Ticking off the list!

Maybe you remember, at the end of August I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish before the end of the year. Let's see how far I got:

1. Finish hand quilting Big Bloom Quilt: tick

I think this must be my very first quilt which is made entirely by hand; hand pieced and hand quilted. It feels very soft and I'm going to give it to my mum for Christmas. I hope she'll like it. 

2. Finish Winter Quilt: tick

3. Make eight blocks for my Camelot quilt: tick

Block 8

and the first eight blocks together. 

4. Make a few Christmas presents: tick, tick and tick!

5. Machine quilt one quilt top; sorry, that didn't happen. 

Well, all in all I'm quite pleased that I was able to do most of the tasks I set myself. The list has definitely helped to keep me on track. 

I leave you with a picture of a  little Christmas decoration I've made. I've seen something similar on Pinterest and tried to copy it. The stick is actually a long piece of cinnamon.

I hope you are enjoying the season!

Vreni x

Hasenbach Challenge

My Winter quilt I sewed as part of the Hasenbach challenge is finished. I encounter a small problem when I sprayed the quilt with water to remove the marking pen lines and the red sashing started to bleed all over the quilt. I bundled  the quilt, without the binding, into the washing machine with a couple of color catches and I was relieved to see that it came out perfect. Pew!!!!

Click here to see more finished quilts, tops and new blocks.

Have a happy weekend.

Vreni xx

Winter is coming....

and no, not to Singapore, but to my sewing room! You see, I've made some progress on my winter quilt. After adding a few more filler blocks, plus the pine tree on the right, I was able to put it all together.  Only the borders are left to do and then I will have to quilt it of course. As usual, I didn't stick to the pattern too closely (there's a picture of the original on my side bar, if you want to compare).

Go here to see everybody's progress this month.

Cheers
Vreni x

Regrouping

With all the comings and going recently of various visitors, I haven't spent much time in my sewing room and I feel I need to make a new start (another one). I've set myself a few goals for the rest of this year! Yikes! And maybe if I list them here I will get them done.  I'm keeping the list fairly short so it should be doable.

1. Finish hand quilting "big bloom" quilt
2. Make more blocks, put together and quilt winter quilt
3. Make at least 6 more blocks for Camelot quilt (that way I am at the half way mark)
4. Make a few Christmas presents
5. Machine quilt one quilt top (which one to be decided later)

Now it's written in stone, or as good as!!!

I did manage to make my second Camelot block:

and a few more "measly" filler blocks for my winter quilt.

Maybe you've noticed that I've installed a new Pinterest feature on my blog. I followed a terrific tutorial here. Whenever your hover over a photo with your mouse a small "pin it" button pops up and by clicking it, you are taken automatically to the Pinterest window where you can then choose to pin it to one of your boards. Makes the whole process so much easier.

And last but not lease; look what I found in the latest edition of  "Down Under Quilts" magazine:

I had absolutely no idea and wouldn't have known as I can't often find that particular magazine here in Singapore. Luckily a friend of a friend spotted it and alerted me.


Till later
Vreni x

Giving in to temptation!

I have finally cracked and started a new project. I had the Camelot pattern for a while, but wanted to finish a couple of UFOs first before indulging. Here's my first hand pieced block.

Then I  made this paper pieced block for a charity quilt our Tuesday group is putting together (pattern can be found here). The idea is that each month one of the members chooses a block and preferably a new technique to teach the ladies who are new to quilting. Anybody who is interested can sew along. 

For July I sewed this block for the Hasenbach Challenge; it's rather small, only 6 by 6 inches, 

as well as this block, which isn't a challenge block, but will be include in my winter quilt. 

All the blocks I've made so far. 

I can't believe that August is already upon us. Tomorrow my daughter is arriving and I suspect I won't have much time for sewing for the next couple of weeks.

I hope your week is going well.
Vreni xx                                                                   

May Block Hasenbach Challenge

This is latest installment for the Hasenbach challenge. It was quite a fiddly block to make as it's quite small - only 8 1/2 inches and with well over 100 individual pieces - and not everything lines up perfectly. Oh well, I did the best I could.

And here are all the blocks so far. I've been reading that some of the other participants of this challenge are a bit fed up with sewing winter blocks as they have had enough winter to last them a long time. I - on the other hand - love it. As it's very hot here at the moment, I try to "feel" the cold atmosphere of  the blocks ;)!

Click here to see more blocks sewn this month. 

Cheers

Vreni x

Hasenbach Challenge

Here are my very small blocks for this month's challenge. It's actually more a BOM than a challenge but we we got all the patterns at the beginning, so that each participant can sew at their own pace and pleasure. And not everybody is sewing the same quilt either, but they are all paper pieced. 

 

  4 by 2 inches

3 by 2 inches

Take a look here for more April blocks. 

Cheers

Vreni x

                              

February Block

My second block for the Hasenbach Challenge is finished. I'm starting to remember, why I have always liked paper piecing so much. I haven't done much of it lately though and was a bit rusty to start with, but I think I'm getting the hang of it again. 

As I will be in Switzerland for most of March I did a bit of advance sewing, so I won't have to catch up when I get back. As I'm not a fan of eight sided snow flakes, I  found a free pattern here for six sided paper pieced flakes.

You can see more blocks for this challenge here.

Happy Sewing!

Vreni x

This n' that

With the exception of one, I've got all the blocks back from the "Around the World Quilting Bee". I'm immensely pleased with them, as they are exactly what I wanted.

I have been making a few more blocks, trying out some  new techniques I've learned on an online class on Craftsy called "Big Techniques from small Scraps" with Sarah Fielke. For this block I used my Dresden ruler. I really like the look of it and I'm tempted to make a quilt this way using my scraps. 

The next thing I tried was curved piecing without pinning. I've always been very scared of curves but it was actually quite easy. 

Then I tried out some deconstructed piecing, which is another name for free hand cutting and piecing. 

The next two blocks were inspired by Syko. She calls this "close your eyes quilting", meaning she doesn't plan the layout of the blocks, but just dives into her scrap bin, takes some out and sews them together any which way. A perfect way to use up all the scraps I got back from the bee members together with the blocks. 

I couldn't help myself and joined another Quilt Along, called The Hasenbach Challenge. It's being organized by Katrin in Germany. I fell in love with the winter scene and as we only need to make one block each month, even I should be able to keep up. 

My first paper pieced block.

Then I made another friendship block as we had to say good bye to another member of our Tuesday crafts group. 

  

I realised that I never showed you the quilt or cushion I received as part of the swap I've taken part recently. This little owl is now sitting in my sewing room and it came from Cathy all the way from the USA. Thank you Cathy!

And out of the blue, my friend Rose-Anne sent me this lovely embellished heart. Isn't it gorgeous?

Enjoy the weekend and happy Australia Day to all my friends Down Under.

Vreni x