Spring has sprung!

I finished my first block for this year's Hasenbach Challenge. I deliberately chose a quilt with only four blocks and my plan was to sew the blocks according the season we are in (although we don't have seasons here). Well, here is finally my Spring block, just a couple of month late:

If you look closely, you'll see that the wisterias are made with  "millions" of French knots, which - I'll have you know - took me the better part of two days. But I quite like the result.

Here you can see what everybody else in this challenge has been up to this month.
Cheers
Vreni x

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Laozi from the Tao Te Ching

This is how I'm looking at my new project "Auntie Green's Garden". It will be a long journey and I'm determined to enjoy "the trip" and not only think of the arrival (I think there might be another quote in there) .

To start a huge project like this one can be a bit daunting, but it helps to also break it into feasible chunks. As I said, I'm doing it with two friends and we meet every other Friday. We work together on choosing the fabrics and preparing the next step and then we have two weeks to do our "homework".

I haven't done much hand applique in a while and was a bit out of practice. I tried a few techniques (needle turn, wash away applique paper and back basting) but I think I will stick with needle turn (the Ami Simms way) as it is the most straight forward method. 
Thanks for your visit.

Cheers

Vreni x

Peak Hour is finished

and just in time as my son is leaving for Europe in a few days and will be able to bring it personally and meet the newest member of the family. 

The pattern is by Kellie Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now fame! I made it a bit smaller though and added a couple of my own vehicles like the animal truck and the bus.

The backing is from Kellie's fabric line "Peak Hour" by Riley Blake. I used the method of raw edge applique  through all layers of the quilt so all the stitching is clearly visible on the back. 

To make it easy on myself, I just stipple quilted it. 

I also finished this little wall hanging I started at the beginning of time (or that's how it feels). It just needed the binding, so it was done in a few minutes.  When I was young, I used to make Scherenschnitte and I wanted to see if it works with fabric too. The tree is cut in one piece, just as you would with paper.

Happy Sunday.
Vreni x