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 

Bag No.64 - Birds

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).

Today, the handles were attached and tomorrow the birds are going to fly to their new owner. I hope Alena will like them and the bag too. 

 

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

Bag No.62 - In the Garden

In the early spring 2022, I worked on a small series of quilts for the PPM Quilt Show Brno called „Fields, Meadows and Gardens“. I started only in January and the time was really short as the PPM Quilt Show takes place traditionally in April. I counted days, even hours which I could spend on one quilt. Fortunately, I was able to stick to the time schedule and I worked even faster so I had plenty of time for the last quilt. It was the quilt I called „In the Garden“. I had no thorough plan, I just let my fingers work. The plants grew under my hands and got buds and flowers. I enjoyed the work enormously, I liked the outcome then and I still do.

After being shown at some exhibitions, the quilt came back home. Therefore I could fulfill my colleague's wish to make her daughter a bag from this quilt. I liked working with the quilt again and I especially love the fact that the quilt will be „exhibited“ every day when carrying the books to school.

 

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

Pockets everywhere you look

 

Looking back to the past two months, I was actually a busy bee. I started (and finished) an EPP rainbow project (more in my next blog), I started two Halloween bags and I made a number of zipper pockets. Let´s start with the overview of the pockets!

Pink is actually not my favorite color. Nevertheless, when I saw the pink, winged piglets, I couldn’t resist buying them. And what other colour to decorate them with if not pink?

In the meantime, I fell in love with fabrics by Heather Ross. I couldn’t wait for her new fabrics with those cute bunnies to arrive! It was the clear first choice when sewing a pouch for my daughter´s birthday (she chose the blue one).

 

I finally found time to play with the beautiful fabrics from the series Here Kitty Kitty by Cori Dantini. What a great joy! I love the motifs and the fine colors very much. I enjoyed the embellishing and embroidering immensely. 

I was a busy bee, wasn´t I?

Happy stitching

Michaela 

Slow Stitching at the Seaside

It´s here again! Holiday, sunbathing, swimming, and … slow stitching! Sadly, the holiday by the sea was only one week, but it was still great. Like every time we go on holiday I took a hand-sewn project with me, a fabric collage with a small bird. In contrast to the last time I didn´t work completely free. I took a picture of the collage and made a few black-and-white copies of it. During my everyday journeys by train, I sketched some designs which I used later on holiday as inspiration for quilting and stitching. 

I chose some of my dyed cotton threads and some thin silk threads by Oliver Twist´s. One week of hand stitching, it was really beautiful. 

The collage is almost finished, I´m only thinking about some beads or other embellishments. We will see.

Happy stitching! 

Michela 

Slow Stitched Needle Cases

A true reader of my blog knows that I like working with wool felt. I like touching the natural wool felt and I also like the TrueFelt and colours which offers TrueColours. The A4 sheets are just perfect for small hand stitched projects like my favourite needle cases for example.

Some time ago I was searching something and found two beautiful cats pictures printed on fabric. I bought those years ago from the author Zuzana Honsová.

I had to use them immediately. I spent a happy evening combining materials and threads.

My plan was machine sewing, I used a machine-sewn blanket stitch around the pictures. But then I decided for hand stitching and spent some following evenings stitching and embroidering the collages.

  

And here is how they look inside:

Happy stitching!

Michaela