Tula Pink make such great centres of the stars, I looked through other fabrics of hers for new „star candidates“. My eye fell on barn owls in a great pink-violet colour combination. They are such beauties in themselves! I think the stars turned out very nice.

I quilted on my Babylock Sashiko:

On the backside, I used fabric selvages from Grunge fabrics, they are just amazing!

I´m pretty sure, those are not the last stars I have sewn:) 

Happy sewing!

Michaela 

 

Little Joys

I haven´t been writing my blog for some weeks (sometimes I suffer from what I call "writing-laziness"), but I have been sewing of course. Besides some bigger projects in progress now, I spent many happy moments sewing little somethings. Let´s look at them!

I love every centimeter of my precious fabrics and have never thrown away any small piece except for what you would call micro or nano pieces. When sewing patchwork, you don´t usually use fabric selvages, they have to be cut off. But fabric selvages are often really charming, they contain information about the name of the fabric series and colour references, which are sometimes lovely little pictures referring to the fabric print like mushrooms, hearts, pumps, apples, fish, and so on. Some designers pay big attention to this „selvage design“. Although cut off, they are loved and carefully stored in a big plastic box, waiting for further processing.

I used fabric selvages from fabrics by Cori Dantini (the writings) and other designers (the pictures) in combination with narrow bias bands I could buy recently, to create some key fobs. I actually wanted to make more, but I ran out of metallic rings:) I like the outcome very much, they make great presents for friends.  

Since I like making key fobs of any kind, I immediately fell in love with key fobs by Quiltwerke. They are foundation paper-pieced and allow the use of small pictures. I bought the pattern and tried some of them out. Well, my work is not really bad, but the patterns require precision which obviously goes beyond my ability:) Nevertheless, I surely give them another try.

I like giving presents which can be eaten or used up in some way, like tea, dried fruits, nuts, or homemade cookies. Nevertheless, this requires a little charm or tag or another little something that helps you to transform „just a pack of nuts“ into something very special. Like a fabric tag with pictures by Anita Jeram:

Happy sewing!

Michaela