Golden Fish

I bought some Tula Pink fabrics a few weeks ago. Tula Pink fabric is something, that you admire and play with first, then you add it to your stash and admire it again and again, and only when you really must, you cut into it at last. And so it was with those fabrics too.  I was thinking about a special gift for my great English teacher and looked through my fabric treasures to find something exceptional. Holding Tula Pink fabric with golden fish in my hand I realized, that I had found the right one. A golden fish that can fulfill three wishes!

The fish was a great motif for the centre of the star block I learned at the end of the year, and there were exactly the right shades of Grunge fabrics in my stash, so I was able to start sewing immediately.

The way I sew the star blocks produces two blocks in one go, which I like very much.

For Věrka, I chose the brighter one:  

On the back, I used the selvages of Grunge fabrics, I love them!

I finally decided to try a new way to make a zipper pouch. It turned out very nice. 

I had to cut off a piece of the bright back panel at a certain moment. The piece was so beautiful and cheerfully colorful that I didn't have the heart to just throw it away. After some thinking, I made a tag using an inscription from the selvage of a Cori Dantini fabric. 

 

The other panel was changed into a cute zipper pouch in a classical way. 

Woow, a nice first project of the New Year, isn’t it?

Happy sewing

Michaela 

Last Project of 2023

 

 

Like every quilter I have many plans, unfortunately, not all of them fit into the time I can spend sewing. At a certain moment, I have to decide what I can possibly manage in the old year and what the first project of the following year becomes. The last (finished) project of the year 2023 became a Christmas gift for my brother´s family.

Terry Runyan is one of my favourite authors and her book “Painting Happiness” belongs to jewels on my bookshelf. This autumn I was able to buy even three panels with animal motifs by her: cats, dogs, and also elephants.  The most of them I used to make New Year’s cards, but some cats of the Cosmo Cats panel I saved for placemats I wanted to sew for my brother. As they are cat lovers, the cat motifs were a clear decision.  

 

Only a short time ago I ordered a stockpile of Grunge by Moda Fabrics (a huge thank to patchworkcz.cz)  and some shades of yellow, blue, and grey went very well with the cat motifs.

I wanted to use the cats as center of uneven stars I have never sewn before… My experience with improve quilting is actually zero, but I decided, it was time to find out. I must admit, it was a fight. The first two pieces I saw in a very clumsy manner, there were many pieces of the precious Moda Fabrics left. 

Then finally I started to think. There must be another cleverer way to do it and finally, I found out! The outcome was perfect, there were two stars sewn in one go in inverse colours, which was even more interesting than my original plan. 

On the other hand, I found out that I ran out of fabric. In the very end, I had to patch even very small pieces together to finish the last mat. As I said before, it was a fight:)  

 

I quilted on my Japanese mate Baby Lock Sashiko in a classical way and made a contrasting black and white binding.

 

Happy sewing in 2024  to all of you!

Michaela