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

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 

 

 

 

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 

Rainbow Star Pillow

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!

The pattern is really amazing, I´m planning to re-sew it again, maybe even more times. 

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

Bag No.59 - Japanese Cats

When sewing a project, I like working on two pieces simultaneously. The same technique, the same project (bag, pouche, book cover…), but with little differences. The two pieces are like two siblings – both the same but still different.

Some weeks ago, I posted pictures of a „Japanese“ bag with bunnies. Now his sib was born – a bag with Japanese cats.

Like the first one is this bag also made of Yucata fabric collection by Debbie Maddy (the small squares) in combination with the original Japanese indigo fabrics (the lovely cats). The panels for both sides of the bag are machine-sewn and hand-quilted with original Japanese sashiko thread. I was going to quilt it immediately after the bag with bunnies, but I had to take a brake because of aching knuckles on both my hands, so I did not finish quilting until a few weeks later. The assembling of the bag was made quickly and my husband attached the handles at the weekend: an indigo beauty was born.

Here it is: 

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 

Baroque Monstrance

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