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.
Some time ago, my dear quilting friend Alena asked me to make a bag for her. She herself is a very creative person, a very experienced quilter with a great sense of colour. She sews beautiful big quilts and quilts them on her Bernina quilting machine. On the other hand, she doesn´t feel much for small projects like zipper pockets or bags, therefore she never has sewn a bag for herself. As well as being delighted and almost proud of being asked to sew a bag for her, I was also a bit anxious. Would I find the right colours, the right pattern for her? After long thinking, finding ideas, and rejecting them again, I finally found an idea that I liked. Like many times before I was inspired by the bird pictures of Christine Robinson. Three of them were finally chosen to be transformed into appliqué. I´m still suffering from the pain of joints on my hands, therefore I decided to combine machine quilting (background), machine-sewn raw edge appliqué (plants), and hand-sewn needle turn appliqué and embroidery (birds and embellishment of plants).
Happy stitching!
Michaela
When leaving for holiday, I like to take hand-sewing projects with me, like every quilter. This time I chose for a nice rainbow star pattern I bought some time ago, the „Staggered Star“ by Kirsty Lea (Quiet Play), which originally is a foundation paper pattern.
In no time it was turned into EPP pattern and the templates were cut. Choosing the right fabric scraps took actually longer than I expected, it´s not that easy! I followed the colour scheme by Kirsty and it turned out very nice. The rainbow pieces went everywhere with me, I stitched even in the car (well, yes, only on highways). At the end of the holiday, the star was finished and ready for appliqué on a background. I planned a beige or black background but it somehow didn´t look well. Then my eye fell on a fabric with a newspaper pattern and I knew, it was the right one. I appliquéd the star by hand and quilted it on BabyLock Sashiko machine. The outcome is amazing, I love the star and the pillow. Next week, it will be handed over to my friends who are freshly married!
Happy stitching!
Michaela
As I mentioned before, I´m a member of two
clubs. One of them is the local „Ladies Club“, which unites women of different
ages, who love sewing, quilting, embroidering, knitting, and simply any kind of
handwork.
The other one, the "Bohemia Patchwork klub", seated
in Prague, is a patchwork and quilting club consisting of the classical
patchwork section and the section of contemporary quilting (don´t ask me please
which one I do belong to, I´m somewhere in between…).
At the beginning of 2023, the Bohemia Patchwork
klub came up with a challenge for its members called „Baroque“. The quilt
collection made within this challenge is going to be exhibited in June in a
baroque area near Prague. After long thinking about the topic I finally decided
to join the challenge with a quilt called „Baroque Monstrance“, despite the
fact that I never sew big wall hangings.
It took longer than expected, but I finished it
in due time.
For the background and border I used linen, for the monstrance I used golden curtain fabric and synthetic organza. A silk scarf was sacrificed for making the decorations.
I quite like the result but I'm also really happy to get back to smaller projects. I just don't have enough patience for these big quilts:)
Happy stitching!
Michaela
There will be not much writing today, because the whole story of the Sitting Hare was told in my latest blog of 2022 already. Today I can proudly announce that the sitting hare definitely became a bag. Based on the original template by Amy Tedge, the panel was actually bigger than needed for a bag. I just hadn´t the heart to cut it smaller and the finished bag belongs to the biggest bags I have ever made. It can accommodate so much! I love it.
Michaela
The sitting hare became the last finished project of 2022. When I first saw the beautiful creation by Amy Tedge, I just couldn´t resist buying the pattern. The aim was (and still is) to make a bag for myself.
This is the original work by Amy:
My colorway of the background is quite different from the original. It is not the fact that I wouldn´t like it, I simply haven´t such lovely vintage-looking fabrics in my stash.
Happy quilting!
Michaela
Some weeks ago, I visited my favorite Aja Votrubcová patchwork store in Prague. I was looking for a nice fabric for sewing advent bags. I wanted Quilters Shadow in holiday red and some thin linen. That was the plan, but I immediately noticed the newly arrived heavy linens, a great basic for my beloved shopping bags. I couldn´t resist. I went home with a hefty (and expensive) bag full of happiness.
At home, I prewashed the linen first and started calculating how many and how big the bags would be. In the end, there were eleven!
I worked in my favorite technique: first, I laid and quilted a collage
background, then ironed a fusible appliqué on it and quilted it by machine. As a final touch,
I added lace and buttons.
Eleven bags means 22 handles!
